Cleaning Filter Pipes

[skaffen]

Hiya

I'm a n00b and have recently set up my first tank - I have a 440 L planted tank with an AquaEl Unimax 500 filter. I cleaned the filter's foam first stage basket for the first time last night - the tank has been running for approx 7 weeks now.

When I reconnected the filter it auto-primed itself, there was a bit of violent bubbling coming from the intakes, and a lot of what I assume was algae came spewing out the outlets.

Am I right in assuming the stuff was algae, or does dross settle in the pipes? Is this normal behavior?

Should I clean the pipes on a regular basis, or before reattaching the filter after cleaning? This time round I just I let it settle and did a vacuum and 1/4 water change to remove most of it - the water's looking good.

-Si

[David R]

Not sure exactly what it is, but I always find a bit of gunk spews out of the pipes and into the tank when my canister filters have been unplugged or disturbed. You could try running it into a bucked first (hook the intake pipe to the outlet to flush it) to catch the stuff, but I usually don't worry about it.

[Wok]

cleaning the filter after 7 weeks?

wow.... I only clean my filter once a year, even then its pushing it

[Naz_Nomad]

Lazy, Wok.

MY filter had a clean six months ago. The second in a year.

Dead keen, me.

[tHEcONCH]

I empty mine out every fortnight.

[skaffen]

cleaning the filter after 7 weeks?

wow.... I only clean my filter once a year, even then its pushing it

Yeah, it didn't need it, new car syndrome I had the lid off to add some wool, as the stock foam seemed to be letting some fine particles through. I thought I might as well rinse the foam while it was accessible. I also just wanted to have a look and see how dirty it was after that period - comparing the manual with my own observations.

Now the tank's all set up I need something to mess about with!

Must. Resist. Buying. Another. Tank!

[David R]

My sump gets new filter wool every second water change (about every 10 days at the moment), and in comparison cleaning out a canister is a big mission so i usually don't bother. Its probably been at least six months, I really should do it soon... :lol:

[skaffen]

Can you recycle wool by rinsing it out?

[alanmin4304]

With my external eheim on my turtle tank, sometimes it is only the pipes (intake)that need cleaning.

[David R]

Can you recycle wool by rinsing it out?

To a certain degree. I usually rinse the stuff in my sump in between replacing it. It will soon become a nitrate-factory if left full of dirt and uneaten food. I learnt the hard way about rinsing it out too often, it clogged up with too many fine particles and wouldn't drain the water fast enough, causing hte top of the sump to overflow.

[spoon]

cleaning the filter after 7 weeks?

wow.... I only clean my filter once a year, even then its pushing it

when ur filter bacteria gobble up the nasty chemicals like nitrates yes they will turn them into nitrites but when this bacteria dies it will be realeased water and there is a limit on how much bacteria a filter can hold(as u will know the more the better) i feel safer cleaning my filter out every month (getting rid of a potentail source of poillution)

[alanmin4304]

Your filter is one of the main repositories for the bacteria converting nitrite to nitrate. I therefore only clean filters ever when the flow is becoming restricted and only then clean it enough to restore the flow. It is a biological filter and only works properly when mostly full of gunge.

[skaffen]

I was only concerned with the foam in the first tray, being a new tank I thought there'd probably been lots of physical debris getting filtered compared to an established tank . The plastic grill and the first two layers of foam were fairly gummed up it turned out.

I wasn't worried about the bio filter as I was only messing with the first basket. The cycle seems ok still, my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all zero - my plants are just starting to take off Hamilton tap water seems high in PO4 though, but I'm ok algae-wise - probably 'cos I'm using Excel? Here's a couple of tank pics anyhow...

Thanks for the help, the people on this forum are awesome

[henward]

what comes out is not harmfull, just unsightly

and cleaning your filter after 7 weeks is soon, especially after ust arting it up

i havent cleaned my filters for more than 8 months

if i find the jet weakening, ill replace some filter wool but generally, filters shouldnt need that much cleaning.

the stuff that spews out i dont know what it is but generally , what ever it is, its used to having a constant one way flow, when you turn it off, it disturbs that and dislodges

[Ira]

Whatever the stuff that comes out is exactly, it tastes horrible.

[David R]

This thread prompted me to clean mine last night, after ~8 months of not being touched it was pretty gross!! Must try to do it more frequently...

[Caper]

Are you all talking about cannister filters??

Caper

[skaffen]

I was, I have an AquaEl Unimax 500 Pro...