best way to clean a canister filter

[thesoul2008]

just wondering how everyone cleans there canister filter about to do mine for the first time dont want to do it wrong

[ron521]

When cleaning my Eheim 2213, I would close the valves on the hoses, disconnect hoses, and open the top. Then I'd carry the media container over to the kitchen sink, remove the lid, and backflush with room temperature water until no waste came out.

Reassemble, prime, and away it goes.

[Rbishop]

It would depend on what type of canister filter you have and for what purpose you are using it for.

[thesoul2008]

its an aqua nova i have 1 in both my 55G tanks listed in my sig

just wondering if i take the filters out clean them under the tap water

also should the filter go on top or below the ceramic balls??? i guessed and put them on top

[duke33]

Always rinse/clean media in used tank water. When your doing a w/c put some in a bucket to clean media.

[OldMan47]

I'm going with Duke on this one. Always use the bucket full of old tank water to clean the filter media. Never use tap water for anything in my filter except to clean out the impeller hole. That little bit of filter I'm willing to give away the bacteria to get the impeller to work effectively. Good flows make much better use of the rest of your filter so even destroying that bit of surface bacteria is worth it.

[Derringer]

Having multiple filters makes it easy. Allows me to rotate my cleanings ...

I just tore a couple down this past weekend. I took them out and sprayed out the pads and replaced a few. I also rinsed off all the Ehfisubstrat and the substrat pro then put them back together - like new.

[jmhart]

I'm gonna go against conventional wisdom here, but I've been cleaning my filters under tap water for years and never had a problem. Never once in 17 years of fish keeping have I cleaned my filter in old tank water.

Not saying it's bad to clean in old tank water, just saying I don't.

To be fair, I rarely rinse my bio media, but the rest of it gets a good rinse and scrub in tap water.

Kind of funny, we were having a discussion over in SFBAAPS and it turns out that quite a few people had to confess that they also clean their filters in tap water...without negative side effects.

[duke33]

I'm gonna go against conventional wisdom here, but I've been cleaning my filters under tap water for years and never had a problem. Never once in 17 years of fish keeping have I cleaned my filter in old tank water.

Not saying it's bad to clean in old tank water, just saying I don't.

To be fair, I rarely rinse my bio media, but the rest of it gets a good rinse and scrub in tap water.

Kind of funny, we were having a discussion over in SFBAAPS and it turns out that quite a few people had to confess that they also clean their filters in tap water...without negative side effects.Do you have well or city water?

[THE V]

I also clean mine under the tap. I have two on my tank so only one a week. Not only do I use tap water... I use HOT city tap water. I've found that the hot water makes all the gunk come out much easier.

Basic micro says that the generation time of nitrifying bacteria of is roughly 24 hours. So you can kill 1/2 of the bacteria and have it return to previous levels in a day.

[jmhart]

I never been on well water, but I've used city water all over the country, always with different water params.

I can see where well water could make a difference, but even some people I've talked to do it with well water.

[duke33]

Scares me.

[Preeths]

There is lots of bacteria in the tank water and substrate all the time. as long as you dont do a WC and clean the filter on the same day you need not worry too much about using tap water to clean the filter.

[Riiz]

I use the tap too, make sure its cold, and its a city supply too. I use alot of pressure to clean out the foam and just lightly spray off the substrat media. Never see a spike at all either.

[Carla G]

I would think that using declorinated clean tapwater would be the way to go, particularly on the substrate. It's good to know you can use the water pressure of the tap to get the gunk out of the sponges, though.

[fishorama]

I use lukewarm running tap water too. I don't always clean all the layers of sponge etc very thoroughly. And I have 2 filters on bigger tanks.

I use old tank water for quarrantine or newly set up filters.

[wataugachicken]

i have to clean mine in tap water too. . . it's a simple matter of water pressure. i have 5 wood-eating plecos in the tank, and i *should* clean the canister weekly, even though i usually don't. last time i waited 3 weeks, and there was at least 2 full cups of wood pulp in there. if i couldn't rinse the sponges with pressurized water, they would never get unclogged.

[jmhart]

There is lots of bacteria in the tank water and substrate all the time. as long as you dont do a WC and clean the filter on the same day you need not worry too much about using tap water to clean the filter.


Your point is valid, I just wanted to clarify that there is relatively little beneficial bacteria free floating. But, there is pleny on surfaces within the tank.

[bghill]

I also use regular hot tap water and the sink sprayer on most filter parts.
I think a common thread here is that most people do take precautions to save bio loaded filter media, but just cleaning of the housing, hoses, strainers, spray bars and such can be done with tap water. Sound about right?

[jmhart]

Actually, most people making such a big deal about not using tap water doesn't make much sense. Sure, the case can be made not to use tap water on your bio-media, but even that doesn't really matter I don't think.

If you add tap to your tank to refill it and then add dechlor, it's the same thing(or worse) than using tap to clean your filter and then adding dechlor to your tank. I usually clean my filter while doing a water change, so the filter always gets treated with dechlor(from the water column).

[Ozymandias]

well i too use tap water but mine is from a well here in NJ and so far no bad side effects. that being said i only usually clean my sponge anyway because i find that my Bio-media doesn't need it. even when i was at school i cleaned my filter media with tap and again nothing bad with my tank.

[Ratt45thinf]

I also clean mine with tap water and never had a problem, knock on wood, but a little hint I found was to clean out the hoses i found an old dog chain and fished it through the hose put a rag on one end of it and pulled it through. Makes them look like new again.

[Rbishop]

I use tap water...never use tank water.