What the science shows v.s. what the urban fish myths show are almost opposites. But the gent in the video linked above got it ha;f right. He is correct about being able to rinse using tap water and not having any issues by doing that, What he got wronf is that squeezing the foam is the good way to clean sponge/foam media.
I do not have to deal with the potential chlorine or chloramine issues in tap water as we have our own well which neither of these things. I do need to deal with chlorine when I do bleach dips on plants. However, I have read some of the research on these things. So, let us start with this paper from 2011.
Lee, W.H., Wahman, D.G., Bishop, P.L. and Pressman, J.G., 2011. Free chlorine and monochloramine application to nitrifying biofilm: comparison of biofilm penetration, activity, and viability.
Environmental science & technology,
45(4), pp.1412-1419.
Abstract
Biofilm in drinking water systems is undesirable. Free chlorine and monochloramine are commonly used as secondary drinking water disinfectants, but monochloramine is perceived to penetrate biofilm better than free chlorine. However, this hypothesis remains unconfirmed by direct biofilm monochloramine measurement. This study compared free chlorine and monochloramine biofilm penetration into an undefined mixed-culture nitrifying biofilm by use of microelectrodes and assessed the subsequent effect on biofilm activity and viability by use of dissolved oxygen (DO) microelectrodes and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) with LIVE/DEAD BacLight. For equivalent chlorine concentrations, monochloramine initially penetrated biofilm 170 times faster than free chlorine, and even after
subsequent application to a monochloramine penetrated biofilm, free chlorine penetration was limited. DO profiles paralleled monochloramine profiles, providing evidence that either the biofilm was inactivated with monochloramine's penetration or its persistence reduced available substrate (free ammonia). While this research clearly demonstrated monochloramine's greater penetration, this penetration did not necessarily translate to immediate viability loss. Even though free chlorine's penetration was limited compared to that of monochloramine, it more effectively (on a cell membrane integrity basis) inactivated microorganisms near the biofilm surface. Limited free chlorine penetration has implications when converting to free chlorine in full-scale chloraminated systems in response to nitrification episodes.
If one digs into this more what one discovers is that chloramine does not kill the bacteria as long as there is any ammonia available. Considering that chloramine is the combination of chlorine and ammonia, it is not a stretch to understand that the odds thtere is ammonia present is not much of a stretch. Basically, the further from the actual water treatment and distribution facility the water holding chloramine gets, the greater the odds are it breaks into the two components.
What has been discovered from the research is that chlorine is more deadly to the bacteria in a biofilm than chloramine, But to penetrate the biofilm chlorine works way more slowly. Also, chlorine is a gas and it will outgas from water. One the other hand chloramine does not do this as long as the chlorine and ammonia are bound together. The problem is the chloramine doesn't necessary kill the bacteria due to ammonia being present. So it basically put the bacteria to sleep and when the ammonia become available soon after the bavteria wake up and recover.
So, to understand how chloramine or chlorine might effect a tank we have to understand what is going on. Bear in mind that the concentrations of these two things in water treatment are much higher than they will be when the drinking water actually comes out of out faucets. The concentration of them is much lower if not close to 0.
Since chlorine is the more deadly of the two lets look at this first. By the time water treated with chlorine exits in our hoome, the level is pretty minimal. And all the time the chlorine wants to evaporate. So cleaning a sponge into chlrinated tap water will expose it to minimal chlorimnne and when between the rinse and when the foan is back in a tank the level will have dropped some. How much tyime will pass between the rinse and the return to the tank?. Bear in minf it takes at least a day for the chlorine to penetrate a biofilm completely.
And then what do most of us do? We return the media to the tank and normally we also add dechlor to the tank when we do a water change and media rinsing So as soon as the foam goes back into a filter or tank and the tank water starts to go through it. So, the dechlor quickly neutralizes the minimal residual chlorine that may be in the tap. The level of the chlorine and how little time it is in the foam means almost no harm is done to the bacteria.
So, what about chloramine which can penetrate the biofilm faster. The problem there is ammonia being present.While we expect ammonia to test at 0 in a properly cycled tank, this does not mean there is 0 Ammonia. What it means is that there are sufficient numbers of bacteria and also possibly plants which consume ammonia almost as fast as it is created. Bear in mind that in water ammonia turns mostly into ammonium. Plants use ammonium but the bacteria prefer ammonia. But the bacteria can also use ammonium just much less efficiently than they use ammonia.
What this means is that the effect chloramine might have at the municipal side of things is way more concentrated than what we see out of the tap. And that is coming inot an ammonia factory which is what our tanks are. But the ammonia creation is normally at a fairly low level but is being created 24/7. So whatever bacteria may be temportatily knocked out by the chloramine it is also being counteracted by the minimal ammonia the bacteria can get and which wakes them up from any effects if the chloramine.
Again, we need to remember that dechlor breaks down chloramine into its two components. The chlorine part is neutralized by the the dechlor. Because there is now ammonia created from the breakdown of the chloramine, most dechlors also contain an ammonia detoxifier. What this is actually doing is turning the ammonia into ammonium which is much less harmful to our fish but which will be consumed by any plants, or algae and especially by the bacteria as well.
This means that residual chloramine levels are also pretty much rendered harmless in a tank as well. Plus, the same dechlor we add for chlorine also works to breake down the chloramine.
