How to properly clean filter?

B

Bonne46

AC Members
May 20, 2009
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I was just wondering how do you properly clean your filters? I have a couple canisters and HOBs running charcoal and a filter pad (however 400B use)

How I clean my canisters is I take out all the filter floss and filter pads and use my hose to blast all crap off, then the bio media rings? Or one canister has balls (eheim) I usually just put them in the filter that's holding the tank water and slush them around. For HOBs I just clean everything with faucet.

Is this the proper way of cleaning? And how often are you suppose to replace filter media (pads and bio)?
 
I would only replace half the carbon at a time because the carbon even when used up has tons of space on which denitrifyin' bacteria call home

any-who how often you clean your filter depends on your tank

a 50g oscar tank needs to be cleaned far more often than a 50g neon tetra tank
 
You don't want to clean the bio-media rings (or any other bio-media for canisters or HOBs) in anything but tank water, like you do with your balls.

I don't use charcoal at all, unless I'm removing medication from a tank, so I can't help you there. But as for pads themselves, they need to be cleaned whenever they're dirty enough to obstruct the flow of water, which varies greatly from tank to tank. I try and clean my canisters out once a month, just to be pro-active, though some of my tanks could easily go 6 months without a full filter cleaning.
 
Just rinse you media in tank water, wipe the insides of the filter down to remove excess gunk. Once a months should do it. Don't EVER use tap water.....the chlorine/chloramines will kill your BB.


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oo7genie said:
You don't want to clean the bio-media rings (or any other bio-media for canisters or HOBs) in anything but tank water, like you do with your balls.
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.....................

just say that again?

:rofl::naughty:
 
don't let these guys scare you about losing your bacteria. the bacteria is tough, and if you lose some (not alot) then the remaining little guys will work overtime and ammonia won't spike.

I also like to lower the bioload before a big clean by hardly feeding the fish the day prior. just in case
 
LOL..gonna get shot here...I clean my HOBs (what few I have) and all canisters in tap water all the time. I don't really scrub anything, just rinse everything off of large physical debri. Bio balls, ceramics, cylindars, filter pads...the works. On refill I shoot Prime into the canister and fill. It takes a pretty lengthy exposure to a high level of chlorine/chloramine, much higher than normal tap water runs to kill off ALL BB. It has worked for me for 30+ years. Like Frac, in the filters running carbon, it's change out half at a time.
 
I use to always just rinse everything off with tap water and then just start filter off with new water from tap and then put in my dechlorinator product and I never seen a issue. But I have always been reading up on forums and it seems that way was wrong and I'm trying to do everything that is best for the fish.

I try to clean my filters once a month because of the load I have.

For the HOBs what media do you guys recommend to run in it? It's on turtle tank with fish and also canisters filter attach to the tank. What is charcoal used for? I'm just trying get clean clear water that also doesn't smell!
 
Rbishop said:
LOL..gonna get shot here...I clean my HOBs (what few I have) and all canisters in tap water all the time. I don't really scrub anything, just rinse everything off of large physical debri. Bio balls, ceramics, cylindars, filter pads...the works. On refill I shoot Prime into the canister and fill. It takes a pretty lengthy exposure to a high level of chlorine/chloramine, much higher than normal tap water runs to kill off ALL BB. It has worked for me for 30+ years. Like Frac, in the filters running carbon, it's change out half at a time.
Click to expand...

this is quite a surprise coming from rBBishop!
 
Bonne46 said:
I use to always just rinse everything off with tap water and then just start filter off with new water from tap and then put in my dechlorinator product and I never seen a issue. But I have always been reading up on forums and it seems that way was wrong and I'm trying to do everything that is best for the fish.

I try to clean my filters once a month because of the load I have.

For the HOBs what media do you guys recommend to run in it? It's on turtle tank with fish and also canisters filter attach to the tank. What is charcoal used for? I'm just trying get clean clear water that also doesn't smell!
Click to expand...

in a turtle tank, once a month seems like not often enough. they are messy eaters and have big messy poops. I'd also DEFINITELY put a large sponge on every filter intake. they snag alot of the gunk before it enters your filter, making cleanup a lot easier. you can just pull them off the intake and squeeze and squish them until the water runs clear through them. then they are as good as new

charcoal just removes tiny impurities from the water. it's not a necessity, but it does improve water quality and clarity on a molecular level by snagging stuff out of the water
 
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