Rinsing carbon activated filters

I also run an Eclipse filter for my 6 gal isolation tank. I'm lucky that my house has non-chlorinated well water, so I can give the filter cartridges a high pressure backwash and a gentle scrubbing of the filter fabric surface in the kitchen sink and get one extra use out of them, maybe two, before the filter fabric becomes so loaded that it restricts the filter flow almost immediately. I suppose that you could also blast them with chlorinated city water and just let them set aside for a day before reusing in the filter, but this would also kill any beneficial bacteria. Not a big deal though because the Eclipse filter also has a separate bio-wheel. The trick to getting the filter fabric somewhat clean again is the high pressure backward water blast.

As far as 'spent' carbon, I'm no expert but my basic understanding is that once the activated carbon 'picks up' impurities on all of its receptor sites that it basically just becomes a 'lump of coal' again ... not doing any harm but not helping either. Actually, if the 'spent' carbon is supporting the growth of bacteria colonies it does still help - although not in the way that was originally intended and not in a particularly important way given the Eclipse filter also has a separate bio-wheel (which you don't want to ever touch if you don't have to).

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I have two tanks that are moderately planted and have bio-wheel filtration systems (Eclipse 12 and 55gal. with Emperor 400 with dual BW). Since a large part of my biofilter resides in the wheels, gravel, etc., and the remainder is accomplished with plant growth, I don't think a lot of my biofilter resides in my filter cartridges. Every 2-3 weeks I remove one side of my Emp 400 cartridges and use a shower massage water jet to clean them in the shower. I do the same with my Eclipse cartidge. Do I effectively kill any beneficial bacteria residing in the cartridges? Yes. Does it result in a mini-cycle or other negative effects? No. The cartridges get restored to basically new condition and I save mucho $.

I depend on my bio-wheels and plant growth for biofiltration. I've been using this method for six months so far and it's been working great for me.
 
If Carbon stays in the water too long it will begin to release the impurities it has collected. I don't know how long that takes or how negative the effect is, but once its spent, it needs to be removed.
 
About the cartriges getting dirty,,,,its sometimes not the floss's fault when the water in the media tray begins to rise. I have noticed that about every 2 weeks i have a buildup of slime in the bio wheel chamber and it SLOWS the flow down alot thus rising the media tray water level.

I learned this the hard way. I thought my cartrige was dirty and cleaned it and nothin. After i gave up i went and bought a new cartrige. put it in and went out of town for 2 days.came back to find that 40% of my water had overflowed out of the hood onto the carpet. so i found out the slime was killing it and cleaned it. Good as new. Remember that any little resistance on the bio wheel chamber/output area and the water level in there will rise.

About the sponge in there im thinking about getting an AC 500 sponge and cutting it to the chambers dimensions because i can use the money i spend on cartriges monthly on other useful things.
 
wouldn't blasting it with a hose kill the bacteria? Or is such short exposure not harmful?

*edit* since the water isn't dechlorinated...or couldn't it just remove the bacteria from the filter due to force?
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CHlorine may kill it, you can't blast it out with a garden hose. The bacteria live deeply in the pores of our media, and are attached reasonably well. It would take an extremely harsh water speed to actually dis-lodge them in any numbers great enough to hurt us.


Carbon releasing toxins back into the tank is a myth.
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I'll second that just for emphasis, this is a myth.


Do I effectively kill any beneficial bacteria residing in the cartridges? Yes. Does it result in a mini-cycle or other negative effects? No. The cartridges get restored to basically new condition and I save mucho $.
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A couple of notes to add to this. Having an understanding of bio-filtration is the key. Highest surface area, highest oxygen area of you tank will grow your predominant bio-filter. This puts an operating bio-wheel way out in the lead. Also understanding that it takes some time for significant colonies to grow helps with knowing what to do. By rinsing the filter cartridges every two to three weeks, they never have a good opportunity to become the predominant bio-filter, and the other areas of the tank will compensate. I run all of my sponges through the maytag each week, after replacing them with clean ones from the previous week. Most of the time I use oxyclean and some bleach in the wash. There is no way my sponges are bio-filters. And I don't see spikes when I change them. Bacteria are pretty simple, they need a surface to cling to, oxygen and food. Bio-wheels are huge surface area, so they create huge colonies of bacteria. They are high flow areas, so they recieve a lot of oxygen and food via the constant waterflow accross their surface. I never have to worry about when or how I treat my mechanical media simply because like Rebgen I know where what and how my biofilter is working.
Dave
 
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