Removing Existing Filter Media To Add Ceramic Media?

I am not sure how to google the question I have, I just keep winding up in the same places with no answers, so hopefully a live experienced person can help me.

We have just completed a fishless cycle and we're about to add fish next week, I have them ordered, just waiting on them to come in. In the mean time, I'm still feeding ammonia to keep our bacteria alive. (speaking of, how long can they go without ammonia before all your bacteria die?) We have the stock filter that came with our tank for now (will def upgrade in the future), its a 38 gallon and has a Penguin 200 filter. This filter has 2 slots for the blue carbon filters. I went ahead and put 2 of these filters in there when we started cycling, just to give the bacteria more places to grow. I have since acquired some biosponge, of which I cut a piece to slide behind the 2 carbon filters in that open area, but I also have some ceramic media rings and a bag for them, because I have heard they are so much better than the sponges.

My question is, if I take out one of the blue carbon filters to make room for the ceramic media bag, will that screw up my newly cycled tank? I am scared of taking too much out, especially since we are adding fish next week. I would hate to lose the little guys after doing all this hard work. Will the existing filter/biosponge be enough bacteria to get us through? Should I wait a few more months before trying to remove one of them to free up space or will it make no difference at this point?

Thank you in advance!!!

 

Cut the blue filter material off the plastic piece and keep it in for awhile should give you room for the bio rings

 

Cut the blue filter material off the plastic piece and keep it in for awhile should give you room for the bio rings

Thank you so much!! I don't know why I didn't think of that... that will definitely free up more room!!! It's not like that carbon is doing me much good anyways lol.

Another question that has been bothering me... when I do a water change, I'm not sure there is much water left in my filter, do I need to take all my filter media out and put it in a bucket of tank water while I do my water change to keep it wet, or will it be fine sitting in the filter?

Also, one more thing that has been perplexing me... We bought one of those long siphon hoses (it's 50ft so I can run it out the door) and its supposed to hook to a water faucet so that you can refill it with water straight out of the tap. I haven't used it yet to refill the tank because I am scared haha. How do you de-chlorinate/lower the PH of this water when you do it that way?? Do you just stand there and add it as it fills or do you wait until its done filling? I would hate to kill any fish or filter bacteria, so I just keep refilling it one pitcher of water at a time because I'm scared to pump tap water directly into our tank. I keep googling that too and don't really get a straight answer.

Sorry to tack 2 more questions on here, but I am trying my hardest to figure all this out so that I don't make a mistake!

 

Thank you so much!! I don't know why I didn't think of that... that will definitely free up more room!!! It's not like that carbon is doing me much good anyways lol.

Another question that has been bothering me... when I do a water change, I'm not sure there is much water left in my filter, do I need to take all my filter media out and put it in a bucket of tank water while I do my water change to keep it wet, or will it be fine sitting in the filter?

Also, one more thing that has been perplexing me... We bought one of those long siphon hoses (it's 50ft so I can run it out the door) and its supposed to hook to a water faucet so that you can refill it with water straight out of the tap. I haven't used it yet to refill the tank because I am scared haha. How do you de-chlorinate/lower the PH of this water when you do it that way?? Do you just stand there and add it as it fills or do you wait until its done filling? I would hate to kill any fish or filter bacteria, so I just keep refilling it one pitcher of water at a time because I'm scared to pump tap water directly into our tank. I keep googling that too and don't really get a straight answer.

Sorry to tack 2 more questions on here, but I am trying my hardest to figure all this out so that I don't make a mistake!

As I am removing water from my tank, I fill the filter to keep the media wet. Probably not necessary, but I do it anyways.

As for dechlorinating, just add the entire amount of dechlorinator needed for your water change first, and then fill with the hose. No issues.

 

As I am removing water from my tank, I fill the filter to keep the media wet. Probably not necessary, but I do it anyways.

As for dechlorinating, just add the entire amount of dechlorinator needed for your water change first, and then fill with the hose. No issues.

Thank you so much! I was hoping that would be the solution. My tap water has a PH of 8.2, will adding the PH decreaser at the same time as the conditioner cause harm or are we good to go on that also? I appreciate your time! I promise that is my last question

 

Sorry, I am not familiar with how the pH decreaser works. Hopefully someone else will know.

 

Sorry, I am not familiar with how the pH decreaser works. Hopefully someone else will know.

No worries, maybe someone else will know, thank you so much for your other answers tho!!

 

Depending on the fish you are keeping, a pH of 8.2 will be fine. If you lower the pH with a chemical, it’s just going to bounce back. A stable pH is much more desirable than the perfect pH. Most of the folks around here who alter the pH of their tanks start with RO water and re-mineralize it, which is one of the more advanced skills in the hobby.

 

As pointed out by Burnout a stable PH is better then trying to lower it what fish are you putting in there? When filling after your water change start the fill and then add water conditioner for the total water volume of your tank and you will be good that how I have always done it and no issues.

