Floyd R Turbo
Aquarium Advice Addict
If your tap water has Chlorine in it, then every time you clean your filters you are killing the bacterial colony and starting your cycle over again, at least partially. You really need to read up on the Nitrogen cycle. It is the most basic thing that all aquarists need to fully comprehend.
You must never, ever rinse your filter media under tap water, especially if it is the only media in your filter. The U2-U4 filters have a separate compartment that houses bio-media balls that you would only lightly rinse in a bucket of water you pulled from your tank during a water change, and then only to loosen debris.
With a floss-only filter, such as the one you have, you should clean it periodically as recommended by the manufacturer, or more or less often depending on your tank load. But you should only take water pulled from the tank or tap water that has been sufficiently de-chlorinated and rinse it in that, squeezing, etc.
I think the manufacturer recommends that you replace one pad every few months, leaving the other pad to 'seed' the new pad with a bio community.
Constantly over cleaning your pads will stress your fish out and lead to disease. It is possible that this isn't happening because the rest of the filter that sits in the tank still has some biological colony residing on it, and this may be your saving grace. That or it you don't clean it too much under tap water, you'll still have surviving bacteria.
You must never, ever rinse your filter media under tap water, especially if it is the only media in your filter. The U2-U4 filters have a separate compartment that houses bio-media balls that you would only lightly rinse in a bucket of water you pulled from your tank during a water change, and then only to loosen debris.
With a floss-only filter, such as the one you have, you should clean it periodically as recommended by the manufacturer, or more or less often depending on your tank load. But you should only take water pulled from the tank or tap water that has been sufficiently de-chlorinated and rinse it in that, squeezing, etc.
I think the manufacturer recommends that you replace one pad every few months, leaving the other pad to 'seed' the new pad with a bio community.
Constantly over cleaning your pads will stress your fish out and lead to disease. It is possible that this isn't happening because the rest of the filter that sits in the tank still has some biological colony residing on it, and this may be your saving grace. That or it you don't clean it too much under tap water, you'll still have surviving bacteria.
