hmmm might i have something here>?

[Hans]

you know how you wish you could just reuse ever filter cartrige by rinsing it out, and puting it back in your penguin or whisper? but you cant really cuz that kills all the bacteria with the clorine in the tap water right? so waht if you just fill the sink with tap water, add stress coat, and then kinda splash it around in the sink? is that anything cool?

and i bought 5 ghost shrimp, they were 29 cents each, is that a good deal? the lady said they were mainly sold as feeders! how horrid!

oh and i bought a power head 101, its cute and i got the filter attachment for the bottom of it, so when i want to treat for meds, i just leave that on, and turn off the penguin!

 

[Anthony8858]

I don't think it's so much about the filter, but more about the carbon.

You can easily clean the filter in the tank water at water changes. It's the carbon that needs changing.

 

[shewlett]

No

Tetra Whisper and AC filters are receptive to reusable media. Cleaning the media in tank water from partial water changes is free.

 

[Hans]

so rinsing a dirty filter in tap water doesnt affect the bacteria at all?

 

[tomm10]

Rinsing the filter in tap water will affect the bacteria if there is any chlorine in your tap water. Generally I just rinse the filter out in the old tank water. You could add stress coat to water in the sink basin I guess but it seems like more work than just changing some of your water into a bucket instead of down the sink.

 

[TKOS]

I tend to use the old tank water as well.

 

[blitzen25bm]

i scoop some tank water intoa 1 gal bucket and rinse in there. you have a penguin so enough bio is in the wheel, so you can rinse in tap or rinse the cartridges 1 at a time and rinse the other one next week.

 

[cdawson]

Originally posted by TKOS
I tend to use the old tank water as well.

ditto.
Besides, once it's clogged it's clogged for good and requires replacing. Although not needed as frequently as some say, you can use your best judgement just by observing the flow of the filter.

 

[ewok]

i bought emperors.......

you can use high pressure water to clean them without worrying about the impact on the bacteria.

when you changed the filter you effectively wiped out the colony anyway...........

 

[NatakuTseng]

That was a decent deal for the ghost shrimp....but why horrid that they were used as feeders? Nothing wrong with that, most fish love that kind of stuff, I know the larger cichlids are very fond of baby crayfish not much different than that. Its just another protein source for your fish and an alternative to feeding them feederfish who might bring in disease and parasites. I would think that the shrimp would pose less of a risk to the fish in your tank than a feeder would.