filter clean

[nicmack]

this is silly! I have a unimax cannister filter and are wondering how you go about cleaning out th gunk without having tank water pour on the floor and killing the good bacteria?

[SpidersWeb]

What I do is grab a bucket of tank water OR water thats at about the same temp, e.g. not freezing cold and not boiling hot.

I tip out the water/gunk thats in the filter, then I rinse all the materials in it except for ceramic noodles and/or bio-balls, just the clogged wool and any large debris.

There will be enough bacteria left in the wool and cermic noodles etc to not be a problem.

If you uses cold tap water, there is a tendancy to experience a small nitrite spike a few days later which may cause sudden fish deaths. The harder its cleaned, the bigger this spike will be, and you'll be likely to have an ammonia spike too. (Just explaining that for anyone who reads this and is wondering what we're on about). A lot of people do use cold tap water without a problem, but depending on how thorough you are there is quite a risk, but still even if its bacteria free, there is tonnes in the tank as well to quickly repopulate the filter (although spikes will occur).

If you don't want water on the floor, disconnect it, and take it outside to clean Most cannisters have a spill tray just in case as well.