How Do U Clean Ur Filter Media W/o Killing The Bacteria Off?

[cleekdaFish]

Should I use the old fish tank water to rinse it out?

 

[chibi]

Yes. Never from the tap.

 

[Glod]

Yep, when you do a water change drain some into a bucket. Give some of the sponges a quick squeeze or two in the bucket to get the worst of the crap off them.
Don't do all the sponges in one go (if you only have one it's worth halfing it.)
Basically don't let chlorinated water anywhere near the filters contents.

 

[erk628]

Should I use the old fish tank water to rinse it out?

Yes clean your filter media in tank water ie take some water out of your tank in a bucket put the media in there take the filter casing and parts over to the sink wash good go back to bucket with media wash that out put all back toghter and fill up with tank water thats still in the tank turn on and your good to go.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Purely mechanical media, however, is fine to be washed under tap water- the pressure cleans it much better than a rinse in old tank water.

 

[raptorrex]

Purely mechanical media, however, is fine to be washed under tap water- the pressure cleans it much better than a rinse in old tank water.

yeh thats a good point. how would you define "purely mechanical"?

 

[Ben]

everything thats not the sponges...i guess

 

[Glod]

No..... bio balls and ceramics are not mechanical. Purely mechanical would be things like plastic strainers which have next to no area for bacteria to set up home on.

 

[andywg]

Purely mechanical is anything that is purely in the filter to mechanically filter.

In most cannister filters any sponges will be for mechanical filtration as the bio filtration is housed on bioballs or other ceramic media (such as fluval bio max).

 

[raptorrex]

Purely mechanical is anything that is purely in the filter to mechanically filter.

In most cannister filters any sponges will be for mechanical filtration as the bio filtration is housed on bioballs or other ceramic media (such as fluval bio max).

? cant see that being right. bacteria will grow on any surface, so sponges are both bio and mechanical!! bio balls are both too! not sure the bacteria will know just to live in the ceramic/bio ball section. lol. err that's why i asked the question.

 

[andywg]

? cant see that being right. bacteria will grow on any surface, so sponges are both bio and mechanical!! bio balls are both too! not sure the bacteria will know just to live in the ceramic/bio ball section. lol. err that's why i asked the question.

Bacteria will grow on almost any surface, but a cannister media will have enough ceramic media that it can house a big enough bacteria colony on the ceramic media, as a result of this the sponges are not needed to house bacteria so any loss of bacteria through rinsing the sponge is negligible.

Using bioballs for mechanical is just silly as they have a high surface area per volume (making them ideal for biological) but will clog up very quickly. Once clogged then you start to deny the bacteria of access to oxygenated water and decrease their eficiency. It s for this reason my trickel tower filters have a layer of filter floss over the drip plate to ensure as little detritus as possible goes on to the bio balls and clogs it up.

While that floss will have some bacteria grow on it, it is almost nothing compared to the size coony that will develop on the bio balls and as such when I clean the floss under a showerhead (it would never come clean just rinsing in tank water) I know I am not losing any large amount of bacteria as the larger part of the colony is on the bio balls.

 

[Underwurlde]

Hell, I don't clean my (blue) sponge filters - All I have a stack of 3 of them, with a white one on top. I replace the white one weekly and its job is to stop crud getting intot the others below it. Now my blue filters are indeed full of a sludgy brown substance but as far a I am concerned this is the bacterial colony so why would I wan to clean this away???


Andy

 

[jayjay]

Bacteria in this case aren't "a sludgy brown substance" that's just bits that have got through your white sponge. I'd clean the blue sponges occasionally or your nitrate levels are likely to rise.

 

[andywg]

That sludge is detritus and as Jay mentioned, as it rots it will cause increased nitrate levels. The bacteria are microscopic so cannot be seen by the naked eye. Washing away the detritus will not affect the bacteria colony.

 

[doresy]

Purely mechanical is anything that is purely in the filter to mechanically filter.

In most cannister filters any sponges will be for mechanical filtration as the bio filtration is housed on bioballs or other ceramic media (such as fluval bio max).

? cant see that being right. bacteria will grow on any surface, so sponges are both bio and mechanical!! bio balls are both too! not sure the bacteria will know just to live in the ceramic/bio ball section. lol. err that's why i asked the question.

Hey hey hey, I'm with you on this one boboboy