Hi all,
Bit of background. I have a high-tech planted tank with two canister filters and one internal (mainly) mechanical filter. The internal filter gets cleaned once a fortnight to once a month.
It's holiday time here so (naturally) I'm thinking of cleaning one of the canister filters as per usual.
Except I'm kind of wondering if worth the effort. Now I know that effectively I'm running a septic tank inside a fish tank. But I'm wondering if cleaning will do much if it is just going to get back to normal state in "x" weeks (would love to know how long x is but from the internal filter cleans I'm assuming less than a month).
I used to do filter cleans to lower nitrates but these days nitrates run at 5ppm and I dose ferts for the plants. Filter flow looks fine and no issues with filter. If I open the canister I know there will be gunk there but not bad. So not sure if a filter clean should be done? Or how I can tell??
Edit - I realized after typing this that one canister is semi-see through. That was a third full maybe of debris on bottom below trays. So will probably give it a clean.
Still curious though on what I will be achieving. Maybe removing toxins we don't test for??
Filter Cleans - Should I Do?
#1
Posted 26 December 2016 - 11:24 PM
#2
Posted 27 December 2016 - 06:35 AM
I would do a filter a month. That's 60 days of operation between cleans.
#4
Posted 27 December 2016 - 11:08 AM
Both good points
The larger canister last time I pulled it apart had problems with the UV bulb (luckily never use it). And always handy to clean impellers.
But just for discussion I'm not really seeing the need to clean it if all is working fine. On the other things building up in tank, well as per EI ferts dosing, shouldn't large water changes remove all this?
Also the plants themselves would be trapping a huge amount of debris and fish poo. Nothing much gets gravel vacc'ed now as the plants cover most of the tank. So I'm wondering if this is becoming a Walstad tank (except I do water changes weekly).
Thoughts?
#6
Posted 27 December 2016 - 11:15 PM
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#8
Posted 28 December 2016 - 10:47 PM
Plus you should clean them while you have the time and not wait until a problem arises because you then might not be able to attend to it straight away, prevention is the best policy.
Hi,
Well out of interest what sort of problems are we talking about here? Information there would be enormously appreciated. Sorry, I'm a detail kind of person and like to learn.
Broken impeller failure from gunk buildup maybe? Tbh with two canister filters and an internal filter and a planted tank, one filter going down for 24hrs doesn't worry me as I've already tested that.
Some sort of bacterial buildup? Maybe something else biological. Am wondering there.
Of course could be something else, so as always replies appreciated.
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#10
Posted 29 December 2016 - 03:04 PM
Yes, your to technical for me Just water quality issues and basic maintenance of the filter.
Good points - many thanks for the replies, it is much appreciated to get a reply back and good info.
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#11
Posted 01 January 2017 - 07:39 AM
Cleaned the large canister filter. Aqua One 2700 - I think about 15 to 20 litres size. I think I cleaned it last in august or september. (as opposed to internal filter which is cleaned once or twice a month, canister filter cleans are much less common for both of them).
First tray of coarse sponge - very clean.
Second tray - same (wondering if filter working!).
Third tray - the fine sponge was absolutely caked. Main clean.
Fourth tray - wool filters not too bad.
Ceramic media fairly good.
So I think worth doing for the third tray although the filter was no where near gunked up.
As a side note, all was going well until I dropped the canister filter head on the retaining wall. First time ever I've been glad the 'limestone' is really compacted beach sand that I've covered in glues and varnishes. Filter head didn't even get a scratch and back setup working, retaining wall has a half inch impact crater in it
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#12
Posted 01 January 2017 - 10:16 AM
If you were to have large particulate matter entering the filter clogging the course layers you're better off with a prefilter on the intake that can easily be cleaned weekly.
I usually replace course layers with eheim substrat pro where possible.
Edited by malawiman85, 01 January 2017 - 10:17 AM.
#13
Posted 01 January 2017 - 12:42 PM
I've double-stacked the ceramic noodles but the weight is a bit much. And extra wool filter pads.
I have bought some fine sponge to cut and replace the filter wool but yet to get around to it.
Impeller looked good. I've seen a few broken ones at stores when people bring them in and looks a pain running around getting a replacement.
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#15
Posted 02 January 2017 - 10:11 PM
Edited by Delapool, 02 January 2017 - 10:12 PM.
#16
Posted 03 January 2017 - 01:45 AM
Most algaes aren't really a problem they'll do a little bit of their own filtering, of course you'd probably want to keep it pretty scarce to lower the chances of a bloom.
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