prefilters, need a better way

[fishorama]

I've tried a net to catch all the crud when I remove the HOB prefilters to rinse & it doesn't work much better than nothing. It gets the biggest pieces but lots of fine bits go all over. I need some suggestions please, I feel very uncoordinated :o

[DavidC]

pre filter sponge solved my problem... clean out as often as you want but do it more often than water changes... i rinse mine 2 a week and water change once a week but thats just me..

[zamboniMan]

Or you could just change your water more vacuuming the bottom as it drains.

[Justice]

I've tried a net to catch all the crud when I remove the HOB prefilters to rinse & it doesn't work much better than nothing. It gets the biggest pieces but lots of fine bits go all over. I need some suggestions please, I feel very uncoordinated :o

I slide a fish bag over mine when removing it for cleaning that works well for me, I guess a sandwich bag would work just as well.

[Jason K.]

definetly the prefilter sponge, found mine at pet smart believe it was sold buy fluval.

[yim11]

I slide a fish bag over mine when removing it for cleaning that works well for me, I guess a sandwich bag would work just as well.

I've used a sandwich bag as well but right now I find using a brine shrimp net works best.

[joanr]

I just slide a tall plastic tumbler under the prefilter and slowly bring it up and detach from the tube. Then slowly raise the tumbler up out of the tank. But I do this when the filters are still running so the vacuum is not broken, the crude stays on the prefilter better that way. I get hardly any fall off this way.

[seanyuki]

I remove the HOB intake tube when the water level is lower than the intake tube while doing water changes and less stuffs falls into the water.

[Scribbles]

I clean my tank daily so I don't get alot of gunk on the prefilter sponge. When I do a wc I remove the sponge after the tank is drained and the water level is below the sponge. The stuff clings to the sponge until I rinse it off.

Chris

[Jhhnn]

I remove the HOB intake tube when the water level is lower than the intake tube while doing water changes and less stuffs falls into the water.

Me too. Same with prefilters on Canisters. I usually lose nothing.

[fishorama]

Good ideas, thank you all. I'll try raising the intakes first, 1 is only a couple inches off the bottom, much lower than my water changes. I rinse the prefilters almost daily. The plastic glass also sounds good if I can find 1 to fit through the hood opening.

[joanr]

Those plastic tumblers from Walmart fit perfectly through the standard hood opening, guess it depends on which hood you have. They come in a 3 pack. The blue ones are slightly larger than the red ones. I don't use the intake extension when I have the prefilters on, so the tumbler will slide right under them using a kinda side approach, lol.

[fishorama]

Thanks, Joan. I recently broke part of the extension tube so I was going to try removing it anyway but I just keep rinsing & sticking it back on like an idiot :o