Question About Filtration?

Okay so I am a little confused about filtration.

I understand that there are various sponges for mechanical, and the certain media to house BB such as ceramic rings/seachem matrix etc. (not going to discuss chemical media since I don't use it)

HOWEVER, a lot of filters only have mechanical? but the general consensus is that this is fine because BB will build on it, what then is the point of the other media? I have a large external filter with 4 layers of foam, Getting courser towards the end. If the BB would gather on this? AGAIN what is the point of ceramic rings.

I moved my entire tray of ceramic rings from my old filter into my new one and my tank is going through a minI cycle. Ammonia is around 0.25 but nitrate is closer to 0.75/1.00. I assumed that by moving the full biological media to the new filter this wouldn't have happened. I have 1 tray of seeded ceramic rings, 1 tray of new seachem matrix, and a tray of ceramic rings again. What is the point of all of that if they just house on the sponge. I have a small air powered sponge filter in the corner as well so once seeded it can be moved to a quarantine/hospital tank if needed, but again, it's just a sponge.

 

Actually the sponge is typically used for biological filtration because it has a lot of surface area for the beneficial bacteria to colonize. Filter floss (100%polyester) is a commonly used mechanical filter media because it can catch very small particulates.

The benefit of using both is so you don't lose all your Beneficial bacteria when you have to clean your media; mechanical filter media (ex/ the sponge) doesn't get rinsed very often if at all while the mechanical filter media (ex/ filter floss) can be safely rinse in old tank water to rid it of debris without having to worry about losing all your beneficial bacteria. If there is plenty of biological filter media then you can even just replace the mechanical media with clean media without having to worry about a minI cycle occurring.

 

Which is exactly that I thought, yet after moving the bio media rings to the new filter, I am having a minI cycle. The tank being bigger than the previous one, would that have anything to do with it? I would have thought if anything the extra volume of water would have diluted the ammonia enough for the filter to keep up with, instead my tank is acting like it is in the final stage of the cycle. Low to no ammonia but raised nitrites.

 

Was the new filter already cycled then? or is it a new filter entirely

 

New filter entirely, moved over cycled bio media onto it. Just didn't include the sponges. I did rinse one sponge into the tank like I saw people recommend doing online

 

it could be going through a minI cycle. It depends on how much larger the new tank is and how you treated the BB on the trip/exchange. A little sack of rings in a 10 gallon moved to a 55 gallon is going to have too much catching up to do.

 

Moved from a 30 gallon to a 80g, same stock level though.

 

The media you moved probably just didn't have enough bacteria on it or you lost some on the move (different water chemistry may kill some of the bacteria).

In my eyes, you cut down the cycle time significantly which is a good thing. Give it time and the tank should be fully cycled within a few days.

Also, the "diluted ammonia" that you mentioned could have to do with some of the loss as well. It may have made it so the bacteria's food source was more limited to them (less to feed on at once) which in turn led to some bacteria to dying off

 

Yeah that makes sense, thank you for your input.