Don't You Just Love Tank Maintenance

[smokeyjo]

Bought a few new plants today. With the added bonus of 6 snails which my barbs loved lol so I thought I'd d my w/c too and clean my filter ( its been a good 3 months since my filter was cleaned). So I pulled the cartridges out of the filter and now I cannot see a thing in my tank lol

How long will it take to clear up again?

 

[HAMBONE]

Bought a few new plants today. With the added bonus of 6 snails which my barbs loved lol so I thought I'd d my w/c too and clean my filter ( its been a good 3 months since my filter was cleaned). So I pulled the cartridges out of the filter and now I cannot see a thing in my tank lol

How long will it take to clear up again?

a day, maybe two

 

[Wills]

Mine normally clears up in a few hours. What kind of filter, what kind of turn over and what kind of media do you have in there?

Wills

 

[TheAmazingLoaf]

Bought a few new plants today. With the added bonus of 6 snails which my barbs loved lol so I thought I'd d my w/c too and clean my filter ( its been a good 3 months since my filter was cleaned). So I pulled the cartridges out of the filter and now I cannot see a thing in my tank lol

How long will it take to clear up again?

If you put Filter Aid in with your water change it will clear up quicker, my 180l normally takes a couple of hours to clear up. The one I use is Interpet, but there is a Tetra one which I think is called Crystal Water

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Bought a few new plants today. With the added bonus of 6 snails which my barbs loved lol so I thought I'd d my w/c too and clean my filter ( its been a good 3 months since my filter was cleaned). So I pulled the cartridges out of the filter and now I cannot see a thing in my tank lol

How long will it take to clear up again?

If you put Filter Aid in with your water change it will clear up quicker, my 180l normally takes a couple of hours to clear up. The one I use is Interpet, but there is a Tetra one which I think is called Crystal Water

I would always tend to add that little bit more caution when adding a chemical to get rid of something in my tank, especially when that something is found in the tank naturally... mine always clears up after 12 hours (i empty out ALL the left-over water in my filter every month) but if not, then i would be much more happy to change some more water to help clear it.

Terry.

 

[smokeyjo]

Its the fluval u3 with the standard media. Not sure what the turn over rate is think its something like 600 litres but im not 100 percent on that its in my 130 litre. Its almost cleared up now

 

[Teacher Martyn]

Don't be persuaded to get into the habit of chucking a chemical in to solve a cosmetic problem. It'll clear.

 

[UKSPEED]

I've got a U3 and it takes a few hours to clear

 

[Akasha72]

I had the same problem with my juwel internal a while back. I now take the filter to bits first chuck it in a bucket and clean it all once I've got enough tank water - that way if it spews c**p everywhere it does it in the water I'm syphoning out anyway and I'm putting back a clean filter with the clean water. I still get a bit when I turn it back on but it's not so bad

My fish now hate maintenance. It never used to bother them much but now some of them go and hide, other's get stressed and start zooming around (oto's mostly). I'm starting to wonder if once a fortnight would be better for them. I'd feel bad but I also feel bad at them getting stressed out

 

[CezzaXV]

I cleaned my filter for the first time today since I've had it - 9 months. It's the first time I've needed to as the flow had only just started dropping off.

 

[Proxo]

thought leaving my filters for 2 maybe 3 months was long enough lol.
my filters get a quick sponge clean every 1-2months, good clean every 5-7months though.

I'll cut back on the feeding and up the water changes during that good clean too.

 

[Wills]

I hate cleaning my filters - I have 2 Fluval FX5s and they are a pain to get open without getting water everywhere and getting it back together without it chucking loads of crap into the tank lol - believe me your U3 is nothing haha. Glad it cleared up though

Wills

 

[Akasha72]

well I did something utterly thick this afternoon whilst cleaning my Interpet PFmini that I have for the fry tank.

I took it out of the tank and threw it straight into a bucket so it didn't spew bits in the fry tank ... only I forgot the bucket was half full of water and the whole thing went in there ... including the plug

Queue me sat with screwdriver and hairdryer, taking a plug to bits. I am a brunette honest

 

[smokeyjo]

I'm giggling think about u having to sit there with a hairdryer lol. The only reason I cleaned it was because the flow had begun to drop off. I avoid chemicals in my tank if I can only the dechlorinator goes in

 

[MBOU]

Not cleaning an internal for 3 months makes me worry I never had internal filters as they were a PITA because i had the sponges getting to a point where they are officially classed as 'gross' aka brown and slimy (usually plant matter than waste) but I think most internals could do with a quick sponge clean every other week at least.

This is why external filters are so much better! Varies from tank to tank, with my TetraTecs i cleaned them once a month, fluvals i had to clean once a week/every other week, the Aqua Manta every other month or every 3rd month.

Eheim won it though, had the biggest Eheim classic (aimed at a 600L tank on a 260L tank with 10 x 1" E. Canarensis cichlids, 6 little bristlenost and a few odd fish) and I took out the carbon and ran it with the tightly compacted 5 sponges alone and i opened the filter once a year to clean it, it kept the tank going really well, flow never dropped or anything! However, i still hate eheim filters, its motor was noisy/rattled, the green of the filter/piperwork is just ugly and god was it a nightmare to clean! Tiny flimsy metal clips holding the top on and to disconect it, i hat to put my thumb over the pipe to stop the water emptying out the base of the canister! Never again!

Also, if you havent cleaned it for 3 months, does that mean you havent changed the carbon/wool filters?