Cleaning Canister?

[bcarp]

I have a Rena XP3 Canister filter I use for my 72 bow tank(350GPH). How often should you clean them and can you use fresh water to clean them? I read on another forum that cleaning it out with fresh tap water will ruin the biological filteration in your tank!?! Is this true? I always rinse it out in the bath tub with tap water.

 

[heath]

hey-
if you are rinsing the media, you should use aged saltwater-
you can rinse the actual canister with tap, to rid it of the sludge that accumulates at the bottom.
cleaning time can vary depending on your bio load-
do you have a foam insert in the canister?
this should be cleaned about every 2 weeks- you can judge the timeframe by how dirty it is-
hth-
heather

 

[jakob4001]

well if you are already rinsing it out w/ tap water...probably already have damaged bacterial colonies in it...over time they come back though...w/ salt water it is usually best to "wash out" your equipment w/ established water...some people perform this task when they do water changes & use the removed tank water to clean off various tank equipment...of course who can refuse using the hose connection at the sink to better remove some of the gunk from things than just trying to flush it off w/ water the regular way...

 

[bcarp]

Heather
THe canister has three baskets in it. 1st basket has 2 foam20 & 2 foam30. 2nd basket has blue bio balls. 3rd basket has Bio chem zorb pad and white foam filter on top. Should I rinse all of these with used salt water?Orcan I rinse some of them with tap water like the foam20 and 30? Please let me know. Thanks for the info!

 

[sal t. nutz]

I would think you could rinse the foam and the rest of the canister with fresh water to get it real clean, although I would just replace the foam. Set the Bioballs basket aside and I wouldn't really even touch that, it shouldn't really need cleaning anyway. I also wouldn't rinse the Carbon trays out either with fresh water, unless you are replacing the carbon, then it wouldn't matter anyway.

 

[sandy]

I rinse out my Fluval (and it's media) every week with my regular water change. I rinse out (or replace) the media with the same aged saltwater I use in the water change. I clean out the canister with fresh water. Sometimes I clean out the hoses with freshwater too... alotta junk in there.
I rely on my 80+lbs of LR and 120lbs of LS for the good bacteria, but I still rinse the Fluval in saltwater to preserve some bacteria. Eventually, with a very good protein skimmer and a 4-6" sandbed, I'll get rid of the Fluval all together. Meanwhile, I keep it cleaned out.

 

[heath]

bcarp-
the canister filter has two different functions- one is mechanical the other is biological.
you do not want to rinse any biological filter with tap water (ie. the blue bioballs). the foam filters and biochem zorb serve as a mechanical filter- mainly to remove excess particulates from your tank. these can be rinsed with tap, or removed and replaced. i have an eheim canister, and use their product effisynth. its just a polyfiberpad (kinda like cotton)- and i just replace it each time (it collects lots of nasties). but the effisubstrat (biocleaner)stays-and usually doesn't have to be rinsed (you can tell if it has lots of gook on it)-
Also, depending on how your filter dismantles, it is a good time to add some new saltwater to the canister if you remove it full. this also helps eliminate excess air bubbles from shooting into the system when you restart it.
heather

 

[bcarp]

Thank you everyone for your help. I really like these new Renas. There really easy to clean. There is a lever on top you pull up to stop the water flow in the hoses. Then just undo the hinges and pop off the top. Really easy maintenance. Thanks again.