Any drawbacks of not removing mulm/sludge/gunk build up in filters for a while?

NeonFlux · Aug 4, 2014

I honestly haven't really put much thought into what could happen if you don't clean filters for a while.. I haven't cleaned my aquarium filters in months, they still work, and are probably filled with that brown bacteria gunk attached to my filter polyesters battling.. So I was wondering if there are any problems with leaving a filter unattended for a while, like MONTHS. Besides clogging issues and some water output slowing down. Should I be concerned about any bad bacteria taking advantage of organics, and parasites taking foothold in the filter medias or w/e?? Should I not be lazy, and really be doing filter cleaning once every two or four weeks to remove sludge or can I just leave the filters be? Can I use the sludge for garden plants? I'll be using Rid-X soon to help reduce the build-ups.

Miguel · Aug 4, 2014

Put simply: You are transforming your cannisters in nitrate factories. It all gets pumped back into the system.

duanes · Aug 4, 2014

Agree with Miguel about the nitrate.
Its not so much what you see that is dangerous for the fish, but the invisible stuff you don't see.
Water can be mud brown (like the Mississippi or many rivers), and still be good for fish, but water can be crystal clear and still be toxic.
Although keeping water clear is mostly the aesthetics of the aquarist, certain bacteria do proliferate in the gunk in filters and substrate, Flexibacter columnaris is just one that tends to build up to epidemic proportions in aerated areas full of mulm.

krichardson · Aug 4, 2014

Good points in the above posts and you are also wasting electricity if your power filters are not cleaned out since their flow rates are greatly diminished.They are not moving the amount of water that they should be.My sump with it's two mechanical filtering sections still gets a good bit of brown goop that settles there.It would eventually be just what Miguel pointed out if I let it build up too much and didn't remove the stuff with a syphon.

decoy50 · Aug 4, 2014

Breeding ground for planaria as well.

HarleyK · Aug 4, 2014

Howdy,

I clean my canister filters once per year, or when flow rate drops significantly.

Miguel is right that this generates nitrates - like all functioning bio filters, and as is done in nature. It also generates other inorganic salts and carbon dioxide. All these serve me very well in my planted tanks. It's the perfect cycle of nutrients as nature intended it to be.

If you do not have a planted tank, then this requires good monitoring of your nitrate levels or, even better, conductivity. Then adjust water changes accordingly.

All in all, I do not see a problem. You just need to know what to look out for.

HarleyK

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Miguel · Aug 4, 2014

Yep, Harley is right, taking plants, nitrate consuming organisms into consideration.

Having never kept a planted tank ( in 40+ years ) i never count with them....

NeonFlux · Aug 4, 2014

Ah wow.. I see. All this time keeping fish for years.. I didn't even know that. Looks like I definitely will have to be cleaning.. especially my non-planted 250 gallon's sump filter boxes; it is starting to clog up to the point the boxes are almost full of water.. unless I overfilled my sump filters..? Anyhow, no wonder my fish doesn't always seem to perk up nor look great at times even though I do a lot of water changes! Nitrates still pump right back in till it's high.

By the way, do you guys ever wash the bio-balls? How the heck do you even wash them? Take them out and just rinse them too remove the mulm? The bio-balls came with the tank and sump and I have never touched them.

Thank you guys very much for all the knowledge and info. Learned a lot good stuff today.

Wenzo0o0o0oo · Aug 4, 2014

Wash bio balls , with tank water if needed

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duanes · Aug 4, 2014

Agreed, when my bio-media gets even slightly sludge filled, I rinse it in water from water changes. In order to make the process easier, I keep media such as ceramic rings, or lava rock in mesh bags in the sumps.
Fluidized media makes use of this concept, as the media moves and collides, old sludge is knocked loose allowing only robust bacterial colonies to remain. This is one of the reasons fluidizing media is so successful.

Wenzo0o0o0oo said:
Wash bio balls , with tank water if needed

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Any drawbacks of not removing mulm/sludge/gunk build up in filters for a while?

NeonFlux

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Miguel

Ole Dawg

duanes

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krichardson

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decoy50

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HarleyK

Canister Man

Miguel

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NeonFlux

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Wenzo0o0o0oo

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duanes

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