zizziz

I have 2 fluval 305's running on a 125g. Do I need to rinse the "biomax" ever, how often, and if I do I am assuming that 1 tray at a time so I don;t wipe out all the good bacteria? I never owned canisters before.

thanks

aquarist48

I saw a post from Butterfly (moderator) that said she wouldn't change it more than once a year. It maybe become clogged over time and not to rinse it all at the same time. Too, in my opinion you may want to only rinse it in tank water (siphoned from the tank) and not tap water. That will help in keeping the GOOD bacteria.

Jonah

Good advice there, as stated with cannister filters I rinse out one tray in the filter every 4 weeks but except for floss I never replace any media unless it has completely degraded.

If one of your trays has carbon media replace that monthly or change it out and put sponges in instead and only put carbon in when you need it.

zizziz

yes, i did read some about what people do. it's always the same thing, one guy does this, the other does that, which in turn is completely different or contradicting. I read where some guy said not to change anything for the first 6 months, then someone said thats crazy because of all the gunk that builds up creating a nitrite bomb... I think I will just peek at what it looks like, because at this point I haven't done anything in a long time. then i will rinse in tank water and thing that looks nasty 1 tray at a time. I have 6 trays and 2 huge filter pads..

thanks!

Shawnie

changing it out shouldnt ever happen unless its totally falling apart..and then, a few weeks prior to changing it out, you should have new stuff in there already seeding ....as far as rinsing it with water maintenance, thats ones own choice...I do all my trays (rinsing not changing out) once every 5-6 weeks

zizziz

i agree with those strategies shawnie, I will be doing exactly that!

Shawnie

all that is on an established tank and water changes are more often than the 5-6 weeks(I just dont rinse out the media sponges each time) just to clear up any misconceptions for others reading or starting a new tank

SammyJ

I got my canister filters yesterday. I am guessing I won't have to do much with the bio media, aka the rings and bioballs. The ceramic rings seem like sturdy little things and the bioballs as well. I would say if one was going to change any part of the media in a canister one would alternate what you change and not do every tray or area at once.

I know my c220 has 2 carbon bags in the same tray so I would only change one at a time when the flow started getting restricted. My rapids 80 though only has one but the rings should hold enough of the good bacteria so changing out the floss should not be an issue if one wanted to.