best way to clean a canister filter

thesoul2008

I'm kind of a big deal
May 12, 2008
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Alice Springs
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just wondering how everyone cleans there canister filter about to do mine for the first time dont want to do it wrong
 
When cleaning my Eheim 2213, I would close the valves on the hoses, disconnect hoses, and open the top. Then I'd carry the media container over to the kitchen sink, remove the lid, and backflush with room temperature water until no waste came out.

Reassemble, prime, and away it goes.
 
It would depend on what type of canister filter you have and for what purpose you are using it for.
 
its an aqua nova i have 1 in both my 55G tanks listed in my sig

just wondering if i take the filters out clean them under the tap water

also should the filter go on top or below the ceramic balls??? i guessed and put them on top
 
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I'm going with Duke on this one. Always use the bucket full of old tank water to clean the filter media. Never use tap water for anything in my filter except to clean out the impeller hole. That little bit of filter I'm willing to give away the bacteria to get the impeller to work effectively. Good flows make much better use of the rest of your filter so even destroying that bit of surface bacteria is worth it.
 
Having multiple filters makes it easy. Allows me to rotate my cleanings ...

I just tore a couple down this past weekend. I took them out and sprayed out the pads and replaced a few. I also rinsed off all the Ehfisubstrat and the substrat pro then put them back together - like new.
 
I'm gonna go against conventional wisdom here, but I've been cleaning my filters under tap water for years and never had a problem. Never once in 17 years of fish keeping have I cleaned my filter in old tank water.

Not saying it's bad to clean in old tank water, just saying I don't.

To be fair, I rarely rinse my bio media, but the rest of it gets a good rinse and scrub in tap water.

Kind of funny, we were having a discussion over in SFBAAPS and it turns out that quite a few people had to confess that they also clean their filters in tap water...without negative side effects.
 
I'm gonna go against conventional wisdom here, but I've been cleaning my filters under tap water for years and never had a problem. Never once in 17 years of fish keeping have I cleaned my filter in old tank water.

Not saying it's bad to clean in old tank water, just saying I don't.

To be fair, I rarely rinse my bio media, but the rest of it gets a good rinse and scrub in tap water.

Kind of funny, we were having a discussion over in SFBAAPS and it turns out that quite a few people had to confess that they also clean their filters in tap water...without negative side effects.
Do you have well or city water?
 
I also clean mine under the tap. I have two on my tank so only one a week. Not only do I use tap water... I use HOT city tap water. I've found that the hot water makes all the gunk come out much easier.

Basic micro says that the generation time of nitrifying bacteria of is roughly 24 hours. So you can kill 1/2 of the bacteria and have it return to previous levels in a day.
 
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