The above covers the first potential danger of rinsing out foam media in water which has not been dechlroinated. It will take more than the typical amount of residual chlroine or chloramine in tap water to harm the biofilter. But, old habits die hard and it is also under the umbrella of better safe than sorry that most of us rinse media in tank water. I do it and I have nothing in my water to detox. I use the tank water because it is much easier to do this than to carry multiple sponges/foams to a sink, rinse them and bring them back. Plus, I will be changing water anyway. I always opt fpr the easiest way of doing things and I have had 20+ yanks spread out all over the house as I have no central fish room.
Now lets talk about the other part of rinsing our foam media. The first things to understand s how this works as a host for bacteria etc. We need to realize how many potential pathways water might travel when going through a sponge and then how both the biofilm inside the sponges as well as solids in the water going into the foam can effect things.
As the biofilm grows it starte to impede a passage way which means some of the water will find a different way to keep moving. In addition, as some of the large organic waste in the water can plug up a part of the pathway. But given a large number of potential pathways, it takes time for things to clog the flow rate to the extent it slows. But, for the pathways to be viable they must be open/ What else might effect them?
The answer is squeezing the foam. It has an internal structure which is described in two ways. The size of the pores in the foam which refers to how much surface area a media offers to allow the the biofilm to attach. The more surface area, the more potenial sirface there will be for the biofilm. So, the higher the ppi of any given foam the more surface area is available, The downside is that the more surface area also means the she smaller the pore spaces are. This means the easier the space will he in terms of clogging.
When we get a new sponge or foam all of the pores are open and it is the strength of the sponge material that allows the pore space to do its job- to allow the water to move through it. Now if we take a sponge and to clean it we squezze it what happens? To some extent it damages the actual structure of the sponge. The walls of the foam which create the pores begins to break down. And this is the second [roblem. When this happens the sponges stop working as well as when they were new.
I have been a big user of Aquaclear hang-ons since my second year in the hobby. I have always loaded them the same way- two blocks of foam with fliter floss between them. I used the AC foams. Even when they started including their bio-rock I chose to stay with the foam and throw out the bio-rocks. And then as a result of my reading ao many research papers I found Dr. Tranner of Swiss Tropicals. My first contact was an email where I began a discussion about the nwely discovered ammonia oxidizing Archaea.
And this was what led me to get my first Poret. This foam is way more sturdy than the typical foams we get when we buy filters. One of the things Dr, Tanners stresses is that we should not squeeze Poret to clean it. We need to tap it and swish it. When we need to clean a Matten filter, here are his specififc suggestions:
Care
The easiest way to rinse your Poret® foam sheets is outside in the yard or driveway using a garden hose. Simply bang the sheet flat on the ground several times (Note: I recommend not wearing your best outfit doing this) to shake out the filter sludge, then rinse with the hose. Repeat until the water coming out is relatively clean. Don’t overdo it. Sufficient microorganisms will survive this procedure to quickly re-establish the biology of the filter. It does not matter if you use cold or chlorine-treated water! The often repeated notion that this process would kill all the filter organisms is nonsense, because the residual chlorine concentration in drinking water is too low to kill them all. The microorganisms are quite well-protected in the slime of the biofilm.
from
https://www.swisstropicals.com/library/swisstropicals-poret-foam/
What I have learned over time from all of the above was that when an AC foam began to get soft and start to fall apart I replaced it with a block of Poret foam rather than another AC foam. I have been using Poret in AquaClears and I even have one canister with all Poret in it. I have yet to throw out a Poret foam because it was falling apart or getting soft. I try not to forget I should not squeeze these out. There is one exception for this. I have been using Poret to make my owns prefilters. I started by using the 20 ppi foam but in the more recent past I swicthed to the 10 ppi.
I will squeez out prefilters as it is very important that they not be allowed to clog. When they do they restrict the volume of water going into the filter which is the last thing I want to have happen. So, I will Squeeze out the prefilter foams. Thesse are small compared to the media inside the filter. Plus the job of a prefilter is to keep bigger solids from getting into the internal media but also not restriicting how much water passes through the filter where the real work of cleaning it occurs.
One ;ast observation here. Over time my huge plants have gotten closer to the light source. This encourahes them to get more algae. So every now and them I pull plants and bleach dip them to kill the algae. The [rpcess ends with a rinse and then a dip into a bucket with a large dose of dechlor in it. Detoxing the bleach happens pretty fast and the plants spend less time in the dchlor water than they do in the bleaching water. The plants are returned to the tank faitly soon after they are dipped.
As I said my water is chlorine free, But I use a 19-1 one water to bleach mix. This was way way more chlorine than might be residual in ones tap water, But a quick rinse under the chlorine free tap and a 1 minute stop in dechlored water leaves the plants safe to put back into a tank. I know as I have been bleach dipping plants for over 20 years and have never had fish react to this in anyway let alone die.
However, for those who do not think it is safe not to worry about the residfual chlorine or chloramine in your tap, keep on rinsing your media in dechlorinated or tank water. Even though it is not likely to be an issue, under the theory that it is better to be safe than sorry, there is no reason for not rinsing media in tank water. This is especially true for small tanks where one is going to be doing water changes using buckets.
But, for the gent in that vid and the number of filters they need to rinse and the fact that they are the ATI lower quality foam, his method makes good sense. Think of it this way. Rinsing media in tank water is like wearing a belt and suspenders. This way your pants will never be able to fall down.
(Boy did I edit a ton of typos, sorry)
