ac filter question

[mark shirah]

how often do you change/clean the bio- max in my ac 20 filter. the filter is on a 10 gal community?

[Jchillin]

You need only rinse them with tank water once a month if needed.

[greenmaji]

I cleaned mine when the water flow was visibly slowed.. that would depend on how much it gathered, it could be a week or month or longer depending on how much you feed the fish.. HTH

[severum mama]

You never need to change the Biomax. They just tell you to do it so you will buy more products. I don't even rinse mine out that often. The ceramic rings don't really collect enough stuff to slow down the filter in any way. The sponge needs to be cleaned about every 2-4 weeks IMO. Like JC said, be sure you rinse the parts in old tankwater during your water changes, never in tapwater.

[chelli]

2 times a month regardless of how dirty they are.. filters are our friends and if they aren't clean, they aren't doing their job..

[Mazdaman]

be careful about how much and how often you clean your filter media. If you keep cleaning all of it every two weeks you'll never establish any good bacteria which is the whole point to biomedia in the filter. Try a rotating schedule and as mentioned never worry about cleaning the rings. Only the sponges/foam/filter needs to be rinsed. Try doing one piece one month and the other the next.

[malkore]

i clean sponges every week in the drained tank water. never had a problem.

but in a new tank, i would let them go at least 2-3 weeks before first cleaning, just to ensure they get well colonized during the cycling process. Thats' when they are most fragile.

[chelli]

oh, forgot his were new tanks.. mine are all over 3 years old.very established. each.. thanks