cleaning external filter

[dean_alicia]

Hey Guys,

i have a few different LFS tell me different way to clean out my filter.
mine is due for a clean and i wanted to no the best way to do it. do i clean out each tray under tap water?? any suggestions.. im worried about distroying all my bio in the filter.

[hvt200]

best way is to use your aquarium water to clean it off. Tap water have chlorine and would nuke your filter.
i usually just clean my pre filter.

[dean_alicia]

cool. thanks for the reply..

[ILLUSN]

just dunk the media a few times in a bucket or 2 of tank water, DO NOT USE TAP WATER!

[dean_alicia]

cool thanks. how other do you clean your filter. i have a eheim 2217.

[dean_alicia]

whoops.. how often do you clean your filter?

[nickw1982]

Personally I would clean mine every 4-6 months but it really depends on the amount of waste in the tank. In some cases they can last up to 12 months but its better to keep them fairly clean.

[ILLUSN]

every 6-8 weeks, i like to change the wool as often as i can as it keeps the NO3 down

[dean_alicia]

i gave my filter a clean with my tank water(from water change) when i started my filter up again it spat out a bit of cloudy water which i exprected.. what i didnt expect was all my discus lying on there sides on the bottom of the tank gasping...
what did i do wrong??
this happened about 1 hour after i cleaned filter..

[ILLUSN]

you used tank water right, did you use a clean bucket? as in a washed bucket thats ONLY used for fish?, the water shouldn't be cloudy, i clean mine and the water is clean comming out, maybe with a bit of algae from the tubes.

[dean_alicia]

yeah it was in a clean bucket and stuff... was very strange.. i was up till 2.30am making sure they were all ok.

[ILLUSN]

that sounds odd, when you cleaned it did you just remove the media or did you also remove the sponges and wring them out in tank water?

also did you tip out all the muck in the bottom of the canister? and wash that out with a bucket of tank water?

[dean_alicia]

i did clean the sponges out but i didnt take out the media..thats the reason..

[ILLUSN]

No problem, that cloud is all the sediment from the media and the bottom of the filter, the turbidity probably put your fish off. the fine sediment can settle on the gills making breathing difficult.

next time give the mdis a quick dunk in some tank water and you should be ok.

[dean_alicia]

ok thanks for that... its scary when you see your 8 full size discus lying on the bottom of the tank...