ballison

I just bought a Fluval 305. It has three baskets, each having two sides. When I change out the media that has to be replaced routinely such as carbon, ammonia chips, etc do I need to remove only half of these elements at a time to preserve the bacteria? I am thinking that this rule only applies to biological media such as the Biomax but wanted to be sure. Also, in the Fluval demonstration DVD the demonstrator rinses the media in tap water. Wouldn't the chlorine/chloramine kill any bacteria present, good bad or indifferent?

Red1313

Bacteria will grow on everything in the canister but mostly in the biological filtration Switching out only half the things at a time is best becasue the more bacteria you preserve the better. Rinsing new media under tap water won't hurt but if it's got bacteria on it it's better to just give it a few swishes in some old tank water if it needs to be cleaned.

MikeinNJ

word of advice once the tank has been established i would not open the canister for 6 months, i own 3 fluvals, and made the mistake of opening to change the media and ended up having to recycle. those ceramic circles you should be able to keep those for a while, no need to change them often, and dont change the pads at the same time either

cerianthus

Six month seems somewhat too long, IMO. You can clean as often as needed depending on amt of livestock. All the gunk/detritus will breakdown in Canister becoming nitrate Factory.
As long as all the reusuable media (ceramic noodles, etc) are rinsed with tank water then you should not have a problem since bacteria are also present in the tank ( gravel, glass, etc). DONT disturb the the tank (Vacuum gravel) when you perform maintenace on filter.

Do not clean the filter during cycling unless absolutely necessary.

reefplayground

6 months? you're going to clog up the filter sponges. if you had your system crash, it wasnt because you opened up your canister filter. Regular routine maintenance is key in keeping you nitrates, phosphates and organic materials down. The amount of gunk that will build-up in 6 months is mind blowing. I would clean the canister every 2-4 weeks depending on the bio-load in the system.

Razimith

I have two fluval 305 they are great!!! I stoped using the carbon in mine to save on money but I do keep carbon on hand in case i have to medicate or I have had a stinky tank water problem which I had a couple of month ago which carbon helped alot. In my three baskets now I use sponge material in the bottom basket three layers thick. Then I use Pre filter bio balls made by fluvol for the second basket. For the top I use cerimic bio balls for the top this maximizes bio. filtering by having a ton of surface area. Plus the best part everything can be rinsed in your fishtank water when you are doing a water change and does not need to be replaced at least for a long time. I clean my filter once a month always the sponge material and then I stagger the cleaning of the prefilter and bio filter media. This is what works for me this may or may not be the best situation for you. All tanks are a little different and you need to find out what works for you. Some tanks may need the carbon and some tanks don't. I would try it without and if it seems to be just as good then leave it out to save money.