cleaning my filter...

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Natural_Born_Killer

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 2, 2008
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Netherlands
I have what is probably a bit of a daft question, but have been getting some very mixed opinions on this lately...

When I clean out my external filters (2x AquaPro2) I basically take everything apart inside the canister and clean it. Except what is around my biomax. I tend to leave the actual bottom and canister itself alone.

Also, inside on the first two shelves are a spongy material - can i replace that with any spongy stuff or do I have to go with the ones that are made by my brand?

I know most BB is kept in the canister which is why I am hesitant to really clean it till everything sparkles.

I tend to clean each filter every 2 months...

I would just like to know once and for all the correct and proper way of cleaning my filter.
 
When i clean my canisters I take out all the trays and take them to the sink. I also take a bucket of tank water.

I take the trays that have the bio media in them and swish them around in the tank water to remove any accumulated gunk on the media.

I take out the sponges and run them under the faucet and keep squeezing them until no dirty water comes out.

If there is any polyester filter material I also wash that in the sink. Or if it is getting old and coming apart i replace it.

I then reassemble the filter and start it up.

I am not worried about growing bacteria on the actual filter pads, so for me rinsing at the sink is no problem. I use bio media for biological filtration.

I also clean them about every 3-4 months.

If your sponges are getting messed up and need to be replaced then you can replace them with alot of different things and get as good or better filtration. If you go with some sponge from a general store just try to match the look. Like the same amount of pores in the sponge so that you do not slow the filter flow down.
 
Oh also I don't clean the actual filter housing or tubes and stuff. Just the media's for me.

I have replaced my tubes on one filter after 9 yrs because of the build up though.
 
Yup with my eheim classics I put all my bio media in tank water then I rinse the sponges/ ehfi mech in tap water until they are completely clean throw out the ehfi synth. Then swish my bio media around in the 5 gallon bucket of tank water and lay it all back together in the filter and hook it back up quickly and start it as to not let the bio dry.
 
Probably shouldn't

Most all tap waters have chlorine and or chloramine in them to kill bacteria that could potentially make us sick if we drank it.

And these chemicals could also harm your bio-bacteria on the media.
 
Natural_Born_Killer;3374848; said:
Is it safe to clean bio media in tap water??
Click to expand...
Nope , I would not as chlorine / chloramine will kill your beneficial bacteria.
 
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