I normally clean my mechanical filter once a week during the water change. for biological filtration, I have several layers of Japanese mats after the mechanical filter, after 1 year and 6 months, I decided to find out of the mats are dirty and lo and behold, the Japanese mats were as dirty as the mechanical filter. I cleaned them out with water from the tank, I am wondering if all the bacteria did get washed out with the cleaning process? Should I now normally clean the mats as its also acting as a mechanical filter ?
Cleaning filters
- Thread starter qguy
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Not all but some bacteria could have been disturbed. Your best honey is to rotate which mats you clean, if you have 4 mats do 1 a week.
hello; I have included a link to back up my statements to a degree. Down in the text you will find some comments about how the beneficial bacteria (bb) tend to stick to surfaces.
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html
I have been cleaning reusable parts of filter media for decades with a garden hose. I also from time to time rinse out the body of my filters. I do not use anything but light water pressure.
My current thinking is from over 50 years of fishkeeping combined with reading fish forums the last six years or so. The basic concept is that the bb are on multiple surfaces in an established tank, not only in the filter media. My take is that pretty much any surface can have colonies with those surfaces in water flow likely having more colonies. This should mean that there are plenty of colonies around a tank with perhaps a greater concentration in the filter parts. To me this means I can remove filter media and toss it or rinse it out if it is still serviceable.
I do now try to do the cleaning in stages. I generally have at least two types of filters running, a mechanical power filter of some sort along with a bubble operated device. I do not clean both at the same time, so leaving the other in place and not disturbed. I also have some filters with more than one place for media. I will clean or replace only one part of the media at a time.
To me the main function of a mechanical filter is to trap detritus so I replace or clean the media as needed. I find other ways to have surfaces for the biological functions of the bb colonies.
The concept of only gently rinsing filter stuff in tank water was new to me six years ago when I got an decent internet connection. I thought about it for a time, did some extra reading and thought about my personal experience. I tried it both ways for a couple of years and have gone back to rinsing with a garden hose. To those who find this practice wrong, please run your tanks any way you wish.
Had I been new to the hobby six years ago the variety of practices found on these forums would have been hard to wade thru. I had over 40 years of experience (good and bad) to call on. I had a pretty good idea about what worked and what what does not.
If I had a filter setup such as you describe, I would likely clean or replace the media fairly often. In sections as suggested by another member. The notion of allowing a filter to clog up for fear of losing some bb does not seem so critical. There are bb on other surfaces and once established they do reproduce fairly quickly.
Good luck
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html
I have been cleaning reusable parts of filter media for decades with a garden hose. I also from time to time rinse out the body of my filters. I do not use anything but light water pressure.
My current thinking is from over 50 years of fishkeeping combined with reading fish forums the last six years or so. The basic concept is that the bb are on multiple surfaces in an established tank, not only in the filter media. My take is that pretty much any surface can have colonies with those surfaces in water flow likely having more colonies. This should mean that there are plenty of colonies around a tank with perhaps a greater concentration in the filter parts. To me this means I can remove filter media and toss it or rinse it out if it is still serviceable.
I do now try to do the cleaning in stages. I generally have at least two types of filters running, a mechanical power filter of some sort along with a bubble operated device. I do not clean both at the same time, so leaving the other in place and not disturbed. I also have some filters with more than one place for media. I will clean or replace only one part of the media at a time.
To me the main function of a mechanical filter is to trap detritus so I replace or clean the media as needed. I find other ways to have surfaces for the biological functions of the bb colonies.
The concept of only gently rinsing filter stuff in tank water was new to me six years ago when I got an decent internet connection. I thought about it for a time, did some extra reading and thought about my personal experience. I tried it both ways for a couple of years and have gone back to rinsing with a garden hose. To those who find this practice wrong, please run your tanks any way you wish.
Had I been new to the hobby six years ago the variety of practices found on these forums would have been hard to wade thru. I had over 40 years of experience (good and bad) to call on. I had a pretty good idea about what worked and what what does not.
If I had a filter setup such as you describe, I would likely clean or replace the media fairly often. In sections as suggested by another member. The notion of allowing a filter to clog up for fear of losing some bb does not seem so critical. There are bb on other surfaces and once established they do reproduce fairly quickly.
Good luck
You are right about bacteria being located in other places and this is why you get away with the hose method. That being said you are wiping out a significant amount of your biological friends unnecessarily. Your tank can probably recover quite quickly making the damages minimal but a quick rinse in tank water will have much less of an impact in the bacteria located in the filter. It's not a life or death situation for your tanks apparently but I wouldn't say your practices would work for everyone especially anyone keeping a bare bottom. It's safer and less impactful to just recommend using tank water even if you get away with using the hose in your setup.
