hazfish

Is it true that you can just rinse and reuse your disposable filters? I have been replacing my filters every 3 to 4 weeks as the box suggests. Have I fallen victim to commercialism? I thought the carbon needed to be replace every month or so. It would be great if I did not have to buy filters as often as I have been.

Gunnie

If you have the filter media that has a bag that contains your carbon, you can simply swish this bag in old tank water to get some of the junk off and put it back in the filter. Carbon is not necessary unless you are trying to remove medications or your tank has an odor. I rarely use carbon. You only need to replace this media if the water flow back into the tank is not good, and rinsing the media no longer works. Once you are ready to replace your media, simply take a piece of the old filter media and put it into the new media bag to seed you new media. If you have sponges in your filter, simple squeeze and wring them out in old tank water and put them back in your filter. You must use old tank water to do this though, or you will kill all the bacteria on your filter media. You can also clean your media in conditioned water.