Filter maintenance?

[beeZer350]

What should I be doing to maintain my filter and how often? I have an AC HOB on my 36g planted tank.

When I do my weekly water changes should I take my filter basket out and rinse everything off or will that harm the bacteria?
The filter media is stacked as follows:
kitchen sponge
biomax biomedia
sponge (the one that came with the filter)

How often should I clean the impeller?

I do pull the intake tube every week and give that a good rinse and cleaning.

Thanks for the help.

[Penfan66]

When I used HOB's, I cleaned them maybe every 3-4 weeks depending on how bad they looked. I would use tank water in a bucket to rinse out the media. Doing it this way, you aren't killing off large amounts of your colony. Although, I suppose you could just use dechlorinated water too.

As far as the impeller goes, you can clean it whenever you clean the filter.

[DAVIDFBT]

I just dunk the hard media in a bucket of tank water every 2 weeks and squeeze the sponge until all the junk is gone.

[beeZer350]

Sounds good to me :thumbsup:

[Hooked Newbie]

Just don't clean all media at once if this is the only filter on the tank to avoid a mini-cycle. Also, I'd be leery of the "kitchen" sponge. Many contain additives, dyes, etc. that can be harmful in aquaria.

[beeZer350]

It's a pot scrubber. I got the idea from this thread: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88677

[Hooked Newbie]

It's a pot scrubber. I got the idea from this thread: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88677


Cool. When you said kitchen sponge, I immediately thought of the rectangular 1/2" glow in the dark orange one sitting next to my sink. :hypnotized:

[beeZer350]

:)

I have thought about using those since we have a million new ones under the sink but wasn't sure about the efficacy.

[Hooked Newbie]

:)

I have thought about using those since we have a million new ones under the sink but wasn't sure about the efficacy.

Be careful with those. Some contain some nasty stuff. I've personally seen one tank nuked (luckily not mine) by just using them to clean algae.

[beeZer350]

Yikes, I do use them to clean algae. I didn't even think about that but nothing has happened.

I think some of them contain bleach or other cleaning additives so that might have been the issue. Time to find something different just to be safe.

[mott]

I think it really depends on stocking level, I have a ac 20 on my 6 gallon betta tank that I clean every other month.

[williedee]

i use old credit cards to clean algae.

[Reddog80p]

Like said above simply swoosh the dirty media in tank water removed from a water change, to knock off some of the gunk. The frequency depends on how much you feed, what you keep, etc. If you are having trouble with algae you may want you feed less, or not leave your tank lights on as much. A general rule on feeding is to only feed an amount that can be consumed by your fish in 1-3 minutes. Feed a quality food like NLS, will allow you too feed less food which in turn will help your water quality. You can also consider buying a filter bag (.99 or so) and stuff it with polyfil, then put it in your HOB with your current filter medias, this will help polish your water.