• Cleaning your aquarium filters

Don't kill your bacteria! You need them. Bacteria will be killed by anything that will kill your fish. That includes lack of oxygen, chlorine, salt, hot water, cold water, and drying out! Certain antibiotic medications used to treat fish will also kill your beneficial bacteria. This is important to know when moving or cleaning your tank and filters. Never use heat or chemicals when cleaning the filter or gravel of an active aquarium. Only use these harsh methods when you want to start from scratch again. Remember, you will have to wait another two or three weeks before you can add more than two fish. For routine cleaning and filter maintenance, Use water taken from your living aquarium ecosystem. This water is free of chlorine and is the right temperature for the living bacteria that are in your filter. To clean a power filter, canister or sponge filter, fill a bucket with water taken from the aquarium. Disassemble the filter and rinse the reusable, non-electrical parts in the bucket of tank water. Immediately reassemble the filter and replace it with the aquarium. Start it running so that the bacteria will continue to get a fresh supply of oxygenated water. Failure to do so will kill the bacteria and require you to start from scratch again with two fish. You will have to find a new home for the others.

Undergravel filters should be cleaned with a gravel cleaner or gravel vac. There are various types available. They usually consist of a hose with a larger diameter cylinder on one end. The simplest type uses gravity to siphon water from the tank and through the hose into a bucket. As the water is flowing through the hose, the cylinder is used to work the gravel and suck out the solid waste that has accumulated there. This is sometimes called hydro-cleaning. Other types, such as the Python, have a long hose that attaches to a faucet. You turn on the faucet and the water moving through the Python valve creates a suction, drawing water from the tank into the sink or onto the ground if you use an outside spigot. The gravel is worked with the cylinder attachment as in the siphon type cleaner. This uses a lot of tap water, since the water is running the entire time you are cleaning the gravel. The Python can also be used to perform water changes.

If you have an undergravel filter, you can clean the gravel and change the water at the same time. Work the entire gravel area with the gravel vac. It's important to remove the solid waste so that the filter doesn't become clogged. Remember your bacteria are living in the gravel. They need a continuous supply of aerated water to live. Turning off the pumps for a short time during cleaning will not kill the bacteria. Keep this down time to a minimum, though. Replace the water you have removed with clean water as described in the Water Changes section above.

Most filter systems are equipped with mechanical and chemical filter media in addition to the biological media. These may consist of a sponge or filter fiber and charcoal or other types of media and cartridges. Follow the manufacturers' instructions for cleaning and replacing these media. Chemical media, such as charcoal, should be replaced whenever a water change is made on the aquarium. Otherwise, the contaminants that the charcoal has absorbed may be released again into the clean water you have added. In most cases, the chemical media can be permanently removed from the filter. Performing regular water changes will accomplish the same result as using chemical media.