Replacing Filter Media

[darklight]

I'm replacing the big block of foam in my Ehiem internal filter - its throughput slows down to almost nothing almost every week, and I saw a packet of replacement foam blocks which says in this situation they need replacing.

So what is the best method for this? The current foam obviously holds all my bacteria, but I need to rinse it out every week. Should I just let the new foam block float around in the tank for a month, then chuck then replace the existing foam with it?

 

[Bobtastic]

I have no experience with this type of filter.... Could you cut the foam blocks in half? or into sections? Then you could swap out a portion of the foam at a time.

Will you be swapping it for the same type of foam/sponge? If it is surely you're going to have the same flow problems even if you swap it out?

 

[darklight]

I have no experience with this type of filter.... Could you cut the foam blocks in half? or into sections? Then you could swap out a portion of the foam at a time.

Will you be swapping it for the same type of foam/sponge? If it is surely you're going to have the same flow problems even if you swap it out?

Yes thats a good idea! They look like this:

It sits on a spike inside the filter. Cutting them in half or even thirds would work well I think. How long does a peice of media take to become full of bacteria? Or would I have to monitor water quality, until it is back to the same as before?

I got my filter second hand - and it is basically full of gunk. If I take it out and give it a good squeeze, then that fixes the problem for a week or so, but then it fills up with gunk again. I'm hoping a new filter will fix this, but yeah, I'm not 100% convinced either.