do you guys regularly pull the whole hang on back filter out, or just the cartridge???

[Magnum Man36 151]

so, I typically have 2 hob’s on each tank, and typically just clean off the intake, and clean the cartridge, I rarely pull the filter body off the tank… most of my tanks have a lot of plant roots, and I may pull the filter to clean out the impeller on a rare occasion, now that I no longer have any aqua clear filters in service, I rarely have impeller issues… and rarely clean the inside out, I would assume, because of the darker environment, and water flow, there is a high level of beneficial bacteria in the bio film inside the filter housing???

 

[GaryE]

I don't have a single HOB running with a cartridge. They all have either the intended sponge (older aquaclears) or modified sponge or other biomedia. So I do remove that for rinsing, as mulm builds up. I don't do it was often as I should.
The box of the filter only comes off if I have impeller issues. I have changed a lot of impellers over the years, and cannibalized a lot of filters for parts.

 

[TwoTankAmin30]

With one exception I have onlt AquaClear hangons. They last forever of at least 25) years as my oldest was bought used in 2002.

I load them all the same way- two foams with a piece of floss between them. I Hvae mioves towards using Poret foam over the AC foam. I so this both ofr the foam inside the filters and the pregiler goam I out on all intakes.

I only pull the box when it is time to clean the impellers and the well om which they sit. In a mature tanks any bacteria I might lose when I swish the foam in water is going to be replaced naturally very fast. This does not mean the ne bacteria will all be in the goam I just rinsed. When there is more ammonia available than the existing bacteria can oxidize, they will reproduce pretty fast to fill in what is needed.

Anywhere in a tank there is bacteria at work is where it can reproduce. So if I removeed 10% of the total bacteria, where the replacements will be is not limited to reproducing from wherever it was lost. This is one reason why we can never assume exactly how many of the nitrifying miscroorganisms are in a tank inless it is completely bare save for the filters.

 

[Magnum Man36 151]

I use mostly Tidal’s, and they don’t use throw away cartridges, but an inner “cartridge” that pulls out and holds in factory condition, a sponge, and a mesh bag for bio media… I often use 2 sponges, as they are coarse enough, to not significantly reduce the flow with a double layer of sponge, and the tray is large enough to hold at least double the amount of bio media, I usually add extra, then there is a clip to lock it into place, so I just unlock that and remove the cartridge, leaving the outer tub, and motor in place…

 

[Rusty_Shackleford35 151]

I've retired my HOBs, perhaps for a future project. When I was utilizing them most weekly maintenance was just rinsing the sponges. But bi monthly I would take out the intake tube and impleller and clean them, and twice a year I would clean the entire box. Jist to make sure I was getting maximum flow.

 

[bgarthe36 53]

All 10 of my currently running AC HOBs have intake pre sponges, no cartridges, and no impeller problems I’m happy to say. Like what was said above, I only remove the housing maybe once a year.

 

[Fishmanic35 151]

I have a Marineland 200 HOB. I modified the media....I use a mid course sponge and a layer of floss. The sponge gets cleaned monthly and the floss is replaced at that time. The HOB casing get a full cleaning about every 8 months or so as I do find a fair amount of algae/mulm buildup in the bottom of the reservoir. I also clean the impeller at that time.

 

[Innesfan34 18]

Unless there's an impeller issue to sort out, just the media.

 

[fishorama31 6]

I use ACs & try just rinsing the sponges when the flow starts to slow. No regular schedule, but I've been lax about prefilter sponges on some. Those need more frequent cleaning (I wonder why, lol). I don't clean impellers, intake tubes or filter boxes unless, after sponge cleaning, the flow is still slower,

We used to use several Whisper-type filters with floss type sleeves over a frame & a thin foam sheet. The "sleeves" were made to hold carbon but I usually used bio-bits if anything. I just rinsed all the media (more often than with ACs) but the sleeves tended to stretch & get baggy after a while. Again, rarely cleaning impellers. They were nice because they would self-prime after a power outage. Not all my ACs do that but I learned from 2tank to try flicking the impeller blades with something long & thin. (old dogs, new tricks!)

 

[Boundava10]

I have several HOB filters and the first thing I do with the new filter is toss the insert and modify with sponge and ceramic media.
Only downside is that when I do WC to the point that I need to shut down the filters, any debris/mulm resting in the filter is kicked back into the tank, making the whole process of a water change a joke.

To bypass this I will take the HOB off the tank and do a quick dump of media and tank water in the filters into a bucket. Another quick stir or squeeze out of the media in the trash tank water and a rinse of the filter housing to prevent any debris in the filter being kick-backed into the tank.