Help my only fully cycled filter died

[nuchumYussel]

Hi, I have a 20 gallon tank w/ a Penguin Bio-Wheel 125. About 3 weeks
ago, I noticed the Penguin was starting to die. About a week and half
ago, I put a Liberty Ehiem onto the tank. I was going to leave the
Penguin on the tank until the Eheim was cycled. My Penguin has just
died. No suction and no water coming out. My nitrites are at .50 ppm.
Ammonia is at 0 ppm. Does anyone have any suggestions as for what I
can do while the Liberty Ehiem is cycling?

Thanks for looking!
Evan Davis

[NetMax]

"nuchumYussel" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi, I have a 20 gallon tank w/ a Penguin Bio-Wheel 125. About 3 weeks
> ago, I noticed the Penguin was starting to die. About a week and half
> ago, I put a Liberty Ehiem onto the tank. I was going to leave the
> Penguin on the tank until the Eheim was cycled. My Penguin has just
> died. No suction and no water coming out. My nitrites are at .50 ppm.
> Ammonia is at 0 ppm. Does anyone have any suggestions as for what I
> can do while the Liberty Ehiem is cycling?
>
> Thanks for looking!
> Evan Davis

From the Penguin, float the filter cartridge and the bio-wheel in the
water, and feed less for a while. You probably have surface bio-film
everywhere inside the aquarium and any live plants will help as well.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Andy Hill]

(nuchumYussel) wrote:
>Hi, I have a 20 gallon tank w/ a Penguin Bio-Wheel 125. About 3 weeks
>ago, I noticed the Penguin was starting to die. About a week and half
>ago, I put a Liberty Ehiem onto the tank. I was going to leave the
>Penguin on the tank until the Eheim was cycled. My Penguin has just
>died. No suction and no water coming out. My nitrites are at .50 ppm.
>Ammonia is at 0 ppm. Does anyone have any suggestions as for what I
>can do while the Liberty Ehiem is cycling?
>
Kind of depends on how heavily stocked the tank is. The bio-bugs colonize all
surfaces, so it's not like your tank has no biofiltration at the moment -- the
gravel and glass are taking up some of the load. You might want to add a
little salt or an ammonia/nitrate detoxifier to detox the nitrite. Water
changes every few days until the tank is fully cycled may be all you need. Your
test kit will tell you if you need to take more drastic measures.

[nuchumYussel]

Well, the tank load is quite high. The inhabitants are:

4 Black Skirt Teras (a.k.a. Black Widow Tetra)(Full Grown)
3 Tiger Barbs (Full Grown)
2 Serpae Tetra (Full Grown)
1 Diamond Scale Tetra (Full grown)
1 6 inch Pleco
1 Red Tail Black Shark (Full Grown)

Evan