Filter maintenance

[Teelie]

I just finished on 3 of my tanks with 4 HOB filters and I did an internal filter last week. I realized I didn't clean mine as much as I should even though it's not really hard work to run them under some water (safely dechlorinated of course). I take the filter floss out, drain it of the water and give it a good wash in filtered water every month or so but I rarely actually clean the filter itself.

I really should as after I did the full maintenance on these, I found lots of gunk (rotting food, waste, etc) had begun to accumulate in the filter intake tube and box. Even some large trumpet snails had appearently grown up in there. Once I got all that removed and turned the filters back on, they seem to run smoother and faster.

From now on I think I'll do a full filter maintenance clean up once a month to remove all that stuff. Somehow, there was hair on the impeller of my 10g Kuhli tank too. I don't know how that got there. It wasn't just one hair either but several.

 

[IMCL85]

I do weekly filter clean just the sponge tho like sqeeze it in my aquarium water that I change out. And do a monthly deep wash including the white rock and carbon inside my filter.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I just roughly wash out my fluval sponge filters once a fortnight in water from water changes making sure the propellers are clean and there is no large gunky bits building up and they do well on that and i've never had a mini cycle with them so i think this sort of maintanence is fine .

 

[canarsie11]

I go months personally

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Even some large trumpet snails had appearently grown up in there.

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Lol sorry i have had that before, it makes me laugh every time- the weirdest thing i found living in my filter once was a dragonfly larvae

 

[blackfinshark_3]

i cleanmy foam from my aqua clear once a week and change it once a month like it tells me 2 )

then i change my carbon every 2 weeks.

ive never cleaned the entire filter since when i see gunk in it i always thought that was good bacteria growing...oh crap...i gotta clean mah filter

thank god its only been working for 2 months!

 

[Teelie]

The gunk is good and bad. It's good for bacteria to feed and live off of but it can also start releasing ammonia and nitrites if the bacteria can't keep up. I have filter floss, a biowheel and some mesh to keep the floss in the filter for my bacteria so I don't worry too much about removing the gunk from the filters. It's mostly up to personal preference. I left some of the stuff on the outflow lip where I know my bacteria have a nice colony going.

 

[pjfish]

If you've got cats or dogs, then their hair probably ended up in the tank. I know I sometimes get a little cat hair in mine. It's easy to remove if you see it floating on top. So far, it hasn't caused a problem for my fish.

 

[Teelie]

There are cats but never in this room and nowhere near the tank and it was human hair as well.

 

[Synirr]

I generally just wait until there's a noticeable change in filter flow, then rinse the filter floss out really well and pop it back in.... Yeah I know, I'm lazy, but if it ain't broke don't fix it, I say!

 

[CFC]

I clean my external filters once every three months or if there is a noticable drop in outflow, internal filters usually get cleaned once every 2 weeks as they clog much quicker than the canisters.

 

[Paul_MTS]

On my 4ft with a ehiem external it gets cleaned most of the time when i water change as it's a heavily stocked tank so usually give the blue sponge a good wash replace the filter floss and then every few times, I'll break it down and rinse all the media to get the gunk off.

on my sumps they don't get touched until the sponges become clogged and i can see the water just running down the side of them. filter floss gets changed every few months when it gets really dirty.

when i start a tank with an internal running it usually works out they get cleaned every fortnight.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

The internal filter needs doing a fair bit. I check it every week. The external on 35 has yet to done as it's new and still cycling and the trickle filter on my 55 mostly takes care of itself. Although a good unclogging etc doesn't go amiss every now and then.
Hugs,
P.