# Cleaning the filter.



## FintailJones (Jul 5, 2012)

Hey guys,
Just a quick question, How often should i clean the sponge in my filter? and how often does it need replacing?

Thanks in advance


----------



## Aquinoobie16 (Sep 27, 2011)

this depends on the type of sponge it is and if you do try to do it as few times as possible.... NEVER clean it in hot water just use cold /room temperature or even aquarium water you have siphoned out that way you dont kill the bacterial colonies in the sponge if its REALLY bad meaning water can barely or doesnt flow through it go ahead but if its just a little green its ok it supposed to do that xD
hope i helped xD


----------



## ClinicaTerra (Nov 12, 2010)

Aquinoobie16 said:


> this depends on the type of sponge it is and if you do try to do it as few times as possible.... NEVER clean it in hot water just use cold /room temperature or even aquarium water you have siphoned out that way you dont kill the bacterial colonies in the sponge if its REALLY bad meaning water can barely or doesnt flow through it go ahead but if its just a little green its ok it supposed to do that xD
> hope i helped xD


May I ask why a sponge shouldn't be cleaned in hot water? I only ask because I have, in the past (and have since learned not to rinse media in tap water!) rinsed off my AquaClear 110's sponge with scalding hot water at times...

Does it have to be cold if it's being rinsed with dechlorinated tap water at all?


----------



## ClinicaTerra (Nov 12, 2010)

FintailJones said:


> Hey guys,
> Just a quick question, How often should i clean the sponge in my filter? and how often does it need replacing?
> 
> Thanks in advance


With the Hagen AquaClears, just do a rinse in removed tank water once in a while, or when the sponge block REALLY looks disgusting and brown/black; don't rinse in tap water (unless it's in a bucket of dechlorinated/treated tap water using a product like Seachem's Prime)...as for changing/replacing it, from what I understand, this only needs to be done when the sponge literally looks like it's falling apart and in pieces; otherwise, just keep rinsing...one thing it will never be, though, is bright white again like it was out of the box. This puts a lot of people off (including me) but from what I understand it's normal for it to be a brownish/light brownish kind of color because of the bacteria...


----------



## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

If you have a sponge in operation then most of the filtration is by bacteria. Without a bacterial life in it, the sponge is absolutely useless, indeed, the filter just moves water around.
Squeeze out the sponge in a pail of tank water you have just removed when the flow through it seems to be slowing down. I have sponges that are ten years old and going strong.
The goal is to remove the gunk that clogs it, and never attack the living bacteria that make it work. Using scalding water as Clinica Terra does has a worse effect on a tank than a course of powerful antibiotics does on a human digestive system. Just as we suffer as our gut fauna returns after strong antibiotics, a tank suffers when you kill the bacteria that break down the waste. 
In a natural system, too clean is death. You want your filters to flow, so that the bacteria can feed on and partially neutralize fish waste. But when you replace or scald a filter's contents, you kill your best allies in the tank.


----------



## Aquinoobie16 (Sep 27, 2011)

navigator black said:


> If you have a sponge in operation then most of the filtration is by bacteria. Without a bacterial life in it, the sponge is absolutely useless, indeed, the filter just moves water around.
> Squeeze out the sponge in a pail of tank water you have just removed when the flow through it seems to be slowing down. I have sponges that are ten years old and going strong.
> The goal is to remove the gunk that clogs it, and never attack the living bacteria that make it work. Using scalding water as Clinica Terra does has a worse effect on a tank than a course of powerful antibiotics does on a human digestive system. Just as we suffer as our gut fauna returns after strong antibiotics, a tank suffers when you kill the bacteria that break down the waste.
> In a natural system, too clean is death. You want your filters to flow, so that the bacteria can feed on and partially neutralize fish waste. But when you replace or scald a filter's contents, you kill your best allies in the tank.


couldnt of said it better myself my friend xD


----------



## ClinicaTerra (Nov 12, 2010)

navigator black said:


> Using scalding water as Clinica Terra does


First of all, I *never stated I do this all the time or as a routine*...I mentioned I have done it in the past *a few times* and that was before this last tank crash I experienced -- since then, I have learned to swish the sponge media around in used tank water per what we're talking about. 

That is EXACTLY what I advised the member to do...


----------



## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Sorry Clinica, from the posting, I saw you wondering if the dechlorinated water had to be cold. I thought that you might not have completely bought into the importance of bacteria, and the dangers in the use of hot water specifically to kill them. Even dechlorinated hot water will kill huge numbers of beneficial bacteria.

Part of the need to aim for stability in a tank, in a filtration system, etc, is to keep all the changes smooth so that the entire tank is teeming with life, at a size we can't see. AExtreme temperature changes will kill beneficial bacteria.


----------



## Kenneth McLean (Jul 9, 2012)

Much appreciated


----------



## ClinicaTerra (Nov 12, 2010)

navigator black said:


> Sorry Clinica, from the posting, I saw you wondering if the dechlorinated water had to be cold. I thought that you might not have completely bought into the importance of bacteria, and the dangers in the use of hot water specifically to kill them. Even dechlorinated hot water will kill huge numbers of beneficial bacteria.
> 
> Part of the need to aim for stability in a tank, in a filtration system, etc, is to keep all the changes smooth so that the entire tank is teeming with life, at a size we can't see. AExtreme temperature changes will kill beneficial bacteria.


