Loss Of Flow...

[The Taffy Apple]

Afternoon all, hope this quick thread finds you all well.

Anyway, as the thread title suggests really...i suffered with about 50% loss of flow this morning in the 110L tank.
Spotted it straight away, so undone/unclipped/closed and switched off my filter and got it to the kitchen sink.

Cleaned the impeller, re-housed it, gave the 'O' ring a quick wipe, re-housed it..everything seemed ok, until i took out the filter wool i had in the top basket of my filter. Thick brown with gunk and obviously causing the problem because i removed it, turned filter back on and it was back to full flow straight away..

So, my issue. I replaced that wool (probably about half a handful) with some brand new biomax noodles...should that be a problem? Will i lose any significant amount of bacteria?

Can't really see any issues myself, but a little peace of mind really would go along way.
Thanks in advance,
Terry.

 

[chelseawinners]

I have the same filter as you do and i what i do with mine is that every month i change the filter wool that sits on top of the biomax tray by half like you but i don't ever change the biomax unless they are down right dirty and used to much, if you wash/rinse out the biomax in the tank water you change then you will know if they need changing or not and if they do than its recommended that you only change a third of it at a time as you want to maintain as much healthy bacteria that you have otherwise you run the risk of re-cycling/crashing your tank as i did when i first started out so i speak from experience where thats concerned.
anyway in answer to your question i doubt that you will loose any bacteria unless you changed all of your biomax at once.
how are your sponges? did you rinse them out?

 

[KittyKat]

No, it will not be a problem. In fact, you should either replace that small amount of filter wool, which has the primary purpose of getting the gunk out (this is called polishing), or wash it very well, regularly. This is why my filter maintenance usually consists of replacing/washing the polishing wool and cleaning the pre-filters.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

No, it will not be a problem. In fact, you should either replace that small amount of filter wool, which has the primary purpose of getting the gunk out (this is called polishing), or wash it very well, regularly. This is why my filter maintenance usually consists of replacing/washing the polishing wool and cleaning the pre-filters.

Thank you both for your replies, highly appreciated. I didn't think about washing out the wool then re-using it, which i shall do in the future. I still have the 4 Fluval pads within the cannister, so until they fall apart in my hands i shant bother replacing them.

Checked my parameters twice yesterday and twice today, all results were as expected.

Again, thank you.
Terry.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, it works, I clean out my floss/wool pads quite a few times usually before they need replacement. And the nice thing about big cannisters is that you can toss and replace things like polishing pads with no worry about mini-spikes. WD

 

[Tizer]

you dont have to replace the wool, it can be washed and reused several times over. I put mine into a container that has holes in the bottom and just leave it getting battered under the hot tap for 5 mins. Give it a quick rince in dechor'd water then chuck it back in the filter Which reminds me, best clean my filter this weekend, not done it in a while