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FatFutures
02-23-2008, 11:53 AM
General question...

How often do you clean your filters?

Before keeping Discus, I had a schedule for cleaning my filters. But, I think I might need to revise that for the Discus tanks.

Any input would be so greatly appreciated.

Michelle

Ardan
02-23-2008, 01:15 PM
Hi,
I have prefilters on the power filter intake that I clean with every wc (every other day)

I also clean any air driven sponge filters at that time.

I clean the sponges inside the power filters once a wk (sometimes more often, depending on if I think they are more dirty...)

hth
Ardan

aquagal
02-23-2008, 02:01 PM
I use canister filters and two hydrosponges on each tank. I clean the canisters about every month...they really don't accumulate that much gunk because I'm doing frequent WCs. The sponge filters I squeeze every now and then...

thang45
02-23-2008, 02:25 PM
I use to clean my Eheim every 2 or 3 months. That's very bad. I got into all sort of problems such as Popeye. Now I clean all of my filters every month and so far no problems.

orthofish
02-27-2008, 08:05 PM
I clean my 2 canister filters at least once a month. Prefilters on them are rinsed everyday. In the morniing and most of the time in the evening also.

Tropical Haven
02-28-2008, 03:31 PM
I clean all of my sponge filters once every two weeks.

RickMay1
02-28-2008, 05:09 PM
Using mechanical filtering is like sweeping dirt under the rug. Just because you no longer see the poop and food its still in the tank, I’ve used about every filter on the market and kept getting the same results, the fish would be happy, at first then after a few weeks they just didn’t seem the same even though I kept changing water. Then It would occur to me that its been weeks of even months since I cleaned the filter. I’ve given up on mechanical filtering; I prefer to remove the poop and food completely with a good water change.

XPLOSV
04-13-2008, 09:48 PM
I clean all big canisters every 3 week, replace the wool and what needed.

sponge will need a good clean every 2-3days.

keeping the tank clean is some thing I prefer when come to discus. (many dead from unknown back then)

LizStreithorst
04-13-2008, 09:56 PM
I use only sponge filters. I almost never squeeze them out. John Nicholson once told me that they looked like his.

I've been doing it this way for seven years. So far, no problems.

dpt8
04-14-2008, 07:03 AM
Liz, Glad to hear you almost never sqeeze out your sponges. I do the same. Maybe once a month in the smaller tanks. Also maybe every 2 months for the sponges in my aquaclears. The prefilters help so much on those. I do have to squeeze out the prefilters as they do start to clog up. I do not use any canisters filters. David T

Harriett
04-14-2008, 05:53 PM
I do the usual: big prefilter that gets cleaned about every other day on these tanks, I understock the tanks these days, and even though I check the canisters about once a month, they are quite clean, so now I am only doing it about every 7 weeks or so over the past 8 months or there abouts. I am doing this on 4 different 75g-80g tanks. I do clean the canisters more frequently on the big planted tank--that gets only weekly water changes and there is a lot going on in that tank.
Hope this helps
Harriett

RockHound
04-15-2008, 09:01 AM
No canister filters here:

I run a fairly large tall wet/dry trickle filter, with a stand pipe type open cell foam prefilter ahead of it.

Trickle filter drains to a sump, which has an open cell foam weir/baffle in it.

From the sump, system water is pumped back to the tank & cycles around again.

I rinse out the open cell foam prefilter in front of the wet/dry trickle filter about every 3 or 4 days.

I rinse out the open cell foam weir/baffle in the sump about once every 2 weeks.

The wet/dry trickle filter system is rather tall by design.
Which makes it self cleaning.
Any biofilm or gunk that sloughs off & washs out of it, is caught by the open cell foam weir/baffle in the sump.

In the sump, I keep a couple air driven open cell foam filters running.
So, that I have fully established/cycled foam filters, whenever I ever need to set up a QT tank, I can use them. ;)

bavaria36
05-02-2008, 07:48 PM
I use sponges in my BB tanks and I have noticed that every time I squeeze them out the fish are skittish for the next few days.

I suspect that squeezing them out really cleans out a lot of the bacteria too and as those air driven sponges are probably not as efficient as we would like them to be this knocks the filter capacity back enough to affect the fish.

Now I have doubled up in each tank so I only squeeze out one filter at a time.

Aaron

kaceyo
05-03-2008, 12:52 PM
Hi Aaron,
Are you cleaning the sponge filters in dechlorinated water? When I clean filters from tanks that have only one filter there is never a setback in their ability to deal with ammonia, and I clean them pretty thoroughly.
If you wait too long between cleanings there might be enough bacteria attached to the gunk that rinces away to affect the efficiancy but that's just speculation. And chlorine will knock the bacteria back for sure.
It never hurts to clean only one at a time as a safety precaution but it shouldn't effect performance noticably if you clean them all at once.

Kacey

2075turner
05-03-2008, 05:20 PM
I use two sponges in my 55's/75's/90's and the I alternate when I clean them out usually once a week using their water in a separate bucket. On my breeders, I use one sponge which I do once a week on a day that I don't do any water changes.

bavaria36
05-03-2008, 08:19 PM
Hi Aaron,
Are you cleaning the sponge filters in dechlorinated water? When I clean filters from tanks that have only one filter there is never a setback in their ability to deal with ammonia, and I clean them pretty thoroughly.
If you wait too long between cleanings there might be enough bacteria attached to the gunk that rinces away to affect the efficiancy but that's just speculation. And chlorine will knock the bacteria back for sure.
It never hurts to clean only one at a time as a safety precaution but it shouldn't effect performance noticably if you clean them all at once.

Kacey

Hi Kacey,

Yes. I always rinse them in the same water that I am draining from the tank so that should certainly have no chlorine. I have not actually measured any increase in ammonia or nitrite after I rinse them ....... just that the fish seem more skittish. It could easily be something else of course but I have not yet put my finger on it.

Aaron

Condor
05-04-2008, 09:55 AM
I think it is good to have multiple sponges and to alternate cleaning them.

Adrian