Changing of filter for newbies

[huffie]

Typically when washing of filter it's advised to use the fish tank water. But what to do when the filter is totally disintegrated or clogged as the new filter will not have any "good" bacteria? Previously I replaced the entire filter and fish die . TIA

[bennyc]

Can i know how is your filter setup? It is not advisable to wash your media (ceramic rings, lava rock etc) in tap water or else your Beneficial Bacterial will die. I normally just wash or change my filter wool.

Are you using canister filter? maybe you can consider using a prefilter so you can do more frequent maintenance on it and prevent clogging.

[huffie]

Sorry to leave out the crucial info. I'm using overhead filter with ceramic rings, bio ball and washable filter wool.i leave everything as it is and only touch the wool filter by washing and replacing it.my question is do I need to do anything when replacing the wool filter completely? Thanks again

[bennyc]

If I have enough clean tank water, I will rinse the biological filter such as ceramic rings so that the pores is not struck with fine "dirt". The effectiveness will be reduce, as there is less surface for the BB to live. Personally, I wash my filter wool under running tap water as I use it for pure mechical filtration purpose. If you think your bio load is very high, and therefore want the most BB possible for existing set up, you might consider washing the wool using tank water. However, I feel quite a substantial amount of tank water is needed to wash the wool clean.

I strongly suggest you clean your filter wool frequently. If you wait for it to clog, your biological filter (ceramic rings, bio balls) will not be optimum and it is really a waste in putting it in the first place.

[Urban Aquaria]

Sorry to leave out the crucial info. I'm using overhead filter with ceramic rings, bio ball and washable filter wool.i leave everything as it is and only touch the wool filter by washing and replacing it.my question is do I need to do anything when replacing the wool filter completely? Thanks again

With a good quantity of cycled bio-media (like the ceramic rings and bio-balls you are using), there should be more than enough beneficial bacteria living in them to re-populate the new filter wool relatively quickly, so your tank should not encounter any noticeable mini cycles or spikes if its changed.

If just changing the filter wool can crash your tank and cast it into another cycle, then consider adding more bio-media (or better quality bio-media) which can hold a larger reserve of beneficial bacteria to buffer for any bacteria losses during filter maintenance.

[huffie]

With a good quantity of cycled bio-media (like the ceramic rings and bio-balls you are using), there should be more than enough beneficial bacteria living in them to re-populate the new filter wool relatively quickly, so your tank should not encounter any noticeable mini cycles or spikes if its changed.

If just changing the filter wool can crash your tank and cast it into another cycle, then consider adding more bio-media (or better quality bio-media) which can hold a larger reserve of beneficial bacteria to buffer for any bacteria losses during filter maintenance.

Ok noted, shall know what to look out for if there's another spike once the filter has been changed. However, as the bio-balls and ceramic rings were given by my friend, most of the bio-balls are not really submerged in water, only the ceramic rings are under the wool filter and the bio-balls are only at the section of drainage back into the fish tank. Perhaps shall look for smaller bio-balls also...
Thanks for the advise.