Opinions needed

Tyyrlym

Umm... you got some real bad advice.

There's no reason to replace the sponge or the Biomax, well, at least not every other month. You need to do maintenance but all the sponge needs is a good rinse and a squeeze in some of your aquarium water and the biomax doesn't need any special care at all. The only thing that needs replacement on a regular basis is the carbon. In fact by doing this you're subjecting your fish to a mini-cycle once a month.

You don't want to keep the cycle going, you want it to end. You want to cultivate enough bacteria to keep processing the waste and prevent ammonia or nitrites from building up to detectable levels. By tossing out the filter media once a month you kill off half your bacteria and have to start recolonizing the filter.

As for your sand, cichlid sand is good for african cichlids, of which you have none. The pH of your tank is likely high because of that sand which only increases the danger of the ammonia. If you do replace the substrate don't buy stone from an aquarium store. Go to a lawn and garden center and buy pea gravel.

KarlS

ok, so how often should I replace my sponge and biomax?? Also should I be rising my biomax or leaving it as it till the change???? As for tha pea gravel is there any special kind I should be looking for or is it all the same?

Tyyrlym

Replace your sponge when it can no longer hold its shape. When you squeeze it out and it doesn't bounce back to form. This should take months or years. There's little reason to replace biomax. If it starts to gunk up give it a good rinse in tank water and keep going with it.

For gravel look for river rock or just pea gravel. Nothing really special.

KarlS

Thanks for the advice, now i just need to figure out whats up with my 2 filters not pumping out the water nearly as well anymore...

KarlS

All seems to be normal again.. it's almost as if a mini plague swept through my tank and killed specifc fish. I've been keeping a close eye on the rest of them and they seem to be happier then ever, they're lively and their colors very pronouced. Also they no longer hang around the top of the tank unless it's feeding time, and the tank looks great overall, it looks crystal clear... I am at a loss to what happened. None the less many thanks to all those who came to my aid.

Cheers ..

willow

glad all has worked out for you.
there have been cases of mature tank crashes in the past.
perhaps your has had a little of this .