Gravel Vacuum Question.

[kurtismjohnson]

So I have had my fish tank for a little over a month now and I just vacuumed it for the first time yesterday. My nitrogen cycled had recently completed before the vacuuming. My concern here is this.....

As I was vacuuming, I'm afraid I may have removed too much water. I vacuumed once but didnt quite get the hang of it so I missed a lot of waste. After I sucked out about half my water, I refilled it and vacuumed again. This time I got most of the crap. I'm afraid I may have practically done a full water change. I never emptied all of the water at once, but since I vacuumed about half the water twice did I do too much? I havent seen anything bad happen and its been about 24 hours. But im afraid I may have reset my nitrogen cycle and I dont want my fish to get sick. Should I be concerned? What should I do? If anything...

Thanks!

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

There is very little if any beneficial bacteria in the water, it is in the filter media and gravel and any decor in the tank. Do you have a way of check in the water parameters? It sounds like you do, since you said the cycle had completed. The only way to know that is to test the water and see 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and under 20 nitrates. If you are using the strips, most people find them inaccurate at best and we all recommend one of the liquid test kits (I use the API Fresh Water master kit) Just check the parameters and see if you still read 0-0-20 (or under) you are good. Did you clean the filter at all? If so how?

 

[aakaakaak]

For future vacuums, you can do a section of the tank at a time. Remove the decorations in that area, suck at the substrate, then do the next section on your next water change/gravel vac. I've been splitting my tanks into 3 sections.

 

[kurtismjohnson]

Thanks for the responses. I took some water to petsmart and they tested it and said I was fine. I just didn't know if changing too much water would reset my whole cycle. I guess I didn't know for sure if the cycle had completed, but since Ive had it for over a month and they said my water was fine I assumed it was done.

For the first month, all my fish were great. Then last week, 2 guppies, a Mollie and my snail all died. That's when I decided I should probably vacuum it. Just afraid I may have over done it. From now on I will do one section at a time. And no, I didn't clean the filter.

 

[OrangeCones]

I took some water to petsmart and they tested it and said I was fine.

Be sure to either a) have them write down the actual readings for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (NEVER, EVER let them say its 'fine'...they just want you to buy more fish/supplies, so may tell you whatever it takes to make the sale) or b) get your own LIQUID test kit to test for those. If the pet store is using a dip strip, they are not known for being very accurate.

Then last week, 2 guppies, a Mollie and my snail all died.

If the fish/snail have died recently, I suspect your tank is NOT cycled yet. It generally takes a few months to do a fish-in cycle. They likely died from the affects of ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning. The best way to keep the rest healthy (and don't get talked into more fish until you know your tank has cycled), is to get your own testing supplies.

What sized tank is this, and what kind of fish/how many do you have in the tank? What is your water change schedule been like since you set this up?

 

[kurtismjohnson]

Its a 10 gallon tank. And i actually already got more fish. Whoops! I have a Platy and 2 of its babies and 3 black skirt tetras. Everything seems to be ok as of now. Ive just heard so many different things. Ive heard it takes 2-4 weeks for a tank to cycle and ive heard 2-4 months. I just wanted to believe that it was 2-4 weeks. I figured they died because as it turns out i didnt do a very good job of changing the water and vacuuming. Its not because i'm a bad fish owner, i just didnt know any better since i was new to it. I guess this is the question i need answered:

Say that my tank WAS finished cycling. If it is 100% good to go, would it be harmful to change all of the water? Not that I would ever intentionally do that, but like I said, Im afraid I may have practically done that by vacuuming. I think my vacuum is too big, so im going to get a smaller one. It sucked out too much water before it was done. I put water conditioner in it after i refilled it. Im just hoping there is enough beneficial bacteria in the filter and gravel that i shouldnt have too much to worry about. Im just going to be more careful from here on out.

 

[kurtismjohnson]

So I just read something that may help explain why my fish died so fast. I didnt really know exactly what "filter media" was. I knew I had a filter, but didnt realize what media meant. Im an idiot, I know. If thats where most of the beneficial bacteria is, would it be bad for the fish to take the old blue filter pad out and add a new one? Or is there something else I should do. Im assuming most of the bacteria builds up in that pad. Is this correct? Now that i think about it, I changed that blue pad right before everything went down hill. Or does the beneficial bacteria build up in the other white pad?

 

[kurtismjohnson]

Just for more information, here are some pics of my filter.... Its an Aqua Tech 5-15.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/253/img0457t.jpg

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/7669/img0456e.jpg

http://source-www.petco.com/assets/product_images/4/4743101353B.jpg

I changed the blue on in the last picture. I dont think im supposed to change the white one seen in the middle picture. whats the difference between the two? Could changing the blue one have caused any problems? Please help! I dont want more fish to die!

 

[blue_ram]

The blue pad gets changed the white pad that looks like a frosted mini wheat never-ever gets changed, that is where your bacteria live.

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

I would not change the blue filter either until it falls apart. Just clean in OLD tank water or clean declorinated water. If you use tap water it would kill all the beneficial bacteria living in/on it. It looks like the blue one is the mechanical filter and the white one is the biological filter.