Ok I want to treat my oranda with another round of melafix except this time without the carbon. It is one of those filter pads( blue) That are attached to the carbon basket with no way ( that I know of) to remove the carbon without removing the pad itself. I don't want to remove the whole thing because it will mess up the cycle. Does anyone have any suggestions on this?

Another problem I have is that I am moving in two months, 4 hours away. I want to keep the filter pads and gravel "alive" so that all the bacteria survives. Can I just put the filter pads in a baggy with tank water? Will that survive approx. 6 hours?

THANK YOU so much for anyone that has advice!!

Can you cut the filter open and just empty out the carbon?

No, If I cut it, it'll ruin it. I want to be able to put it back in when I am done. I am treating with meds that aren't suppose to harm bio filter.

ANYONE know how? I really need to treat soon, but I don't want to have to recycle. Can I just put it in bag of tank water for a couple days?

If the carbon is older then I think a week it doesn't work anymore anyway so you dont need to take it out.

After a few weeks, the carbon has bound just about all that it can bind and will no longer affect the medications, much. It is just inert material at that point that might, depending on what is bound into in the way of toxic stuff, support some of your beneficial bacterial colony.

Most of the blue cartridges can be slit across the top and the carbon banged out into the garbage can without destroying the filter cartridge at all.

As far as containing a colony of beneficial bacteria, the filter floss on most filter cartridges simply does not contain enough bacteria to really make it worth much. There simply is not enough surface area for the bacteria to attach to. There is some, yes, but the majority of your bacteria is in any other media you have in your filter.

What brand or type of filter do you have?

I actually have different filters on all of my tanks. The two I want to treat have:
10 gallon: PRIMO multifilter 85gph(blue padded one)
20 gallon: Whisper Power filter 40 210 gph and a Penguin Bio Wheel filter 125 gph< this is the only one with a bio- wheel spinner

Are you familiar with any of these? The PRIMO filter only has the blue pad and the carbon basket, nothing else in it. WIll the gravel hold enough bacteria for it to remain cycled? Are you saying I shouldn't even remove the filter/carbon/pad because the carbon won't effect the meds? sorry just clarifying what you guys said

I did a quick search on the primo, since I am not familiar with it, but found nothing.

Yes, your gravel will hold a nice amount of bacteria for you. It holds less if it is the polished rock type, more if it is very porous rock. The blue filter itself will probably hold so little bacteria that it is not worth too much in and of itself in the cycle department..... It is always nice to keep the blue filter pad, but I do not think that a nicely cycled tank would be adversely affected much by discarding that pad. I do not treat mine as biological entities - I blast 'em clean in the sink with a high powered hose!

The bacterial colonies thrive the best if located in a media that is high in surface area and has constant turnover of water - water that contains ammonia and consequently, nitrite, as well as oxygen. The part of the gravel that holds your bacteria, therefore is only going to be the topmost layer....

If you are in doubt about how much bacteria your gravel holds, you can always fill a nylon stocking piece with biomedia and drop it into your filter or onto the bottom of your tank - somewhere behind an ornament or plant so it is not visible. IT will give you an added peace of mind.....

The carbon in the filter cartridge has many "places" in it makeup where it can chemically bind toxins from your water. When you put the new carbon in, anything that goes through your filter cartridge is grabbed and bound up by the carbon, effectively removing it from the water. This is why you do not want carbon around when you are adding medications to the water - the carbon will grab them and remove them from the water before they can help the fish.

The carbon only has so many "places" to bind. When they are all filled up, the carbon can hold no more. It cannot bind anything more from the water, so it will not affect the medications or anything in the water. After about 2 weeks- sometimes less, sometimes more, depending on what is in your water- the carbon will fill up and no longer be affective. There is a slight possibility, depending on what is bound in the carbon and what chemicals you are using in your tank, that the carbon might release some of which it has bound - potentially releasing nasties into your tank. This is why many people simply choose to run a filter without carbon on a regular basis, adding only when it is specifically wanted to bind something from the water. At the end a time, after it has removed what you want removed from your water (old meds, etc), you remove the carbon from the filter and toss it away.

Carbon is a rather porous material, and, because of this, has lots of suface area. If it is sitting in your filter it is exposed to ample "food" (ammonia/nitrite) and ample oxygen (needed for the nitrogen cycle) and will tend to colonize a nice population of beneficial bacteria. If the carbon has bound a very nasty chemical in it, however, the bacteria may not be able to colonize well.

If your carbon/filtercartridge is older than at least 2 weeks, and you are only using Melefix, there should not be a problem with simply leaving it in the tank while you medicate - particularly if you had it in before. It has filled up with the Melefix from last time and most likely has no more spaces left to bind anything.

By the way, I love slitting the top of the blue floss on the top of a Penguin cartridge. The 125 has only a biowheel for your colonies of bacteria. I like more. I have cut the blue floss off the cartridge, fill the frame with ceramic media and slipped the thing into a nylon baggie I sewed. I have used old stockings, too. This slips into the cartridge behind the filter cartridge that is still intact - having both in the filter at the same time. The home-make cartridge gives you loads more bio-media for your bacteria to colonize - and you do not need to count on your gravel at all.