Dual Canister Filter Cleaning Methodology?

[SayersWeb]

I have two large ViaAqua canister filters on my 180 gallon acrylic tank. I'm looking for information on how to approach filter maintenance to best maintain the biological system.

Should they be cleaned on an alternating schedule (one filter this time, the other one next time)? How often should they be cleaned?

What's the best way to clean canister filter media while protecting it's biological condition?

I have bio-balls, sponge, and carbon media in each filter.

I've tried several different approaches to this over the years and would like to hear others opinions. I've become a big fan of bio-wheel style filters, but cannot easily use them in the acrylic tank.

[Cearbhaill]

When I clean my cannister filters I take great care to see that my biobugs are not harmed. I use prefilters on each cannister, and rinse that part 3-4 times a week so I don't have to open them up all that frequently.

When I break one open I do it when water changing- I rinse all the bio media in the tank water I just removed from the tank. I use Eheim media but any brand would be handled the same. I remove all the media baskets and stack them in the garbage can full of water to be discarded. Any tubing that needs cleaned is put into the bucket as well. Then I shake them one by one in the old water- rinsing them in it several times if it looks gunky. If media needs to be replaced I only do a small bit at a time. I use a hose brush on the tubing- all the implements are fish-only.

Once in a while I clean a filter without doing a water change- then I have to make a portion of water ready with chlorine/chloramine remover added, and temperature match to boot.

Frequency would depend on your bioload and foods used, but I'd think that doing them on an alternating schedule of one filter every two weeks would be plenty. That would break one open every four weeks- should be fine.

If you can possibly rig a pre-filter of some sort it makes a huge difference in maintenance- gets the tiny food/debris bits out before they can contribute to the nitrate production.

[ewok]

sounds about right to me...... :)

i haven't really made a set schedule for my canisters and i don't have 2 on any tank atm. i do alternate them with the top filters tho, i will only clean one or the other. usually i can sort of "see" when the filters becoming restricted, the outflow tends to slow a bit and that's when i worry about cleaning it. i should probably clean it more but it just doesn't seem warranted... i also use a fairly simple setup, just the prefilter, some floss and bio-media.

[125gJoe]

We alternate cleanings.. Every other week seems fine..

[SayersWeb]

Great suggestions!

I've never thought to clean the filter media in discarded tank water. Makes good sense. Currently, I syphon discarded tank water directly into the sump pump. I can fill a couple of 5 gal buckets to do the filter media.

The load (fish/food) in the tank is fairly high, although up until now I have only done the canisters every few months. Even with the older Fluval 403s and using the water flow method to determine when to clean, it could be several months before any reduction in water flow was noticed.

How do you determine when to clean the canister hoses? Recently I cleaned the canisters (after an extended amount of time) and noticed that the water flow still seemed restricted through the filters. Turns out there was tons of gunk in the hoses (which are out of site). Once they hoses were cleaned out everything flowed much better.

I'm really going to try and be better about keeping up with these canisters. They are much more effort. Even with the quick-connect style hoses, I still end up making a mess when I clean them. That's why I like the HOB bio-wheel filters so much. Grab the cartridges, spray them off, and stick em back in.

[RTR]

The "old school" (promoted in no small part by Eheim, I hate to admit) of rare canister cleanings has serious flaws to me. First, out of the water column and out of sight is in no way out of the system - you are setting up bacterial and infusorian digestion of all the captured fish poop and leftover food inside the canister, with all the DOC, nitrates,etc. being returned in dissolved form to the water column. Second, if the canister's mechanical filtration is not excellent, debris can make it to the biomedia, or even if it is good mech, the fines/mulm from digestion of waste will move to the biomedia - which promotes migration of the active biolfilms of nitrification bacteria to the lumps and particles external to the biomedium and thereby is subject to being rinsed away (a variant of the dirty ungravel filter cleaning issue, but same principle and result). Finally, the clear water from decent canister function fakes out the keeper if they do not test (nitrate, pH, KH), so that the tank appears clean and clear while the water quality is degrading.

All the above is why I do not conventionall pack any canisters anymore. I segrgate bio and mech into separate units and rinse the mech frequently along with the prefilters on the bio. The biomedium itself, if chosen to be self-cleaning, should only rarely need any rinse. If bio does need rinsing, the use of removed tank water is conservative, as Cearbhaill suggests.

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/cannister.shtml