Filter died!?!? are my fish next??

[Jester]

my water filter just quit working, I currently have 4 cory catfish and a giant danio in the 20gallon tank... if i put in a new filter the fish tank has to nitrate cycle again doesnt it? this could kill my catfish, what should I do, any suggestion, I was thinking of taking the actual charcoal filter slide and putting it into the new machine... would that work ?

[Ted]

my water filter just quit working, I currently have 4 cory catfish and a giant danio in the 20gallon tank... if i put in a new filter the fish tank has to nitrate cycle again doesnt it? this could kill my catfish, what should I do, any suggestion, I was thinking of taking the actual charcoal filter slide and putting it into the new machine... would that work ?

You will have some beneficial bacteria in/on the gravel/rocks/plants in your tank. Put the old filter material in your new filter or just sink it in your tank to give the new material a chance to seed. Keep it in tank water in the meantime. If it dries out, the beneficial bacteria will die. If you know someone with a tank, you can ask for a "filter squeeze" where they seed your new filter material with bacteria from their presently running filter. Where are you located? Maybe you can meet someone from AA and they'll lend you a sponge. I work in the south-east part of Edmonton. You can also use a product like Stability to give your tank a chance to catch up.

Have you tried cleaning your filter? Sometimes the impellar and shaft and pump casing "gums" up and once it is cleaned, it will run again. Unplug the filter and take the impellar out. Don't get tap water on your filter media but you can clean everything else under running water. If you have a filter brush, you can pull the impellar out and gently scrub the inside of the pump casing and around the shaft and rub the impellar with your fingers. If you don't have a brush, even rinsing under running water and using your fingers sometimes does the trick. Don't get any electrical parts that aren't supposed to be wet, wet. Make sure you brush inside the intake tubes and rinse the inside of the media casing. You'd be surprised how much grunge collects there. Reassemble and cross your fingers. Prime with tank water and put back your filter media. Plug in and...

Theresa

Edited May 16, 2010 by Ted

[Jayba]

If you buy the same model of filter you could just swap the filter media over and voilà. If it is a canister you can transfer the media into the new baskets. Or if you are planning to go from a HOB filter to a canister you can squeeze the media out in the tank and throw the old filter material inside the baskets until the bacteria grows on the new media.

Hope this helps,

[Jester]

someone gave me a newbigger silfter with the water wheel and my old but the material doesnt fit so I have it hanging inside the tank on a piece of fishing line. I put the new filter and cartridge into the tank and now its time to hope for the best, as for the seeding sponge I live on the northend by dunluce.

[Ted]

someone gave me a newbigger silfter with the water wheel and my old but the material doesnt fit so I have it hanging inside the tank on a piece of fishing line. I put the new filter and cartridge into the tank and now its time to hope for the best, as for the seeding sponge I live on the northend by dunluce.

Should do the trick. Your tank doesn't sound like it's overloaded.

[JLake]

Yup as long as water is passing thru the old media pad you are golden

[Jester]

Thanks everyone

[rayfong]

Let me know if you need anything, I live on the northwest side of the city, a stone's throw away from St. Albert.