How often do you clean your canister filter?

[Laura]

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I've been putting off cleaning my canister filter for a while - I just worked it out and it's been about 6 months

Granted, I have prefilters on everything I own, so the amount of larger gunk getting in is minimal as most is caught by the prefilters.  I clean the prefilters at every waterchange which is every 7-10 days.

I'm curious - am I particularly negligent?  What do other folks do?

[2chance]

NEVER!!! LOL I don't know either

[darkdep]

Nowadays my canisters are Magnums; since these guys are pretty darn efficient mechanical filters you pretty much have to clean them every 2 weeks or they just stop running.

For other types, I used to do it when I saw the waterflow slow down, or when guilt kicked in.  This meant every 3 months or so.

Many advocate a once-a-month schedule.  But I've never done that.

[beowulf]

I also try for the once a month ideal but often it's more like once every 6-8 weeks.

[garnpet]

I have to clean my Fluvals every month because of all the plant material that gets into them.

[PaleoFishGirl]

I clean my Fluval 404 bi-weekly.  I really do.  After having the intake clog up this summer and losing a bunch of fish, I got scared into doing it.

[oenology]

Bi-weekly! WOW.

For me it depends on the filter - my eheim 2217 gets cleaned maybe every 4 months, the horrible Fluvals 403 and 404s get cleaned more often (and hence all the stupid little plastic bits break faster. Do I hate these filters - yes) as I guess they maybe trapping more particulate matter because they sure slow down a lot faster than the eheims - I lost most of my blue orchid cyprichromis colony to a fluval that stopped working. When I opened it up it wasn't very dirty compared to what the eheim can handle - grrr. (Mini rant over )

[artw]

I try to clean my canisters once a month.  for the same reason PFG and garnpet indicate, plant growth/dead stuffs blocking it up.

My new Eheim 2217, however.  I am not sure...  since you can actually look in and see it,  my round filter floss type thing on the top looks pretty black.. I am thinking I may have to clean this thing maybe once a week...  and maybe do the other media once a month like I am used to.

[speckledmind]

I have experimented with my Fluval 404 / 66 Gal. tank over the course of a year and a half, and here is what I came up with that works best for me.

- My normal routine is to clean the canister filter at the end of each month ( every 30 days approx. )
I clean out the sponges since they get covered with some excess food and algae, and I change the carbon filters ( I use the 3 units in one shot ), about every 4 months I rinse off the BioMax in mid month, since it gets full of algae and get better results doing so.

- The off schedule.
I noticed that during the summer months when it's really hot, I may need to clean the sponges more often because of algae growth, so I may have to rinse them out every 2 weeks.
I also disassemble the whole thing every 6 to 8 months to give it a real good scrub, hoses and all, it may not seem like it does, but there is a lot of algae in those ribbed tubing.

- A friend of mine did an experience with a Fluval 404 / 72 Gal. tank, and did not clean his canister for a good 4 months, as soon as I get the Pict's from it I will post them up, some of you may be interested in seeing the results.
I won't say anything else.

PS : Note that my tank is in a darker room setting that most may have ( Hall way ), my blinds are pretty much always 3/4 closed in that room, and not much light is seeping in.

[kennyman]

I dump the floss and wash down the rest of my Rena Canister about once every other month. I have been on that schedule for around a year now since I switched it over to just the 2 sponges toped off with Pollyfiber fill. Before that I was running a polish pad that had to be changed monthly.

[bitterman]

I clean my xp3 every 1-2 months. I do find the flow really slows down alot by the time I clean it. I just wash out the foam pads in old tank water and rinse the flos in the sink such that I do not have to replace it every month. I even find the odd bn fry in the cansiter LOL.

[BigDaddy]

I'm pretty bad... I only do mine about every 6 months...

[normc]

I clean my eiheim every time I think of it, about every 3-4 months.

[NjOyRiD]

i clean them when i see my flow is slowing down So around 2-3 months

[mila]

With prefilter, it is mostly just bio-chemical filter, not much stuff get in it.
I clean them every 4-6 months. I have always another filter for mechanical filtration(HOB).
Open FX5 for first time after 8 months (no prefilter, 2 AC 500 on same tank), there was not much to clean.

[RoxyDog]

I have 2 404's on my 77gal and I clean them...well, never?    
At first I alternated them and gave them each a good cleaning every month or so.  So, thanks for the reminder!