FX5 Cleaning. How often?

[rudy]

Just a poll on how often you clean yours? I used to alternate canisters and clean one a week, however since I have changed food I think that may be overkill. Just wondering what others do for maintenance.

 

[ziggy2]

It depends on what you have inside. How much mechanical and how much bio.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Once a week seems much, depends on your tank size, what & how often you feed, and what you stock?

 

[johnptc]

if you run the sponges and all bio.....every several weeks works for me.....if you get alot of nitrate build up, flushing the sponges more often may help

 

[Westie]

I used to clean the sponges every 2 weeks and alternate the media everyother 2 weeks. Now I just do it once a month. I know it says don't change your media all at once but, I figure theres enough bacteria in those sponges and bio-balls to soften the blow to the system. And it seems to work. Also, I have a sand bottom which I find in the bottom of the filter when cleaning.