dirty a$$ water!

[mujtba]

hopefully nothing will die of mines..
plz answer my other questions...

 

[birdy]

It is not the bacteria that you are worried about killing off, it is the worms (worms are a good thing to have) and life that you paid all the money for on the LR.
pH does not matter while cycling a tank.
Rinse your filter pads in the HOB filters on a daily basis (rinse them in SALTWATER) this will help clean up the tank.
definetly fill the tank up, then monitor your levels and do water changes as necessary to keep ammonia levels down. No matter what anyone else says your tank will cycle with water changes.

 

[mujtba]

ok thanks. so im assuming those worms are good guys... and should be left alone.

 

[latino277]

IMO. I would remove the filter pads. if you will the HOB with Carbon. the larger floating particals will be traped by the carbon and the smaller particals will still be available for the bacteria to adhere to.

 

[mujtba]

do i put activated carbon loose in the HOB or the carbon in a bag or something and then place it in the HOB?
can i leave the carbon in always once i have livestock? does it help?
also, how much carbon do i add?

 

[birdy]

They sell micron bags that you can put the carbon in, then you place this in your HOB filter. The filter catridges are not bad, you just have to clean them often, and the carbon in them is used up in about 48hrs.

 

[mujtba]

okay heres what i did today.
i removed all my LR and cleaned them by removing the large decomposing nasty smelling clams, particles..
i got carbon for my filter.
i filled my tank with new saltwater..
water is still nasty looking.
do you think all my bacteria is dead from what i did today?

 

[lionfish12]

I think you would be ok. You might want to get someone else to tell you something.

 

[birdy]

You should be fine, just let the tank do it's thing, the bacteria comes from the decaying matter, just leave it alone and it will clear up.

 

[latino277]

OK... this is what it sounds like. most of the "nasty" looking water seem to be comming from the Sand (sand storm) this is fine and normal. don't worry about that. just put everything back in the tank with SW and fill the tank to the top and let it be! everything will settle in time. Be Very pateint with it!
Buy the Micron bags. I fine them to be the best for carbon. fill the bag with Carbon and put in you HOB. you can use Carbon 24/7 but like the Protein skimmer it can remove trace elements. I use it one week on and one off. the other thing with carbon is that it has to be changed every couple of day. I change it every friday with my friday Beer tank cleaning... LOL. you can use the carbon while cycling and it will help the water look better. BUT remember.... let the tank do it's thing.