How to wash a filter? Canister, HOB and internal filter

[Barry Tetra]

Do I have to get it all out and wash it all (thats what i do) or just wash the sponge inside the filter?

 

[utahfish]

Take the sponge out squeeze it out in a bucket of the changed water. Rinsing it out in chlorinated water kills beneficial bacteria.

 

[Colin_T]

I used 2 buckets of tank water.

Squeeze out the sponges in a bucket of tank water. When they are clean, squeeze them out in the second bucket of tank water. Then put them in the aquarium.

Wash any ceramic beads or plastic noodles in the buckets of tank water too.

When they are all clean and sitting in the main aquarium, wash the filter case and impellor assembly under tap water. Tip the tap water out and reassemble the filter. Put filter materials back in and set the filter back up. Fill filter with the aquarium water and turn it back on.

Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better.