Filters! Please Help

[FishyGee]

Hey.

I'm a newbie to tropical fish and would like to know more about filters!
So, i have one which sticks on the side of my tank and in it there is bio rings, activated charcol and bio filter foam.
In the tank I have nine fish. Most neon tetra's with a barb and a rummy nosed tetra.
So my questions are as follows:

Is there anything else I need to have in my filter?

How often do I need to clean it?

How do I clean it?

Thanks for reading

Gee

 

[fluttermoth]

You clean it when you do a water change. Take the media out, and give it a gentle swish in a bucket of old tank water, just to get the loose stuff off, and that's all that need to be done.

 

[SLIM]

Ok first things first. You dont need activated charcole or carbon in your filter unless you need to strip any medications or cemicals out the water. Charcole and carbon also only work for about a week, after that its usless, sitting in your filter doing nothing. Cleaning depends on the tank and setup really. I clean mine probably once a month. And when you do clean your filter, never use tap water use aquarium water that you have removed on water change day.

 

[FishyGee]

Okay, Thanks Fishaholic. So do I need anything else in my filter other than the foam and bio rings?

 

[fluttermoth]

No, bio rings and foams are fine.