Help with filter cleaning

[johnkristie]

I've got a pleated fiber filter cartridge for my tank. Like the kind you might find in a jacuzzi or pool. I use it for my mechanical filtration. Does anyone have any ideas on how to clean one. Someone told me to soak it in bleach overnight, rinse it with a high pressure hose, and then dechlorinate it overnight. I'm a little scared of bleaching something that is going to go back into the tank. Does anyone have experience with this??

 

[darb2]

I would do a normal water change and rinse the filter out in the waste water.

 

[lando]

What type of filter did it come from? If it is a pleated bio-wheel do not clean it at all. It is there to grow bacteria and not filter out chunks. If it is the actual filter membrane designed to get the chuncks, Just do a water change. Reserve some water fro your tank and put the filter pad in a plastic bag with the water and shake it around.

 

[johnkristie]

It is not a bio-wheel. It is just a pleated fiber filter kind of like a pool filter. It sits in a canister and is really just for particular filtration. Although, I guess it does grow bacteria and is a biological filter as well. I wasn't really using it for that however.

 

[lando]

What does the company recomend for replacing the filter?

 

[johnkristie]

It is actually made for pools and jacuzzis, so there are no instructions about aquarium maintenance schedules.

 

[Atari]

There will no doubt be bacteria living on the filter so you have to be sure that you have more than enough biological filtration by other means before you disinfect it. The safest thing would be to use tank water.