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Filter maintenance. How regular do you do it?

Vanish

Member
Joined
15 Feb 2013
Messages
173
One of my other threads, lead to a small discussion over how regular filter maintenance should be done.
Here's the thread.
Tetratec replacement advice? | UK Aquatic Plant Society
As you'll see one member states he does his no more frequently than 6 months. Whilst I said I do it with a weekly water change. Obviously these are pretty much at both ends of the scale, so I thought it would be interesting to see what the rest of you do. When answering can you state whether you are filtering a high/low tech set up, large bio mass or just a few plants.
So I maintain the filter weekly, have a high tech set up with a relatively high bio mass.
What do you do?
 
Heavily planted 300 litre, with approx 100 fish,Low tech.
I clean the canister on this tank once each month and re-charge the Purigen.
I'm particular bout what I like with respect to clarity and for this tank,,Once a month work's well.

55 gal low tech with five Pleco's,Severum,assorted guppies,moderately planted,canister is cleaned every two week's.
I expierimented with different duration's between cleaning's, noting the dirtiness of material, or lack of dirt. This helped me to determine what work's for me.
 
I have a 55 gal low tech tank running a fluval 406. Bio load is approx 90% of maximum, moderately planted with 30% water change per week. I rinse out each filter sponge and media tray once a month but this is staggered so no more than 50% of media/sponge gets rinsed every 2 weeks. I will clean the impellor etc. and pipework every 3-6 months. This has worked well for me.
 
Well, that very much depends on the tank, what's the bioload, how many filters, etc..
I think it's about getting it right and balanced.
Filters do clog with debris, especially in a planted tank and you don't want that both for the efficiency of the media/access to oxygen and because of rising organics, wrong bacteria growing there taking the available space, etc... All this can contribute to other issues like bad water quality, algae, etc.
However, if you start overcleaning your filters regularly, you can too have trace levels of ammonia that your tank inhabitants won't be happy about and can lead to algae outbreaks too. I know for a fact that when I overdo it, even though the tests show nothing, my fish start scratching themselves for a day or two until the bacteria I washed off picks up again. I never used anything but tank water to clean filters and I've caused spikes before on my other tanks several times, one was measurable and lasted a week. The tank had a high bioload, though not planted at the time properly and the spike was so high that even the water smelled of ammonia. That's just because I washed the media very thoroughly in tank water trying to dislodge all of the debris.
With a heavily planted tank, you may not have that issue because the plants are main filter for the tank, but ammonia rise will lead to some sort of algae. Same will happen if you let your filters clog to the point they don't operate properly. So I guess one has to find the sweet spot.

I think the best is probably to use prefilters and clean them very often, they will also stop big debris getting in like plant mass, poop, rather than opening the filter and disturbing the bacteria colony that often. Also, if you've got just one filter in a tank, you probably need to be more concerned of how you clean it and when rather than when having multiple filters.
 
I open my JBL1500 external probably once a month and rinse the coarse filter foam, mainly to get plant bits off it. I wash them in a bucket of tank water.The finer foams just squeeze out a bit of muck and put back at the same time. As for the ceramic noodles/balls, wash one tray (out of 3) every say 6 months (don't really know), and rotate them round with the cleanest last in the flow.

As for my internal Juwel 600l/hr filter, I wash the floss every week, replacing when won't stay in shape anymore. The coarse foam I squeeze one (out of two) every week and put back in furthest from the flow. The fine foams squeeze one (out of two) every couple of months. Notice squeeze rather than wash, just to get rid of quite a bit of filtrate but leave plenty within the foam.

Not suffered any ammonia spikes, cloudy water etc doing it this way. The clean noodles/balls/foams are soon dirty the following week.
 
i think this thread is about me i have low tec planted tank with low to medium biomass
i do two 35 to 40% water changes twice a week and i clean the external filters 6 to 12 months
or if the flow slows all my test readings come back spot on tanks get tested once a week
why disturb something that is working perfectly i dont suffer any ammonia spikes or nitrite spikes
my nitrate is 5 ppm or less it works for me :thumbup: oh by the way all my tanks are over filtered but there isn't such a thing o_O
 
Thanks for the replies, looks like I'm a bit OCD with the filter maintenance. So I'll ease up a bit. On the plus side I will make water change day a lot quicker.
 
