rinsing biological media

[rkmayphd]

I just rinsed out my cannister filter for the first time (FLuval 305). I was starting to see a small rise in trates, and had not ever rinsed rinsed it (it has been going for 6 weeks).
I watched the instructional video that came with it, and followed the instructions. I rinsed the media (ceramic biomax and carbon) as well as the foam. I used freshwater from my sink to rinse it with.
My question is- should I have rinsed with saltwater? Will the freshwater kill these bateria? I did not rinse them long, just long enough to remove the accumulated debris.
Thanks

 

[dmjordan]

I clean my canister and foam pads every week when I do my regular waterchanges. I don't rinse my biomedia (bio chem stars and bio chem rings) because I want the beneficial bacteria to stay colonized on the media.
I rinse and clean everything in saltwater...especially the foam pads.
Replace 1 of the foam pads every month (alternating) to help prevent trates from accumilating.(sp?)
It would be a good idea to replace carbon frequently and not just rince it.

 

[rkmayphd]

will the freshwater have killed the bacteria?

 

[dmjordan]

my guess would be yes

 

[rkmayphd]

hopefully it did not kill them all off and that there are enough bacteria in in my rock and substrate that this mistake will not cause a minicycle? Are their any preventitive measures that I should take?

 

[cgrant]

Unfortunately not alot you will be able to do but wait, If your tank starts to recycle get some of that ammonia remove media, basically you run the stuff like you would carbon, looks like carbon but greyish in color.
You dont want to rinse more than 25% of your biological filter more than once a month, thats what i do on my tanks and never had a tank cycle again.
Dont use freshwater, always use saltwater, i use my old saltwater to rinse off 25% of my bio-balls once a month during my water change.

 

[rkmayphd]

how long do you think it will take to see whther or not my ammonia is going to rise?

 

[dmjordan]

I would check it periodically throughout the day but I would imagine it could take 24 - 48 hours to show

 

[rkmayphd]

should I decrease feeding? or something similar?
I have a regular 10% water change planned for tomorrow- should I go ahead with that? If I do, maybe I should not sweep the substrate as I usually do to preserve any bacteria there.
Thanks for all your input.

 

[dmjordan]

what kind of substrate are you using?

 

[dmjordan]

how often do you do water changes?

 

[rkmayphd]

I am using crushed coral- put it in before I found this site.
I do a 10% change every 10 days. I mix my own sw, using ro. I mixed my water earlier today, in prep for tomorrows change.

 

[dmjordan]

cc and the foam pads in your canister will both trap nitrates which explains the increase in trates.
replace 1 foam pad (alternating) evry month and vacuum cc thoroughly with each water change
IMO I would slowly take out the cc and replace with ls (need to do slowly over the course of several water changes)
check your levels tomorrow and see what they are.
I would still do a small water change to replace all of the trace elements that are used up or removed by a skimmer.

 

[rkmayphd]

It has been about 24hrs since my rinsing blunder, and there has been no increase in ammonia whatsoever. Still reading .00. DO you think I am ok?
I have yet to do my water change. I will do it later today when my 19mo old is napping. She usually adds an extra degree of difficulty to the process
Thanks

 

[dmjordan]

Do you have any livestock in your tank?

 

[n2theblue]

I have six dogs, so I understand the added degree of difficulty with H2O changes, LOL.
Probably worse than the freshwater rinsing is the chlorine that is most likely in your tap water. The chlorine is in the water to keep bacteria and stuff from growing and it doesn't discriminate between bad bacteria and the good bacteria on your filter media. Thats why we use RO water or treated tap water before it goes in the tank.
In the future, you can do what I do, which is just rinse out the media with the old water that I've taken out during the water change. I start with the bio-media (since it's the "cleanest") than work my way back towards the prefilter sponges (which I consider the "dirtiest"). This way I can use the same bucket of water without exposing the final stages of media to the stuff that is normally trapped right in the begining. I replace my carbon every three weeks (It's split into two bags so week 1 I change bag A, week 2 I change bag B, week 3 change nothing, week 4 change bag A, week 5 change bag B, etc..) so I'm not changing it all at once. I'm still learning a ton about this hobby, and am by no means an expert, but this system has been working great for me.
I doubt this misadventure will have a huge impact on the health of your tank, and hopefully you've learned a little more about this great hobby. Best of luck in the future.

 

[rkmayphd]

Thanks,
dmjordan- Yes I do have livestock- a small foxface, a toby puffer, a firefish and two false percs. I also have 8-10 hermits and 2 turbos.
n2theblue- thanks for the advice. I think I will adopt that or a similar strategy after the next water change.
30 hours after the mishap and still no rise in ammonia. Hopefully I will be in the clear.

 

[dmjordan]

I would go ahead and do the water change if you haven't already. Just run your test everyday for the next couple of days to make sure everything is ok.

 

[rkmayphd]

I did the change a couple of hours ago. Thanks

 

[ophiura]

The problem IMO is not only that you used freshwater, but that you used tap water...the chlorine will kill off bacteria. So that is definitely not a good plan, as others have pointed out. Hopefully there will be limited impact, but in the future just use "old" tank water or something.