How often should I clean my sponge filter?

How often should I clean my sponge filter? I have a 20 gallon with 3 julii cories, 13 cardinal tetras, 1 male betta, and 1 pregnant silver molly. I've been trying to do research on this questions but I keep getting so many different answers, and it's getting confusing. Lol

 

You're going to get different answers because everyone does it differently. Personally I'd clean in a bucket of tank water when you do your weekly water changes. You keep most of the BB that way and you're just getting rid of all the excess rotting stuff. I'm sure others will have different opinions but It definitely needs to be cleaned on a somewhat regular basis, weekly to biweekly is just my preference.

 

I run sponge hob and canisters on some of my tanks and I usually rinse mine really well under my tap to get the bubbles flowing good but I don’t recommend this if that’s your only filter. I don’t worry much about losing the BB on the sponge cause there is plenty in the canisters and HOB. So I would say a safe time to rinse yours in tank water would be every other WC

 

There is no one size fits all answer to this question. To start with just keep an eye on it. You will probably be able to tell when it needs to be rinsed off. If the flow slows down you will know you have waited a bit too long. Look at it. If there isn't a big build up of slime on it and the water/air bubbles are flowing through it freely you will know it doesn't need to be rinsed yet. If your water doesn't look as clean as it should you will know it isn't working as well as it should and you will know it is time to clean it.

 

It's great to hear your input. Thanks mattgirl, Algonquin, and Travisb1297

 

Not that often.

When I started using them, I was cleaning them too often. Had to tell myself to not do it so much, ha.

 

It all depends, in one of my tanks I have to clean it every other week. The other tank, I havent cleaned it in 6 weeks.
Like Mattgirl said, keep an eye on it. Kinda comes down to stock, new plants melting/establishing etc.

A 15 year experienced fish keeper gave me this advice though- Clean it in old tank water and you can technically clean it as often as you're comfortable with as it wont kill good bacteria.

 

You're going to get different answers because everyone does it differently. Personally I'd clean in a bucket of tank water when you do your weekly water changes. You keep most of the BB that way and you're just getting rid of all the excess rotting stuff. I'm sure others will have different opinions but It definitely needs to be cleaned on a somewhat regular basis, weekly to biweekly is just my preference.

Good time especially since right after a water change your parameters are at their best and you can afford to loose a little BB.

 

Just a helpful tip I came across in my research of sponge filters. If you are running two sponges, clean one at a time and alternate which one during your weekly WC

 

I just clean them if they make a cloud when I squeeze them.