Is Plumbers Silicone Grease safe for aquariums?

[Thyra]

I have had no problems with the filters made for the Aquon and I generally pull them about every two months. I have never had the "Mini cycle" people mention. With the artificial plants in the tank, substrate and the grids in the filter there must be plenty of beneficial bacteria.

 

[Newman]

I do not like any filter where you have to toss out the media that harbors beneficial bacteria. which is why i run sponges and ceramic rings in any filter i can.

 

[Thyra]

As long as the water parameters stay good, I just can't see pumping the water through a thoroughly gunky filter - I might as well just put a propeller in the water to move it around or get rid of the filter media entirely. The grids that hold the media have plenty of gunk on them and so does the substrate and decor and plants - altho I can't necessarily see that. I would think too much just increases the nitrates. Maybe I am wrong but it works well for me.

 

[Newman]

I wash them like twice a week now. used to be once a week.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I wash them like twice a week now. used to be once a week.

The aquaclear sponges? I rinse the AC 30 sponges from my 10 and 20g about every 4-6weeks. I do have a piece of AC sponge over the intake on the AC 30 for my 10g, so baby shrimp don't get sucked in. That too I rinse every few weeks. The shrimp keep it picked clean pretty much.

 

[Newman]

my tank is not a shrimp tank that is low in bioload I think i am pushing my luck, i may have an overstocked tank but my 40 gallon does produce so much junk on a weekly basis that i just have to do it twice now. i think its the snails fault. which happen because i overfeed. and i overfeed to make sure i don't lose my L260 due to the lames reason ever - starvation. so i always make sure i have food in that tank at night.

I wanted to run yoyo loaches to help with the snails but i think they would out compete the plecos for normal food that way since they are all bottom feeders. I already siphon the snails out with each water change (i siphon out hundreds twice a week) and yet they still number thousands somehow

 

[FreshyFresh]

my tank is not a shrimp tank that is low in bioload

I hear you.. and now that I think about about it, even my non-planted 20 long (listed in my sig) has two cheap eBay cylindrical sponge bubbler filters (similar to below) running along with the aquaclear 30. That would explain the long lasting nature of that AC sponge too.

 

[Newman]

yeah i had similar sponge filters on my 20L when i was keeping shrimp.