Kelsta Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Hi I just read a post that said not to clean the filter when you do your water changes. What does that mean? We sometimes wash the foam in the dirty water that we've taken out of the tank, and hubby takes out the filter (plastic bits and the trickle tube) and cleans them too, with a brush. Is this right? I thought the bacteria colonies were in the filter media (we have ceramic tubes) and the foam - is it OK to wash the plastic bits? Sorry to sound dumb :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishandchips Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I wash the foam and the plastic bits but leave the ceramic noddles in water from the tank to keep the bacteria alive. That is when i clean the filter which is not very often that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Your filter is a biological filter rather than a physical filter and therefore it is the bacteria living on the crud that do the work. You should only remove enough crud and make sure the pipes are clear in order to restore the flow. The filter works best when half full of crud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Dont be too keen with the filter cleaning. It may not need to be done every water change. Depends on the filter size and what fish you have. Generally you only need to clean out the filter when the water flow starts to slow down. I think you are doing it right, leave the noodles alone, rinse the sponge in old tank water and wash down the plastic parts as needed. The gunge in the filter also contains part of the bacteria population and isn't harmfull, but too much and the filter blocks up. Most of the bacteria live in the ceramic media, so look after those as well as possible. Cheers Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelsta Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Thanks heaps - that's exactly what we're doing, so that's good. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Do your best to not disturb the ceramic noodles etc, definately do not use a brush on them. I leave that tray completely alone, and just rinse the foam in old tank water. As above, filter should not be clean, just shouldn't be clogged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 In my aquaone internal when i clean it i usually just swap the sponges around and clean the bottom one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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