Free advice

[Coyne]

If youre ever tearing down a tank that was using a canister filter, then one of the first things you should do is empty and clean said filter.
If you dont, then you run the risk of completely forgetting about it for three months... and when you do finally take it apart, its going to smell bad... like, REALLY bad.

 

[Mebbid]

I think at that point I would take a 10g tank, add 1g of bleach, fill with water, and let the filter run for a while.

 

[mrvincent]

I clean my canister once 1-2 months, when the water start to become yellow, or when I can't bring down TDS under 400ppm for long term...

It doesn't smell too bad, it just smell filter bio media and lake... But is really nasty, lot of debris...

Canister become nitrate factory is you don't clean often enought...

 

[Krogman]

My canister hoses got covered in detritus, couldn't see through them and they are supposed to be clear. I was trying to turn off a powerhead and unplugged the can instead, when I plugged it back up lots of nasty shot into my tank :/ now I try to stay on top of cleaning the hoses

 

[Coyne]

I think at that point I would take a 10g tank, add 1g of bleach, fill with water, and let the filter run for a while.

Great minds think alike... kinda.

After I had re-homed the fish that were in there, I did run some bleach through the system to take care of the black beard algae and snails that I had let over run the tank.
Then life got busy, and I got forgetful/lazy, so the canister sat there for a few months. A pretty strong sulfur smell awaited me when I opened it up this morning.

Im going to use the awful smell as a reminder to take care of any future canisters that Im retiring right away.

 

[threnjen]

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

 

[Brookster123]

Stink bomb huh?? I'd say mebbid's bleach idea would solve the problem in no time!

 

[Delapool]

Yucko - soak in neighbors pool? Just kidding!

 

[Mebbid]

I would like to point out that it's probably pretty good for watering plants though

 

[Coyne]

Maybe.. not sure if the bleach that was in there wouldve still been toxic to anything. Nor am I confident that adding more bleach wouldve taken care of the sulfur smell. Regardless, its taken care of now and the lesson is learned.