hi! today i found this white film inside my filter. any advice on what to do?

[juneslegend]

 

[juneslegend]

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found this while looking through my tank to make sure everything is working. my tank is just about cycled

View attachment 96180

i’m currently cycling my tank and am nearing the end. today i checked my filter and tank to make sure everything was working properly and i found this in my filter. it seems like some sort of biofilm (i googled?). is this a good or bad thing.

i’ve heard to not touch your filter while it’s being cycled so i haven’t done anything. do i need to wipe this off or will those get rid of my good bacteria.

(i also have some cotton balls in the filter to act as bio media to harbor good bacteria, is that sufficient or should i buy something)

thank you!

 

[wolfen]

that is bio-film at the moment wiping it of will do more harm then good, you mention using cotton balls for bio-media, although the surface area may be larger than foam it won't be as large as ceramic media, also cotton balls will break down over time loosing essential bio-filtration.

 

[juneslegend]

that is bio-film at the moment wiping it of will do more harm then good, you mention using cotton balls for bio-media, although the surface area may be larger than foam it won't be as large as ceramic media, also cotton balls will break down over time loosing essential bio-filtration.

i just ordered purigen seachem for a bio filter.

when my tank is cycled should i just clean off the film with tank water?

 

[wolfen]

the best thing would be to wipe/scrape it onto the bio-media rather than dispose of it with the old tank water.