# Cleaning Tubes/Hoses on Canister Filters?



## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

I have a Filstar XP2 canister filter, I've had it for a few months now and I love it, however, I'm curious as to whether or not anyone cleans the hoses that run from the input and output (spraybar) into the canister? In the directions on cleaning, it doesn't say anything about cleaning the hoses and mine have this nasty brown gunk in them and I'd love to get it out of there.

In fact, the last time I did a water change on my tank and turned the filter off and then back on again, it blew out all these nasty brown chunks of this goop into my tank! I know that removing them would be a chore but I'm just curious if anyone else does it?

It must be the same on other canister filters too!


----------



## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Yup, all my filters get this brown build up. It's less apparent on the green Eheim hoses, but you can still see some bacteria slime inside there.

I don't bother cleaning mine though. Instead I hold a net in front of the spraybar when the filter goes on. This catches the debris that get's shot out. Works pretty well. :-D 

You can go the extra mile and buy hose brushes, the one that have little fuzzy plastic brissles on a wire. Also, you can try to flush the hoses out with some diluted bleach solution.

-John N.


----------



## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

Good idea about the net, I like that and will try that next time I clean my tank. Thank you John!


----------



## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

If you use the bleach solution, make sure to rinse well with fresh water and maybe a bit of dechlor.


----------



## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I've never cleaned the Filstar hoses, even though they get that buildup inside. I do however take off the spraybar and clean it on occasions.


----------



## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

In all of ADA Aquarium Gallaries, professional photos and the photos people take as they go through the gallery or store everything is super clean. Hoses, glass diffusers, lily pipes and all have no dirt build up of any kind. I can't remember seeing any "dirt build-up" on the ADA show tanks and equipment that I've seen in person at the stores either.

Do you guys think that's because they replace the hoses, etc on a daily bases or is there something special that we're missing? 

-John N.


----------



## anonapersona (Mar 11, 2004)

*backwashing and cleaning*

I do not have your particular filter but on most canisters you are able to disconnect the tubings and manually open the valves. Get a bucket as close as possible, open the valves and let the rush of water backwash the loose gunk in the tubings. That ought to keep the blow-back of crud on restart to a minimum as the open-valve flow rate is actually faster than the filter puts out. That'll buy you a lot of time between real tubing cleanings. That net may catch the flakes of crud, but the brown cloud still happens. Better to have that brown cloud in a bucket, eh?

Eventually you will still have to disconnect the entire tubing system, take it all to the bathtub or back yard and wash it out. You'll need to remove all end connectors to get the hose totally open, most of the time. That little "brush on a plastic line" works, or you can feed a length of weedwacker line up the tubing through a tube cleaning brush, the type with a small loop on the end, then feed along bit of that line back into the tubing, maybe 20 inches. You can pull the whole thing out, somehow friction keeps the line from undoing.

I found that the need for full cleanings typically could be put off until a disaster of some sort happened, like a broken part or fish kill of some sort or I was ready to either rescape or move a tank to a new location.

However, that crud in the lines is severely restricting the flow rate of the filter. You'll see something like a 15 or 20% increase in flow if you clean it out totally.

Next time you order something online, toss in a filter cleaning brush set, or that little brush on a line thing, just a few bucks more. Be sure you get the right size, I managed to break an input tube trying to use the brush on a line that was too big. Thank goodness for dual filtration on bigger tanks!


----------

