wrote:
Thanks for the replies... I should mention that I did not do anything
to the biowheel on the filter... that's where most of the bugs live,
right?

Depends on how much gunk is in your gravel for bugs to feed on.

I also have plenty of gravel with all kinds of bio material in it, I
did a pretty good vacuuming with the recent change, though.

The update is there was a bit of a minicycle regardless... nitrites
went to .25, nitrates remained at 40. I removed the media cartidge
containing activated charcoal and replaced it with nitra-zorb
("downstream" of the main filter). I salted a bit more, but I think
I'm going to steer away from meds for now. Anyone used nitra-zorb
before? This is my first try.

In fish-only tanks, I've had better luck with water changes then any
other method of nitrate reduction (assuming your tap water is low
nitrate). You could look at HDL bacteria and carbon - they're supposed
to work. http://www.hdltd.com/ I have a friend who uses the FW system
and says it works well. I'm getting ready to try it myself.

I do have biozyme left over from setting up this tank a year or so ago.
Should I add that to stimulate some growth? Once again, I want to
clarify that I replaced the main filter cartridge and the charcoal
media in the Emperor, and didn't touch the biowheel. Am I not supposed
to change the filter cartridge every 4 weeks?

With a biowheel, you usually shouldn't get a mini-cycle and yes, you
change the filter cartridge monthly. You did things right. It sounds
like there was a lot of mulm and bacteria in the gravel overloading the
capacity of the biowheel. I wouldn't add year old opened biozyme.
Yuck. Bacteria reproduce incredibly fast and your tank will be fine in
a few days.

If I were you, I'd just up the water changes and gravel vac for a while.
If that doesn't do the trick, add another biowheel or go to the HDL
system. Or...buy him a bigger tank. ;-)

Thanks again!



--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com