So in high school when I used to have a tank I never cleaned the filter, the tank didn't seem so important. Now that I'm back in the hobby im far more dedicated to the maintenance and it's time for a filter cleaning. Only problem is I'm paranoid that im going to clean something wrong and destroy needed bacteria and growth in my tank.
How to clean a filter?
- Thread starter Buphy
- Start date
When I do water changes, I squeeze out mechanical media in a buckets of old water, and dump it until clear (might take 3 or 4 buckets).
I also shake out the gunk from bags of bio media in buckets of old water change water until mostly clear.
I keep media in bags in my sumps just for this purpose, to make it easy to keep excess gunk from building up.
I also shake out the gunk from bags of bio media in buckets of old water change water until mostly clear.
I keep media in bags in my sumps just for this purpose, to make it easy to keep excess gunk from building up.
Remove the media from the filter and give it a good rinse or even replace it,take a good look at the inner workings of the filter and see if it could use a good cleaning.Chances are there should be enough bacteria population all over the surfaces of the tank to keep the levels in check.
Hello; I go with this as well. I have rinsed filter media with a hose many times. I also will replace with new media if the old is in poor shape. As stated the bb are on surfaces throut the tank. Add to that bb are understood to stick well to surfaces and a simple rinsing seems not likely to remove very much.
Good luck
When I do water changes, I squeeze out mechanical media in a buckets of old water, and dump it until clear (might take 3 or 4 buckets).
I also shake out the gunk from bags of bio media in buckets of old water change water until mostly clear.
I keep media in bags in my sumps just for this purpose, to make it easy to keep excess gunk from building up.
I also do this.