# How often to clean the external canister ???



## whocares1980 (Sep 14, 2014)

Dear Experts,

I have Eheim and SunSun 304B canisters which i clean after a month but each time they don't seem to be very dirty. how often should i clean it, i dont want to kill my beneficial bacteria and also I only clean the sponge filter where three trays have sponges of different type and one has crushed corals and 1 do not cleant the media filter ( Eheim classis which has 2 kg Ceramic rings, 1 kg Active carbon, 1 kg Bio balls, and 1 green eheim sponge at the bottom...

the internal filter with power head i clean every 2 weeks

All cleaning with fresh warm water and NOT with the used tank water.

Thanks 
Ali


----------



## whocares1980 (Sep 14, 2014)

just to add some info.... i have 12 moliro and 11 Bemba 2 to 3 inch in size... in the other tank 10 Duboisi and 14 Red rainbow 1.75 to 2.5 inch.


----------



## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

I clean my canister filters when I notice the output flow is reduced, which means things are clogging up inside
My large eheims go about 3 to 4 months before the flow is reduced
I then take everything out and rinse in aquarium water the ceramic rings and bio balls and sponge and replace the filter floss put it back together and after a good cleaning the output flow is back to normal


----------



## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

I do about every 2-3 months. I don't rinse my bio media each time unless it's really gunked up. I usually only clean the coarse sponges. That is all I have in my FX5. Bio media and coarse sponges.


----------



## Ryan_R (Aug 20, 2014)

As mentioned, it all depends. I, too, just wait for the flow to be noticeably "less".

One of the best things I ever did was to use a LOT of Eheim mech in all of my Rena/API XP's. That stuff really helps extend the service intervals, as the big waste is filtered by "settling out" instead of clogging filter pores. This way, most waste breaks down completely before hitting the filter pads. Major weekly water changes takes care of 90% of the maintenance.

-Ryan


----------



## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Each case is unique, but, the one thing that is constant is that anything in the filter is still in the tank. Liquifying solid waste isn't really filtering it out of the tank. If someone came on here and said they only vacuumed the gravel over their UGF once every three or four months, they would likely be subjected to some grief. It really isn't any different if you don't clean your cans. By the time flow is noticeably reduced, the efficiency of the filter is reduced greatly.


----------



## partsrep (Mar 14, 2005)

I agree, each case is different. I clean mine quarterly. I rinse all the sponges and floss pads in warm tap water and the bio-media (I use a lot) with tank water. I clean out the canister body, the impeller and head unit using an old toothbrush. I reload the cleaned sponges, recycle any cleaned floss pads that have some life left in them and replace with new ones whenever necessary. Fill them up with tank water, reconnect the lines, and turn them on.


----------



## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

BillD said:


> Each case is unique, but, the one thing that is constant is that anything in the filter is still in the tank. Liquifying solid waste isn't really filtering it out of the tank. If someone came on here and said they only vacuumed the gravel over their UGF once every three or four months, they would likely be subjected to some grief. It really isn't any different if you don't clean your cans. By the time flow is noticeably reduced, the efficiency of the filter is reduced greatly.


. 
I agree. I have been in this hobby for over 30 years and the one thing I have noticed is the movement to more filtering. I never had a problem with 1 filter that does 2-3x water turnover and regular water changes. Even with Malawians overstocked in a tank.I did for a 5-6 year interval run 2 filters on one tank. When one broke down I never replaced it and my water never changed and I actually had less work to do to maintain the tank.
I'm at loss to understand why so many hobbyist try to minimize the intervals between filter cleaning. It's a closed system. It doesn't take a long time to do a filter clean and I use classics. This is the reason I DON'T run multiple filters but use power heads with pre- filters for water movement. They are 10-15 seconds to clean with weekly water changes and the filter proper is about 1/2 hour every 4-6 weeks. Weather the waste is in one filter or ten it's the same amount of waste and that waste is contributing to your nitrate load. When you only clean one your leaving a high nitrate load in the others. Plus your buying more equipment that costs more to run and service with parts. 


partsrep said:


> I rinse all the sponges and floss pads in warm tap water


 Not trying to be rude but why you would do that. Your killing the beneficial bacteria that is present in the pads. Filter sponges are also bio media so why not clean them in tank water like the bio-media. My 2 cents.


----------



## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

I usually only back wash my Eheim Classics once a month using the water from the tank.

Simply connect the hose from the inlet to the top (outlet of the canister) and open the bottom (inlet of the canister), then let gravitation does the rest to back wash the canister from top to down, along with the debris and detritus inside...

After that put everything back in place properly.

I love this simplicity of Eheim Classics!


