Rinsing media?

[sprwoman1]

How important is it really to rinse filter media in old tank water compared to using something more convenient and pressurize like from the tap?

I understand that chlorine could kill the good bacteria, but lots of people with auto or drip systems also slightly go around it.

 

[ziggy2]

You said it yourself, it will kill the bb. Your tank will have a mini or full cycle every time you do it. Most people with drip systems have r/o or water without chlorine or chorimine.

 

[Dr Joe]

You are left with no biological filtration, so it's beyond a crash.

Your looking at a full re-cycling of the tank, If you have a substrate, it may shorten the time by a few days (still a month of hard work), but the following ammomnia & nitrIte spikes are going to damage the fish. Large W/C's will help, but slow down the cycling event.

Drip systems are just that, dripping in 1g - 2g of water/hr into 150g a drop at a time dilutes any chlorine to a harmless amount (this can be debated with some fish).

If it's pressure your looking for, do what I did... get a kitchen sink spray faucet and hook it to a fountain pump, drop it in the used tank water and spray away. You can also use it for the W/C's too.

Dr Joe

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[bukster]

if you have a majority of u'r bb in your filter pad then i wouldn't recommend it. i personally have never had a problem with it because i have a great deal of bb in my bioballs and substrate.

 

[Bud8Fan]

Ditto to bukster. Also if you have an Emperor or Penguin with bio wheels then you can blast away at the pad with tap water.

 

[ksfishguy]

Yep, I have a sump with mega bioballs for bio, I can rinse the pad on my drip tray and my cannister filter to get it really clean. I agree with the other posts, if your only bio filtration is your pad, you better not clean it too much.

 

[Bderick67]

I rinse all my sponges in my AC110s and prefilter sponges on my overflows once a week with hot tap water.