I'm a new owner of canister filters (Rena XP2). I have always used the HOB Aquaclear filters, so every week, I would rinse the media in fish water to get rid of the poop and such. Every month, I would actually take apart the entire filter and clean them with a brush to get rid of all the grime and such. Now that I've got a canister, I am still doing the same weekly maintainence as with the HOB filters (washing the media), but the one-month mark is approaching, I was wondering how you guys clean these canisters. Do you take apart all the tubes and scrub them down with one of those pipe cleaners as well as the motor housing? Or do you just clean the motor housing? Thanks
How do you clean your canister?
- Thread starter P00rColl3geBoi
- Start date
On my XP3 I have to wash the 2 coarse and 2 medium filter pads under high pressure water in the sink for a few minutes to clean them, they get pretty clogged. But I guess if you have a really light load and do it more regularly you could just 'swish' em in tank water, too much hassle for me though trying to siphon out tank water into some kinda container. The bio media (I filled my second basket with matrix bio media) I just set aside, never really had to clean that but if I did I would rinse it with tank water only. And the fine filter pads I replace each time usually. And yeah, I take apart the top and clean off the impeller and all the nooks and crannies (a toothbrush works good). Some clean their hoses with hose brushes but I havent ever.
And you'll loose siphon if you do. I never had to restart my sihpon for almost two years, but just this past week the water level was a bit low when I pulled off the intake strainer and it sucked up air and lost siphon. Really easy to restart though. I am getting some spots of algae in the tubes though. Maybe its a good idea to clean the tubes once a year or so, but I dont see a need to do it often. Thats just my opinion.
I clean the hoses about once a year. It is amazing how much a little buid-up on the walls of these tubes cuts down on flow rates.
i swish the baskets of bio-media in clean dechlorinated tap water that's been sitting for a few hours, and i rinse the sponges, and back together she goes.
Great filter; you'll be pleased.
When I had mine I was (admittedly) rather lax on maintenance. I had it on a 55 gal. and only cleaned it when flow was noticeably reduced (about twice a year), and NEVER had any issues whatsoever. When I moved out I gave my setup to a friend and he cleans it every month.
