help with cleaning filters asap plzz

[KaiserSousay]

I hope you washed it in aquarium water rather than tap water.

OMG..relax.

You worry about bacterial loss on your replaceable filter pads?

Whatever minimal amount of bacteria you have on the pads being washed with tap water will not throw your system into chaos.

Honest, it won`t.

OP,
Try putting your fish grabber net over the intake when you shut it off. Most all the pooh will stay in the net.

After cleaning you can try a turkey baster to get the gunk out of
the HOB tubs.

You could even rig a pair of nets to put in front of your outflow.

 

[Garrett.turbo]

Kaiser- thank you for that I'll try that next time , and yes I used fish tank water so dont worry lol. but thanks for your replies. I need to figure out how to get my sand back to its normal color cuz its black in some spots now for some reason :/

 

[1974Pantera]

Pretty easy solution here. Unplug the filter, remove the filter pads, rinse them real good in tank water that you've removed from the tank during wc (we just use a spare bucket), and then throw them back in there. Pretty common cleaning technique. When they start to literally fall apart, then it's typically time to replace them.

That's the ticket!

 

[KaiserSousay]

Those black spots, do you have a bunch of algae on any rock/decor/plastic plants?
If yes, then it is probably dead algae that has fallen off.
Happens mostly when you have an outbreak of brown algae, but can happen with green as well.
Can be a big PIA to clean it all away.
I gave up trying to get it all and just live with the black specks in my sand.

 

[BigFishMommy]

black sand is where anerobic bacteria has built up. how deep is your sand? if more than an inch or two and you don't have live plants in the tank then i would be removing enough sand to bring it down to around 1 inch, 2 at the most.

 

[Garrett.turbo]

I have about 1-1/2" of sand, and no i dont have any algae. When I came back from florida it was bad I was gone for 2 weeks, and I think they were fed a little too much because ve never had it before, but after I cleaned it some of it went away.

 

[Hot Slime]

When cleaning my emp I just take the wheels and toss them in my tank. I then take the whole filter to the sink and clean all the crap off the pads and in the hob itself. Set it back up and fill with tank water, turn on and your good to go. Always been cleaning this way, no crap goes back into tank this way.