# Substrate setback



## ro laren (May 3, 2012)

Man, I thought I was doing good, being patient, doing it right. But I've gone and messed things up, I think. 
The tank has been running for 2 1/2 weeks, processing ammonia like a champ (4ppm in 24hrs); I felt like any day now my nitrites would start to come down too. 
The problem is I didn't have enough substrate, less than a pound per gallon, and I wanted more. 
So I drained the tank as far as I could (there was still a few inches at the bottom) and put some flourite in there the day before yesterday.
I didn't rinse it. (It said you didn't have to.) This was a major mistake. When I filled the tank it was basically mud! I left it this way for 12 hours to see if the filter would clear it, but it didn't.
So I drained it again, then realized I needed to cap the substrate with something, because I didn't want to do this again. So we ran to Home Depot and got some Play Sand, rinsed it really well, and scooped it into the tank. 
Then I refilled, using one 5-gal bucket with enough Prime in it to dechlor 30 gallons, siphoning from this bucket into the tank while refilling it by hand from the tap. (I don't have a hose.)
Now it's mostly clear, except for some milkiness. I thought this would go away by now (it's been about 20 hours).
I dosed the water with 4 ppm ammonia as soon as it was refilled, and now I've tested it, almost a full day later, and still have 4ppm ammonia and 0 nitrites.

Q: Did I kill my bacteria by dechlorinating it improperly? Did they die because I had the filter off for too long (I didn't let it dry out, or come into contact with untreated tap water)?

TL; DR: Added flourite, clouded water; capped flourite with sand, now milky white and no bacteria action


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Test it. Dose some ammonia. That will tell you. You may have lost some, but may still be okay. You may have caused a minor setback.


----------



## ro laren (May 3, 2012)

Whew. Just checked it again and detected about 2ppm nitrite, and about 2ppm ammonia (down from 4ppm). So maybe I lost half the colony. Guess I panicked a little early. And I'm told to wait a couple of days for the milky color of the water to go away. Thanks


----------



## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

when i put substraite in i keep the filter off for an hour or two to let it settle, it def helps with the cloudyness


----------



## ro laren (May 3, 2012)

It seemed like the visible grains of sand settled really really quickly. On the other hand waiting might have helped, but I was really concerned about my biofilter getting oxygen.


----------



## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

if its a canister or fully submerded it would be fine to keep off.


----------



## ro laren (May 3, 2012)

Just so no one else tries that– I have an HOB, not a canister, but it was fully submerged the whole time. About half my BB died off, according to subsequent tests I've done. Ammonia dosed to 4ppm, 24 hours later, remained at 2ppm. (It had been processing 4ppm to 0 in less than 24 hours.)
They can't be without oxygen for as many hours as I had the filter unplugged (it was at least 3 hours).


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

The reason being as the tank wasn't fully cycled. Filter media usually don't start dieing off till about 12 hours.


----------



## ro laren (May 3, 2012)

I'm curious why that would be? Like I said, it was converting 4ppm ammonia in less than 24 hours before; all that remained was for the second colony to grow, right? Why would that affect the nitrosomonas bacteria's ability to stay alive with no water flow?


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

The tank wouldn't be cycled until nitrites are spiked and then down to zero, nitrates will rise during this time.

A healthy filter the bacteria will live a certain amount of time before it starts dieing off. In a new tank it might die off a little faster but not that much different


----------