Hello; This apparently is the assumption of many. Being that for some reason the bb are to be found in significant enough numbers in only the filter media. Or as least mainly in the filter medium. There will be bb in the filter medium for sure, perhaps even at some greater percentage than specific areas else where. For example, I do not think that the filter media alone will hold say 80% of the bb colonies. My take is that the bb colonies will be spread over many surfaces thru a tank, where ever there is a water flow. Perhaps someone has the numbers.
Hello; This is correct. It also follows that the filter material will be more clogged up with such a quick rinse and thus have less flow. To me the reduction of flow will mean that much less of the ammonia loaded water will pass over the bb. It would be an interesting experiment to see which method actually resulted in a reduction of ammonia.
There is also the reason I have mechanical filters in my tanks. For the first few decades I ran tanks with UGF's, sponge filters and even the walstad method. I put mechanical filters on my tanks to trap detritus (mulm) so that it can be removed. I prefer to have my filters running at a greater efficiency. As I stated in my previous post, there are other ways to encourage bb to be on other tank surfaces outside the filter media.
Hello; You are correct. I have other ways to maintain the bb levels and healthy tanks. Likely the greater of these is that I moved to low density stocking some decades ago. Even when I had heavy stocking I was using a hose to rinse my filters with no apparent ill effects.
Hello; I fail to follow why a bare bottom tank will not have bb on surfaces other that the filter media. In my QT tanks and fry growout tanks I will usually run at least a sponge filter. I also like to have some of the free floating live plants in such tanks. Such plants are easy to move in and out as they are not rooted. I also like to have some sort of removeable structure to give fish a place to hide. Such structures can be kept in an active tank so as to be always loaded with the bb. Again my take is that the bb are not fussy and will colonize most any surface in a tank with perhaps the greater number being in water flow so as to have access to the ammonia.
The filter has constant flow and media specifically designed to house bacteria. It certainly houses a large amount of bacteria but you are correct the percentage is unknown and is certainly different for different tanks. An experiment to see how much is in the filter would be interesting. All that being said even if it only houses 10% of the bacteria your tank will become 10% less efficient if you kill that bacteria. I would guess that it's more than 10% for most tanks. This can be seen with people who replace filter cartridges and experience mini cycle where the tank experiences a small ammonia spike because the bacteria population isn't large enough after the old filter media was discarded. This is a common occurrence so I will continue to suggest trying not to kill off bacteria in the filter even if it is possible to get away with it. Vigorous squeezing of mechanical media in tank water is very effective for me and many others especially if a tank is regularly maintenanced.
To further illustrate the extent to which bacteria colonizes filters you can instantly cycle a tank by moving a filter from an established setup to a new tank with fish. You can't do that by moving over a rock or something which suggests that there is a lot of bacteria in the filter.
To further illustrate the extent to which bacteria colonizes filters you can instantly cycle a tank by moving a filter from an established setup to a new tank with fish. You can't do that by moving over a rock or something which suggests that there is a lot of bacteria in the filter.
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Hello; How is this known? Seems to me that enough of any bb loaded surface can work to see a new tank. A hand full of substrate, a few rocks and all will have some bb on their surfaces. Again this would be a very interesting to have some numbers about. While I do not see a particular mechanism that favors filter media over other tank surfaces. The only thing I can picture is that decaying organic bits may be slightly more common in the media. Even so I siphon out a great amount of detritus from a substrate during water changes. I also will get a layer on bare bottom tanks with mechanical filtration.
The balance between ammonia levels and the bb populations is in constant flux. I can see how a bb covered rock could house enough bb to use the ammonia from a new tank with only one or two small fish. I tend tp populate a new setup gradually.
I will use filter media because it is so handy. I figure that a section of media from an established tank will have more than enough bb for a new setup with only a few fish. I also figure that many of the bb will die back if the fish produce less ammonia than they have been getting. Their demise is a part of the ongoing balance even in established tanks as stocking and decay levels change.
A common practice I use is to use live plants in most of my tanks. I give a new setup a day to check for leaks and that all equipment in working as desired. I then put in live, usually rooted, plants and live snails first. My take being that there can be bb colonies on both. Some live plants are considered to help remove ammonia directly as an added benefit. The snails will likely have bb on the shells and in addition will begin to produce ammonia as a waste product. This should start the colonization of bb in the new setup and also give the bb something to feed on.
Its a matter of surface area. while a rock will have some bacteria filter media will have it in much higher concentration.
I don't think we disagree on anything other than how much bacteria is housed in the filter and whether it makes sense to clean it in a way that kills it or a way that won't kill as much. Let's agree to disagree about filter maintenance and everyone else can make up their own minds. I am right on board with all you have said otherwise.
I don't think we disagree on anything other than how much bacteria is housed in the filter and whether it makes sense to clean it in a way that kills it or a way that won't kill as much. Let's agree to disagree about filter maintenance and everyone else can make up their own minds. I am right on board with all you have said otherwise.