Descaling and Cleaning Filter

[Hoagii]

Hey all. My apartment has very hard water and lately I've really been noticing mineral buildup on the top of my aquarium, filter and spray guard. There also seems to be decreased output from the filter, and I suspect this is from mineralization inside.

I'd like to try to clean some of it up, partially for aesthetics, but also because I don't want to risk my filter becoming damaged.

What's the best way to clean mineral deposits from filter medium? I know I'm not supposed to replace the filter, but it's been running for ~10 months and I've only cleaned it once (cycle had crashed).

Any suggestions for cleaning the filter without crashing my cycle?

 

[Luca1980]

Hi Leah, I have this issue on my African cichlid tank. They love hard water and I add cichlid salts whenever I do a water change. I also have a big buildup of minerals on filter inlets/outlets, along the water line etc. You could use something like a pipecleaner to get into smaller, hard to reach areas etc. I found they come off if you just scrub hard. In terms of crashing your cycle, maybe just do one area at a time whenever you do a water change? You could also add some seachem stability to help compensate for any lost good bacteria, its a really awesome product that I add to all of my tanks, the axies included. I hope this helps.

 

[Hoagii]

Thanks Luca! I'll try that

 

[Luca1980]

Any time