Canister Filter Cleaning

[argray90]

My canister filter has been running for around a month since I have to last redo my aquarium set up due to a power outage that led to bad water quality. I used turbo start 700 and swear by it I am sure some people will bash I tried Dr. Tim's One and Only and was not satisfied with the results enough to put my axies in the tank so when I lost power to my filter it had to be a sign. Turbo Start 700 is expensive being that is has to be next day air shipped to your house but it comes cold and my readings have been perfect for a month now with very minimal water changes. I do have lots of live plants in the aquarium to help but I am completely happy. Now to the question. How often and how do I clean my canister filter it is a Filstar XP3 aquarium? I am unsure how or what to do to clean the filter because I do not want to kill the good bacteria in the filter.

 

[argray90]

Bueller? Bueller?

 

[Kaysie]

Hehehe. Nice thread bump.

With my canister filter, I had two filter pads, the coarse and the fine, and the bio-rings. I cleaned the coarse filter pad twice a month, give or take, the fine filter pad once a month, and just rinsed the rings in tank water when they got really gunky.

 

[argray90]

Hehehe. Nice thread bump.

With my canister filter, I had two filter pads, the coarse and the fine, and the bio-rings. I cleaned the coarse filter pad twice a month, give or take, the fine filter pad once a month, and just rinsed the rings in tank water when they got really gunky.

Ok do I need to replace the filter pads ever or just rinse them out? I don't want to kill the good bacteria I have so just want to make sure I do it right.

 

[Kaysie]

I never replaced mine. I just rinsed them out. You can replace them if they start to get worn out, but replacing them every time you rinse the filter isn't necessary. They're purpose is to filter out debris and have a place to grow bacteria. As long as they're still serving this purpose, no point in replacing them. I know the manufacturer recommends replacing them regularly, but I'm pretty sure that's just a gimmick to get you to spend more money. I just scrub them under the water to remove debris.

Also, I didn't ever use the carbon 'pillow' that comes with the filter.

 

[axiekeeper]

+1 for cleaning the filter pads in a staggered rotation.
also rinsing in dirty tank water will preserve the bacteria colonies on the filter pads/bio rings, never use tap water, chlorine/chloramine will kill the bacteria off.