Cleaning canister filter

[african-cichlids]

Hi I'm due for a filter clean and it's first time iv had tropheus (doing well so far in a community tank) also in same tank as gold comp, black calvus and fronties. I haven't had problems with cleaning my filter previously but I'm just cautious now that I got trophs and what iv read about them. My water is perfect and when I do water changes I make sure new water is exactly same as tank water.

Now just wondering if my way of cleaning my external canister filter is the safest way and not going to destroy the good bacteria in my filter leading to my fish dieing.

Ok so I fill 2 buckets up from my tank and clean my entire filter media and sponges from the filter. I clean the propeller and hoses as well but use tap water to clean the hose to get stronger pressure to clean the hoses better. I than fill the filter up with tank water after finished cleaning it.

Would anyone like to tell me a safer way or is this the safest way!

any information is much appreciated cheers

[Betta]

Sounds like your on to it dude, that's pretty much what I do with my tropheous & I haven't lost one yet, good luck with the clean

[Supercobwe]

As long as you don't clean your filter in the same time as WC, I normally clean my canister filter 2-3 days after regular WC reason for that is just a precaution. My Orange Bemba always breading with no problem.

[african-cichlids]

Yer cheers I haven't cleaned it in about 3-4months I'm not new to aquariums just a frequently asked question good to see what everyone else does.

I no tropheus are herbivours and my other fish are meat eaters but that doesn't mean I can't keep them together I just have to take more care which I do with my tank any way. Iv seen alot of community tanks with tropheus amongst them and that are happy as but Hurd of ppl doing this and loosing there tropheus. That's because that don't no what they're doing.

But like I said thanks for the info cause its better than none

Edited December 27, 2012 by steveandjules

[pk333]

Ok so I fill 2 buckets up from my tank and clean my entire filter media and sponges from the filter. I clean the propeller and hoses as well but use tap water to clean the hose to get stronger pressure to clean the hoses better. I than fill the filter up with tank water after finished cleaning it.

Would anyone like to tell me a safer way or is this the safest way!

Pretty much the way I used to do it, except I cleaned the hoses in tank water using an Eheim hose cleaning brush. Basically it's a round brush on the end of a long nylon string that can be pulled through the hoses. Very good at cleaning, hoses looked like new. That being said, some people who have been in and worked in the hobby a long time tell me the bio film that grow inside filter hoses is just as beneficial for the tank ecosystem as a whole as good bacteria that we want on our filter media.

It's been a couple of years since I ran canister filters on a tank, but I used to like running two smaller canister filters on a tank. I could clean each filter once every four months, but one filter every two months (if you get what I'm saying), so I always had one running with a full bacteria colony in it.

Edited December 26, 2012 by pk333

[Supercobwe]

As long as you don't clean your filter in the same time as WC, I normally clean my canister filter 2-3 days after regular WC reason for that is just a precaution. My Orange Bemba always breading with no problem.

Of course not cleaning my filter every time I do WC but 3-4 months but I never clean and WC in the same day.

[grubby]

Hi I'm due for a filter clean and it's first time iv had tropheus (doing well so far in a community tank) also in same tank as gold comp, black calvus and fronties. I haven't had problems with cleaning my filter previously but I'm just cautious now that I got trophs and what iv read about them. My water is perfect and when I do water changes I make sure new water is exactly same as tank water.

Now just wondering if my way of cleaning my external canister filter is the safest way and not going to destroy the good bacteria in my filter leading to my fish dieing.

Ok so I fill 2 buckets up from my tank and clean my entire filter media and sponges from the filter. I clean the propeller and hoses as well but use tap water to clean the hose to get stronger pressure to clean the hoses better. I than fill the filter up with tank water after finished cleaning it.

Would anyone like to tell me a safer way or is this the safest way!

any information is much appreciated cheers

Your bang on, that is exactly how its done.

[Peter]

I tend not to be too pedantic with the sponges / hard media etc from the canister. Just a couple of squeezes in the bucket of tank water so as not to remove too much of the good bacteria. I'm always paranoid I'd go overboard.

I've never ever cleaned an impellor - always too paranoid I'd break it (fat thumbs of mine and my philosophy of "if it aint broke don't muck with it" ) - may consider doing it though on my next canister cleaning adventure as a preventative measure - thanks for the reminder / idea.

Peter

[Braddo]

Peter the impellar is pretty important to clean on a regular basis using a cotton tip is easiest. By keeping it clean your filter will stay in maximum water flow and reduce the chance of the magnet breaking away from the impeller, make sure you clean the impeller housing as well.

[discusgc]

Thought I would do the right thing last weekend and clean my impeller when doinf maintence.

Dropped it and smashed the shaft and impeller, 1 week later still trying to find if any available ( and possibly costing as much as a new aqua 1 canister )

I'm with Peter after doing this, if it aint broke don't touch it.

[ozmo]

Thought I would do the right thing last weekend and clean my impeller when doinf maintence.

Dropped it and smashed the shaft and impeller, 1 week later still trying to find if any available ( and possibly costing as much as a new aqua 1 canister )

I'm with Peter after doing this, if it aint broke don't touch it.

Which model do you have? I may have a spare impeller. If not I'll most likely know where to get one. They really aren't that expensive.

