Cleaning pre-filters?

[Dark Rose]

How do you guys clean your foam pre-filters, and how often?

I put them on both my aqua clear 50s, because of my shrimp, had snails getting stuck to them, and lost a couple of small tetras...

Noticed last night one of my filters had hardly any flow, so today I took the foam prefilter off, and just squeezed it out in the tank, having NO idea how much fine stuff was trapped in there... WOW. Whole tank is brown now...

I'm assuming I'll just wring them out in my water bucket when doing a water change, so it'll still be tank water, but not in my tank...
Is that what you guys do?I and do you do it weekly? Monthly? Every water change? Does it matter?

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[E.C.]

it's by sched for me, once every month and a half... Also you need to detached it to the tank to avoid the dirt to spread in your tank, clean it by aquarium water... squeesh it out. DONT USE ANY SOAP.

 

[Dark Rose]

it's by sched for me, once every month and a half... Also you need to detached it to the tank to avoid the dirt to spread in your tank, clean it by aquarium water... squeesh it out. DONT USE ANY SOAP.

Yeah, squeezed the first one out in tank... BIG mistake, lol. The other one I got a cup of tank water and wrung it out in that... they've only been on my filters for about 3 weeks, and already had enough fine particles to impede the flow...

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[E.C.]

Yeah, squeezed the first one out in tank... BIG mistake, lol. The other one I got a cup of tank water and wrung it out in that... they've only been on my filters for about 3 weeks, and already had enough fine particles to impede the flow...

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Then do the cleaning every month or so... May I ask, what type of filter are you using? Canister? HoB?

 

[Dark Rose]

Using 2 AquaClear 50 HoB filters on a 29g planted community tank.

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[E.C.]

That's why... I would suggest to make a sched for it, also don't worry about the flow not unless your fish/plants needs it...

 

[Dark Rose]

That's why... I would suggest to make a sched for it, also don't worry about the flow not unless your fish/plants needs it...

Well I need to have some flow, one filter had completely lost ALL flow because it couldn't pull any water through the prefilter. Once it was wrung out good, everything was back to normal.

Probably do them every other water change or so, or do one every water change, and alternate. I've got biomedia in the filters, so don't need that aspect of the prefilters.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[decoy50]

I squeeze mine out with every water change & I also rinse them under the tap to make sure all the crap is out. I know that will kill any beneficial bacteria in them, but I'm concerned with the food/waste particles they trap vs. how much BB lives on them. As you found out, they can hold a TON of crap in them.

 

[lp85253]

just make sure not to do them BOTH at the same time , pre filters are great,,,you can cut down internal sponge cleanings (ac50's) to almost nothing. I have an ac70 with prefilter , and I only clean the sponge inside the filter about once every couple of months (and it really doesn't NEED it that often) I clean the prefilter at LEAST 2 X a month( tap water, 2 "train" bac. to colonize the internal sponge)

 

[Dark Rose]

I squeeze mine out with every water change & I also rinse them under the tap to make sure all the crap is out. I know that will kill any beneficial bacteria in them, but I'm concerned with the food/waste particles they trap vs. how much BB lives on them. As you found out, they can hold a TON of crap in them.

Yeah, I had no idea how much schmutz was in that little foam pre-filter... wringing one out in my tank clouded the entire tank for probably 4-5 hours... and water wasn't completely clear like normal until the next day...

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