filter cleaning cycling

[Nicknackzz13]

Do we clean the filter cartridges when the tank is cycling or even after its established (so we replace them every 6weeks but clan them every week)?

Ive cleaned mine twice and replaced once

curious about this (Cleaned and replaced cause i bought the tank with filter second hand so i left some of the other stuff in the filter (slime/green and dark thick stuff) but cleaned the rest and replaced the 2 cartridges


for a tank thats been in a cycle now for about 11 days its pretty clean, some diatoms and rotting food that i cant get at (bloodworms that my chromish never ate so stopped feeding them and use brine shrimp) and some greeny brown algae stuff on certain parts of the live rock, gravy brown coloration of stain? inbetween the glass and sand and up the side of the glass..

also unsure do i leave the tank to sit and cycle and not change water just top it off when it evaperates and what if my salinity starts to fall?

quite a bit of questions but whoever can answer them all id appreciate it!

 

[Nicknackzz13]

My salinity was around the 0.125 -26 now at around a 0.122-23

Powerhead, 20 gallon tank, bio wheel filter, live sand,live rock etc

 

[Scotty LaBeouf]

yeah let the tank fully cycle and the do a water change depending on the size of the tank do a 10-20% change, and yea top off always when its is needed. As far as the filter cleaning goes leave em till its done cycling then clean every 1-2 weeks. hope this helps!

 

[Diesel]

Do you test your water?
Only by testing you will know it's done cycling.
As you mentioned you already have a chromis in there I wouldn't worry about ammonia or nitrite anymore but start testing for your Po4 and No3 as you want nutrient control now.
Try siphon out any uneaten food parts or get a CUC (snails and crabs etc.....)
Loss of salt can be a loss of saltwater not just evaporation. maybe you have a small leak or salt creep some where.
Cab you post up a picture to see what we looking at here.

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