Do NOT clean the filters (well not for quite a while anyway).LogiBear1101 wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 7:25 am The tank is 110l and I live in a reasonably hard water area I treat the water with waterlife haloex tap water safe when I change the water and use aqua care bio boost. Are these the same thing just by a different name?
Do I need to wash the filters when I do the change some people have told me to leave the filters because that’s where the tank is building the good bacteria?
When maintaining the filters it is important to protect the beneficial bacteria that reside inside the filters.
These filters and beneficial bacteria are the beating heart of the the aquarium and are keeping your fish safe.
When cleaning/maintaining the filters you only do it gradually and one part at a time, the sponge on one occasion and only one sponge on rotation, the biological media on another occasion.
The outside of the filter can be cleaned during the aquarium cleaning/maintaining schedule but not the inside.
Any filter media can only be cleaned by using tank water taken from the aquarium (example during water changes).
Aquacare Bio-boost and Waterlife Holoex Aqua safe.
Waterlife Holoex Aqua safe is a dechorinator.
Water companies add chlorine and/or chloramine to their water as a disinfectant to kill parasites, bacteria, and viruses.
Unfortunately this chlorine and/or chloramine is not good for the beneficial bacteria in the filters (it will likely kill the bacteria) and not good for the fish either.
So we add a dechorinator to the clean water BEFORE it goes back in to the aquarium so that new water is made safe.
There are many dechlorinators on the market, they all dechlorinate but some are better value than others.
Seachem Prime is a concentrated dechlorinator and great value, you may require a small syringe to measure the dosage.
Let's compare two dechlorinator products, Tetra Aquasafe and Seachem Prime.
Tetra Aquasafe 500ml bottle costs approx £17.00.
The instructions say "Add 5 ml of Tetra AquaSafe for every 10 litres of newly added tap water", so 500ml will treat 1,000 litres of new water.
Seachem Prime 500ml bottle costs approx £18.00.
The instructions say "Add 5 ml of Seachem Prime for every 200 litres of newly added tap water", so 500ml will treat 20,000 litres of new water.
Seachem Prime also detoxifies ammonia, nitrite & nitrate plus it will also detoxify any heavy metals found in tap water at typical concentration levels.
So for approximately the same price Seachem Prime will treat approx 20x that of Tetra Aquasafe.
The Waterlife Haloex tap water safe costs arround £10 for a 250ml bottle and will treat approx 2,500 litres of new water.
Pro rata 2 x 250ml bottles (500ml) will cost around £20.00 and treat approx 5,000 litres of new water.
I know the one that I would choose and have in my cupboard.
Aquacare Bio-boost is a bacteria "in a bottle" product.
There are many bacteria "in a bottle" products on the market, some may work but many have minimal effect and not worth the bother or money.
However, there are three products that I know that actually work.
Seachem Stability, Tetra SafeStart and Dr Tim's One and Only.
The above three products are scientifically proven to work and contain the correct strains of nitrifying bacteria to help and boost the beneficial bacteria.
These products can help and speed up the cycling process in an uncycled aquarium/filter.
You must follow the instructions on the bottle.
Something that is often over-looked but is necessary (not an opinion) is a reliable liquid test kit.
Test strips are unreliable but liquid test kits are more reliable.
The liquid test kit that is popular, even amongst experience fish keepers, is the API Freshwater Master test kit.
It may cost around £30.00 but can last for approx 3 years.
It will test pH, high pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I have one in my cupboard.
All the best
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