cleaning aquaclear 110

[newb]

my question is, what is the proper way to go about cleaning an aquaclear 110. do I simply rinse all the media and put it back inside, or do I buy new stuff and start all over. how often should I clean it?

[CichlidFan]

Re: cleaning aquaclear 110

Well, to begin with, try to save as much of the friendly bacteria that builds up/lives on the ceramic as possible. To do that, do not rinse in tap water. Take a standard 7 gallon bucket and fill it a little better than  half way with your tank water. Remove your 110 and rinse all part and components in the tank water.

Replace your carbon or ammocarb, whatever you are using and replace the 110 back into service.

CF

[newb]

Re: cleaning aquaclear 110

ok thats  basically what i just did. how often should I do this? it is functioning on a 75gal tank. How often do I need to buy new media

[CichlidFan]

Re: cleaning aquaclear 110

Depends on your tank, and how much of a bio load your filter is covering....Your probably goiing to want to do that about every 45 days or so....again, it really depends on your tank size and how many fish you are keeping in it.  

For example, if you kept say....6 small to medium size fish in a 20 gallon tank, I would clean the filter about every 45 to 60 days.
If your fish are smaller, and you have any plants n the tank, maybe every 90 days or so.....use your eye, and nose to be sure.....the water should look clean and fairly clear, and it should smell "earthy" the smell should not be offensive.

CF

I just remembered, you where talking about cleaning a AC110, so you probably have a larger tank, rule of thumb is about the same, but to be on the safe side, clean the gravel once a week or more when you do a water change, and clean the AC110 about every 45 days.

[JStrider]

Re: cleaning aquaclear 110

I give the sponges in my aquaclears a rinse in tank water every time I do a water change.

Every water change I siphon water out of the tank into a bucket and drop the sponges into it and give them a few good squeezes and then dump any dirty water out of the filter and put the sponges back in.

I do water changes weekly... or every 2 weeks depending on the tank.

depending on the fish and the bioload your sponges may get dirty pretty quick or pretty slow...

my shellie tank, the sponges never seem dirty.  but with my community tank the sponges get really really gross really fast.

[Zulaab]

Re: cleaning aquaclear 110

I dont keep ammo chips or carbon in my AC110.  All I have is the noodles and the sponge.
I clean the noodles in tank water just to get the dirt off, but I do power wash my sponge.  I know I kill bacteria, but the noodles have a ton of bacteria in there already..  I dont seem to have a problem with that at all.

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: cleaning aquaclear 110

In my 110's I use the foam, and ceramic rings, and sometimes top off with a bag of Chempure, but mostly just rings and foam.

I try to clean them monthly and definately when the media is pushing the lid up.

I always get a bucket of aqarium water and shake and clean the ceramic rings.

At the sink I rinse clean and re-use the foam.

I completely clean the box, baskets, and lifttubes with pipe cleaners and scrubbrushes.

I remove the rotor assembly and clean out the motor well with pipe brush, and clean the rotor assembly as well.

Re-assemble everything, fill with water, and plug in.