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

[Underwurlde]

I doubt it because it is uniformally dispersed throughout my blue filters, not just concentrated at the top like you'd expect if it was collecting crud from the tank - this 'brown sludge' grows so I guessed it was something to do with the bacteria if not the bacteria themselves....

Anyhoo I don't really know....


Andy

 

[jayjay]

It builds up, more and more of it collecting, not growing.

 

[Underwurlde]

Oh, I duuno, you could be right jayjay but the jury as to what it is is out in my mind. Swishing the filters about in old tank water does not clean out the brown sludgy stuff anyway. It's sticky I guess, hence I don't clean my filters. In other words if it ain't bust, don't fix it as my amms & nits have always been rock bottom ever since my tank cycled and has been like that for months....

 

[jayjay]

Ammonia and nitrite will be at 0 normally in a cycled tank, however the end process nitrate builds up.

 

[Underwurlde]

...yes. And hence weekly water changes.

Anyway, I think I may start trying to clean out those sponges then, perhaps once a month....

Have always been a bit 50-50 on this anyway.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[raptorrex]

? 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.

I didnt say you use bio balls as mechanical filters, i said the were a mechanical filter, as are any sponges, but they are also bio filters as well. or perhaps you have never needed to clean your balls (oops lol) my question was "how do you define purely mechanical"? so you answer was wrong, if you read my question.

If there is room in your filter, and there is enough food, every area of the filter will have a small bio action. but if there is not enough, food for the bacteria, the main colony will be greatest in the first, suitable area. as in the first sponge the water meets. the colony will only expand if there is more food.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Mechanical media, basicly, traps all/most of the 'physical' waste (detritus) before it reaches the biological media. In this way the bio media doesn't get clogged (limiting oxygen for the bacteria). Regularly washing (under pressurised tap water) the mechanical media gets rid of all the 'physical' waste before it rots to produce more ammonia- any bacteria on there will be killed, yes- but more will set up shop in the bio media, which is what it is intended for. The less ammonia you have being produced, the lower the amount of nitrate produced.

 

[raptorrex]

Mechanical media, basicly, traps all/most of the 'physical' waste (detritus) before it reaches the biological media. In this way the bio media doesn't get clogged (limiting oxygen for the bacteria). Regularly washing (under pressurised tap water) the mechanical media gets rid of all the 'physical' waste before it rots to produce more ammonia- any bacteria on there will be killed, yes- but more will set up shop in the bio media, which is what it is intended for. The less ammonia you have being produced, the lower the amount of nitrate produced.

KK so you would consider the base/course sponge purely mechanical. lol got you. but do we not want the ammonia to feed the bacteria? or is that just in the cycling phase?

 

[OohFeeshy]

No idea, I have no idea which type of filter you have and what media that entails. Mechanical tends to be filter floss, or perhaps a sponge of the filter has some sort of bio media as well (like ceramic). Yes, obviously we want bacteria to feed off ammonia, but obviously there's problems with leaving the filter full up with slime. They get blocked- so normally we rinse out the media with old tank water, if it's bio media. If there's mechanical media, however, rinsing it under tap water gets most of the crud out, saving you replacing it as often.