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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V4 #477

> Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 01:32:34 -0700
> From: "L. Kraven" <lkraven at primenet_com>
> Subject: Re: Keeping Quarantine Tank Filter Media in a Planted Tank
> 
> How long did you keep the Ehfisubstrat (??) in the sump of the trickle filter?  

Yes, Ehfisubtrat. It was in the sump for about a year. The host tank was well 
cycled (4 years). The host tank is also well fed (Rainbowfish) and generally has 
nitrates in the 10-20 mg/l range. Lots of nitrifying going on.  

> Suggestions:
> 
> 1.  Place some used filter media in with the bag, thereby seeding the media
> with close-proximity bacteria to speed up the spreading process.

The media in the bag was, in theory, already cycled. It was running the 
quarantine tank for a month last year before we tore the tank down and stashed 
the bag of media in the trickle filter sump. I was hoping to keep it alive for 
the next time.  

> 2.  Possibly remove some of the existing bio-media from your working filter.

We tried transferring some bioballs from the trickle filter to the Eheim filter 
but that didn't seem to work either.  Perhaps there is a different form of 
bacteria on the bioballs (exposed to air) and could not exist fully submerged.

I think your idea of balance of nutrients may be a factor. The biomedia was 
beneath the bioballs in the trickle filter so the bioballs may have been able to 
nitrify most waste before it got to the biomedia. Thus, little food was 
available, limiting the colony size. The small colony could not support the new 
quarantine tank bioload.  

Also, since the media was in the sump and didn't really have water forced 
through it, the interior media may have been anaerobic. At the least, it 
probably was exposed to far less waste than the exterior.  Again, this could 
limit the total bacteria colony size. 

So maybe there just wasn't enough bacteria kept alive. 

Or perhaps, since we set the quarantine tank up two days before we got the new 
fish, the existing bacteria received no food and died before the fish were 
added. 
 
Also, when the bag is in the canister filter, water should move through the 
media fairly evenly BUT I would guess the extreme outside edge of the media bag 
(which contacts the canister wall) may see little or no flow. 

Two problems:

1. Bacteria that was on the exterior of the media may have not seen much water 
flow. These could die and foul the tank.  

2. The interior of the media which either had little bacteria or anaerobic 
conditions may have gotten the majority of the flow and nasties could have been 
flushed out.      


George Booth in Ft. Collins, Colorado (booth at frii_com)
  http://www.frii.com/~booth/AquaticConcepts