What is the best way to clean my filter? I have Blackbeard algae, and I read PHo4 contributes to this. Just wondering how to clean my filter tank and plants to get rid of the algae permanently. I have a sponge and a carbon filter. Should I clean them or just toss them and get new ones? Another question - how often do carbon filters need to be changed?
Black Beard algae in filter
- Thread starter Sir Guppy
- Start date
You replace the filter media when it starts to fall apart. The exception to this is carbon (small black granules), which is not normally needed in the average aquarium. If you do want to use carbon in a filter, it should be replaced every couple of weeks, depending on what chemicals/ heavy metals are in the water, and what grade of carbon you use.
Carbon comes in Highly Activated Carbon, Activated Carbon, and normal Carbon. The highly activated is the best, then activated and normal carbon isn't as good as the two previous types.
If you have carbon in a filter, it will remove medications and plant fertilisers you put in the tank.
If you have chemicals/ heavy metals in your water supply, then you can put carbon in the filter to help remove these. Or better still, filter the new water through carbon before using it in the aquarium.
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Some filters have Ammogon/ Zeolite (small white granules) in them. This is used to remove ammonia from the water and is not necessary for most tanks. The beneficial filter bacteria that live in the filter will normally eat the ammonia and convert it into nitrite, and more bacteria eat the nitrite and turn it into nitrate.
If you have Ammogon/ Zeolite in the filter, it removes the ammonia from the water and stops the beneficial filter bacteria developing. This can lead to ammonia levels going up in the tank when the Ammogon/ Zeolite is full, and this in turn harms the fish.
If you have ammonia adsorbing granules in a filter cartridge, cut the cartridge open and tip the contents in the bin. Then put the cartridge back in the filter. Add a sponge to the filter as well and in a couple of months time, you can remove the cartridge and just use the sponge.
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I recommend cleaning power filters at least once a month, and every 2 weeks is great. The exception to this is when you are first cycling a filter, then you do not clean it for the first 2 months unless if blocks up and the flow is significantly reduced.
The reason we don't clean new filters is because it takes time for the beneficial filter bacteria to establish a biofilm on the filter media/ materials, and if you wash the media before the bacteria are properly attached, you can get rid of the bacteria and interrupt the cycling process.
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To clean power filters, turn them off and unplug them from the power socket.
Remove the filter from the aquarium and take it apart and wash the filter media in a bucket of tank water. If it's really dirty, wash it in a second bucket of tank water. When it's clean, put the media in the tank or a bucket of clean tank water, and tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn/ garden.
Wash the filter case out under tap water. Take the motor apart and remove the impellor (magnet with 3 or 4 plastic blades on one end) and impellor shaft. Wash these items under tap water.
*NB* Caution when removing and cleaning these parts. Most impellors have a small plastic washer and rubber grommet on each end of the impellor shaft. If these pop off and go down the drain, the impellor assembly and subsequently the motor, will not work properly and you will need to replace the missing piece/s.
Impellor shafts can be steel or ceramic. The ceramic ones don't wear as much but are easy to break so care must be taken when removing and cleaning these pieces.
Wash the inside of the filter's motor, under tap water. Aquarium water pumps and power filters have their electrical components sealed in a plastic resin so water can't get onto them. So do not worry about getting water on electrical parts in the motor, it won't happen.
Once the filter case, motor, impellor assembly, and filter media have been cleaned, reassemble the motor and put the filter back together. Put the filter back on/ in the tank and fill with water (if it's an external filter). Plug the filter into the power socket and turn it on. Check for leaks and to make sure it's working.
*NB* Make sure your hands are dry when removing or plugging the filter into a power socket and turning it on or off.
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The reason I like filters cleaned on a regular basis is because they trap fish poop and this encourages harmful disease organisms (mainly protozoans and bacteria) to grow in the filter and tank. These disease organisms adversely affect the fish and regularly kill fish.
Basically, the filters trap fish poop and all the tank water is filtered through the fish poop. The tank water is full of harmful disease organisms and the fish have to live in this soup of microscopic pathogens. Cleaning the filter, glass, gravel, and changing the tank water regularly, helps keep disease organisms at low levels and lets the fish live in a clean environment where they will be less susceptible to infections and diseases.
-------------------------
To clean the gravel, get a gravel cleaner or make one from a 1, 1.5 or 2 litre plastic drink bottle and a length of clear plastic or garden hose. If you need instructions on how to make one, let me know.
You use the gravel cleaner to suck the gunk out of the gravel while draining some of the tank water out. After you have removed 50-75% of the tank water, you stop gravel cleaning and refill the tank with water that is free of chlorine/ chloramine.
If you have live plants in the tank, gravel clean around them and leave about 1 inch of undisturbed gravel around the plant.
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The algae in the filter doesn't look like black beard algae, however it's hard to tell because it's on a dark filter
I would just wipe it off the filter when you clean the filter. The gunk in the filter's intake tube can be cleaned with a bottle brush when you clean the filter.
All tanks get some algae. If you have lots of light and only a few live plants, you get more algae. If you reduce the lighting time or have lots of live plants, you get less algae.
If you do have black beard algae, it is difficult to get rid of because it leaves spores in the tank that reinfect everything after you clean the tank.
Carbon comes in Highly Activated Carbon, Activated Carbon, and normal Carbon. The highly activated is the best, then activated and normal carbon isn't as good as the two previous types.
If you have carbon in a filter, it will remove medications and plant fertilisers you put in the tank.
If you have chemicals/ heavy metals in your water supply, then you can put carbon in the filter to help remove these. Or better still, filter the new water through carbon before using it in the aquarium.
