Maintenance Questions

[Platiesareawesome]

Hello! I have a few questions about maintenance on my tank, just to make sure I'm doing everything correctly, and also some other random questions:

1. How often should I rinse my filter media? (canister? HOB?)
2. How often should I clean the filter? (i.e. the filter body) (canister? HOB?)
3. How often should the filter media be changed? (if at all?)
4. What percent of the water should be changed weekly?
5. How long should the lights be left on in a planted tank? (low light? medium? high?)

Thank you!

 

[jglover]

Here we go:

1. When the filter flow slows in a HOB. Never owned a cannister so i can't say for certain but again, if you notice a reduced flow, it is time to rinse the media.
2. I'd rinse out the filter body when you rinse the media, kill two birds with one stone.
3. The filter media should be changed only when it is not longer serviceable, such as falling apart. And then only change one media type, such as the floss or sponge. Ceramic biomedia will likely never need to be changed.
4. Depends on your situation but a minimum of 25%, many people here do 50% routinely.
5. Typically lights are left on for 6-8 hours.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Hello! I have a few questions about maintenance on my tank, just to make sure I'm doing everything correctly, and also some other random questions:

1. How often should I rinse my filter media? (canister? HOB?)
2. How often should I clean the filter? (i.e. the filter body) (canister? HOB?)
3. How often should the filter media be changed? (if at all?)
4. What percent of the water should be changed weekly?
5. How long should the lights be left on in a planted tank? (low light? medium? high?)

Thank you!

Hello Plat...

I keep larger, low tech tanks, so I change roughly 75 percent of the water every two weeks and clean the filter and rinse the media when I change the water. The lights are on timers set for 12 hours on and 12 off. Aquarium plants are tropical and used to long hours of daylight.

If you take care of the tank water, the fish and plants will take care of themselves.

B

 

[Hulka9]

Usually for canister biomedia every 3 months you take a hand full out and replace it.

 

[jbib1089]

I usually clean my canister filter every 6 weeks. I havent changed my sponges/bio media out in almost 6 months. At most I'll replace the polishing pads. I also do 50% water changes weekly. I run my lights for 7.5 hours a day with my dual T5HO lights and it has significantly cut algae production.

 

[treemanone2003]

Usually for canister biomedia every 3 months you take a hand full out and replace it.

Why do you replace it ?