HOB cleaning

[balikiss]

So I was going about my water change in my goldfish tank, and i thought to myself...i wonder what the inside of my HOB filter looks like since it's been up and running for a couple months..so i popped the lid open and OMG....theres a plains of alberta sized sea of algae....litterally waving about at an inch long..along with a bunch of whole nls pellets growing white fuzz..i took it to the sink and used the spray handle to blast it all out. Well now i know that i'v either been over feeding, or putting my feeding too close to the intake. But i was wondering. How often are you suposed to clean them out like that?? Is all that scuzz part of the bio-filtration, or is it just gunk? Any one else had this happen??

[thedarkstar]

So I was going about my water change in my goldfish tank, and i thought to myself...i wonder what the inside of my HOB filter looks like since it's been up and running for a couple months..so i popped the lid open and OMG....theres a plains of alberta sized sea of algae....litterally waving about at an inch long..along with a bunch of whole nls pellets growing white fuzz..i took it to the sink and used the spray handle to blast it all out. Well now i know that i'v either been over feeding, or putting my feeding too close to the intake. But i was wondering. How often are you suposed to clean them out like that?? Is all that scuzz part of the bio-filtration, or is it just gunk? Any one else had this happen??

Like all filters, they need regular maintenance.

Mine gets the filter floss changed every month or so, the sponges squeezed out in siphoned tank water and the like.

And some of it is part of bio-filtration, the bacteria colonize the filter media so rinsing it with the sink can sometimes cause spikes in your ammonia/etc as the bacteria recolonize.'

I've learnt the hard way that if your HOB doesn't get cleaned enough, it can plug up and overflow enough to pre-soak your basement carpets for washing lol.

[randy]

If you cleaned "all" the media in the filter under chlorinated tap water your tank will cycle again, as all the good bacteria has been killed by the chlorine. Keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrAte nitrIte levels as they will spike again.

[darkangel]

If you have a good thick gravel bed, and have'nt cleaned that you should be ok. Just keep tabs on the amonia, nitrite, and nitrate for a couple weeks. If you only run one filter on your tank, you should always clean it in tank water or declorinated water to keep the bacteria alive. Remember that 90% of your good bacteria live in the filter and gravel, so if you clean one don't clean the other at the same time.

[patrick]

You can put a sponge on your intake then you don't need to clean the filter as often.

[Vallisneria]

If you have lots of food getting sucked up into the filter that isn't normal. Try feeding less, or dropping in smaller amounts at a time so the fish have time to eat it before it floats away. Also try feeding further away from the filter, so it doesn't get sucked up.

I clean my HOB filters(the plastic casing) every few weeks, or when I notice it getting grungy. I rinse out the sponges about once a month, or every couple weeks. On my bigger tanks I have 2 filters, so I alternate cleaning/rinsing out the sponge every 2nd water change. On the tanks with only 1 filter, I use 2 sponges so I only rinse 1 out at a time.

[balikiss]

I did clean all the media in the HOB filter, but luckly my tap what isn't chlorinated because it comes straight from our dugout. and i also have two other large sponge filters in the tank, but it's bare bottom. I looked into the back of it today and theres already some algae growing again. Good to know that you're suposed to clean those out every month. All the fish seem happy and healthy though, so i must be gettin enough filtration in there.