Hi, i was wondering if anyone could help me with an issue I'm having. I am curious as to when to change out the biomedia cartridge and the bio-foam in some power filters. I don't want to kill the bacteria colonization and stuff. I tried reading other sites about how you just rinse it in aquarium water or something but i have no idea what they are talking about. can someone also walk to through the steps whether to buy brand new bio-media and bio-foam or "rinsing" it or w/e. Thank you.
SO CONFUSED WITH WHEN TO CHANGE BIOMEDIA AND BIO-FOAM FOR POWER FILTER
- Thread starter eddieboix86
- Start date
What filter do you have? If you have an aquaclear, normally you'd leave the media and just rinse out the foam in the tap to get the gunk out. You can keep the foam until it falls apart. Sometimes get a bowl of tank water and swish your media around to get out any trapped in gunk there, too. "They" want you of course to replace everything, but it's not necessary.
If you have a filter with a "drop in" cartridge like Whispers, I have a media bag of bio balls in the bottom, and an aquaclear sponge on top to catch the gunk and it works fine, just like an aquaclear. I just rinse out the sponge in the faucet and put it back. and leave the media in the bottom alone.
If you have a filter with a "drop in" cartridge like Whispers, I have a media bag of bio balls in the bottom, and an aquaclear sponge on top to catch the gunk and it works fine, just like an aquaclear. I just rinse out the sponge in the faucet and put it back. and leave the media in the bottom alone.
should clean it in old tank water. the chlorine can kill the bacteria. the bio media you really dont need to clean maybe a couple times a year. the sponges i clean every other week give or take. just depends on the tank.
:iagree:
No need to wash bio media...but if you do need to clean the gunk off any sponges/mech media use tank water in a bucket.
No need to wash bio media...but if you do need to clean the gunk off any sponges/mech media use tank water in a bucket.
Wow, i apreciate your help. I have a whisper power filter with the slide in cartridge. Your outputs help alot.
The cartridges in a whisper filter are usually filled with a microscopic amount of carbon that can't have much value. I swish mine out in used tank water whenever they start to plug up. You can tell they are plugging because the water will flow back on both sides of the inlet pipe instead of coming out through the proper return path.
Yep, in my whisper I have a media bag filled with biomaterial, that is stuffed in the bottom, and an aquaclear sponge cut to fit the top and it works great, and saves money not having to buy those money sink cartridges. Just rinse the sponge in whatever water you see fit (since the bacteria is in the media in the bottom rinsing out your sponge in clean tap water doesn't matter. Though you will find everyone has their own ways of doing things
IMO the carbon in the whisper filters is unnecessary unless you have medicated the tank for any reason. I stuff my 30-60's with quilt stuffin from the craft department at wally world, works great, last's longer and is much easier on the wallet... The bio sponge should really never be disturbed, atleast 70% of your tanks BB has colonized there and by disturbing it you may kill off quite a bit, and wind up having to cycle again.
wow. so the bacteria colonize in the sponge and media? so if and when you replace the media and sponge what do i need to do?
The bacteria will colonize everything in the filter. That is why it is good to run two filters on a tank, or at least keep multiple kinds of media in one filter, so if you do have to throw one part away, you still have bacteria on the other parts.
It's true what tennesseemom said--everyone here probably has a different routine. Here's mine:
I have two AC 70's on one 55 gallon tank. I used to skip the charcoal, and just use the sponge and bio-media, and I never threw anything away. I only rinsed it out in old tank water. But lately I've been feeding my fish veggies, and the veggie bits were really clogging my filters, so I added one layer of filter floss under the sponge in each filter. This traps the big particles before they reach the sponge. I throw the floss away and add a fresh layer about once a week. I still won't replace either the sponge or the bio-media unless they are absolutely falling apart.
It's true what tennesseemom said--everyone here probably has a different routine. Here's mine:
I have two AC 70's on one 55 gallon tank. I used to skip the charcoal, and just use the sponge and bio-media, and I never threw anything away. I only rinsed it out in old tank water. But lately I've been feeding my fish veggies, and the veggie bits were really clogging my filters, so I added one layer of filter floss under the sponge in each filter. This traps the big particles before they reach the sponge. I throw the floss away and add a fresh layer about once a week. I still won't replace either the sponge or the bio-media unless they are absolutely falling apart.