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I'm staying at my sister's house for a few days to take care of her animals, which includes her 56 (?) gallon tank. It doesn't look too overly stocked to me, but I know she's pretty slack with water changes/cleaning it. She's also a MAJOR over feeder, so I know that's a problem. It has a few live plants (some unidentified stem plants, some aponogetons, and java moss goring on a piece of rotting bamboo), but mostly fake ones and decorations. Gravel substrate (she also has 5 Panda Corys, and doesn't believe me that no, their mouths should NOT looks like that.)
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Anyways, out of morbid curiosity, I decided to check out the insides of her HOB cartridge filter.
Oh. My. God.
It's so filthy it has like this slimey algae something covering the entire thing and growing on it. It's blocked the foam pad so much that the water just goes over it instead of through it. Words can't even describe how filthy it is.
Is there a way to safely clean this without causing some kind of repercussions? I mean it's nasty. I'm afraid of sending the tank out of balance and possibly into a mini cycle.
I don't have my test kit with me, I really should have brought it. I'll probably wait to clean it until I get my kit, just to keep an eye on it.
.
Anyways, out of morbid curiosity, I decided to check out the insides of her HOB cartridge filter.
Oh. My. God.
It's so filthy it has like this slimey algae something covering the entire thing and growing on it. It's blocked the foam pad so much that the water just goes over it instead of through it. Words can't even describe how filthy it is.
Is there a way to safely clean this without causing some kind of repercussions? I mean it's nasty. I'm afraid of sending the tank out of balance and possibly into a mini cycle.
I don't have my test kit with me, I really should have brought it. I'll probably wait to clean it until I get my kit, just to keep an eye on it.