I usually clean the external filters every 3-4 months (empty the canister, clean the prefilter and impeller), more often I clean the hoses and lily pipes.
 
why disturb something that is working perfectly the only time
a filter should be opened is if the flow drops off i only do mine
if the flow drops off of 6 to 12 months which ever comes first
i think there is a lot of people suffer from OCD when it comes to
filters lol
 
In my main tank I have two external filters without pre-filters (maybe I should get them), cleaned once a month alternating - so effectively I clean a filter every two weeks.
 
i would like to know what you mean by pre filters i have strainers
on mine pre filters are they not defeating the object of an external
filter really as you will get a biological filtering in the pre filter before
the external
 
I too use the Juwel internal box as prefilter with loads of various sponges. The juwel 600 pump is used more as a suction device driving this prefilter. The actual filtrr is Tetra 1200 which takes the prefiltered water.

Prefilter is cleaned (hose sucked actually) each week at WC and sponges cleaned or washed. The filter is cleaned once a year or more... Floss in prefilter changed each fortnight or so..

Cheers

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
 
Hi all,
i would like to know what you mean by pre filters i have strainers on mine
Yes, I mean a PPI10 sponge or the Eheim pre-filter that "Juliusz" recommends. On most tanks I have a really sizeable foam block.

Have a look at this thread <best filter for shrimp tank? | UK Aquatic Plant Society>
pre filters are they not defeating the object of an external filter really as you will get a biological filtering in the pre filter before the external
Not really, biological filtration will occur in the pre-filter, but that is really a bonus not a problem.Other bonuses are it gives you a browsing surface for shrimps and fry, and you can aim the venturi air bubbles at it (I usually have an internal as well as an external filter), with-out worrying about air bubbles building up inside the filter.

The main aim of the pre-filter is to keep bulky organic matter out of the filter body, this means you can have long gaps between filter maintenance, you just need to keep the pre-filter clean which takes seconds.

I want the ammonia, and as much dissolved oxygen as possible, in the filter, I don't want anything else.

It was when I found that a lot of people used their filters as syphons, as well as for biological filtration, that I began to under-stand the problems people were having keeping fish (like the larger Panaque spp.) which combine a high oxygen requirement with a large amount of waste production.

Which was why I wrote "Aeration and Dissolved Oxygen.... " <plecoplanet: Aeration and dissolved oxygen in the aquarium>

cheers Darrel
 
I have two extrnals which I clean alternatively on a two month scale. Sometimes more often with my fluval as the flow becomes slow.
 
i dont get bubbles bulbing up in my filters i make sure that the spray
bar or venturi are nowhere near the pick up strainer the only thing
i am thinking of is the biological build on the pre filter and not on the
filters internal sponges if i have a tank with wood chomping fish i have
a polishing filter that is filled with nothing but filter floss which removes
all the ground up wood i also wonder filters are really just for cleaning
water and keeping water clean and clear of suspended practicals some
people think they are for keeping the substrate clean of detritus and fish
poo . that part should be done with regular tank maintenance with a light
vacuum over of the substrate like i said filters are only for cleaning water
and keeping water clean and clear and prepossessing ammonia so that
water is safe
 
just done my water polishing filter today that as been two
months since it was last cleaned out it needed doing because the
flow had dropped to a trickle its a fluval 203 the old cylindrical
ones i find that strainers keep the thick of the debris out of the
filter but this one takes out the powdered wood from my wood comping
plecs
 
Hi all,
of is the biological build on the pre filter and not on the filters internal sponges if i have a tank with wood chomping fish i have a polishing filter that is filled with nothing but filter floss which removes all the ground up wood i also wonder filters are really just for cleaning water and keeping water clean and clear of suspended practicals some people think they are for keeping the substrate clean of detritus and fish poo
Pretty much that, but I don't like floss, or even getting the suspended matter in the filter, the reason for this is that they can both impede flow. Once the water flow slows in the filter the filter material has more chance of becoming de-oxygenated, with potentially lethal results.

With a large fairly coarse pre-filter sponge the likelihood of the water flow slowing is reduced, even if the sponge needs cleaning. For the same reason I like ceramic/glass rings, or Eheim "coco-pops", in the filter body.

Have a look at this thread on "Planet Catfish", "Macvsog23" was the late Bob Marklew, my friend, and "Bristol Pleco God" and "Apistomaster" is Larry Waybright, who also has probably forgotten more than I will ever know. <View topic - Gravel or sand for plecos??>

cheers Darrel
 
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