How Often Do You Clean Your Filter?

[JustKia]

As per title really

I used to give mine a rinse (in old tank water) once every few weeks and that was fine, no reduced flow or anything. Since moving to a bigger tank I find I'm getting reduced flow within a week of rinsing it out. I know I've got more fish now and so more waste but this is the first time I'm getting reduced flow and it seems to be happening so quick...

 

[Littlemonkey]

Weekly rinse (with tank water), Then every few weeks I clean the impeller and spray bar tube, keeps everything free flowing and no strange noises.

 

[Haych]

i have only ever changed it when the flow is reduced, give it a rinse and clean all impellers too at the same time.

i have been told (will know if it turns out true or not) that as i have a bigger filter than required, i should be able to go 6-8 months before it needs a clean

 

[minxfishy]

Only if I notice any reduction in flow, which seems not to happen too often, probably once every 4-6 months, using eheim 2217 and TTex1200 on one tank and eheim 2217 and fluval 305 on another tank.

 

[raptorrex]

I clean mine, i have two, about every 6-12 months

 

[Amerce]

To cut down on the number of times I clean the external filters I place a square of sponge on the intake basket, this also stops any fry getting sucked up. All the bigger pieces of gunk etc gets caught initially on the sponge and it is nice and quick to clean.. much easier than having to clean the external every couple of months.. severums and channa's are messy eaters

 

[Mr._Fishy]

My aquaclears get cleaned every few weeks while my eheim gets cleaned every few months or so.

 

[coldcazzie]

Honestly, I've never had a flow problem with my filter, and I only clean it about once a year. And the poly pad gets replaced about once every 2-3 months. Why fix it when it aint broke?!

 

[Mr Spoon]

I have the juwel internal filters, I change the White prefilter/polishing pad weekly and clean half the filter media every 3 months or when flow is reduced.

 

[Oscar Betta]

I put in new sheets about every month.

 

[james morrisontoxic2]

i do mine about 4 times a year

 

[JustKia]

I thought it was odd that right now mine (Fluval 405) is getting gunked up enough to reduce the flow in the space of 7-10 days
OK I know I've got more fish in there now but I swear there's nothing THAT messy! The messiest would be the pair of b/n plecs - are they really producing enough waste to bung up a 405 in 7-10 days?

 

[Haych]

how big are theplecs? and how many litres does a 405 happily filter?

 

[JustKia]

The male is about 4.5" the female a bit less.
405 does tanks upto 105gal, mines 72Gal. The flow is 225gph - just over 3x turnover, plus I have a Koralia 3 giving an additional 850gph.
It was a resun giving me 790gph but I managed to break it today, went to LFS picked up a Koralia 3 instead of 2 and I'm thinking I might need to tame it a bit - that extra 60gph is a bit too much I think...

Edit to add:
It's planted - kinda... I need to sort out the plants (pruning, positioning, etc)

 

[Haych]

well, i should say it should not need cleaning that often

my tetratec has been running (with fish) for 3 weeks, and no loss of flow, no need to clean it yet (except the spray bar needs a clean) thats it