Personally I've got a 4ft tank and I carry out a similar process to the one you describe with few exceptions:
Step 2 - don't do this. I've got a vacuum hose that I push into the gravel a little to stir it up a little so it sucks the dirt and not the gravel. I also usually carry out a weekly water change with this so it cleans and drains at the same time.
Step 3 - The white filter sounds like some sort of filter wool pad which I generally change every time I clean the filter, just because I've got loads. I don't think it a big deal and shouldn't cause too many issues for you.
I've also got 3 trays in my filter, one with ceramic rings and two with different levels of sponges, and generally I leave the ceramic rings alone and rinse one tray of filters only at a time. That way I'm only ever cleaning 33% of the media at a time.
Hope that is of help.
Step 2 - don't do this. I've got a vacuum hose that I push into the gravel a little to stir it up a little so it sucks the dirt and not the gravel. I also usually carry out a weekly water change with this so it cleans and drains at the same time.
Step 3 - The white filter sounds like some sort of filter wool pad which I generally change every time I clean the filter, just because I've got loads. I don't think it a big deal and shouldn't cause too many issues for you.
I've also got 3 trays in my filter, one with ceramic rings and two with different levels of sponges, and generally I leave the ceramic rings alone and rinse one tray of filters only at a time. That way I'm only ever cleaning 33% of the media at a time.
Hope that is of help.
