How often do you guys wash filters?

[F1 VET]

Exactly grands!


-New fish keepers are reading this thread and you think its safe for a beginner to go a year w/o a filter clean?! Just keep that in mind when gloating about not cleaning equipment that most new fish keepers are overstocked and overfed!


Besides the fx5 is designed to run 25-30 years without a clean out as long as you feed NLS!






×Go S. Vettel #1 Infiniti Redbull! 4x WDC!!! Congrats on another flawless title× <GET BETTER SCHUMI>
__________________________________________________________________
Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763

 

[petspoiler]

Danielcho, you get kudos from me for developing a routine "that works so well for you".
Should things change in your life and you could not manually remove the detritus every week, I'm sure you are bright enough to know you'd have to lower those intakes, make sure there's enough water direction & suction and then do more canister maintenance.

F1 needs a room mate. Can you cook too?

 

[DDK]

@Danielcho
the point was that people post "generally good husbandry practices" in threads, so that newbs aren't led to deadly disasters.
You manage your tank far differently than most people: you have high intakes to deliberately NOT have filters suck up detritus chunks & you vacc out all fish crap, have low level feeding habits, use ridx (which is a relatively recent feature to most who do it at all), plus you perform Lg frequent water changes. and I never saw you previously say that you also use purigen.

Most keepers depend on filters to do nearly all mechanical removal ! with the exception of vaccing substrate, most over feed, and I think most add no extra biological products...the degrees vary, but seriously> you must know darn well, that all makes a gigantic difference in what advice is best in a public forum.

Your filter looks cleaner than mine (altho mine is good), but that is after I began a regime of ridx. SO clean, I wondered how the BB was even working on my tank- much less Better Than Ever.
One caveat to others: rinse filters before starting ridx, because first it breaks stuff up & loose. That's not a good idea to just jump right in to if your filter has much sludge.

I do agree, there are new people starting out in this hobby but I had the impression that this conversation is more of a "higher level" of fish keeping knowing a bit more than the average but I may have been in the wrong here. The reason I even comment on this thread was to support another forum member that Armand was bashing on found on page 4.

Dude a Canister full of debrits becomes a nitrate factory and in case of a black out it can dangeroulsy turn anaerobic and kiss your stocking good bye .

Dude, even if you pretend to use it as primarly bio, after 6+ months of being runnig, a canister does catch waste, if yours doesn't, damn!! what kinda fish are you keeping? a handfull of minnows in a 150 gal?

I replied kindly because I did actually read the forum members post and tried to explain what he said because its not wrong at all.

I think he was trying to say if your filters become to the point of becoming a "nitrate factory" within a month of two then over feeding or improper care was taken to lead to it. And I do agree with that, my canisters has very little gunk even after a +8 months long period with moderate stocking.

His ignorance to ignore what was posted and bash this forum member is acceptable?

Ha! If you really have the need to clean that often, you are overfeeding your fish. With proper filtration and no over feeding, the BB can process all of the fish waste. Cleaning once or twice a year is to get rid of the sludge that is composed of minerals and other things the bactetia don't process. If you NEED to clean a cannister every 3 months you need to be cleaning every 2 weeks to get the uneaten food out. A cannister is primarily a biological filter, not mechanical.

Sent from my SCH-S960L using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

On page 4 of this god for saken thread i agreed with his point that a canister is a balance of bio/mechanical. But if the filters are getting caked in a short period of time then there is over feeding or over stocking. Or even perhaps the filter isn't the correct size for the tank.

He states:

Bro, even if you fed your fish in an every other day basis, big cichlids poo a lot and the waste go to the filters, I dont get you guys what you mean?.....leaving a canister too much time without serviece would eventually lead to it becoming a nitrate factory, after one year I asure you it will, although Im sure it would happen much before.

Well I do feed every other day, I do have a big cichlid that has monster size poops, and this filter has been left along for a little longer than a year. My water doesn't seem to indicate harmful levels of nitrates and also my filter is clean and is far from a nitrate bomb he is so dedicated on, his knowledge is fogged even after I explain my set up and my maintenance schedule. Any avid fish keeper would understand the take away from my set up yet he just plain wont comprehend or read.

I'm not saying if your heavily stocked and over feed then leave your canister for a year but if you know what your are doing then go for it, test the water and actually know rather than clean it because you "think" its time. If you "think" its time for a clean then human intuition states that you will "think" too late occasionally.

A properly set up canister can be left alone for a year with regular maintenance and some "higher level" tips and tricks of the fish hobby is what I'm trying to convey. He firmly believes that this is impossible and its abuse to the fish I suppose yet I have a feeling my nitrate levels are well below his.

And your point about rid-X is so very true, it does get a bit messy at first and if I could add it might even cloud the tank for a day or two depending on dosage. But to the newer fish keepers I strongly advise probiotics in the tank weekly because it does wonders.

Edit typo,

 

[DDK]

Exactly grands!


-New fish keepers are reading this thread and you think its safe for a beginner to go a year w/o a filter clean?! Just keep that in mind when gloating about not cleaning equipment that most new fish keepers are overstocked and overfed!


Besides the fx5 is designed to run 25-30 years without a clean out as long as you feed NLS!






×Go S. Vettel #1 Infiniti Redbull! 4x WDC!!! Congrats on another flawless title× <GET BETTER SCHUMI>
__________________________________________________________________
Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: [url]http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763 [/URL]

I've noticed nls breaks down tinting the water a light shade of brown rather than collecting into muck piles in the fish tank. Always wondered why but I guess I just found out lol.

