Admit how long without cleaning the filter....

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Confession bear:

External Filter... I've had it for about 6-7 months and haven't yet cleaned it out :) I will though soon.
 
I rinse out my sponge filter and filter media once a week when I do a 95% w/c. But then again I have discus which is why I do weekly w/c's...........
 
Went more than a year on three tanks. 75 planted, 55 cichlid and 20 needlefish. No problems. Cleaned them last month they're just now stabilizing. Lost about 15 fish. The filters were gross though. Eheim Pro IIs.
 
Didn't open the fx5 on my 120 for over 2 years. It had 2" of sand in the bottom. The bottom sponges were half saturated with sand to the point of almost being stone. The rest the sponges were filthy brown slime. The bio max wasn't plugged up except the bottom tray had some sand in it. The flow was never reduced, I don't run polishing pads. The tank also has a AC110 which was cleaned 4 times.
We do weekly 40% water changes.
 
KAWAMIKIE said:
Didn't open the fx5 on my 120 for over 2 years. It had 2" of sand in the bottom. The bottom sponges were half saturated with sand to the point of almost being stone. The rest the sponges were filthy brown slime. The bio max wasn't plugged up except the bottom tray had some sand in it. The flow was never reduced, I don't run polishing pads. The tank also has a AC110 which was cleaned 4 times.
We do weekly 40% water changes.
Click to expand...

Ha, I thought the bottom and middle level sponges were given to become "stone" from the sand. Takes a long time of cleaning, spraying and squeezing to clean them. The FX5 this time had hardened sand on the bottom of it underneath the media that we literally had to chip away. Now, that was bad as I hadn't seen that one before. The sand also clogged up the motor, after thoroughly cleaning and rinsing and turning it back on, it did turn back on, sput out some sand, and quit. Hubby after a lot of working on it got it cleaned up and working again, after having to move it/hook it up several times back and forth from the tank to the kitchen sink. I don't do polishing pads either, did it before in an other tank, didn't see a difference.
 
I clean my canisters out every 3-6 months, and my planted 60G filter i clean out every 2-3 weeks...


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KAWAMIKIE said:
Didn't open the fx5 on my 120 for over 2 years. It had 2" of sand in the bottom. The bottom sponges were half saturated with sand to the point of almost being stone. The rest the sponges were filthy brown slime. The bio max wasn't plugged up except the bottom tray had some sand in it. The flow was never reduced, I don't run polishing pads. The tank also has a AC110 which was cleaned 4 times.
We do weekly 40% water changes.
Click to expand...

More or less this.

One of the ****tiest jobs on earth. Dismounting and cleaning cannisters, seeing that the O rings that were perfect do not fit anymore, having the notion that everything was perfect untill I had the stupid idea to clean, and so on, and so on...

Sumps all the waaaay!!!!!!!!!!
 
I let my laziness decide when it's time to do maintenance lol. Fluval 406 is mostly bio with some sponges so never have to clean it that much. I actually like cleaning my sump. I hate cleaning my quiet one pump impellers. You could fart on it and the damn ceramic shaft would snap.

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I went for 10 months on mine.... I have two FX5's on my 210g.

They really were not that bad. I do three water changes with gravel vac per week so it cuts down on the solid waste picked up by the filters. But I will say it would have been best to do them at the six month mark.
 
I have a 140 gallon with two Emperor filters. I do a w/c every two weeks and wash out the pumps every other month. If I don't the pumps stink up the house.


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