Cleaning out the filter & bio wheel issues.

[meanjean]

So I change my filter on a regular basis, and today I noticed brown slimey over the whole inside of the filter/water pump area (behind the actual charcoal/foamy thing). My bio wheel is not spinning like it used to, and when I turned off the filter today to move my desk, white stringy tufts came out of the suction tube for the filter.

I rinsed out the tube part, more of the brown came out and a wad of the white stringys.

Can I rinse out the inside of the filter as well (not my bio-wheel, I will take that out) or is that something good?

What do I need to do about the bio wheel spinning problem?

 

[Lotus]

Yes, you can rinse the filter out. It sounds like a good idea if you have a lot of gunk in there. If you need to rinse the bio-wheel, do it in old tank water. Don't let the bio-wheel dry out while you're cleaning the filter, leave it floating in the tank or in old tank water.

If your filter is getting that dirty, you're either not changing water enough, have too many fish, you're feeding too much, or you need another filter in addition to the one you have.

 

[meanjean]

I haven't looked inside the whole filter box thing in at least six to eight months--should I be rinsing out when I do my water changes?

 

[Lotus]

You should check it every couple of months, clean out the tube and impeller. You don't have to do it every week, but it does need regular maintenance. By the way, as long as the biowheel is spinning a little, it's OK, you only need to worry if it has stopped... even then you probably have enough of a bacteria colony in the tank by now that it shouldn't be an issue.