Cleaning the filter

I admit I use tap water to clean the first sponge, the gunkiest one. Yeah, I probably lose a small percentage of beneficial bacteria but between the other sponges & HOB I'm sure it's safe.

I also use 2 sponges in my Aqua Clears & often rinse the bottom one in running tap.
 
I rinse all four of my sponges with running tap. Gets em nice and spiffy clean. I rely on the AMPLE supply of biological media to maintane the cycle. I have never had problems, probably because I always rinse the sponges with tap so the bio-media contains enough BB for the bio-load.
 
I agree you should be adding dechlorinator to the tap water that you add back to your tank and to the water you are adding to your filter cannister or you are going to kill off nitrifying bacteria in your cannister. Same thing by rinsing your filters with water right from the tap the chlorine will surely kill of your bioload. Only rinse them in old tank water. That is what I do and have never encountered any problems.
 
I have municipal tap water and I'm with Fishorama. When I clean my Aquaclears, I rinse the sponge and poly filter and carbon bag really, really good with tap water, it holds a lot of gunk! I also take the sink water sprayer and quickly spray over the ceramic media, sometimes there's a bit of silt of the bag that hold the media. For my Emporer biowheel filters, I have a cartridge, some polyfilter and 4 sponges, all get rinsed well with tap water. There are no mini-cycles or issues at all. Everyone says tap water will kill your bacteria, but for me it doesn't.

When I refill the HOB's, I do it before the tank is totally filled (while the python is still running) and use a big plastic cup to take tank water and fill the filter up.
 
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