Oh almost forgot your filter should not drain completely of water while doing your water change and the media will stay wet enough for the time it takes to finish water change

 

A good practice to have when you’re doing water changes is to fill a bucket with used tank water. If you need to clean your filter you have relatively clean chlorine free water you can stash your filter media while you clean your filter.

When I do water changes I use this method to clean off my mechanical and biological media.

 

Thank you everyone!!! I am still learning a lot of this as I go. I had aquariums most of my life, but it was before I had the internet, and I have since learned I was doing a lot of stuff WRONG and I am trying to do it right this time around. So I feel like I'm starting from scratch.

We plan on a community tank with some small schooling fish, chilI rasboras, harlequin rasboras, maybe a few tetras (Not sure because I read conflicting info on having them with a betta?), corys, cherry shrimp, and one betta, hopefully, as long as he's not a butt to everyone. If so, he will get kicked out of the penthouse and go back to his studio apartment lol.

It is my understanding that the higher the PH is, the more toxic ammonia, nitrite and nitrate is? Is this correct? And if so, what is considered a safe level of nitrate at that PH? I am not sure I am ready for RO water and all of that I don't think...especially if that's a more advanced skill. I am not advanced yet lol. I am still noob. I honestly had never even heard of the RO water until a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled across a post mentioning it and I had to google it.

It sure would be easier if I didn't have to fret over PH adjustments every time I do a water change, so will 8.2 be okay for the fish/shrimp we plan to get? It seems like the preferred PH for everything we want is much lower than 8.2 so I have been fretting over that!

 

I don’t know if ammonia and nitrite are more toxic at higher pH. It should be a moot point. If you cycle your tank properly and get a good bacteria colony built up, you shouldn’t be seeing any measurable quantity of either.

Nitrate isn’t really toxic to fish. It’s in just about everyone’s municipal tap water to a degree. Anything under 40 ppm should be just fine. The only way to reliably remove nitrate from your tank is water changes. Live plants will consume it, and there is some filter media that is supposed to absorb it, but when you’re just starting up it’s easier to just do your weekly water changes.

 

Mesofruffeh , at the top of the "Filters and Filtration" section where your thread is posted, there is a yellow section of posts. The 1st or 2nd one in the yellow area is titled "DIY media for Silentstream and HOB filters".

I suggest reading that thread in its entirety.

Concerning using a hose to fill your tank, that is perfectly fine, as I use that method also.

Before refilling the tank with water, turn off my filters, then dose the tank with dechlorinator.

I then start to refill the tank, holding my glass aquarium thermometer at the end of the hose. I can adjust the hot/cold faucet as needed to temp match the tank.

I use Seachem Prime and Seachem Safe as my water conditioners. Safe is just a powdered version of Prime, and even more super concentrated.

Regarding your pH questions, as other members advised, having a stable pH is far better than trying to chase pH up or down with chemicals.

My pH is 7.8, and I have very hard water.

My fish adapt just fine.

Large swings in pH is bad for fish.

 

I had a similar filter to start with and chose to switch to one that was easier to customize and did this:
1. Added (as you did) double the filter media in the filter that came in the tank and let that run a week or so *beyond* when the tank was fully cycled.
2. Added the second filter, which had a larger amount of space for DIY media rather than cartridges. I took one of the cartridges from the first filter and put that in the second filter, with ceramic media, some carbon/zeolite, a sponge (not in that order - sponge at the bottom) - whatever you need.
3. I ran both for a long time to be safe - maybe a month?
4. Removed the original filter.
5. After another week or two, removed the cartridge from that I'd moved from the original filter to the second filter.

So it was a long process, and maybe longer than it needed to be, but I didn't want any possibility of crashing the cycle.

 

Thank you everyone for all of the information!! I will not mess with the PH then, and when I add the fish I will definitely give them ample time to acclimate. I will also check with the store to see what their PH is just to see how much of a difference there is.

I cut the blue filter media off of one of those carbon cartridges and stuck it behind the other cartridge to make room for the ceramic media on Wednesday night. So far so good, my readings have still been 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and about 10 nitrate as of last night and this morning. I am still feeding it ammonia and they are clearing it within 12 hours still. So I am assuming if we are still clearing the ammonia in a timely manner, that I didn't screw up my cycle any!

Thank you Islandvic , I will definitely check out those posts. And thanks, your profile pic made me hungry LOL

Burnout1620 - thank you for that information!! I was not sure if the nitrates would be more toxic at that higher PH since I had read about ammonia definitely being more toxic at a higher PH so thank you for the clarification! I will try not to worry about that anymore.

slowdown Thank you for sharing that with me... I am thinking maybe one day we will switch over to a canister and that definitely gave me a plan for how to do so!!

I appreciate the time you all took to answer my questions!