best way to clean a canister filter

[jmhart]

I never been on well water, but I've used city water all over the country, always with different water params.

I can see where well water could make a difference, but even some people I've talked to do it with well water.

 

[duke33]

Scares me.

 

[Preeths]

There is lots of bacteria in the tank water and substrate all the time. as long as you dont do a WC and clean the filter on the same day you need not worry too much about using tap water to clean the filter.

 

[Riiz]

I use the tap too, make sure its cold, and its a city supply too. I use alot of pressure to clean out the foam and just lightly spray off the substrat media. Never see a spike at all either.

 

[Carla G]

I would think that using declorinated clean tapwater would be the way to go, particularly on the substrate. It's good to know you can use the water pressure of the tap to get the gunk out of the sponges, though.

 

[fishorama]

I use lukewarm running tap water too. I don't always clean all the layers of sponge etc very thoroughly. And I have 2 filters on bigger tanks.

I use old tank water for quarrantine or newly set up filters.

 

[wataugachicken]

i have to clean mine in tap water too. . . it's a simple matter of water pressure. i have 5 wood-eating plecos in the tank, and i *should* clean the canister weekly, even though i usually don't. last time i waited 3 weeks, and there was at least 2 full cups of wood pulp in there. if i couldn't rinse the sponges with pressurized water, they would never get unclogged.

 

[jmhart]

There is lots of bacteria in the tank water and substrate all the time. as long as you dont do a WC and clean the filter on the same day you need not worry too much about using tap water to clean the filter.

Your point is valid, I just wanted to clarify that there is relatively little beneficial bacteria free floating. But, there is pleny on surfaces within the tank.

 

[bghill]

I also use regular hot tap water and the sink sprayer on most filter parts.
I think a common thread here is that most people do take precautions to save bio loaded filter media, but just cleaning of the housing, hoses, strainers, spray bars and such can be done with tap water. Sound about right?

 

[jmhart]

Actually, most people making such a big deal about not using tap water doesn't make much sense. Sure, the case can be made not to use tap water on your bio-media, but even that doesn't really matter I don't think.

If you add tap to your tank to refill it and then add dechlor, it's the same thing(or worse) than using tap to clean your filter and then adding dechlor to your tank. I usually clean my filter while doing a water change, so the filter always gets treated with dechlor(from the water column).