"Bought into" the importance of bacteria? 

What I was asking with regard to the hot water rinsing issue was why hot water was advised against in terms of washing out a sponge, as I did this maybe once or twice over the two and a half years of running my last setup -- since that time, I don't wash any media in untreated tap water of any temperature.


----------



## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

you shouldnt wash in tap water anyway. always use tank water.

and as a reply to the original post. i clean out my canister filter once a month as the fish i have in that tank have heavy bio loads and the filter soon clogs up with crap. where as i have a small internal fluval sponge type filter in a tank with a few small fish and that takes months to clog up with crap. so depends on the size of tank/ filter and what fish you have but always wash it old tank water, only replace when its falling apart and if you have carbon get rid of it and swap it for bio media.



just realised you have gold fish......what filter do you have and what size tank?


----------



## ClinicaTerra (Nov 12, 2010)

zero said:


> you shouldnt wash in tap water anyway. always use tank water.


You can rinse in a bucket of tap water -- so long as it's treated with a dechlorinator. Of course, this is an extra step and, on the surface, seems like a senseless use of extra water conditioner, but it can be done...


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

^You are correct.

The bottom line is the bacteria have close to the same "living" temp range as most fish - generally speaking. Extreme hot or cold can be harmful to bacteria. FWIW, I never use old tank water since mine is usually siphoned out of a long hose going outside.


----------



## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

thats why i use tank water straight from the tank, same temp water as the filters just been in! i only have a little hose so siphon into a bucket then i can clean from there. guess different strokes for different folks.


----------



## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

I use a python to fill, and a wide siphon to a floor drain to empty. If the filters needs a squeezing out, I always drain three of four gallons into a tall bucket, rinse the filters and then water the houseplants with the fertilized water. In a perfect world, I would have things rigged so the waste water went to a garden, but in my imperfect world, it gets too cold in winter to bother. 
I move a lot of water with a multi-tank set-up, but it only takes a minute to clean a filter with tank water, and then to put the spihon into the hose to the drain.


----------



## ClinicaTerra (Nov 12, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> ^You are correct.


Thank you for confirmation, JR!


----------



## FintailJones (Jul 5, 2012)

Thank you guys


----------



## jmurray01 (Jul 11, 2012)

I clean my filters with every water change - two weeks.

Shall have to replace the filter element in my Fluval 1 Plus soon as it is 6 years old and has the original element. Yep, 6 years constant use on one element, I think you can imagine how clogged it is!


----------



## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

jsut out of curiousity fintail jones......what filter do you have? i see you own poo machines!


----------



## Cadiedid (Oct 26, 2011)

Clinicaterra-I hope you didn't think Navigator meant any disrespect. That's not his style. You asked the question about the hot water and I think he was just trying to answer.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

It is interesting to see how many different people do their changes.I myself do several of my tanks differently just because of the size filtration and inhabitants.In my tens I dont touch the filter.Its sponge filters and the stocking is low for most,and decent for one,which gets twice a week 50% changes.The 40 I siphon into a bucket and drain back to the tank from the bucket via gravity.This is because I dont have a long enough hose to reach outside lol.The 55 however,I drain outside and fill via the sprayer on the kitchen sink lol.Thats by far the fastest easiest tank to mess around with.

Speaking of filters I think its time to open the canisters and rinse some media.....


----------



## ClinicaTerra (Nov 12, 2010)

Cadiedid said:


> Clinicaterra-I hope you didn't think Navigator meant any disrespect. That's not his style. You asked the question about the hot water and I think he was just trying to answer.


I was merely attempting to explain to him that what he quoted was not accurate in terms of my intention.


----------



## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

I Have A Eheim 2013 Canster.I Only Clean Mine When The Output Slows Down.When I Clean It I Use Water From The Top of The Tank In A Bucket Not The Bottom Of Tank.Works Great For Me.I Know Everybody Does It Difference.


----------



## ClinicaTerra (Nov 12, 2010)

Interestingly enough, I performed a water change on my cycling 60-gallon (and 10-gallon) yesterday, and removed the Aqueon QuietFlow 55 filter's media cartridges to inspect their condition -- surprisingly, they weren't that brown or dirty even though I have been overfeeding the one Black Moor goldfish in there just a little bit and she has been pooing like nobody's business. What I did was, I simply removed the cartridges and dunked/rinsed them in a bucket of removed tank water per traditional methods in order to remove any surface crap caught on the floss pads, thereby allowing the bacteria that's building to remain intact so there's no crash of the colonies. The pads didn't rinse all that well, still remaining slightly brown, but...

As for the other filter on my 60, the AquaClear 110, well, the white sponge media that's in the media basket is no longer bright white, but is turning a dirty color, presumably from all the crap this filter sucks up...I didn't rinse the sponge in there yet. I think I am going to do what the member that posted before me says he/she does -- that is, wait for filter output to slow before rinsing any media...


----------

