Washing filter media in tap-water?

[raylove]

A few years ago there was a video on YouTube which promoted the idea of washing filter media in tap-water rather than in aquarium water. The suggestion was that the chlorine concentration in the water was too low to do any real damage. The chlorine is highly concentrated at source, so any bacteria was killed before it entered the pipes, thereafter the constant low concentration under pressure was sufficient to keep the water free of bacteria. The fairly reasonable point was made that if the concentration was still high enough to kill all bacteria when it emerged from the tap, it would be harmful to us too, instead of which it dissipates quite quickly once the pressure is released. Also, nobody has ever suggested that tap water could be used as an anti-bacterial treatment or to sterilise anything and our kitchens and drains would be free of bacteria if the water was lethal to bacteria when it came out of the tap.

What brought this to mind is because kitchen sponges were in the news in the UK last week and they were found to be possibly the dirtiest items in the home. Micro biologists tested bacteria levels in these and they were found to be very high after only a couple of uses, the reason being that sponges make ideal homes for bacteria to breed (we got that right then!). However, what I found interesting is that when sponges were tested again after being used in chlorinated water with anti bacterial washing up liquid, the level of bacteria was unchanged. The explanation given by the scientists was that the bacteria are protected by the biofilm in which they live. Neither chlorine or anti-bac products had any noticeable effect on the bacteria at the levels found in domestic tap water and commercial anti-bac products.

I am not suggesting anyone tries this, and I will continue to use aquarium water myself as there is no need to take the chance, however, I thought it was interesting. I would add that in the UK we do not have chloramine in our water so whether the results would have been different with that I couldn't say. It must also be acknowledged that the bacteria in the washing up sponges are not the bacteria that we have in our filters, however, I guess that the protection afforded by the biofilm would be similar.

 

[gwand61 178]

I have well water. No chlorine. But I still use tank water to wash my sponges. I always assumed if I used my well water, I would be washing away and depleting the beneficial bacteria that was cultivated in the sponge.

 

[Tomsfish20 19]

This is direct from Swisstropicals and Stephen Tanner;
Q: how do rinse Poret® foam sheets?

A: the easiest way 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 complete nonsense, because the residual chlorine concentration in drinking water is way too low to kill them.

^^Taken from ^^

Welcome to SwissTropicals - SWISSTROPICALS

SwissTropicals is the HOME OF SIMPLE AND EFFICIENT FILTRATION SYSTEMS based on the Poret and Jetlifter brands of products.

www.swisstropicals.com

For what it is worth I run 20,30 and 40ppi foam in the sump of my 180g and I blast it with my garden hose and beat it on a large flat stone when they show reduced flow.
I do all 3 at the same time.
Never had a problem.
For waterchanges under 50% dechlorinator is not needed for my water at all. I am on municipal with chlorine.
Been doing it this way for years and years, one fish in the 180 is 25+ years old [ clown loach].

 

[Back in the fold16 2]

I do some things that will probably raise eyebrows amongst seasoned aquarists and rinsing filter media in tap water is one of them . I don’t do it all the time but sometimes a filter cartridge is absolutely filthy and there is no replacement on hand so I go ahead and rinse it forcefully under the tap . This happens at my Daughters house . She is negligent about her aquarium maintenance and I scold her about it but so far there’s been no change in her regimen .
The water in my burg is very good . It’s a sorta small city and their chlorine concentration is low so I don’t worry . The aquarium at my Daughters house looks good in between my infrequent interventions so , apparently , all is well .
Furthermore : After reading Tom’s post I recall my best friend and mentor once telling me he NEVER used dechlorinator . He was successful beyond anything I’ve seen before or since so . . . . .

 

[Naughts62 134]

I have repeatedly rinsed filter sponges under the tap for years. It works for me, I find it more efficient and easier to see when the water is running clean. I do not recommend it for new set ups (<1 year), as it is almost certain that these tanks’ ecosystems are less established and less robust.

 

[GaryE23 21]

Okay, so I am already ducking.

I recently started dechlorinating tap water. For over 20 years, I didn't. I observed that several of my killies wouldn't breed after water changes, for up to 4 days. So I dechlorinated, and the lag was 2 days with some species. With most, there was no issue in the first place.
I pour water in with force, from a hose, and it seemed chlorine gassed off. But why take a risk with a cheap product? I see zero difference when I don't dechlorinate.
I do not have chloramines or I'd be doubly careful.

