clinton1621

I see a lot of issues with improper filter media cleaning and replacement... not that this is something new, but actually a big beginner problem.

1. Carbon filter cartridges do one thing... they make money for the company selling them. That being said, this is one of the biggest issues with beginning fishkeepers. If you keep changing your filter media out every month with new ones, then all you are doing is killing 90% of the bacteria that keep your tank cycled... thats why so many people who do this keep wondering why their tank never cycles and keeps getting ammonia spikes.

The solution?

Stop replacing your filter media! Get rid of the carbon, which other than taking out trace minerals that your fish and plants need to survive, doesnt do anything good unless you have recently medicated your tank and need to remove the meds. Instead use plain filter pads, fiber floss, sponges, or any type of bio-balls. These will all filter the water just fine, and they wont need to be replaced every 30 days... oh and they dont remove essential trace minerals from the water like carbon does.

2. Cleaning your filter (after getting rid of the carbon problem). This seems to always be another top issue with beginning fishkeepers. I cant stress this enough... chlorine kills bacteria... chlorine..kills..bacteria, any questions? So quite simply, if you rinse your filter media in tapwater then expect to see your tank go into a cycle, get ammonia spikes, and all the other fun stuff that happens with a bacteria free tank.

The solution?

Rinse your filter media with dechlorinated water ONLY! Either use some water out of your tank when you do a partial water change, or get a bucket and dechlorinate some tapwater in it. Also, dont scrub the filter in the water... this will literally scrub the bacteria right off of the filter, just swish it around and lighly squeeze it to get the gunk and built up waste off.

I hope this information is helpful to anyone who wants to know the proper way to maintain their filtration... any comments or further suggestions are welcome =)

Shawnie

great thread!! I just hope ppl read it and head the warnings!!!

I agree with all of it, but I do carry and pay for carbon on my overstocked tanks...BUT, I do change it out every two weeks...I know its alot of money, but for right now, I cant get a bigger tank and this is the only solution (as well as every other day water changes) for me right now...maybe santa will bring me a 120 gal for xmas?

thanks for taking the time to type this info up clinton!!

Lucy

Good info Clinton.

It's easy to understand why new fish keepers think cleaner is better so this should help.

clinton1621

Ok I arranged the writing a little differently because Lucy pointed out that my writing skills are subpar LOL. Thanks for the comments by the way =)

Shawnie

lucy is great for keeping us up to par!

gotta love her!

Jess

Ok, Ok, Ok, I get it. I recently had a mini cycle. I am now a believer, I swear, I will never use tap water to clean my filters again. A fish keepers promise. : )

clinton1621

LOL, my mom made me a believer when I was a kid with my first tank... she whacked me on the head when she saw me cleaning my filters in the kitchen sink. One for dirtying up the sink, and two for killing the bacteria in the filters lol.

Lucy

Jess

lol, you're gentle reminders are very kind. . . My mom's fish keeping skills are far newer than mine. But she's got the bug too. So we struggle together. I keep her guys alive while she's away for the summer. (They're thriving I might add : )
Anyway, very helpful information!

Jess

Lucy I like your avatar. Very funny!

kacie

Clinton,
In our original exchange you mentioned that when you change filters you move the floss into the next filter bag. That's what finally cleared things up for me. Hard to believe how hard it was for me to connect the dots. But if you put that additional info into your post it would be crystal clear.
Kacie

clinton1621

Well honestly, it could be done both ways... you could also keep the filter bag until it was falling apart and just replace the floss when it is clogged up. The general idea is that you never want to replace all of your media at one time and kill off a large portion of your bacteria. By replacing expensive carbon cartridges that are more hampering than helpful, you are doing just that. There are several possible ways to achieve this, one would be what I recommended to you for your situation... others may have a different filter system or find a different way that they can understand and will work for them. Thats why I didnt put an exact way to do things, because every situation is different =)

GouramiGirl1221

Just to clear things up for my new-to-fish brain, I've heard something about sponges in power filters, or something of the sort? Isn't there a way to put a sponge behind the bio bag, which will also collect bacteria, so that when I HAVE to change the bio bag because it's falling apart, that sponge still has a bunch of bacteria in there?

clinton1621

Yep, you can do that =) As long as there is enough room for one behind the filter bag, you just stick the sponge filter back there (you may need to cut it to size)

small-fish

good post in my aquaclear 50 i run 2 sponges and added more bio media

roy

after reading this i have now learnt not to wash my carbon filter under the tap water

Jess

Good job roy.
I learned the hard way as well. But note they aren't talking just about carbon filters, they are talking about any filters. Also you've probably guessed that the carbon doesn't last forever and will eventually reverse and begin replacing what you actually want to take out of your tank. So if you think you must have carbon. (I don't use it) Then you must replace it as it gets old quickly and loses functionality. You must keep a regular filter sponge to keep beneficial bacterial supported and alive. What you don't want to do is throw out your carbon filter if that's the only thing you're using to filter otherwise you'll be starting all over again with your cycle. (you don't want that to happen) I just want to clarify as I was confused with this early on.
Jess

prairielilly

Hey everyone,

Thanks Clinton for this thread, cleared up a bunch of stuff for me. I've got a Marineland Penguin 150 HOB filter and I've been replacing the cartridges as instructed, sometimes more often (I was medicating my fish - long story - anyway I cut a slit in the cartridge, took all the carbon out and sewed it back up and that worked pretty good but took a while).

Question though for everybody: my filter's got a biowheel, doesn't that keep the biological filtration going whether or not I change the cartridge?? and I've also noticed that pretty often the biowheel doesn't turn all that well (the manual says it absolutely has to) even though I've cleaned it a lot. If I get regular filter media and use it instead of a cartridge will it still function like it should? I thought filter media was kind of soft when wet and would just get all squished up in the hob (sorry if that sounds a little funny, still new at this)

Jess

Your wheel should turn (I have a similar set up for my 10gal) at least slowly. Is your water level up high enough? Is your intake pushed firmly down into the impeller area?
Also some of them have an adjustment to adjust the flow of the water. More flow should get that wheel spinning. You never really should clean this wheel. But you should check to make sure its seated properly in the side holders. They can come off and get skewed so they become off balanced and then refuse to revolve. Also once I found my impeller wrapped with a long strand of hair (yup mine) and after I removed it all was well.

penny

My filter is an Eheim 200 and has four sponges in it. One of those sponges is a carbon sponge and after only operating the filter for about 10 or 11 days it is already clogged up with gunk and slowing the flow of water through one of the two outlets of the filter.

As there are another three sponges that are operating and not clogging up, can I just remove the carbon sponge as suggested and replace it with a normal sponge without destroying the cycling of my tank? In other words, will the three remaining sponges retain the bacteria?

Nick G

Yeah it should be fine. A lot of people only use carbon to remove medication from the water. I run 6 filters of different sorts over 4 tanks and I don't use carbon in any of them.

penny

Thanks Nick!