How often do you clean out your filter

[rvm]

Just wondering, as I haven't cleaned mine for about 3 weeks now, and it's running fine. I've read some people saying they do it every water change, and others every 3 months, so I just wanted to know what the majotiy of people do.

 

[RobertK]

Hi rvm.

I clean mine once a month.

When I say clean, it isn't actually a proper clean, I just rinse the media gently in a bucket of water just taken from the tank.

You don't want to be destroying any of the benicfical bacteria thats built up on your filter medium.

So probably the correct answer for me is never, just a rinse is all.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I clean mine about once a month. Like what Robertk said I also don't fully clean mine I just take the sponge out and gently rinse it in a bucket of aquarium water. I mainly just want to get rid of all the yucky stuff stuck to it like dead plant bits etc. It is really gross when I clean it. Super brown water!!!

I think once a month is good. You don't want to over clean it.

 

[gixer]

i clean mine when the flow starts to slow down....maybe a few months...noneed for any more IMO

 

[MrMashashin]

i do mine once a month, mostly the day i change my filter. I just get the nasty chunks out of there and its fine

 

[rvm]

Yeah, when I said "clean" I meant rinse!!! I have 3 external cannisters, and they are much easier to clean than internals, but when I do clean the big one, the tank water i rinse the floss in just goes really brown, so I've taken to replacing the floss every month or so, and just rinsing the ceramic media in tank water. seems to be working really well, but I just wanted to see how other people did it!!

 

[Kissifish]

From experience, if the water flow is not hampered and you have no bad smells coming from the filter, then, don't mess with it. My present one has been in for about 4 months. Smells clean and no water backup.

Also, it's best not to change the filter when you do a water change, as a LOT of your beneficial bacteria live in your filter and when you do water changes you are upsetting established bacterial colonies on your substrate; therefore, lowering your beneficial bacteria levels.

 

[canarsie11]

I used to clean once a month. But since I run To emperor 400's and rena xp3 on 75. I have not cleaned since added xp3 2 months ago. I figure I will do it next month.

10 gallon with live plants been running bout 3 months, never cleaned, but I only have 4 swordtails with live plants, so I will clean that next month also, I am more worried about that cause dont want to mess with bio load, other tank has bio wheels

 

[yhbae]

Works out to be roughly once a month, some tanks more frequent, some less. I would clean only more frequently if I see the ponge rise up from the container in the AquaClear filter.

 

[David]

I rinse it once a month and replace it as needed. (Usually every 6 months to 1 year, depending on how dirty it is.

 

[yhbae]

I rinse it once a month and replace it as needed. (Usually every 6 months to 1 year, depending on how dirty it is.

Wow, you actually replace the media? So far, I didn't have to replace any of the original media.

I was under the impression that you don't have to, unless if they split apart physically.

 

[parker313]

I probably do it every 2-3 mos. I usually use the python for water changes so there's no tank water to wash it in. Rinsing filter media means doing bucket changes and that's a pain so I don't usually bother

 

[Sasha]

I clean my filter with every water change, which is once a week.

 

[Guppylover]

I don't tend to clean my filter that often... because if you take your filter out of the water for too long it can kill good bateria. So I clean the filter everytime it gets dirty which is around once every 3 weeks.

 

[Lenna]

I give mine a rinse in water from the tank every two weeks. I only replace the meda if if falls apart.