How often do you clean your canister filters?

ttt0649

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 3, 2007
103
0
0
Arlington,Tx
Just wanted to know how often everyone clean their canister filters.

And whats tools does everyone use to make it clean as possible.
 

tankboy_taylor

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 4, 2008
394
0
0
Southern,NH
depends on the filter,flowrate and bioload as to how fequently you clean it. for example my eheim 2217 can be left alone for 3+ months my xp3 about a month and my ac 110 I clean the sponge once a week.
 

Loulou

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 12, 2007
1,343
8
0
Mauritius Island, Indian Ocean
I clean mine every six months... would just rinse the bio media in tank water and thoroughly clean the filter mats (mechanical filtration) with tap water... if the filter mats are too dirty I would replace them...
 

loach43

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Sep 13, 2005
3,554
18
68
65
Indiana
Roughly every 6 mo. but probably more like 7+ since I don't mark anything on a calender.
 

congofeet

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 1, 2008
216
0
0
California
I clean mine whenever I notice that the flow rate is significantly lower. If you have a lot of gravel/sand sifting fish this will probably be more often because they turn over the gravel a lot making gravel/sand cleaning easier, but it is more work on you filter. For instance on my tank that I have tinfoils and 1 giant goldfish in I have to clean the filter out about every 2-3 months, but for my other tanks it is more like 4-5 months.

If you want to keep up on your carbon though you should probably do it more often since the carbon gets "used" up.
 

SUNFLOWER

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 6, 2005
252
0
0
41
I have all ehiem total of 8 filters every 6 months just change the filter watt and clean the hoses.
 

señor_pescados_felices

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 26, 2006
1,040
0
0
The Real Norcal
dang these maintenance times are off the hook!How often are FX5 owners cleaning out there cannisters?I'm cleaning out my cannister about every two weeks.:eek:

If I don't it starts to micro-bubble real bad.






 
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