# How often do you clean your filters? And how?



## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

Im curious how often you clean your filters? Once a month? Every few months? I have aquaclear 30's with sponge and biomedia....I dont want to upset the good bacteria thats in the filter 
And when you do clean them- how are you doing it?


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

I clean mine when the flow slows down, anything from a week to months. I rinse the whole thing out, remove and clean the impeller, rinse the sponges and squeeze them repeatedly under water. This is for aquaclears and some small internal filters. I have some air-driven sponge filter that I clean only very rarely -- maybe once or twice a year.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

I clear my Aquaclear 30 each week.
I have quite a lot of plants and fishes in that tank. Sponges in my filter are very dirty each week.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

for an aquaclear that's just using sponge rinse the sponge (pieces) in tank water in a bucket very lightly. It takes about 50 intense squeezes to completely remove the biofilter bacteria, so give it just one good squeeze to get most of the gunk off, and put it back. Never get it totally clean. You just want to clear the space between the pores. If you have multple pieces, like a sponge and a biorings bag, do them seperately. It depends on your tank. Anywhere from once every two weeks to every two months. When your filter's flow rate gets low give it a light squeezing. Never overclean the filter.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Yup same, slow flow, I give one of the media's a couple of squeezes in old tank water. I shake out the bio rings but thats about it.


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## Aquatic Designs (Apr 2, 2006)

Eheim 2217 when the flow slows down. 6-8 months minimum maybe a year. 

Eheim 2028 flow indicator tells me when and i have never seen it go lower then full out. I put a clean filter pad in every 3 or 4 months never touched the rest.

Eheim 2260 Haven't cleaned it in over a year. Still running strong. 

Tanks get 35-50% weekly water changes. Filters are just for show.


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## destructo (Aug 12, 2009)

I have an AquaClear 50 and have got into the habit of cleaning it once a month. 

When doing a water change I place the media into the bucket and rinse out the sponge, then replace the carbon and put it back together.


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

I have too many to be extremely diligent about it so I usually do them when they look like they need doing. If the water is still flowing through normally I let it go. For my sponge filters, I just do them when they start to change colour from black to brown . The only downside to this is that there always seems to be some residual muck that is loosened up when I squeeze the sponges but doesn't actually come out in the bucket and it ends up being shot into the water stream by the air bubbles when the sponge is reconnected.


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

igor.kanshyn said:


> I clear my Aquaclear 30 each week.
> I have quite a lot of plants and fishes in that tank. Sponges in my filter are very dirty each week.


It used to be every month for me, but now I do it weekly. It's good to clear out the filter so it can be as efficient as possible.

I don't touch the uptake spout.

Sometimes I syphon the filter box out once the sponge is removed - lots of gunk build up that will eventually flow back into the tank.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I rinse my HOB filters every week during my WC. Just a in the old tank water is sufficient.


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

Aquatic Designs said:


> Eheim 2217 when the flow slows down. 6-8 months minimum maybe a year.


Same deal with my 2217. I wait until the flow slows down. I have fewer fish than I should, so I have gone for 1+yrs without a cleaning.


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