# Eheim Pro 3 Cleaning



## mfcphil (4 Apr 2011)

How often is best to clean these filters....and is it best just to rince the media?


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## m_attt (4 Apr 2011)

i have the pro3e and that recommends every 6 months, also i would only change the pads at the top leave the rest alone as it will have all the bacteria on that keeps you water nice and fish healthy.


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## mfcphil (4 Apr 2011)

m_attt said:
			
		

> i have the pro3e and that recommends every 6 months, also i would only change the pads at the top leave the rest alone as it will have all the bacteria on that keeps you water nice and fish healthy.




Where do you get your replacement pads Matt?


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## m_attt (4 Apr 2011)

local shop normally as they are on the shelf  ebay or online maybe slighter cheaper but then postage would bump it up.


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## RudeDogg1 (28 Apr 2011)

still works out cheaper than the shops lol


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## ceg4048 (28 Apr 2011)

mfcphil said:
			
		

> How often is best to clean these filters....and is it best just to rince the media?


Phil,
   Filter cleaning intervals have nothing to do with what the manufactures suggest. This is like asking how often should you clean your house. Why would you use someone's cleaning interval who does not know how quickly your house gets dirty, or what level of cleanliness you prefer? This is not just an issue for this model, but for any filter.

If you have lots of fish and lots of plants and if you feed lots of food and use lots of CO2 and have lots of light, then your filter will get dirty and clogged much more quickly than someone using the same filter but whose tank has few fish, few plants or whose tank is low light and low feeding.

In a high tech CO2 enriched tank keeping the filter immaculate is of paramount importance, not the least of which because dirty filters are highly correlated to a tank's susceptibility to BGA. Plants produce a lot of organic waste when fed CO2 and nutrients and so the reason we should monitor and clean the filter is exactly the same reason we do large weekly water changes. We want to rid the tank as much as possible of organic waste buildup. Dirt buildup in the filter clogs the pores of the sintered glass media and reduces the available spaces for nitrifying bacteria. Dirt also increases friction and thereby reduces flow rate. Therefore, if your tank does not produce a lot of waste then the filter cleaning interval can be stretched out and relaxed, but if the tank produces a lot of waste then it's in your best interest to clean the filter more frequently.

The Pro IIIs have multiple trays and if you find filter cleaning to be a major drag (as I do) remember that you don't have to rinse all the trays in one go. This week, just pull out the bottom tray, the one with the noodles. Rinse that tray only and then reassemble. A couple weeks later do only the middle tray and then a few weeks after that do the top tray. Do whatever sequence you find most convenient. Check to see how dirty the runoff is and make the interval adjustment from there. If the runoff is not very brown then that means you can stretch the interval out longer. If a lot of mulm rinses out then this tells you that you need to shorten the interval.

Remember that organic waste is the enemy of a high tech tank. People are constantly worrying about pH this or pH that, or hard water v. soft water, or all kinds of things that don't matter. Cleanliness matters. In fact it matters more than most things.  

Cheers,


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