How Often Do You Clean Your Filter ...

[paulyoung666]

My 40 l tank has only been running a few weeks but I thought I would see how dirty the filter was , it was absoloutly filthy , cleaned it out in tank water and refitted , just wondering if I should be cleaning it every couple of weeks now ....

 

[bradleybygrave]

My 40 l tank has only been running a few weeks but I thought I would see how dirty the filter was , it was absoloutly filthy , cleaned it out in tank water and refitted , just wondering if I should be cleaning it every couple of weeks now ....

This should not be necessary as you would get rid of all your beneficial bacteria in the filter sponge that you may have built up.
Although you should clean it out you do not need to do it this often.
I'd recommend once a month.

 

[paulyoung666]

Surely though I just washed out the thick crap and left the good stuff behind , thinking on as long as the flow is OK I will leave it ....

 

[guppi]

I have 2 filters on my 450Ltr tank I clean them every 2weeks alternative with no loss of bacteria.

 

[CezzaXV]

My 40 l tank has only been running a few weeks but I thought I would see how dirty the filter was , it was absoloutly filthy , cleaned it out in tank water and refitted , just wondering if I should be cleaning it every couple of weeks now ....

This should not be necessary as you would get rid of all your beneficial bacteria in the filter sponge that you may have built up.
Although you should clean it out you do not need to do it this often.
I'd recommend once a month.

As long as you clean it out in tank water, which you did, the amount of bacteria you'd have lost is little to none. The bacteria hang onto the media a lot more strongly than the gunk that tends to build up.

I probably don't clean my filter out anywhere near as often as I should do, but I find that the flow is generally strong, perhaps too strong for the size of my tank and sometimes I turn it down, so I dont need to clean it out very often at all.

 

[paulyoung666]

Thanks , I have the flow set high as the guppies love playing in it lol ...

 

[dgwebster]

Mines gets it every 3-6 months depending on how the flow looks, but im running an ex1200 on a 200ltr tank, so that may account for some of that journey.

Speaking if which, could do with changing the floss...

 

[paulyoung666]

floss ? ...

 

[dgwebster]

Top layer of my canister, a fine cotton wool like floss.

 

[CezzaXV]

Top layer of my canister, a fine cotton wool like floss.

Similar to the wadding inside cushions if you've ever seen it. I used to have a bag of floss sitting with my fishkeeping supplies. Anyway, one day I was doing a sewing project which involved cutting open cushions and using the stuff inside. I'm not known for being the tidiest of people, and my bag of floss fell on the floor. I kept saying I'd pick it up later, I'd pick it up later. Eventually it got to a point where I wasn't sure what was filter floss and what was the wadding.

I wonder if there's actually anything special about filter floss or whether it's the same stuff.

 

[KrazyKuhli]

I wring them out in tank water every 3 weeks or when I notice the flow getting weak.

Be careful with wadding and floss, the wadding from cushions with have fire retardent chemicals which could be toxic to fish.

 

[Timmy_Bee]

I dont clean it that often - every few months at best, and its always full of tiny snail shells... (alhough i dont have any in the tank)

Also, does anyone else (with an external) get gunk in their pipes? Whenever i stop the fiter to clean is, and then start it again, i get tonnes of gunk that i can only describe as small chunks of tuna...
Never seen this in the filter, but i guess it gets stuck in the pipes? not nice

 

[OldMan47]

Unless you scrub a lot, you can rinse out that filter every week if you want. I usually clean mine when I can detect a restriction in flow but that is laziness, not a concern about ruining my biofiltration. I am rather thorough when I actually do clean my filters. The media is well rinsed out, not just casually rinsed. I take my hand and squeeze the media several times to make sure I have caused all of the build up to come out into the rinse water. On the other hand, I do not mechanically scrub the media at all. If it has a bit of discoloration, so be it.

 

[Tizer]

I pull out the media trays and empty the gunk out every couple of weeks in my EX1200's. Very rarely do i bother squeezing the sponges, but i do replace the filter floss at least once a month.

 

[AndreyT]

My 40 l tank has only been running a few weeks but I thought I would see how dirty the filter was , it was absoloutly filthy , cleaned it out in tank water and refitted , just wondering if I should be cleaning it every couple of weeks now ....

It depends on what kind of cleaning and what kind of filter you are talking about.

For a typical HOB filter, like Hagen Aquaclear, regular cleaning boils down to squeezing the sponge(s) in the aquarium water and, maybe, quick-rinsing the basket and the interior of the filter itself. This is usually done every week with water change. It has no negative effect on the biological filtration. Sometimes such filters accumulates some algae or other deposits on the edges of the water outlet and inside the intake tube. This can be cleaned once in a month or so. Impeller normally require cleaning once a year or even less often. Hard water deposits on the filter case usually require removal once in several years.

Canister filters are cleaned much less often, while the process itself is more involving...

It is expected that a freshly established or overhauled tank causes the filter to get filthy faster, since there might be much more suspended particles in the water. In established tanks with good water quality filters don't clog that much.

Again, what kind of filter are you talking about?