Cleaning filter media

[marsha]

I have a submersible filter with the bio balls and 2 filter sponges in it . when I clean the sponges is ok to use tap water or should I use water from pond? I was told that as long as I don't clean the bio balls that it is fine by one person and someone else said use pond water. I always seem to get two different answers from the fish store. Also what do you do if your tap water is reading high nitrite level when you need to top off the pond from evaporation? thanks

 

[dieselplower]

Pond water would be better to rinse with. The chlorine in the tap water could kill off the benificial bacteria on the sponges.

 

[Mmathis]

Pond water would be better to rinse with. The chlorine in the tap water could kill off the benificial bacteria on the sponges.

Agree.....

 

[koiguy1969]

you were told that tap water is fine to rinse the pads because their main purpose is mechanical filtration, not bio. that said pond water will allow the bacteria that has colonized the pads to remain....

 

[marsha]

thanks, I will use pond water from now on.

 

[Tula]

My pads get pretty dirty, I use the "jet" setting on my hose nozzle....not pond water. I don't think I could effectively clean mine with swishing in pond water.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

I'm with Tula, much easier to clean those sponge things with a hose. You'll have far more bacteria growing in your pond then in that filter, the little bit of bacteria that might be in those sponges won't make any significant difference at all. They are designed as mechanical filters after all, and most garden ponds are lacking, and benefit from, extra mechanical filtration to help keep the water as clear as possible.

 

[Sunshine]

I use the jet setting also. There is no way I could clean mine with rinsing it in pond water. They get really heavy with muck. After spraying all the crap out, they are light as a feather.

 

[JohnHuff]

I rinse my pads with the hose but leave my bioballs alone.

 

[dieselplower]

I believe this thread needs a little more information. You said you have a submersible filter. This leads me to believe that the entire thing is under water? If that is the case, there beneficial bacteria that convert ammonia and nitrite into less toxic nitrate are only functioning as a small fraction of their maximum potential because they need to be in an oxygen rich environment to thrive. Since your bacteria are woking at a minimum capacity I would use the pond water because you want to keep as many of them as you can. If the filter media is getting so dirty that you need to use a jet to clean it, i might suggest that you need to clean the filters more often, or, increase the size of your filter. Also, you asked what to do if your tap water is high in nitrite. Well, if that is the case, you dont have much choice but to continue to use it. And if that is the case, you NEED as much of the bacteria as you can get to help proccess the toxic nitrite. I would not be willing to kill them off each time i rinsed the filter. I am interested to know if you test your water, and if so, do you use test drops or test strips? And what are your levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? If the first two are always zero and nitrate is under 40 you really dont have anything to worry about but if your pond is registering ammonia and nitrite or you have high levels of nitrate, i would highly suggest getting a bigger filter, feeding the fish less, removing some of the fish, etc.

 

[Tula]

I don't think the OP said they used a jet to clean their filter, I use the jet setting on my hose to clean my filter pads that are located in my skimmer and filter.

I did re home all of my fish , but five koi last fall, as I realized I had too heavy a fish load, from too much spawning over the years.

 

[dieselplower]

Youre right Tula, the OP did not specify. I was just providing general information.

 

[JohnHuff]

A little off-topic question. I noticed that the OP from Delaware used the word tap. I thought only Brits used the word tap and Americans use the word faucet?

 

[marsha]

Its a submersible filter box that gets cleaned once a week. I normally use the garden hose to rince the pads and leave the bio balls and box alone. I test the water every Saturday morning with API test kits (drops). Looking over posts iv seen were people have tested the tap water and was curious and tested mine to see a high nitrite level. Then it occurred to me that this is why I had a high nitrite level last time I did a big water change after pond had already cycled. I never had a problem last year with just topping it off,just makes me wonder about what to do if for some reason had to do a big water change again.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

A little off-topic question. I noticed that the OP from Delaware used the word tap. I thought only Brits used the word tap and Americans use the word faucet?

Here in Canada we use both taps and faucets interchangeably, but that's probably because we are so adaptable.
Speaking of which, many years ago, when I was still very young, we Canadians use to use Imperial measurements pretty much exclusively, then we were suppose to switch over to metric as the new standard, which would have been easy except for one problem.... Our neighbors and closest trading partners weren't able to make the switch, so we got left in a sort of perpetual limbo. We now are officially a metric country, but fully 50% of everything we deal with is measured imperially, so we are constantly converting back and forth, and any advantage to converting over to the more logical and tidier metric system has been lost because we now have to deal with both systems on a daily basis.
Sorry for the rant, but that has always stuck in my craw. It's was hard enough trying to drop one standard measurement you are use to and switching over to another completely different one you've never used before, but had we made the complete switch over, and completely dropped the other, it wouldn't have been nearly as bad, but now we've have to live with the two different systems that don't convert back and forth very well. Why?
Oh well, it's a good thing we are so adaptable.