# cleaning filter media in tap water



## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Does it matter? It's certainly more convenient at least... Is much harm done to the bacteria? I think I've been assuming that if even a little of it remains, the rest will recolonize quickly.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Depends on the media and your tapwater. I always use tapwater, but zero chlorine or heavy metals or anything. I do 90% water changes without treating the water so I'll be fine rinsing the media. When your tapwater does contain chlorine you need to be more careful. 

Still it depends on the media. Most really fine biomedia won't get rinsed in the core so no problems there. But, the bacteria in the core are mostly anaerobic, so you'll lose the nitrifying bacteria, not a good thing. But with media like sponges, every bacteria will come into contact with the chlorine. Most bacteria will at least have a tough time.

So bacteria wise, not very smart if your tapwater contains chlorine or heavy metals, but at the same time, 50% of the bacteria remain because they are in your substrate and your plants do what your filter does but better!

So for a fully planted, mature tank I see no problem, but sparsely planted or fish only it will be much more troublesome, especially when you don't use a porous substrate like aqua soil with lots of bacteria in it!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Cavan, I've wondered about this very thing. Sometimes if I am in a hurry I clean with tap water. Then I regret it, and try to use dechlorinated water the next time. But I've never noticed any difference in the condition of the tank. Perhaps it is the redundancy of biofiltration in planted tanks as Johan describes that saves me from disaster.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Would depend on the setup. If you have a heavily plant tank and/or the in-tank filtration is very heavy than it wouldn't matter. I've forgotten to turn back on my canister on my large tank several times for a few days and the tank suffered no-ill effects. If you have a canister for example on a very small nano and you do this it might not turn out as good depending on the other parameters.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Some years ago for whatever reason I did 30-40% water changes using tap water without adding any dechlorinator. Things were fine for months. Then one day I did the water change and within 10 minutes lost all fish.

The tap water cannot be trusted to be the same day in day out.

In an established tank a filter is just an insurance. You can remove it and you will notice a slight improvement of the plant's growth. But if anything goes out of whack you know what is wrong - there is no filter to cover your back.


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Couple thing will determine this, media and tank size
On my larger tanks it doesnt seem to matter.
On smaller and nano tanks it does.

I noticed it having more of an effect when I biomedia that wasnt very porous, like those ceramic rings that are smooth. Ive switch mainly to Seachem matrix and it has really made a difference. This is also the main reason why I run 2 filters on larger tanks. I clean one at a time and dont really worry much about it.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Well, if you didn't clean it out under the tap, how WOULD you do it? My filter pads get pretty dirty.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

When I am feeling righteous, I put the lava rock (my biomedia) in a colander or sieve and submerge and drain this is a bucket of conditioned water many times. Filter pads are submerged in a bucket then squeezed and abused until no more dirt comes out. Or until the water in the bucket becomes so dirty that you can't see your hands.

None of this gets the biomedia or pads very clean, which is why the tap is so tempting!


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Michael said:


> None of this gets the biomedia or pads very clean


That's exactly the problem. I remember seeing an Aquajournal with photos of someone cleaning filter media in a bucket and thinking that. I suppose it could pass if you did it more frequently. :???:


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## UltraBlue (Mar 8, 2011)

I have done many of the same things the other posters mentioned. When lazy I've used tap and not noticed any impacts, but I make sure that if I'm using tap I don't wash all of the biomedia in tap. I keep one "undamaged". My eheim 2078 has 3 compartments, all bio media.

I always wash my mechanical filtration in tap water, sponges and filter floss. I figure they aren't there to do the bio filtration anyways. For my bio media I drain a quick bucket of tank water and rinse, they are usually not too dirty. There hasnt been any noticeable consequences to either method. I think the established tank and ability of a damaged bacteria population to rebound in combination with the plants allows some give and take.

Damped oscillations from population ecology best describe the cycling process our bacteria experience in a new tank. When we disturb the population a bit we initiate the oscillation again, however to a less extent as cycling. Combined with the plant resource uptake response to more available ammonia or even an uptick in substrate bacteria response keeps things from swinging out of control in an established tank. In short, everything compensates. (It even comes with a formula)

My tapwater has a lot of chlorine, too. I have to up the Prime dosing in the spring with the seasonal river flooding and increased treatment by the water company.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

I run the old water from the aquarium into several buckets and clean the media in these buckets. The water in the buckets gets quite dirty, so I dump those in the garden and run more water out of the tank. Occasionally I will direct the water from the siphon directly over the media for a final rinse. I can get the media quite clean this way. 

It is faster to clean it out in the garden, spraying it with a garden hose. But I would not do that if there was only one filter on the tank. I would do this to tanks with 2 filters so that the bacteria I was killing was not a large % of the total.


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