Aqua clear 110 maintenance method?

[that_fish_Guy]

This is the way I do it. I have one Ac 110 on a 60 gallon I use the standard sponge, a layer of quilt bating and then about 2 inches or more of Ceramic rings. About once a month I fill a bucket with tank water and unplug the filter and get all the media in the bucket. I DO NOT rinse out the plastic HOB I only rinse the sponge in the tank water replace the quilt bating and rinse the ceramic rings also in the tank water....I put all media back in the HOB fill it with tank water and start it up. About once a year I take them all the way apart and rise and clean the actual plastic HOB and impeller.

 

[pops]

I run my AC 110,s with the sponge in place the a bio bag of Seachem pond matrix on top, sponge filter cleaning every other week. by cleaning I mean squeegeed and rinsed in old tank water from current water change.

 

[Def Leppard Hysteria]

I run ATI Filter Max III prefilters on all our Aquaclear 110's. This prolongs the need to "clean" the main sponge. I squeeze out the prefilter sponges in tank water, while doing my weekly water changes. Also, I do put a layer of quilt batting between the internal sponge and biological media, just like that_fish_guy does above. I replace that weekly.

You can see one of the prefilter sponges in this photo.

 

[Allan01230]

I run two sponges in my AC 110 on my 50 breeder I just sqeeze both sponges out in a bucket of old tank water during a wc I do this once a month. I just leave the filter running debris floats around a little but so what? My fish will eat eat but most will get sucked back in filter when sponges are put back in tank clear in minutes. I only use NLS pellets so really not a lot of gunk build up anyway. Been doing it this way for years.

 

[Botiadancer]

I use double sponges, no carbon and add a prefilter on the intake. I clean one sponge every time I do a water change, and then flip the order so the water goes through the clean one last before going back into the aquarium. Keeps the sponges from forming deep layered inefficient bacteria - and keeps them nice and clean.
I clean the prefilter whenever I think of it.... once a day... every couple of days... always on water change day. Export the nutrients BEFORE they have a chance to break down. Think of it as skimmer.... only in manually operated sponge form. Lol.

 

[Tig Phish]

As far as cleaning the sponges, after unplugging, I usually remove some water to a bucket (part of a water change) and squeeze out the sponge in the old tank water, if it gets too turbid, dump and remove more water and squeeze again. This way the beneficial bacteria in the sponge are not compromised with chlorinated, different temp water. If the biomedia gets gunky, I do the same thing with it, swishing it around in old tank water until most the gunk is removed. Put the filter back on, and replace the old water in the tank with dechlorinated tap water, and crank the filter back on.

+1, Im using a sump now. But if u ever gave me a choice of another filter, AC 110s r always the best IMO.

 

[jeaninel]

I squeeze the sponge out in used tank water from the water change. When I turn the filter back on there's always a cloud of gunk and debris that first comes out so I put a net at the filter outlet to catch that.

 

[jeaninel]

I squeeze the sponge out in used tank water from the water change. When I turn the filter back on there's always a cloud of gunk and debris that first comes out so I put a net at the filter outlet to catch that.

 

[Hendre]

I clean every other week with my low stocking, i also hung sponges in the outflow to disperse the turbid flow for the sake of the fish and plants

 

[Pomatomus]

I clean my sponges about every 2-3 weeks, but really on an as-need basis. I can tell from the water level in the filter and if I wait too long and they get too clogged the sponges will lift out of the water.

I agree, don't run carbon unless you have to. However if you do run it I would replace it every month or so depending on your stocking density. Don't rinse carbon once you start using it. It can release stuff back into the water and chloride will reduce its lifespan.

The little balls sound like some sort of phosphate media, ion exchange resin, or purigen. Definitely not biofiltration unless they are the biopellets (almost pea-sized) that get eaten by bacteria.