I wouldn't put an sponges over the intake, it should have a cage over it that should be sufficient to keep them out of the filter if not it's a nice simple replacement part to get a hold of.
Putting anything over the intake (and outlet for that matter) that reduces the amount of water going through your filter whether it's because it's harder to pump it out or harder to suck it in will result in your filter running hotter because it's not getting sufficient flow through it to cool the motor fast enough just like a very dirty filter would do.
Grius you can clean it as often as you want to but from experience you won't need to do so before the 6 month mark and regardless of when and how you do it you will lose some bacteria in the process so will need to monitor your water to make sure it hasn't been thrown back into another cycle.
You can do it every 2 months if you like but that doesn't mean it needs to be done or that it is beneficial
I only do the canister on my heavily populated tropical fish tank every 6 months, not because it's lost flow volume or isn't cleaning the water as well as I'd like but because I know how bad the first stage can get if I leave it much longer. Now I know the members here like to think that axolotls and newts are dirty little critters but seriously they have NOTHING of a fully stocked tropical fish tank even with a proper clean every week, these things know how to make a serious mess
The canister on my heavily planted adult axie tank has been running 7 months (Yes I've checked it recently) since it was last cleaned and it hasn't lost any flow, is not running any warmer and is still removing all the nasties from the water as efficiently as it ever was. The last cleaning DID throw the tank into a cycle and I cleaned it extremely gently and carefully and THAT is not a performance I would want to repeat every couple of months and I don't imagine the instability in the water conditions that it would cause is terribly good for the critters in the tank either.
I have to disagree here (Sorry Mere!). Once your tank is up and running, you should at least rinse your filter sponges every couple of months to remove waste. Rinse them in tank water as to not kill the bacteria, and if you have multiple sponges, stagger the rinsing so you're not rinsing all of them at the same time.
If your sponges get clogged with dirt and debris, it can greatly reduce the efficiency of your filter, and can also cause the filter to run hotter because the flow is reduced.
I don't mind if you disagree Kaysie, it's your prerogative and right to do so
The way an external canister filter is constructed the only pad that will really see any major sort of dirt and debris in such a short time is the 1st and coarsest one. The one that catches all the big bits and thankfully the one that houses the least bacteria because it has the smallest surface area so feel free to clean that one if you can get to it without upsetting everything else.
How often you NEED to clean a filter is greatly determined by what is in the tank and how well you do your spot cleaning.
It seems most of the members here are pulling out EVERYTHING that could and would make the tank and filter dirty each day. Every bit of uneaten food, every poo their animals do gets removed as soon as it is spotted which means that it's NOT going into the filter thus seriously reducing the "dirt" present that would need to be cleaned out but hey if you want to pull your filter apart every month or two and clean it then that's entirely up to you. You WILL be losing large numbers of your bacteria into the water you are rinsing in and you will note I said dislodge in previous posts not kill your bacteria. Dead or in a bucket they are still not in your filter.
You'll need to bare in mind that the manufacturers recommendations and the general guide lines for this have been written and determined by the aquarium FISH industry and it's hobbyists based on a tank carrying close to it's maximum bioload and in particular marine tanks and don't take animals such as newts and axolotls into account.
Pretty sure I mentioned not doing all the pads at once as well.
We've had a LOT of canister filters and some of them have been seriously put through the ringer. Hubby grows aquarium plants to sell and powering the small hothouse is an aqua one canister. Now these things make the water FILTHY. Dropped & decaying leaves, sand, grit, detritus, bugs and what not, not to mention the waste from the several hundred guppies that inhabit the tanks and tubs to keep the mosquitos at bay and the filter has done just fine flow and performance wise for 6 months at a time for a few years now without dropping a beat. This thing is cleaning the equivalent of at least 3, 4ft tanks full of fish each day so you'll forgive me if I'm not inclined to believe that a filter as large as the Fluval 105 NEEDS to be cleaned every couple of months. You might convince me to do it every 6 months but every 2-3 will just put unnecessary stress on the whole system.
We are yet to actually have any problems with Canisters aside from the occasional cracked housing from being dropped 6 inches when full of water (3 have gone that way
2 of them nice big Eheims, slippery little suckers
) or the odd broken clip/tap.
I should point out for any casual readers at this point that....
Internal and HOB filters are an entirely different matter and would need cleaning on at least a bimonthly if not monthly basis simply because of the size of them.