I'm now going on the idea that chlorine isn't going to upset the bacteria in the biofilm, but it could irritate the gills of fish.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford61 177]

There is nothing wrong with rinsing filter media in chlorinated tap water.
A few minutes of rinsing will do no harm to.your colony of bacteria. The danger comes with a longer time of exposure.
What's your average time for a media rinse? Just don't get distracted and leave the media in chlorinated water for an extended period of time. The longer the exposure the more harm you'll do.

 

[raylove]

Wow, I thought I might be 'lighting the blue touch paper' by raising this but it seems several respected members agree!
Dechlorinator didn't exist when I first kept fish and I remember Tetra Aquasafe being launched as a revolutionary new product. I do now use dechlorinator as it's so cheap but I never really noticed a difference after many years without it. I wouldn't delay a water change if I ran out. If you change 20% of the water (say) then the already low concentration is immediately diluted 5 times more. I certainly wouldn't worry about the filter at that level and, given that chlorine also dissipates quite quickly, any effect on the fishes gills is probably negligible, apart from the most sensitive species.

 

[Back in the fold16 2]

The only thing bad about dechlorinator is the ones with Aloe Vera in them . Our erstwhile member Colin used to rail against that stuff because it wrecks fishes gills .
No less an authority than our departed Byron once posted that he had Tetra’s exhibit signs of distress when he was using his Python without dechlorinator and as soon as he added a few drops they were fine so it must be a thing with certain fish . I do think some fish are more delicate than others .

 

[Uberhoust9]

When I clean the sponge filter material and the bio media from my filters I rinse them in tap water. For a deep clean on the canisters this can take a bit of time to clear out all the accumulated mulm that makes it past the prefilter stage, I actually expect that some of this actually grows in the filter. I used aquarium water soon after joining this forum but since have gone back to tap water. I haven't had any issues with this, but in the interest of full disclosure I am at the end of the line for the water distribution and the chlorine concentration by time it gets to my tap is pretty low.

 

[waynesworld13 12]

I havnt read replys just the title. What i do is just keep it simple and get filter/ tank water. get the meida and swish it around a bit then stick it back in the filtyer. Or exchange the medias 50% for new.
I have had fish for years from gold fish to FW stingrays and never had a problem dloing that.

Why mess about keep it simple

 

[Naughts62 134]

The only thing bad about dechlorinator is the ones with Aloe Vera in them . Our erstwhile member Colin used to rail against that stuff because it wrecks fishes gills .
No less an authority than our departed Byron once posted that he had Tetra’s exhibit signs of distress when he was using his Python without dechlorinator and as soon as he added a few drops they were fine so it must be a thing with certain fish . I do think some fish are more delicate than others .

I’ve had ordinary community fish dart around the tank during a water change which immediately told me I’d forgotten to add dechlorinator. You will never catch me doing less than 50% w/c so any ‘immediate dilution’ would be insufficient.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford61 177]

Wow, I thought I might be 'lighting the blue touch paper' by raising this but it seems several respected members agree!

Respected?

 

[bgarthe62 80]

My goal in rinsing out prefilter and filter sponges and Biohome/Matrix media is to flush out the gunk. I simply rinse them in my discarded WC water unless it’s a special need like cleaning my outflow baffles. My Matrix and BioHome medias are in mesh bags which make this much easier. With my coarse pond filter out flow baffles, I take them to the basement and spray them with a nozzle in the tub sink using just my tap water. I just prefer to KISS and also keep as much of the bb in place. Squeezing out sponges and media will open up a lot of the clogged pores/pockets and allow for improved flow.

Finally…..I always only do half the cleaning at a given time, wait a couple of weeks, and do the other half…..just to be ultra careful with bb levels remaining adequate for the tank’s biology. I probably could (with long running established tanks) do both at the same time….oh well.

 

[malfunction31]

There’s actually some peer reviewed research on this. I can’t lay my hands on it now, but a few years back I posted a paper that examined how chlorine affected filter bacteria. If I remember correctly, it concluded that at least 30 minutes of exposure at levels multiple times higher than what’s present in tap water was needed to kill 50% of the filter bacteria. So, washing your media in tap water won’t completely destroy your bacteria colony in an established tank