Country joe
Fishaholic
When you clean your filter sponges in tank water do you squeeze the sponges, if you do does this not release the bacteria.
Or do you just swish them in the water.
Or do you just swish them in the water.
Filter cleaning
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It's not very good to squeeze too much, this damages the sponges. It releases some bacteria but the major part will always remain stuck on it.
But you can "pump" them by squeezing them partially while swirling, but not crushing them too much. They will last a lot longer that way.
But you can "pump" them by squeezing them partially while swirling, but not crushing them too much. They will last a lot longer that way.
You should squeeze the sponges out to break up the gunk in them and get it out of them. Really dirty sponges can look relatively clean on the outside and produce no gunk for the first 3 or 4 squeezes, then they start releasing the gunk. You should squeeze them out until they are clean and if need be, put them in a second bucket of tank water and squeeze them out again to make sure they are clean. Then put the sponge back in the filter.
You do lose some beneficial filter bacteria when you clean the filter but not that much and it recovers in 12-24 hours.
You do lose some beneficial filter bacteria when you clean the filter but not that much and it recovers in 12-24 hours.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
When I began to Use the Poret foam- cubefilters and mattenfilters, Dr. Tanner was quite clear about not squeezing the sponges. Swishing is fine but squeezing tends to destry to whole rasong to using a semi-rigid foam.
I swish my porte or als flush them out usine a decently hard stream of water. I am lucky to have well water without chorine/chloramine. so I can use tap water easily. But, if you do have this in your water, you can still use it to rinde the foam. But when done you can swish it in a bucket with an extra strong dose of dechlor.
If one is doing the clean during normal maint. and will be changing water and adding dechlor to the tank, that should be enough to render the foam safe as an alternative to the dechlor bucket dip. Usually, the amount of chlorine/chloramine in one's tap is minimal and the dose of dechlor we use is more than is normally required. Better there is a bit too much than the opposite.
The best indicator that filter media need to be rinsed is that the output flow slows noticeably. I have Mattenfilters running for years without being rinsed. I only rinse my cubefilters monthly at best while other sponge filters are rinsed weekly.
However, one needs to take the durabilty of the bacteria into account. They live in a bio-film which adheres to solid surfaces. it is not so easy to dislodge. Plus it will reproduce fairly soon if we lose some during rinsing. The amonnia ones can double in about 8 hours under good conditions and the itrite ones in about 12-13 hours.
So, if we wipe out 25% of them during a media rinse, they should be back to full strength in a matter of hours. And this is fine since the ammonia creation in a tank is continuous but at a low output level. So the level of ammonia or nitrite that might be reached after a filter clean and the return to fully cycled happens is almost difficult to measure.
And lets not forget that a lot of the good bacteria resides outside one's filter in one's substrate and on the undersides of decor.
So the main reason for not sqeezing is to extend the useful life of the media rather than worrying about losing a lot of the good microorganisms. Good bio-media remains passable for longer the less we disturb it. To quote Dr. Tanner.
I swish my porte or als flush them out usine a decently hard stream of water. I am lucky to have well water without chorine/chloramine. so I can use tap water easily. But, if you do have this in your water, you can still use it to rinde the foam. But when done you can swish it in a bucket with an extra strong dose of dechlor.
If one is doing the clean during normal maint. and will be changing water and adding dechlor to the tank, that should be enough to render the foam safe as an alternative to the dechlor bucket dip. Usually, the amount of chlorine/chloramine in one's tap is minimal and the dose of dechlor we use is more than is normally required. Better there is a bit too much than the opposite.
The best indicator that filter media need to be rinsed is that the output flow slows noticeably. I have Mattenfilters running for years without being rinsed. I only rinse my cubefilters monthly at best while other sponge filters are rinsed weekly.
However, one needs to take the durabilty of the bacteria into account. They live in a bio-film which adheres to solid surfaces. it is not so easy to dislodge. Plus it will reproduce fairly soon if we lose some during rinsing. The amonnia ones can double in about 8 hours under good conditions and the itrite ones in about 12-13 hours.
So, if we wipe out 25% of them during a media rinse, they should be back to full strength in a matter of hours. And this is fine since the ammonia creation in a tank is continuous but at a low output level. So the level of ammonia or nitrite that might be reached after a filter clean and the return to fully cycled happens is almost difficult to measure.
And lets not forget that a lot of the good bacteria resides outside one's filter in one's substrate and on the undersides of decor.
So the main reason for not sqeezing is to extend the useful life of the media rather than worrying about losing a lot of the good microorganisms. Good bio-media remains passable for longer the less we disturb it. To quote Dr. Tanner.
from http://www.swisstropicals.com/library/aquarium-biofiltration/
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