 

[DDK]

Danielcho, you get kudos from me for developing a routine "that works so well for you".
Should things change in your life and you could not manually remove the detritus every week, I'm sure you are bright enough to know you'd have to lower those intakes, make sure there's enough water direction & suction and then do more canister maintenance.

F1 needs a room mate. Can you cook too?

I'm far from a decent cook! My profession is basically sitting on a computer figuring out problems with a foreign language too most people (computer software engineer) so my cooking skills are non apparent! I'm sure my knees will give one day and i'll finally have to get a chlorine/chloramine filter for the house and then drips systems for everyone!

 

[petspoiler]

Danielcho, even if experienced MFK members are first responders to a thread topic, the biggest "secret rule" here is to also design all advice with safety in mind for later comers who are only searching for entry-level info, long after the discussion has ended. Threads remain forever, except for some containing TOS violations.
No, bashing is not "acceptable" but everything here is not monitored. Mods will respond to the report button if it's used.

One person, or two or 3, might get unruly but it could have been much much worse ;-)
This place is full of hotheads & trigger fingers with selective reading deficits.

(sigh) this thread is not Godforsaken, I brought Him with me today
;-)
and I like you pretty much now.

You can't cook and I'm not willing, so F1 is on his own,
even tho he is one of my favorite kids.
Have you read his Pothos thread? it's making him a celebrity here.

 

[rodger]

It seems there are a large number of people that are telling others they are maintaing their tanks wrong didn't read the title of the thread. Now, all of you that have been acting like this is an NLS thread go read it. Now appoligize for being a jerk.
There, feel better?

Sent from my SCH-S960L using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[Armand]

Mr Danielcho, I apologize if I acted as a jerk to you, I also apologize if I offended someone before, I dont think I previously was bashing anyone tho, if such forummite felt it that way I apolologize aswell.

My 85 gal is running a canister and a small built in wet dry I feed my 11" solo Flower Horn every other day, I clean my canister every two to three months and when I do it after three months is gets really dirty, with loads and loads of gunk, reason why i find it hard to believe people cleans them every year or even more.

Reason why I DO NOT ADVICE to anyone to let that much time to elapse after every cleansing.

If you can, I do respect that.



Cheers.

 

[F1 VET]

You can't cook and I'm not willing, so F1 is on his own,
even tho he is one of my favorite kids.
Have you read his Pothos thread? it's making him a celebrity here.

That's right! You never have to clean POTHOS and it reduces nitrates up to 50% (documented) but that was with 2 fully established plants with 5' vines and massive foliage (doesn't take long to grow and a small cfl bulb will further growth rates!) Not bad for a 20$ investment....!

Either way my wc are cut in half, I consider my electrical filter only half of the equation!


Links in my sig if you want to further research*Just to end this thread on a positive note! :beer::beer::beer:


×Go S. Vettel #1 Infiniti Redbull! 4x WDC!!! Congrats on another flawless title× <GET BETTER SCHUMI>
__________________________________________________________________
Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763

 

[DDK]

Danielcho, even if experienced MFK members are first responders to a thread topic, the biggest "secret rule" here is to also design all advice with safety in mind for later comers who are only searching for entry-level info, long after the discussion has ended. Threads remain forever, except for some containing TOS violations.
No, bashing is not "acceptable" but everything here is not monitored. Mods will respond to the report button if it's used.

One person, or two or 3, might get unruly but it could have been much much worse ;-)
This place is full of hotheads & trigger fingers with selective reading deficits.

(sigh) this thread is not Godforsaken, I brought Him with me today
;-)
and I like you pretty much now.

You can't cook and I'm not willing, so F1 is on his own,
even tho he is one of my favorite kids.
Have you read his Pothos thread? it's making him a celebrity here.

I sure have!! I learned about using septic bacteria from a lfs that was in my area before the recession and I didnt believe him until I personally saw him add it into a tank.. it's a bit hard to start using a product such as rid-X on beloved fish!

It seems there are a large number of people that are telling others they are maintaing their tanks wrong didn't read the title of the thread. Now, all of you that have been acting like this is an NLS thread go read it. Now appoligize for being a jerk.
There, feel better?

Sent from my SCH-S960L using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

Agreed.

Mr Danielcho, I apologize if I acted as a jerk to you, I also apologize if I offended someone before, I dont think I previously was bashing anyone tho, if such forummite felt it that way I apolologize aswell.

My 85 gal is running a canister and a small built in wet dry I feed my 11" solo Flower Horn every other day, I clean my canister every two to three months and when I do it after three months is gets really dirty, with loads and loads of gunk, reason why i find it hard to believe people cleans them every year or even more.

Reason why I DO NOT ADVICE to anyone to let that much time to elapse after every cleansing.

If you can, I do respect that.



Cheers.

I too apologize for the manner in my thread, this has gotten a bit out of hand. There is tons of poor fish keeping leading for the need to get people to maintain their tanks as monthly or bi-monthly cleanings and I do understand how my "way" could be seen as set it and forget it.

That's right! You never have to clean POTHOS and it reduces nitrates up to 50% (documented) but that was with 2 fully established plants with 5' vines and massive foliage (doesn't take long to grow and a small cfl bulb will further growth rates!) Not bad for a 20$ investment....!

Either way my wc are cut in half, I consider my electrical filter only half of the equation!


Links in my sig if you want to further research*Just to end this thread on a positive note! :beer::beer::beer:


×Go S. Vettel #1 Infiniti Redbull! 4x WDC!!! Congrats on another flawless title× <GET BETTER SCHUMI>
__________________________________________________________________
Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763

Great link, RD. is the power house of knowledge for our hobby. Very smart man and this thread is possibly one of the most significant threads of the website.

Edit: As in this thread I was referring to the probiotics thread if there's any confusion!