Advice on cleaning Fluval 404 Help

[aharrow]

I have a fluval 404 and my tank has been running about 2 months. I cycled in the beginning with live rock and it took about 4-5 weeks after the ammonia spiked to 8ppm and then went to 0. Nirtites reduced to 0 then my nitrates were above 80ppm. Then they went down to 10 and I added fish. The fish have all been doing excellent. I had a cloudy eye with my bluering angel right after I got him but with the advice from the board he has recovered very nicely and everyone is very happy. However with my last test of the water I received the following results.
Amm 0.25
Nirtites 5ppm
Nirtrates 20 ppm
salinity 1.022
temp 78
ph 8.2
I am concerned with the nitrites rising. I am in need of a filter cleaning. I do add bacteria solution marine max every two weeks. Could this be causing my spike in the nirtrite? I seem to be having some build up on the walls of algae. I have a turbo snails but they seem to not be doing the job. I am going to the LFS tonight to get some more snails.
I need advice on cleaning the fluval. I am reading the manual but it is basic stuff. Want to hear from people that have one. Thanks

 

[timsedwards]

Hi there,
Nitrites usually rise to break up ammonia, My advice would be to sort out ammonia and that would in turn sort out nitrite. What is the biological max you are adding? is it like a cycle?
When cleaning, try and use old tank water or RO water and give the sponges a good squeze etc. Personally i ahve never touched the biological stuff.
All the best,
Tim.

 

[jim672]

I've had a Fluval 304 on my 45 gallon for about 2 years. I replace the spong filters about every month but try to replace only 2 at a time. My tank is mature so I don;t use carbon. I do use the biofilter media Fluval provides. When I replace the sponges I rinse the other media in old saltwater from a water change. That way, I'm not killing the bacteria that have grown in the media.
It looks like you're using the Fluval and a Penguin filter, right? I don't think you need both of those with your lr and ls, which will be assisting in your biological filtration.
I don't think I'd use that solution you mentioned either. Although I'm not familiar with it, at this point your tank should have grown the bacteria it will need.
My guess is that the addition of the angel was enough, in an immature system with 4 other fish, to cause a mini-cycle. That's probably why your water parameters look like they do.
Some water changes are probably in order here. Do 10-15% twice a week or so, until your parameters return to normal.
One final, and unpleasant, thing to mention.......a large angel like yours is going to outgrow your tank in no time. Having it in there is probably jeopardizing its health and, at least, your royal Gramma's as well. Angel's also need very stable, mature systems.......and yours is anything but that right now.
If it does survive in your tank, the bioload from it and the other fish may cause good water parameters to be very difficult to maintain.
Jim

 

[scubamedic]

I took the sponges out of mine. I use filter floss in the media containers instead. It is much easier to just take the floss and toss it out and replace it than it is the clean the sponges. I then use some type of bio media in the top container. I happen to use SeaChem Matrix in mine. You can use carbon in between the bottom and top containers.
This makes it very easy to clean. Just throw out and replace the floss, change the carbon and never touch the Matrix.

 

[aharrow]

Thanks Jim-
I understand that the juvenile will outgrow the tank and I am going to upgrade soon to a 75-125 gal. I plan on getting the tank in the next few months.
I will do a 15% water change tonight and continue to do so until the parameters go down. The only reason I am using the penguin is it was suggested that I increase the airation in the tank because we think that the angel was injured in netting him at the LFS. After I did that and the water change his health immediately increased back to normal two days later. I keep it on there out of paranoia. I am currently looking for a larger tank. With the rule of thumb at 1" per 2-3 gallons I should be alright until the end of the summer, but I plan to move up before then. Thanks for the advice.
I will look into changing the filter media in the fluval with the water from the water change.

 

[jim672]

I'm glad you're planning ahead.
As I think about it some more, keeping the Pengiun for surface water movement and subsequent gas exchange it provides is probably a very good idea....especially right now.
The "Rule of Thumb" is actually 1" of fish for every 5 gallons of water......but you've got the idea and,again, I'm glad you're planning ahead.
Jim