fluval 305 media density

[magnosis]

Last week I did my monthly filter cleanup. As usual, it wasn't pretty. Lots and lots of brown gunk stuck at every layer.

I cleaned the coarse sponge under tap water, other media in buckets of tank water.
I replaced the middle basket floss (way to clogged) with 2" of super dense painting sponge.

The painter's sponge I added is AFAIK the densest sponge I could find in store. Pretty sure it's denser than quilt stuffing / walmart floss that a lot of ppl use. I could be wrong.

Next day: water has a slight cloudiness.
3 days after: water is clearly getting cloudier. I can see thousands of little debris.
Now: just to say I can see through the tank from the side (looking through 4ft water)

There's an insane amount of tiny debris in the water.

Is it possible that the new sponge is too dense, thus forcing the water to take another path inside the Fluval ?  Again, I don't notice much drop in the output flow.

Any ideas ?

[magnosis]

Oh, I have an idea...

Don't be me, and use painting sponge in the filter, especially without knowing that said sponge is made of.


It made the water cloudy as hell and I feared for the fish health. I removed it, used carbon to clean the water, and it's looked better now.

I bought a huge bag of walmart floss for 4$ instead. It's much better.

[dan2x38]

The cloudiness might have been more than b/c of the sponge. You did a lot to the filter. You used tap water to rinse the coarse sponge I wouldn't do that it is part of the bio-filter too even if a mechancial part of the filter. I use tank water only for all stages of my filters. You replaced the floss another hit to the bio-filter. I know this filter and to me I am picturing 1/2 the bio-filter gone. This could cause a mini cycle hence bacteria bloom in the water causing some cloudiness - maybe.

Yes the sponge could be to dense causing the water to take another path. Sometimes trying to cut corners can be very dangerous to our fish if you do not know exactly what the results will be or what you are using. You can buy bulk sponge at Big Al's and cut to fit. These sponges last a long time. In 5 years I've replaced only 2 and was running 16 tanks at one point. I only replaced one when it started to fall apart and did not rebound shape when squeezing gunk out.

[magnosis]

I hear what you say about changing too much in the filter.  I did this in two steps. 

Rinsing coarse sponges under tap water is what a lot of people seem to do, I thought it was ok.  I mean, I would need like 10 buckets of tank water to clean it up as much as it's clogged :/

I''ve remove the sponges, did a 80% wc, added a bit of salt, added carbon to the filter for a week, then another 80% wc.  I kept on top of water params, everything looked sane, the cloudiness is gone now.

I'm now replacing the used carbon by walmart floss.   The water is crystal clear now.

Issues left are the white spots (bacteria or fungus) on my goldies foreheads, and that darn thread algae.  Otherwise my tank looks ok (my black mollies have even bred and spawned about 25 babies, so I guess things were not *that* bad)

[dan2x38]

I'd keep an eye on the spots and if they do not become open sores or get fungus they likely will clear up. That is if the water stays prestibe for now. A bacteria infection could easily take hold. I try to avoid meds at all cost. Water changes are a great approach to issues.

[magnosis]

Thanks Dan. You're a rockstar