# Do you remove Filter Media?



## Halil (19 Oct 2017)

My tank 4 months old: dennerle 50 litre/10.98 gal 
13 chili rasbora (brigittae) 
3 otocinclus
3 cpds
Colony of rcs

Heres the situation my filter (JBL greenline m mattenfilter) has some substrate from my old tank in a bag that is now covered in brown algae/gunk. 

Should i remove it or purchase some new ceramic media to replace the current media ?

I know the new media will need to grow some bacteria on them , so i could place them in my tank prior to removing the old media?

Thanks


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## Kezzab (19 Oct 2017)

You could probably just clean and scrub the old media in some tank water. Maybe try doing 50% at a time.

Placing new media in the tank to mature would also be ok if the old media is too far gone to salvage. But id leave it for a least a few weeks and make sure its somewhere that gets water movement past it.


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## dw1305 (20 Oct 2017)

Hi all,





Halil said:


> Should i remove it or purchase some new ceramic media to replace the current media ?


Just give it a rinse, it never needs replacing. 





Kezzab said:


> Maybe try doing 50% at a time.


Is a good idea.

cheers Darrel


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## Cactusface (20 Oct 2017)

Hi,
     Just give it a rinse in tank water (in the tank, might go a bit murky, but will clear), not under the tap or in tap water as the chlorine will kill the bacteria.
Regards
Mel.


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## dw1305 (20 Oct 2017)

Hi all, 





Cactusface said:


> not under the tap or in tap water as the chlorine will kill the bacteria.


I usually use tank water, but you are fine under the tap in the UK, our water is <"much less highly chlorinated than in the USA">. 

I'd always used tank water, but  I wondered whether it was really necessary, and I have a colleague who is a <"microbiologist"> and he said that a complex surface like a sponge or ceramic media will retain plenty of bacteria, even after prolonged washing. 
http://dwi.defra.gov.uk/consumers/advice-leaflets/chlorine.pdf
In the USA they don't have much in the way of regulation of water quality (coming to the UK soon) of water, so the water companies dose the "drinking water" with a <"huge dose of chlorine"> (up to 5ppm Cl) on the grounds that it is cheaper to do that than actually try and clean the water up first.

cheers Darrel


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## kadoxu (20 Oct 2017)

I sometimes do it with tap water... specially when I can't be bothered or forget to put some tank water in a container... never had issues.


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## KipperSarnie (21 Oct 2017)

I think it depends on your location.
When living in Lancashire tap water was king!
Now living in Kent tap water goes nowhere near my tanks untill it has been through RO or HMA filtration.


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## Halil (21 Oct 2017)

KipperSarnie said:


> I think it depends on your location.
> When living in Lancashire tap water was king!
> Now living in Kent tap water goes nowhere near my tanks untill it has been through RO or HMA filtration.



I live in London. So far ive washed the sponge with tap water and nothing has happened, when i do do water changes its straight from the tap.


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## KipperSarnie (22 Oct 2017)

Halil said:


> I live in London. So far ive washed the sponge with tap water and nothing has happened, when i do do water changes its straight from the tap.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



As I said it depends on your location.


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## HiNtZ (6 Nov 2017)

I'm Thames valley and my filter media/tanks don't touch tap water unless it's been sitting a week and has been treated.


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## foxfish (7 Nov 2017)

KipperSarnie said:


> As I said it depends on your location.


What sort of contaminants do you have that would kill filter bacteria, would it be chlorine, or is there something else that might be dangerous?
I always wash in a bucket of tank water myself but under the tap would be very convenient!


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## OllieNZ (7 Nov 2017)

HiNtZ said:


> I'm Thames valley and my filter media/tanks don't touch tap water unless it's been sitting a week and has been treated.


I'm also supplied by Thames water (Oxfordshire) and have never had an issue with the water quality. The hardness on the other hand..... Good for Tanganyikan cichlids but not alot else


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## ian_m (7 Nov 2017)

foxfish said:


> What sort of contaminants do you have that would kill filter bacteria, would it be chlorine, or is there something else that might be dangerous?


In UK it is generally chlorine in the water that is "dangerous" to filter bacteria and fish. If you have chlorine you can easily remove it by aerating for a couple of hours (let stand 24hours if lazy), use a dechlorinator eg Prime or if a cheapskate use sodium thiosulphate.

