Canister Filters

[eprouve]

Hi guys,

Just a few questions about canister external filters.

1. There are spots/patches of stuff growing inside the rubber hoses. Is this normal? Should anything be done about it?

2. How often do you "do maintainence" in the canister?

3. What do you do when you do maintenence? Do you take out everything and give them a good rinse/wash/squeeze? (will this destroy all the cultivated bacteria?)

[Simon]

1. There are spots/patches of stuff growing inside the rubber hoses. Is this normal? Should anything be done about it?
contains dirt & bacteria.. u can leave it there or wash them off

2. How often do you do maintainence in the canister?
[b] depends range from 6-12mths, when u can see dirt particle or the filter is choked up

3. What do you do when you do maintenence? Do you take out everything and give them a good rinse/wash/squeeze? (will this destroy all the cultivated bacteria?)
use tank water and rinse the media in the filter

[vinz]

2. Clean the filter when the outflow gets too slow.

3. You could scrub the filter hardware, but no need to be too thorough. As Simon said, save a bucket of the tank water and rinse the dirt out of the media. You should replace the white filter pad/floss every few months, but not all of it. Keep at least 1/3 of it to help the bacteria colony re-establish itself faster. The other media like, sintered glass, ceramic rings, etc can be replace maybe once a year, but similarly, not all at one go.

[eprouve]

Thanks guys! I opened up my filter and found that the white wool has turned pitch BLACK. So I got worried.

And BTW, anyone knows of any articles outlining the filteration process? Like what's the difference between mechanical filteration and biological filteration? What media is needed for each?

[eprouve]

And BTW, anyone knows of any articles outlining the filteration process? Like what's the difference between mechanical filteration and biological filteration? What media is needed for each?

[vinz]

Eprouve,

Try www.thekrib.com.