What houses the bacteria in a Tetra Whisper 20 filter?

I have been reading up on filters and the role they play in keeping your tank cycled. My filter uses the bio-bag carbon filters and then has a black "sponge" in a holder that sits in front of the bio-bag. Water passes through the bag then the sponge before emptying into the tank. Is it the bag or the sponge that maintains the bacteria?

 

All surfaces in a fish tank hold the bacteria, they are not confined to the filter alone! So... both the bag and sponge house the bacteria.

 

Gotcha. So I can change the bio-bag without losing my cycle.

 

Just rinse it out in a container of tank water to be safe. Unless it is absolutely falling apart, clean it out in that fashion. When it begins to break apart, put a replacement filter cartridge behind the other two, leave all three in there for a week, then take the old one out. This is necessary to make sure it won't cause a mini-cycle.

 

I agree with tigress

The bag really only needs replaced when it is falling apart they last pretty long
But when replacing cartridges or a sponge put the new one behind the old for about 1-2 weeks then ditch the old and if you want when you have the free space add anouther and then after a few weeks throw the oldest one out and keep that cycle going to keep them all clean and good shape

 

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