Eheim's filter media need to change?

[AnA]

Good morning everyone, my Eheim's filter media "EHFI SUBSTRAT" already more than 5 years old. Do I need to replace this filter media? Is there a life span for such media? If yes, I am thinking of changing it to EHFI SUBSTRAT PRO. Please advise if possible. Thanks and have a nice weekends.

[AnA]

No advise? Guess do not need to change.

[heeroyu16]

It is actually up to you, if it was me, I would retain half of the old ones and replace half with newer ones.

[aquarius]

I didn't change my bio-media from the day i bought it until now, which is 10yrs liao. LFSs will tell you that you must change every few yrs so that they got money to earn. They'll tell you things like after some time the detrius will be stuck into the porous media and the media won't be as efficient as before even after washing that's why have to change.
IMHO this reasoning is rubbish.

On the other hand i remember reading somewhere a long time back that if you do put medicine in the tank with removing the media, you'll have to change the media cos like a nuclear bomb after the explosion, though it's over, the radiation lingers on and in the case of filter media, the no. of new bacteria that can collenize the media will be permanently and drastically reduced. In this respect, it makes more sense to change the media.

[bossteck]

Just rinse them with water from your tank and reuse, whether you had used medicine or not. Media don't get clogged up that easily in my opinion.

[BFG]

It depend. For me, I look at the color of the ceramic ring. If it's considerably darker than when you bought it, you might want to change. But this would have had to happen for quite a few years of usage. My feeling is that those pores have accumulated with minute debris, fish waste or even dead bacteria(?) that might have filled up those pores that are available on the ceramic ring lessening the surface area available. Usually rinsing it wouldn't dislodge this stuff away.

If you are running a matured tank and you want to change the media, change half the amount 1st and remember which half it is.

[celticfish]

i have so far practiced "rotation".
additional media is on standby.
when i decide to change, the old stuff is rinsed as best possible.
it then goes into a bucket with water and bleach.
with occasional agitation of the media it stays there for a few months...
no scientific proof but my hope is for the bleach solution to dissolve the mulm.
i believe an additional airstone would be good.
but they cannot last in the bleach! still looking for something suitable...
the idea is to have water flow like the filter to "brush" the media.
after the months of soaking it is rinsed in water a couple of times.
followed by a few eeks of soaking in tap water.
the water is changed every week or so during this stage.
oh, i also add anti-cholrine and baking soda with the water.
the final stage id drying and storage for the next rotation.

i do this because i cannot bear to throw the stuff away...

[heeroyu16]

Won't bleaching it also kill the bacteria?
What I do is replace half of my old media with newer ones at least 1 year using FIFO method by using a filter bag. This way I know which is new, and which is old.

[AnA]

Thanks guys for the replies. Appreciated.

My media already about 5 years old. The colour still reasonably white and I think should be OK. If I will to change, I guess got to get the newer one EHFI SUBSTRAT PRO. This newer media colour is light brown.

Washing or soak the media with bleach may not be a good option. The bleach solution is not easy to wash away. Since the media is porous, some of this solution may stay in the porous and prevent good bacteria from growing. Please correct me if I am wrong.