----------



## PaezCichlids (Mar 12, 2015)

hey guys! just joined this forum not long ago! and i may need some help! i just started my new 180 gallon 5 days ago and im having issues with my 2 aqua top CF 500 UV canister filters.. i have a marine land c360 on a other tank and its quiet almost no noise at all! but the aqua tops have a dandling noise.. and im wondering if it could be because of the matrix bio? could it be floating in the canister? hopefully someone can help me! il try and post a link to my video i made today! hope to hear from somebody soon! [youtube]https://youtu.be/Fu70JMhsyWQ/youtube]


----------



## thegundog (May 1, 2012)

> Each case is unique, but, the one thing that is constant is that anything in the filter is still in the tank. Liquifying solid waste isn't really filtering it out of the tank. If someone came on here and said they only vacuumed the gravel over their UGF once every three or four months, they would likely be subjected to some grief. It really isn't any different if you don't clean your cans. By the time flow is noticeably reduced, the efficiency of the filter is reduced greatly.
> 
> I agree. I have been in this hobby for over 30 years and the one thing I have noticed is the movement to more filtering. I never had a problem with 1 filter that does 2-3x water turnover and regular water changes. Even with Malawians overstocked in a tank.I did for a 5-6 year interval run 2 filters on one tank. When one broke down I never replaced it and my water never changed and I actually had less work to do to maintain the tank.
> 
> I'm at loss to understand why so many hobbyist try to minimize the intervals between filter cleaning. It's a closed system. It doesn't take a long time to do a filter clean and I use classics. This is the reason I DON'T run multiple filters but use power heads with pre- filters for water movement. They are 10-15 seconds to clean with weekly water changes and the filter proper is about 1/2 hour every 4-6 weeks. Weather the waste is in one filter or ten it's the same amount of waste and that waste is contributing to your nitrate load. When you only clean one your leaving a high nitrate load in the others. Plus your buying more equipment that costs more to run and service with parts.


Great posts - Thanks!


----------



## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Cyphound said:


> partsrep said:
> 
> 
> > I rinse all the sponges and floss pads in warm tap water
> ...


Ever since I started keeping tanks in the 1980's, I've rinsed my media in tap water. I try to keep the temperature close to the tank temp. Especially with foam as I've never been able to get comfortable with how much stuff was left in it when rinsing with a bucket of tank water. The foam never seemed clean enough afterwards.

Way back when, I used the old whisper HOB's on my tanks, and in those filters, you replaced the entire filter sleeve and carbon that was provided with each change. This removes 100% of the bacteria in those inserts. Yet, the tanks still maintained good water parameters. In defense of partsrep, he (assuming he for some reason) did not say that he rinsed the rest of his media this way, just the foam.

Over the years, I've come to believe that the BB are much more robust than most people believe, and that many people are overly cautious about potentially damaging them. In an established tank, the BB are everywhere, and will re colonize new foam or foam rinsed in tap water quickly. I've experienced various filtration failures, extended power outages etc, and rarely if ever had issues of tanks re-cycling despite all sorts of adversity.

That said, rinsing harder media like rings etc in tank water can't hurt, and that should remove the bulk of the detritus on them. The other thought is that if one runs multiple filters on their tanks, cleaning them on an alternating schedule using tap water should not impact the tank as the other filter is still running.

I recognize that much of what I said goes against the grain, and that I'll get probably get flamed for it.


----------



## Ryan_R (Aug 20, 2014)

> Liquifying solid waste isn't really filtering it out of the tank.


It *is* getting it out of the tank when paired with large water changes.



> By the time flow is noticeably reduced, the efficiency of the filter is reduced greatly.


I usually find very little waste in my canisters when flow starts going down.... It's usually just one filter pad that's the culprit, with the rest of the media being surprisingly clean. That said, lots of good points have been made here, and I'm going to move back to cleaning intervals.



nodima said:


> I recognize that much of what I said goes against the grain, and that I'll get probably get flamed for it.


I totally agree with you! No flames from here!

-Ryan


----------



## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

I have to say that there have been many good points made. I was wrong to suggest that cleaning a filter pad in water is necessarily bad and for all I know the water used might be well water. As I have stated in other posts, it's my belief that most BB is in fact in the tank substrate and décor so reseeding will happen quick enough. I just err on the side of caution.


----------



## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

I always clean my sponges and bio balls in tank water

However, I also have a water softener in my house which supposedly removes chlorine (not sure about chloramine)
So in essence I could wash my media in my tap water assuming no chloramine is in there

BTW I also have a bypass from the water softener so as not to put the "softened" water into my tanks


----------



## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

I clean my media with a 5 gallon bucket filled with tap water and Seachem Prime, as my old tank water drains directly outside as I vacuum it. As that water gets nasty, I dump it in the bathtub, refill it, add more Prime, and then continue to rinse the media out.

Still, to be on the safe side, I wouldn't personally use tap water.


----------

