How do you clean your filstar hoses?

I just cleaned my Filstar hoses out this past weekend. I remove the hose/intake/spraybar/locking unit off of the tank and remove the locking unit. I then get a barrel of hot water to submerge the hoses in and scrub them with a flexible pipe brush. I take apart the intake and spraybar assemblies and scrub them as well, but leave the hoses attached to them (just for my own ease of operation). Then everything gets reassembled and put back on the tank.

I do that every 3-4 months, depending on how the hoses look. It's a PITA but it's not a regular chore.

I have a couple of generic hose fittings.
I attach a female to one end put a little bit of paper towel or paper napkin (wet) in the hose.

I then attach the female hose end to my python extension and the sink faucet. Turn it on full and the water forces the paper towel through the hose which cleans it right out.

If it is still dirty I do it again. Usually gets it clean the first time around though.

I bought the green tubes that Ehems uses. Works great, and doset get as dirty.

I have used Eheim tubing, generic clear tubing, Filstar tubing, and the generic high pressure clear with white threads woven around it tubing. I have definately been most unhappy with the Filstar tubing! It was the most difficult to warm up and get it to straighten out (although even with boiling water it didn't completely stop the bend). It also collects at least twice as much gunk as the generic clear tubing I've used before. The generic clear with white woven threading is on one side of my filstar now (which is a great way to measure against normal Filstar tubing) and has very little crud built up inside of it. This is even on the dirty intake side of the filter! The Eheim tubing I think was the best, and may be slightly better (or equal to) the generic clear with white threading. I got this generic tubing for less than 30 cents a foot at my local hardware store! Considering price and function---the generic with threading wins, hands down! :thm:

Oh, I use a pipe cleaner with a handle that comes with the Magnum Hot kit. I attached a string to the loop in the handle and run water slowly through the tubing until the end of the string comes all the way through, then pull the string and the pipe cleaner follows! I don't do this more than about every 6 months.

To answer your question, the buildup of gunk in the tubing may (depending on what is caught in there) break down and add to nitrates, but the most common problem is reduced flow and wear on your filter. More friction with the water means slower flow rate, and increased back pressure on your pump. Don't know if this bothers magnetic drive pumps at all though, other than the reduced flow!

I have about 8 extra hoses, so I can just swap out the dirty hoses with clean ones.
I take the dirty hoses and soak them in hot water and OxyClean for about 12 hours, then I rinse out the hoses and repeat if necessary.