Cleaning My Filter

[Hiya70310]

Hiya

So I have been doing all these water changes and vacuuming my gravel and scaring my fish ( i imagine when I clean my tank it must be terrifying, at least to the fish the shrimp seem to want to ride the vacuum and scare me by touching my hand LOL I'm so jumpy ) So I was wondering about the filter but how do I do that. Do i Rinse under the tap. or in treated water...what else other than the blue media Do I clean. If there is a pin or a resource on the forum that has the answer, I thought I saw one, Please point me in the right direction. Thanks everbody.
Oh ya I'm fish in cycling

 

[rewlyn]

hi guys hows it goin i wouldnt use tap water, i use the tank water that im syphoning out, this way it wont kill the bacteria

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi

DO NOT clean your filter whilst you are cycling, this will slow down the process and lose vital bacteria. You shouldn't clean it until after the cycle has finsihed and the tank is established.

When the tank has cycled and you want to clean the filter media, DO NOT clean it in tap water or conditioned water as this too will wash away the good bacteria. You should only ever clean your filter pads in tank water, so when you do a water change, once you have emptied a bucket of water, clean your filter media in the bucket of old tank water.

Andy

 

[rewlyn]

well i stand corrected arobinson1984 he does know what hes talking about sorry to misinform you i was stupidly listening to the LFS

 

[arobinson1984]

You were right rewlyn regarding cleaning the filter media in tank water. If you clean filter media in tap water then the chlorine will kill off all your bacteria, and even if your clean it in conditioned water then you'll still be washing away valuable bacteria which you have accumalated, hence the reason you should only wash it in tank water to keep the bacteria intact.

You shouldn't touch the filter at all during a cycle, this will just delay your cycle and to be honest, a cycle takes 6-8 weeks so there shouldnt be enough excess gunk in the filter for it to need cleaning.

Also when cleaning the filter pads, try to just wash away any excess slime and give it a little squeeze, try not to squeeze everything out of your pads as the gunk in your pads can be useful in maintaining your bacteria levels as long as its obviously not excess gunk.


Andy

 

[fishnoob88]

Well for me it's different. I clean all my filter media under "tap water". I have well water and it doesn't have any chlorine and junk in it. I am so glad to

 

[greenscooby]

I agree with whats been said already, and would go with NOT CLEANING your media whilst cycling, one thing i would do tho, as your in a fish in cyclye i'd change the floss once a week to save having to much rubbish pass through your media.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with everybody here.

Except for floss during fish-in cycling, don't clean the filter during fish-in or fishless cycling.

Later when you start your monthly cleans (adjust timing as needed):
1) squeeze out sponges and floss pads in tank water only.
2) squeeze/swish out sponge surrounded cartridges in tank water only.
3) dunk/swish trays of loose media (ceramic rings, gravel, bioballs) in tank water only.
4) with all media removed, you can clean filter box and other hardware in tap water, to make rinsing go faster
5) always clean out the impeller area and perform any instructed impeller maintenance
6) always perform a re-lubrication of any silicone "rubber" o-rings/seals at each cleaning
7) over time, inspect sponges and floss for damage - many replace floss each time
8) inspect hose hookups before re-starting
9) for external cannisters, allow a complete filterbox refill before restarting

3 good reasons to run your draining siphon into a bucket prior to its final draining:
1) You use that bucket of tank water for cleaning filter media
2) You can draw a cup of that water to put near your faucet for temperature matching
3) It might catch any small curious tetras/danios who decide to get sucked down the siphon!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

Something to add to what WD has said, and he said nothing wrong. If I am working to cycle my next filter, I always wash my filter in the new tank instead of the bucket. I find it jump starts the new filter better than anything else I have seen. I just got done cycling 4 tanks that way for some auction pickups. Two of the four were instantly cycled and the other two showed a cycled status in less than a week using fish-in cycling for all four tanks. I need to steer clear of club auctions before I get myself into real trouble. I have added 4 tanks in 2 weeks and am picking up 2 more the day after tomorrow. The next filter cleaning will come right after I get them.

 

[waterdrop]

...I'm zooming in on a house in Forsyth, Ill. on google maps and, what's this? there are tanks coming out the door...

 

[rewlyn]

well said boys heres a quick link to FATHEADMINNOWS topic



cleaning filter media the video


hopeyou can speak american

 

[Hiya70310]

Thank you everyone for the post they were super helpful. I feel everday I'm becoming less and less clueless thanks to everyone on this forum new and seasoned.

 

[rewlyn]

Thank you everyone for the post they were super helpful. I feel everday I'm becoming less and less clueless thanks to everyone on this forum new and seasoned.

your not the only one , its good to get real advice