to wash the media/ or to replace it? That is the Questions

[jubei]

hello,

I'd like to leave this open ended, I want to hear what you do? come one come all!!!
I wash(I'm cheap) When I do wash I do it in a bucket with aquarium water, again, and again, when the water is clear the media is clean. Am I missing out on any thing buy not buying new filter media???

thanks

 

[tkos]

I haven't bought any new media for my tanks in a year. It isn't being cheap but why would you want to throw away all that good bacteria. I rinse it out every couple of weeks and my tanks do great, IMO. Eventually the sponges and floss will start to break apart and then I will replace them. I also don't run carbon as there is no benifit to it. So my filters cost nothing but electricity to run.

 

[William]

Yeah, The only time I replaced my filter carts was when I had to throw a new one in with some carbon to get out some tint and chem, then my old filter went right back in.



I just take the filters and run them in a bucket of water reall hard, be surprised how much muck gets stuck in the things

 

[Guest]

Wash it many times, untill it's falling apart, then replace. As everyone else said, wash in old tank water.