# I Think My Tank's Cycled...Now What?



## Flying Unagi (Sep 15, 2010)

Good news! *keeps fingers crossed that she's not jinxing herself* I've been trying to cycle my 20 gallon tank since early September, and as of 11/20 (two Saturdays ago), my ammonia and nitrites have finally dropped to 0 ppm. Did a 25% water change that same day and have been testing water every three days or so. Yesterday before I did another 25% water change, the ammonia and nitrites were still at 0 ppm and nitrates were between 20-40 ppm. So I'm pretty excited to have made it this far. 

My questions are:
1. I have an old filter cartridge from a friend's cycled tank that's been in my filter since 10/15. When can I safely remove that? I really DO NOT want to crash my tank after working for almost three months to get it cycled, but the filter media looks so rotten and is probably restricting some water flow.

2. How often should I vacuum the gravel now that the tank's cycled? I never did any heavy vacuuming while the tank was cycling because I was afraid of disturbing any bacteria, but is once a week too often? Once a month?

3. How often should I clean my filter? And how? Again, I've only (tried) cleaning it once since getting the tank set up in early September. Frankly, the idea of cleaning anything with wires in it scares the crap out of me.

4. How do I know when my filter cartridge needs replacing? I know that's where all the beneficial bacteria is, so I obviously don't want to change it out, but I know eventually I'll need to (current one's only gotten nasty-looking in the last two weeks or so). Right now I just swish the cartridge around in old tank water when I do water changes.

5. Is there anything else I need to know in terms of weekly tank maintenance? I plan to keep up the 25% weekly water changes.

Thanks so much for your help!!


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

start adding fish very slowly it will build up more benificial bacteria. you may only want to add 1-2 for starters to ensure you dont overload the tank. continue to check your parameters. if everything stays in check after a bout a week you can add a few more. wait until you get a healthy fish stock before concidering pulling the filter cartridge out. i always run 2 cartridges in each filter so that i can replace one without any problems. you want to gravel vac everytime u do a water change which is once a week. you only replace the filter cartridges when they start to fall apart but u want to clean them usually once a month. clean them in old tank water not tap. when u are draining water into a bucket take the filter cartridge and dip it in the water and just gently rub it off with ur hands to get the gunk off. again i keep 2 cartridges in my filters and i alternate cleaning them as to not wash off to much bacteria at one time. i also like to take and add stress zyme or other types of biological bacteria in a bottle to help replenish the bacteria i am taking out. you rarely need to clean the actual filter unless its getting really gunky but really unless your overstocked they shouldn't be getting that dirty. i typically only clean mine maybe every 6+ months and only do a light rinse. another thing is the carbon in the filter cartridges. unless you need to remove medicines or other chemicals from your tank they are pretty much not needed. the ammonia crystals can help but again not neccisary with proper tank maintance. whenever i get a new filter i just cut it open from the get go and dump all of it out. this way if you do have to treat with chemicals you dont have to worry about it and when the time comes to remove the chemicals you can just add some carbon. also if you dont remove the carbon and it has been in your tank for more than a month it actually will start to leach whatever it removed from your tank back into it.


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