Cleaning My Filter

Hi all, this is my first post on here.....

I have a 14 day old tank and am currently going through the 'cycle', I am doing water changes and hoovering every 2 days but my nitrites are reading 3 -5 constantly. my question is should I be cleaning my filter pads and poly pad when I do a water change or is this washing away any bacteria that is building up? I am cleaning the pads in tank water btw ( filter is a fluval3 plus)

Thanks in Advance

Rich

The beneficial bacteria that help cycle the tank live in the filter pads as well as other places like plants and the substrate. It can take a month or more for an aquarium to cycle, so leave the filters alone for now. A completely cycled aquarium will have a zero ammonia reading and will be safe for fish. To speed the cycling process, you can add a small amount of flake food every other day.

If you or a friend have an already established aquarium, you can collect a cupful of gravel with all the good cooties in it, and put it in your cycling aquarium.

That will speed up the process...

And Welcome Aboard!!

i am in the same boat with my new 12 gallon and i initially cycled it with plants and snails. 2-3 weeks later it is doing okay....snails are multiplying.

Snails can help the cycling process, but they can also take over an aquarium. If you start to see too many, put a lettuce leaf (the white part especially) on top. In a couple of days, the leaf will be full of snails, and you can dispose of the whole thing. Other lures like Swiss chard will also help control the snail population. Please don't release them or anything from the aquarium into any local body of water.

my new tank has stabilized. the cory dora did not make it. now i have a golden algae eater and 4 blood fin tetras. the dude at petsmart said these were among the hardiest fish. 2 weeks and doing okay...actually had a bit of white cottony growth on the mouth. i added an anti fungus tablet...the jungle brand. reduced it a bit, but not completely. planning doing a water change this weekend and adding another dose.

i have crushed coral in my 130g freshwater if i put a cup of it in my 10g should i pour it all in there or just place the cup in there?

Ive always dumped it in. My thery was that more water would come into contact with it and then make the aquarium cycle faster. others might share other openions but thats what I have always done.

Before medicating, it's important to find out what caused the fungus in then first place. Many times, it's an aquarium maintenance problem, and a disease or parasite will likely return if the problem is not solved.

Is the fungus on a fish? Or on the gravel?

I put the cup with the gravel in it in the aquarium, I use a lot of different solid color gravels... and I don't like to mix the colors... Other than that, it'd be fine to just pour it in.

the fungus is on the mouth. still going down. so i might be okay. did a water change.