fluval c4 ?

[theRECOIL101]

ok so made a big mistake and bought fish with tank thankfully i didnt buy to many ... and my question is how do i change my fluval c4 filters and what not it says when to and i have read not to do all at once but regulate them one now one next month to insure you dont lose all bacteria but i assume thats all for when tank is established and so i guess my question is do i change them or should i wait and keep them dirty to help with the build up of bacteria but the little red pop up stick on my fluval c4 has come up and i wasnt sure do i try to clean with dirty tank water and if so how it says to run dirty water on it so should i make it look white or just nock off the nasty build ups..... sorry if this is a little jumbled up just got done with both jobs and a little worn out

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I have the C2, which is the same as yours just smaller. You don't change the c-nodes, almost never. Its best to not change the sponge either, but since the filter fiber floss is attached to the sponge, you can peal that part off and replace with some filter floss cut to size. Perhaps you can replace the sponge and attached floss if it looks real bad (maybe 6 months to a year, even if that). When the red indicator pops up, it's just letting you know water is not flowing through easily. Usually during my weekly partial water changes, i pull the sponge out and squeeze and dip repeatedly in a bucket of siphoned out tank water to get the gunk out of the sponge and then replace in the filter.. Lastly, instead of using the activated carbon, i just added an extra bag of biomax. I get the biomax sold for Aqua Clear filters because they come with a mesh bag that keeps all the media together. Activated carbon isn't really needed unless you need to remove some medication, chemicals, or metals from the tank.