-----------
Some filters have Ammogon/ Zeolite (small white granules) in them. This is used to remove ammonia from the water and is not necessary for most tanks. The beneficial filter bacteria that live in the filter will normally eat the ammonia and convert it into nitrite, and more bacteria eat the nitrite and turn it into nitrate.
If you have Ammogon/ Zeolite in the filter, it removes the ammonia from the water and stops the beneficial filter bacteria developing. This can lead to ammonia levels going up in the tank when the Ammogon/ Zeolite is full, and this in turn harms the fish.
If you have ammonia adsorbing granules in a filter cartridge, cut the cartridge open and tip the contents in the bin. Then put the cartridge back in the filter. Add a sponge to the filter as well and in a couple of months time, you can remove the cartridge and just use the sponge.
-------------------------
I recommend cleaning power filters at least once a month, and every 2 weeks is great. The exception to this is when you are first cycling a filter, then you do not clean it for the first 2 months unless if blocks up and the flow is significantly reduced.
The reason we don't clean new filters is because it takes time for the beneficial filter bacteria to establish a biofilm on the filter media/ materials, and if you wash the media before the bacteria are properly attached, you can get rid of the bacteria and interrupt the cycling process.
-----------
To clean power filters, turn them off and unplug them from the power socket.
Remove the filter from the aquarium and take it apart and wash the filter media in a bucket of tank water. If it's really dirty, wash it in a second bucket of tank water. When it's clean, put the media in the tank or a bucket of clean tank water, and tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn/ garden.
Wash the filter case out under tap water. Take the motor apart and remove the impellor (magnet with 3 or 4 plastic blades on one end) and impellor shaft. Wash these items under tap water.
*NB* Caution when removing and cleaning these parts. Most impellors have a small plastic washer and rubber grommet on each end of the impellor shaft. If these pop off and go down the drain, the impellor assembly and subsequently the motor, will not work properly and you will need to replace the missing piece/s.
Impellor shafts can be steel or ceramic. The ceramic ones don't wear as much but are easy to break so care must be taken when removing and cleaning these pieces.
Wash the inside of the filter's motor, under tap water. Aquarium water pumps and power filters have their electrical components sealed in a plastic resin so water can't get onto them. So do not worry about getting water on electrical parts in the motor, it won't happen.
Once the filter case, motor, impellor assembly, and filter media have been cleaned, reassemble the motor and put the filter back together. Put the filter back on/ in the tank and fill with water (if it's an external filter). Plug the filter into the power socket and turn it on. Check for leaks and to make sure it's working.
*NB* Make sure your hands are dry when removing or plugging the filter into a power socket and turning it on or off.
-----------
The reason I like filters cleaned on a regular basis is because they trap fish poop and this encourages harmful disease organisms (mainly protozoans and bacteria) to grow in the filter and tank. These disease organisms adversely affect the fish and regularly kill fish.
Basically, the filters trap fish poop and all the tank water is filtered through the fish poop. The tank water is full of harmful disease organisms and the fish have to live in this soup of microscopic pathogens. Cleaning the filter, glass, gravel, and changing the tank water regularly, helps keep disease organisms at low levels and lets the fish live in a clean environment where they will be less susceptible to infections and diseases.
-------------------------
To clean the gravel, get a gravel cleaner or make one from a 1, 1.5 or 2 litre plastic drink bottle and a length of clear plastic or garden hose. If you need instructions on how to make one, let me know.
You use the gravel cleaner to suck the gunk out of the gravel while draining some of the tank water out. After you have removed 50-75% of the tank water, you stop gravel cleaning and refill the tank with water that is free of chlorine/ chloramine.
If you have live plants in the tank, gravel clean around them and leave about 1 inch of undisturbed gravel around the plant.
-------------------------
The algae in the filter doesn't look like black beard algae, however it's hard to tell because it's on a dark filter
I would just wipe it off the filter when you clean the filter. The gunk in the filter's intake tube can be cleaned with a bottle brush when you clean the filter.All tanks get some algae. If you have lots of light and only a few live plants, you get more algae. If you reduce the lighting time or have lots of live plants, you get less algae.
If you do have black beard algae, it is difficult to get rid of because it leaves spores in the tank that reinfect everything after you clean the tank.
Thanks!
I got my tank used, and it came with all the equipment, including a siphon gravel vacuum. I found black strings floating inside the bottom of the filter. The bottom sponge was covered in it, so I had to get rid of it. I did my research, then I cleaned the filter using hydrone peroxide and since I did not have a bottle brush, I cleaned it out with a toothbrush. Afterward I diluted the filter with dechlorinated tapwater.
The carbon filter I have been using I have had for about eight months! I will follow your advice, and replace it in few months.
I got my tank used, and it came with all the equipment, including a siphon gravel vacuum. I found black strings floating inside the bottom of the filter. The bottom sponge was covered in it, so I had to get rid of it. I did my research, then I cleaned the filter using hydrone peroxide and since I did not have a bottle brush, I cleaned it out with a toothbrush. Afterward I diluted the filter with dechlorinated tapwater.
The carbon filter I have been using I have had for about eight months! I will follow your advice, and replace it in few months.
Looking at your photo, the filter has both sponge and a carbon cartridge. You don't need to use the carbon cartridge, the sponge alone is plenty. You can replace the cartridge with more sponge if you want to. As Colin said, sponge just needs to be washed in water you take out of the tank during a water change and only needs to be replaced when it goes into holes - after several years.
Try not to run lights over 9 hours when you get any algae problem..cutting down to 7 is plenty. You would think 12 hours is what they are used to..true,in the Amazon.but aquarium lighting is the same strength from on to off. So 7 -9 is enough.
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