Cleaning Filter Media?

[KieranBoyne]

All of the advice throughout the post is really good. Just do what you  think is easiest

 

[Blubble37]

 

 
I'd say that rinsing the sponges in tank water aswell as the ceramics if any would be a good idea, but any floss pads can be rinsed in tap water, otherwise they dont tend to clean all too well, they need the mains water pressure to force the dirt out of the tiny pores

 
And this is yet one more reason why floss is such a bad home for bacteria. That water pressure basically will remove most, it not all of any bacteria, that might be in the floss. But if you need to "pressure" wash any media, the odds are it doesn't hold much or any bacteria to begin with.
 
And I have been rinsing bio-media weekly on tanks for years. I don't wait for media to clog to the point of slowing flow to clean it. I prefer to prevent it from building up. I should say I use a lot of sponges and they are easy to rinse. My canisters only get cleaned about twice a year. So how often you rinse your bio-media depends on what you use and how you load your filter and how many filters you may put on a tank. If you always put good mech filtration before the bio-media, it goes a real long way to prevent it from clogging. Lastly, fish load counts in terms of maintenance routines. Lightly stocked tanks need less than heavily stocked tanks.
 

 
The good thing is that most external filters where you find floss media have a large amount of ceramic, bioballs or foam so it doesnt matter all too much if the floss actually gets blasted, the floss, as far as i know, is just there to catch all the little bits of dirt - it will hold bacteria but nowhere near as much as a tray of ceramic, foam or bioballs. I do clean it out in tank water with the weekly water change but every month it gets a good wash out to make sure it isnt hindering the filter performance in terms of flow

 

[frapadoodle]

One question not asked. Are you using filter cartridges?

I have H.O.B. filters. Using two layers of sponge, a layer of ceramics, and floss on top to 'polish' the water as Bubble37 says. As it's not there for bacteria, when it starts falling apart I dump it and start fresh. As for the sponges a gentle squeeze and swish. The ceramics get a gentle swish, as both will last years.