Filter Question

[confucious]

My tank is now fully cycled - and I have a few happy fish. My question pertains to changing elements of the filter (Aquaclear). It says to change the carbon element of the filter about once a month depending on the bio-load - do you guys gently rinse the sponge element at the same time? It says to only change the sponge every 3 months (and I know you can go even longer than that if you just rinse it out in aquarium water) but if there is visible debris should you at least give it a quick dip/rinse in a bucket of aquarium water or let it be for 3 months?

Thanks,

 

[meegosh]

I do not run carbon in my filters (AquaClear 50 and others). I do not use their sponge media either. I use 100% polyfiber that I bought at a craft store. I cut it to fit and fill the whole basket up.

I rinse my polyfiber during my regular water changes (every week or every other) using the water I removed when I did my water change. You should never rinse your filter media in tap water.

Three months is way too long to let a filter go without any maintenance in my opinion. I think the longest any of my tanks have gone without a water change/filter maintenance was 3 weeks.

 

[Blueiz]

Rinse your filter media with regular maintenance and keep it until it is falling apart, then change it. As far as the carbon. I personally do not run it in my tanks. It is mainly used to remove meds, tanins, and odors (such as sulfur odor from the tap) from the water. If you aren't afflicted with those, I see no need to run carbon unless you want to.

As meegosh said, you can pretty much run whatever filter media in your tank that you want to, so long as it fits. You don't have to use the premade cratridges sold at the store.

 

[mfdrookie516]

i clean mine every other week... i run at least two filters on each tank, so each week during my pwc, i fill up a bucket and rinse all the media from one filter, then the next week i do the same on the other... sounds like youve got the concept though with the tank water, just dont use tap water and you shouldnt have any issues

 

[confucious]

Thanks to everyone for the help, I've been reading a ton of posts and this forum is great. So just to clarify, if I have only one filter - how often does everyone rinse their sponge?

Since carbon doesn't seem to be that important, I guess my question is mostly regarding the sponge. Seems like 3 weeks is a good guideline?

 

[mfdrookie516]

i would say a 2 weeks max, preferrably every week... i guess i go by the thought that since i have two filters, theyre doing half the work that one single would do, so i only clean each one every other week... if i only had one filter, i would rinse the sponge every week... the longer you wait, the bigger the chance for nitrates to spike... jmo

 

[Bigfoot1030]

I rinse my sponge about every 2 weeks. As mentioned above please ensure you are NOT rinsing in tap water. I rinse mine in a bucket of the water from the tanks water change.