Cleaning The Filter

[barb-e]

I have a Tetra whisper 10 or 15 power filter in my ten gallon aquarium. It used a bio bag and this little black sponge thing. My tanks been set up for two months and I know i'll have to change the filter media eventually. I've heard that you shouldn't change everything at once because you will get rid of benificial bacteria. Well, what is everything? What is supposed to be changed and how often? What method is best?

 

[juwelfan]

Is there any filter floss? It should look like cotton wool but a bit more plastic. That needs changing every week.

I guess the black sponge is the carbon filter, that can be changed every 2-3 months or so i think.

As for the biobag, i dont know what that is so cant help there. Hopefully someone else can help.

 

[Amunet]

If there is room, you can place a new biobag into the filter. After about 2 weeks (i think), that filter will have gotten seeded with it's own bacteria colony
Or you could cut some of the old filter media and place it into the filter along with the new one. That will also help seed the new one.

 

[Torrean]

Is there any filter floss? It should look like cotton wool but a bit more plastic. That needs changing every week.

I guess the black sponge is the carbon filter, that can be changed every 2-3 months or so i think.

As for the biobag, i dont know what that is so cant help there. Hopefully someone else can help.

that is the complete opposite of everything I've learned

you only have to change the filter floss when it is literally falling apart. Rinse it in tank water when your filter starts to backflow (flow from the filter intake tube instead of through the filter media)

as for the carbon don't bother with it. It's only needed after you've treated with meds and if you spill something in the tank.

Your only "Suppose" to change it because the people who make the filters want to make money IMHO (in my humble opinion)

 

[MessyMan]

The black sponge is the bio filter, dont clean that unless it gets clogged.

The white bag, you should replace monthly, the company sys to do it along with tha crbon.

you can buy the bio-bgs in 12-packs wich cost around $12. (Assembly required)

 

[rdd1952]

I have the same filter on my betta tank and there in't enough room to add a second filter pack. The easiest thing to do is to pour the filter media (I don't use carbon for this very reason) from the old pack into the new pack. This way you are saving most of your bacteria colony and only losing what is on the bag. If you use carbon, you can't do this because the carbon needs to be changed too.