Filter tip

[itiwhetu]

If when you look in your filter. If it is white or creamy in color, you are over feeding your tank. If it is brown in color, you are feeding the right amount.
Your filter medium should never be any other color than brown.

 

[Bettaguy08]

If when you look in your filter. If it is white or creamy in color, you are over feeding your tank. If it is brown in color, you are feeding the right amount.
Your filter medium should never be any other color than brown.

Thanks

 

[AbbeysDad]

And don't be too quick to clean that filter...
Long ago I felt we should clean filters frequently to get the 'crud' out of the system. In later years (ain't getting older great [he 'said' with a fair amount of sarcasm]) I came to realize that valuable bacteria and microbes develop and establish in the filter media and cleaning disrupts if not destroys all their fine work. So these days, I let filters just run until I notice significant flow reduction. This better ensures to maximize the productivity of the biology.
Just some 'food for thought'.
Oh and one more thing to ponder. I also long ago began discarding all the marketing hype about commercial bio-medias be they ceramic, plastic, or rocks. Sponge material is not only excellent as mechanical filtration but also offers significant surface areas for beneficial bacteria. These days ALL of my filters are totally filled with sponge material...and as I mentioned, I let them run until the output flow is noticeably reduced.

Edit: Coarser sponges are better than finer.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

'Brown', or 'greeny brown'? A sort of deep olive, perhaps?

 

[Guyb93]

Out of curiosity how often you guys cleaning you’re filters ? Mine is about every 3-4 months at the moment it’s keeping very clean and not much sludgy brown crap

 

[itiwhetu]

'Brown', or 'greeny brown'? A sort of deep olive, perhaps?

Anything that isn't white or creamy white

 

[Colin_T]

Most filter sponges are white when you get them and they change colour over time.

Established biological filters should be cleaned at least once a month to remove any gunk in them. The tank water gets filtered through the gunk and encourages harmful disease organisms. Clean filters mean cleaner water with fewer pathogens in it.

 

[itiwhetu]

I should say I'm talking gunk color rather than material color.