If I clean my filter media with my tank water will I ruin my bacteria beds? I have bio balls ad scrubbies. whats the best way to clean it without killing my bacteria? is their enough bacteria in my gravel so I would'nt have to worry about it. my tanks been set up for a year now but i noticed the flow rate decreased a little in my wet dry. what should i do?
Cleaning filter media?
- Thread starter fsirico
- Start date
same here i wanna clean my sub pro in my canister without disturning my bb colonies.. any ideas anyone?
Either rinse with tank water or clean a small amount every month. Keep it under 20% and the BB will rebound just fine. Still you should monitor water parameters and make adjustments in the amount you clean if ya see ammonia spikes.
I make sure that I dont clean more than one filter at a time (most of my tanks have three filters on them), and I use tap water cause I have yet to figure out how to "use tank water" to clean anything.
but with bio balls it would be hard to clean a little at a time. you will always be taking the top layer to be cleaned and the bottom will never be cleaned. you would have to take all the bio balls out i think. if your tank is not overloaded do you think the gravel would have bacteria to keep the tank going. if you use your tank water bio balls should make a quick rebound as long as they don't dry out wright?
with Pharaoh, you'll get the majority cleaned. Or route the sump return to a drain and just stir the bio-balls a little (watch the water level in the tank!). All you want to do is remove the detritus unless you have a problem you haven't told us about.Oh, and no the bacteria in the gravel isn't enough to support the tank.
Dr Joe
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uncwnells;2681679; said:
???
Syphon off a bucket/container of tank water and have at it. Don't over complicate it (I do...55g drum with 60psi transfer pump and a sprayer handle
).Dr Joe
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i have a discharge bulkhead at the bottom of my tank to do my water changes so you mean i can take all my bio balls out use the discharged water thats coming out and use that to rinse it and put the bio balls back and they should be fine? oh yea i have a 440gal so i'll have plenty of water to rinse the bio balls out.