[discusgc]

It's an Eheim Professional II 2028.

Great filter that has never given me a moment of trouble except my own stupidity.

[Betta]

I agree with Braddo, cleaning the impeller & housing is very important, you can reduce the flow & effectiveness of the filter by as much as 50% & it can also double the power usage, I know they are very fragile & even I get nervous after 20yrs but they must be cleaned. I usually put the impeller & shaft on a damp towel on a table, then I clean them with toothbrush & a bowl of water & do it very gently, then I leave them & clean the rest of the filter in the sink, once everything is clean I assemble the impeller & housing first then leave it while putting the rest of the filter back together

[63off]

Peter the impellar is pretty important to clean on a regular basis using a cotton tip is easiest. By keeping it clean your filter will stay in maximum water flow and reduce the chance of the magnet breaking away from the impeller, make sure you clean the impeller housing as well.

This is quite useful advice. I've always used a toothbrush and pipe cleaner specifically bought for cleaning parts of my filters but I like the cotton tip idea.

Edited December 27, 2012 by steveandjules
quoted post was removed

[Betta]

It's an Eheim Professional II 2028.

Great filter that has never given me a moment of trouble except my own stupidity.

Try our sponsors & also there's a LFS at Rocklea that has a very good range of Eheim spares, got me out of a bind in the past he even opened a boxed new filter to get the spare part & replaced it in the box when the ordered part came in

I have the exact same filter, that's the one he got the parts out of a boxed one

Edited December 26, 2012 by Betta

[thatsright99]

Well said. Clean the canister when the flow slows right down. If you have an internal filter as a "polishing" that will save wear and tear on the ext canister - esp the cheaper Chinese canisters. Get a soft bristle toothbrush for the impeller and a cotton bud for the prop well. I always clean my filters out under tapwater and have NEVER had a problem. - one at a time and not all filters and water change at the same time of course, but then again I have 3 or 4 filters in each tank .

Edited December 27, 2012 by steveandjules
cleaning up

[steve6610]

cleaned up all the off topic posts as it was requested, including my own,

lets just get back to giving some great advice about cleaning canister filters,

[63off]

As long as you don't clean your filter in the same time as WC, I normally clean my canister filter 2-3 days after regular WC reason for that is just a precaution. My Orange Bemba always breading with no problem.

Not too sure I understand this. If you're cleaning your filter and media in tank water aren't you removing tank water to do so? I've never used an external so I'm just trying to understand as I can see me getting one in the near future. I've always cleaned my internal filters during a water change, am I doing it wrong?

[Braddo]

Nah everyone has their own way of doing things. The most important part is to use aquarium water to clean this stops the loss of benificial bacteria. The other thing I would do is cut the sponge in half and onlly wash out 1 half at a time, so this wc I would clean1 and next wc the other half. Just what I was taught.

[Betta]

Not too sure I understand this. If you're cleaning your filter and media in tank water aren't you removing tank water to do so? I've never used an external so I'm just trying to understand as I can see me getting one in the near future. I've always cleaned my internal filters during a water change, am I doing it wrong?

You only need to remove a bucket of about 10-20L to clean your filter, most water changes are around 30-100L(totally defendant on tank size, could even be 200-300L, generally 25-30%) I don't think you're doing it wrong as it seems to be working for you

[pk333]

If you are rinsing your filter media in buckets of tank water, you're only really removing particulate matter that is trapped in your sponge, or built up in amongst the media. It's not like rinsing the media is going to remove a lot of bacteria off of the media. Otherwise one would think that canister filters with high water turnover are literally stripping bacteria off of the filter media as the water rushes past.

Squeezing out a sponge, you a removing a lot of fine, dirty particulate matter. Which is more beneficial than any good bacteria you may lose in this process. After all sponges aren't in there house good bacteria.

What ever your canister filter brand, their website should have break down of the jobs their different filter media are supposed to do and how to layer it in your canister filter.

I used to use canister filters from the Eheim pro range.

EHEIM ASIA PACIFIC

The sponge and noodles are mechanical filtration media. Their job is to trap large particles, which break down in the bottom of the filter. I used to use Eheim substrat Pro, is the biological media. The good bacteria are supposed to colonise not only the surface, but also inside the media due to it's porous nature. I was never worried about losing good bacteria when rinsing this bacteria out in a bucket of tank water.

As I said in my previous post, I always liked using two small canisters, rather than one large canister. Not that you would call two Eheim Pro 2228's on a 6 footer small canisters. I did use two Pro 2222's on each 3 footer.

I was never one for a high turnover ratio. But that is a discussion for a new thread.

[Fish Junkie]

It's an Eheim Professional II 2028.

Great filter that has never given me a moment of trouble except my own stupidity.

howard @ annerley aquarium has the best range of eheim spares that I know of

FJ

[discusgc]

Thanks FJ they answered their phone and have them in stock pick up tomorrow.

[african-cichlids]

I have to agree with Peter the impeller is pretty important to clean as the rest of the filter. I'm actually glad I started this topic because its not a topic spoken about enough. And I think it's good to here what everyone else does because it might be a better way you just don't no.

Cheers for the replies

Discusgc: bit of a hike for you but pet superstore at capalaba sells impellers for aqua 1 filters as I've got an aqua 1 canister filter.