Filter Cleaning

Dustin83

Dustin83

AC Members
Nov 17, 2005
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Orange County, CA
Hello. A complete Newbie here.

I have learned so much from this forum and successfully(?) set up a 20g tank while ago for the first time in my entire life. I have had few guppies and platies in the tank for about 3 weeks now and am trying to be consistent with all the maintenance suggestions that I've found here.

I have a power filter that hangs on the back of the tank, and from what I've read here, someone suggested cleaning the filter once a week and changing to a new one every 1 or 2 months. But don't a lot of the beneficial bacterias live in the filter? Doesn't cleaning/changing it get rid of them? What's a good way to clean it?

My other concern is that I have been consistently testing the water and I have 0 Ammonia but LOTS of Nitrite. I don't recall the exact measurement, but it was so much that the color was beyond the display of the color chart. Strange, the level does not go down even after water change. Is this possible? or do I possibly just have a sucky kit?

Thank you for your help. I hope to continue to learn more!
 
If the tank is only about 3 weeks old, the nitrites are due to the fact that the tank is not cycled. Have you read the stickys on the subject? That might help you understand the process more. You'll want to keep doing water changes to get the nitrite down, it is pretty toxic to the fish, especially if the numbers are off the chart. How big/often are you doing water changes? You might need to do 50% or more, several times a week. Whatever it takes to get the nitrate down to at least below 1, the closer to 0 the better.

In terms of cleaning the filter, what you want to do is rinse the media in TANK water once a week or so, and maybe once every couple of months (depnding on how dirty it is), take it apart and clean out the intake tubes, impeller, etc. As long as you keep your filter media damp while you do this, the cleaning shouldnt' take very long and it will be fine :)
 
Out of curiousity, Dustin, are you sure that's a nitrITE reading and not nitrATE?

If the nitrites were really off the chart as you say, then most or all of your fish would be dead by now.

Can you double check, please?

Aside from what Holly said, what kind of filter do you have?

Roan
 
hmm

Just for clarification, what are you referring to when you say "media", just to be certain.
 
'Media' are the filtering materials within the filter. (sponges, wool/floss, carbon, 'bio' ceramic rings, etc.)
 
I have the same doubt as Dustin83. I also have a 20gl. set up with a HOB Tetra Whisper 20 Power Filter. It only hold a floss pad, which I rinse for taking out the debris weekly. However, after 5 or 6 weeks, it's so clogged that even after rinsing it blocks most of the water flow, and I need to put a new one. Also, sometimes it jusr breaks.

The instuction manual of that filter also speaks about the #30 and #40 model, which uses the floss pad and a bio-sponge, and recommends to change one at a time to "avoid loosing the benefical bacteria".

How can I achieve this if my filter has only one filter media???
 
Patoloco, you are rinsing off your media, but what about cartridges? If you have those in front of your media and change them every 3-4 weeks then you will not lose bacteria and you should not have to rinse your media too much, nothing much should be getting through. There should be a healthy film, though to house the bacteria.
Dustin, same. You should have a media and cartridges which need to be changed about once a month or so and the media shouldn't be changed at all but you can rinse it in old tank water. A good sign you are overfeeding is that your cartridges get really nasty really quick.
 
Thanks Willi. The rpoblem with this filter is it only has 1 filtration element. Just one.

It's something like a floss bag you put above a plastic frame and stick it into the filter housing. That's all. Nothing else. I will try to make out a way to stick a fish safe sponge in there.
 
Use scissors to cut a bit of the fabric of the old bag after you have rinsed it off gently. Put that old fabric inside the new bag. Realize that a lot of the bacteria you have at work in the tank is on the walls of the tank, on the gravel, on decorations. Also a lot of bacteria is on the tube going into the filter. Do not clean that tube at the same time you change out a filter cartridge or bag. Clean it after a week or so has passed, if you do them at the same time you can see a small ammonia spike.
 
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