Bio-bag

[Funny Pie]

So, I checked on my filter today and made sure the flow was going ok. Well, its alot lower than usual and it barely makes a current in the water. So I shut it off and then i take out the Bio Bag that is with the whipser pf -30 and its pretty clean on one side but then i turn it over and it is just filled with straight up crap, green, brown, smells like ass and its all sticky. Is that the beneficial bacteria or is that just poop thats its collected. Im assuming thats whats blocking up the flow. Could i take some tank water and rinse all that off or what? Im worried cause the flow is alot less effiecent than it was

 

[Funny Pie]

Also, another thing that i just did which was kinda stupid of me. When the power filter is turned off u have to fill it back up again with water. I filled up the external whipser filter with just tap water and i just realized that there is chlorine in it. And maybe im being paranoid but my fish are being more active than usual. I put like 3 drops of dechloranizer in the tank, would that just about do it?

 

[SkiFletch]

if it was a very small volume of tap water compared to the tank (which I'm assuming it is) and you put some dechlorinator in you should be ok as far as that goes. all that junk you described might be beneficial bacteria or it might not be. I'm going to wait for someone else to reccomend what to do since I have no experience with that filter, but for the moment I'd say leave that cartridge in there cause you dont want to risk harming your bacteria colonies

 

[kimbowee]

I have the same filter as you. I rinse the Bio Bag in used tank water at water changes.

If your flow is slow also try taking the entire filter apart. They do clog easily. I clean the water intake pipe (sorry don't know the technical name ) ) and I also remove the propeller part that is under the pipe and wipe it off. About once a month I also wipe out the inside of the filter box. Of course, use old tank water to do all of this.

If after rinsing the Bio Bag it is still full of gunk you can change it but make sure you don't also change the black floss part at the same time. That would cause you to cycle again. It is ok for the Bio Bag to be a little discolored but you don't want it full of gunk. I also found out the hard way that you can't just turn it around as it then blows the gunk back into your tank.

Also, I keep a cup I use just for my fish tank & use that to fill up the filter box with tank water.

Hope that helps.

Editted for spelling.

 

[Funny Pie]

I have the same filter as you. I rinse the Bio Bag in used tank water at water changes.

If your flow is slow also try taking the entire filter apart. They do clog easily. I clean the water intake pipe (sorry don't know the technical name ) ) and I also remove the propeller part that is under the pipe and wipe it off. About once a month I also wipe out the inside of the filter box. Of course, use old tank water to do all of this.

If after rinsing the Bio Bag it is still full of gunk you can change it but make sure you don't also change the black floss part at the same time. That would cause you to cycle again. It is ok for the Bio Bag to be a little discolored but you don't want it full of gunk. I also found out the hard way that you can't just turn it around as it then blows the gunk back into your tank.

Also, I keep a cup I use just for my fish tank & use that to fill up the filter box with tank water.

Hope that helps.

Editted for spelling.

yes, helps alot, thank you

 

[Funny Pie]

K so i took the side with the gunk on it and put it in a pot of tank water and kinda just like scrapped off most of the gunk. I put it back in the way i think its supposed to go and then when i turned it on some pieces of poo came out and now the tank is kinda not as clear and has more debri in it, did i screw up?

edit: also, if i just can replace my bio bag then will that destroy all the bacteria, or is all the bacteria in the black sponge infront of it?

 

[kimbowee]

When I restart my filter some stuff always blows back into the water. It should clear up within an hour. You can replace the Bio-Bag. I usually replace mine about every other month or so, depending on the fish load and how dirty it seems. Never replace it at the same time as the black floss filter. In fact, never replace the black one at all.

The black one holds a large amount of bacteria. Your white biobag will hold some also. As you should be replacing the Bio-Bag as needed you will depend on the black one to maintain balance in your tank.

I believe the Bio-Bag box says to replace the Bio-Bag every 2-4 weeks. Sorry I threw the box away, I don't remember exactly. You do not need to replace it that often. Once every other month is probably good. Just give it a rinse in tank water when doing your weekly water changes. If your tank is heavily stocked you may need to replace every 6 weeks. I also take my filter apart once a month to clean out the gunk. It seems to keep it running fine.

Good luck.