However if chloramine is used (like some places in UK now) only chemical removal is possible with Prime or sodium thiosulpate.

Personally I use Prime, expensive per bottle but 500ml will dechlorinate 20,000 litres of water.


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## Zeus. (7 Nov 2017)

Think I remember Tim Harrison saying he uses water straight from the tap in his tanks and treats it with nothing.
If I remember wrong sorry for the misquote.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (7 Nov 2017)

dw1305 said:


> In the USA they don't have much in the way of regulation of water quality (coming to the UK soon) of water



In the UK they would be better off sorting out all the leaking underground pipes first if they are looking for a way to save money before pumping crap through your taps, that's a step backwards.



ian_m said:


> Personally I use Prime, expensive per bottle but 500ml will dechlorinate 20,000 litres of water.



Me too, well worth the investment. Very little is used to treat water, seems to last forever.

I generally do sponges coarse and medium in tapwater and just do my sintered glass/ceramic in tank water. I put this in a small bucket and rub it together between the palms of my hands a bit like starting a fire Bear Grhylls style. Don't know if this helps but I've based it on the same theory as fluidised filters knocking off some of the surface to free up clean areas for new bacteria to colonise.


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## tam (7 Nov 2017)

I do it when cleaning, half a jug of water from tank, wash media, discard water in bucket, another half jug, wash rest of media (or rewash if it was very gooey), discard in bucket, fill rest of bucket with tank water, replace water with fresh from second bucket. Half a jug cos otherwise it overflows when you stick your hand in. I find that easier than back and forth to the sink.


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## roadmaster (7 Nov 2017)

In the bottom of my eheim 2217's I have a layer of ceramic.
So long as I leave it alone,i can wash the four blue foam pad's under the tap without issues but I only wash filter material from one filter and do the other one the following week.
To clean the ceramic media, I drain the filter into a bucket and then pour the water back into opened top of the filter.
I also bought extra media(foam pads) for my filter's so I always have some clean foam pads to swap out.
I think between the bacteria that has gathered on the glass,the substrate,the décor,plant leaves,inside walls of filter and hoses,that washing the pads or a couple of em under the tap,ain't gonna wreck things.
Water here is treated with chloramines and extra chlorine a couple times a year, sometimes without notice.
Always use PRIME for new water going towards the fishes.


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## HiNtZ (15 Nov 2017)

OllieNZ said:


> I'm also supplied by Thames water (Oxfordshire) and have never had an issue with the water quality. The hardness on the other hand..... Good for Tanganyikan cichlids but not alot else



Not saying it's a water quality issue, just why would you take any risks and not just go ahead and treat the water regardless? Or, not rinse the sponges in old tank water.

If people are washing sponges under the tap, they are either lazy or disorganised. Two things that you certainly shouldn't be in this hobby.


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## Edvet (15 Nov 2017)

HiNtZ said:


> If people are washing sponges under the tap, they are either lazy or disorganised


Why? depends on a lot of things. I am not worried for the bacteria. As soon as i start the pumps again they are reseeded with millions of bacteria. If i clean the filtersponges in my sump i take them all out and i have to rinse them in a bucket of fresh water 10-15 times, that's a clean bucket for each rinse. No way i can do that (or need to do that) in old tank water.


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## Tim Harrison (15 Nov 2017)

Zeus. said:


> Think I remember Tim Harrison saying he uses water straight from the tap in his tanks and treats it with nothing.
> If I remember wrong sorry for the misquote.


That's pretty much it, and I rinse my filter media under the tap as well  ... nothing's died yet... @HiNtZ, lazy maybe, but not disorganised 
...this maybe of some help https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/how-to-clean-filter-media.28606/


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## Zeus. (15 Nov 2017)

Tim Harrison said:


> That's pretty much it, and I rinse my filter media under the tap as well  ... nothing's died yet... @HiNtZ, lazy maybe, but not disorganised
> ...this maybe of some help https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/how-to-clean-filter-media.28606/



Thought I remembered correct . Also read somewhere else about some one just washing the foam filters in running tap water, might just change my approach on them both also


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## HiNtZ (19 Nov 2017)

I meant lazy and disorganised in the nicest possible sense.

Meh, we all do our own thing and it works for us individually. I've got friends who do the compete opposite to me and have good success too.


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