How to SAFELY CLEAN your Fx6 Canister FILTER
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- Опубликовано: 12 авг 2022
- Cichlid Charmer is dedicated to sharing the joy of keeping African cichlids and American cichlids and sharing information about them. Much of my content is not cichlid fish specific, however. It also pertains to all tropical fish aquariums. I will share what I have learned about cichlids and other fish, and everyone is welcomed to comment with their own experiences and information about fish and aquarium practices in general.
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FILTERS:
Fluval FX6 Canister Filter: amzn.to/3GHPDeS
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Fluval 307 canister filter: amzn.to/47Pa4md
Seachem Tidal HOB 110 Gallon Filter: amzn.to/3t8FXqY
Seachem Tidal HOB 55 Gallon Filter: amzn.to/3GLhwmE
Seachem Tidal HOB 35 Gallon Filter: amzn.to/3NsRWq8
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Uniclife wavemaker 120-300 gallon: amzn.to/3RsjzAT
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Eheim Jager Aquarium Heaters: amzn.to/3toJYY8
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Fluval Sea Marine 3.0 59 watt: amzn.to/3v8UkvJ
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Garlic Guard: amzn.to/48loBFV
VitaChem https: amzn.to/4aooPOm
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This is how I clean my Fluval Fx6 filter complete with some time-saving tips. Do you have a different way you clean your Fluval Fx6 filter? Please comment below! If you liked this video, please like, subscribe, and ring the bell! Thanks for watching!
Excellent info! Thanks for the great video about cleaning an FX6!
I've seen a few different videos on cleaning the FX6, and the one thing I have noticed was that no one is using polishing pads in their canisters. I've been running two FX6's on my S.American cichlid tank for the last three years and about every six weeks I have to open them up to swap out the polishing pads, I do alternate the the canister cleaning, so it's more like every three weeks. I guess the next time I crack one of them open I'm going to do away with the polishing pad, as in all these videos I've seen all the tanks have very clean looking water. Very informative video on the cleaning process and your tank are awesome.
Thanks! I use the coarse, medium and fine sponges, but I also use polyfil in one of the filters, which I should change out every week, but sometimes it goes two weeks. I can’t remember if I had polyfil in the video, but I do use it, and it is in some of the more recent videos.
Thank you
I have the 307 for my turtle in a 60g.
But looking to upgrade
I've done mine similar to your video. Over the years and learning more, I just take all the spines out on the patio and take a high pressure hose and clean them all. And just rinse off the bio media. And none of my tank ever had any problems doing it that way. You have to know good bacteria is all over in your tank and substrate. So for me it works good. But folks should do it what ever way they are comfortable with.
Yep if works no reason to change. I have been researching if having extra bio media in your filter helps with getting crystal clear water. Still finding info
Thanks for the useful video. How often do you change the bio media or any other after market substrate like the chemi clear. Thx
I don’t ever change the bio media. I also don’t use chemi pure. I think the chemi pure packaging tells you it’s good for three months, but not positive
Hi do you have a video on intake/outtake placement in the tank? When having multiple canisters?
No, but good idea. If you have room and wavemakers set up properly, I’d just place all the intakes on one side and the outputs toward the middle facing the other side of the tank (opposite the intakes)
Good video.
Have you considered adding some more bio media in the FX6?
I have considered it, and I used to have more. I trimmed it down because I thought that with the three filters and all the sand and decor I was probably fine with less, and I was right. Since the more you put in a filter the less water it can filter per hour, now I have more water running through to keep the water clear. I will do a video on setting up the filters sometime. Thanks for the comment!
Understood, well done.
You can never have enough bio media.
@@tribalcuz many people think so. My water is clear and my fish are very healthy. Thanks for your comment!
I'm ordering my fx6 today lol. My 407 and 307 are just a hair below 8x the rate. So since I'm going with a bigger tank at the end of the year, I'm just getting the fx6 so I have it and it'll be seeded plus doesn't hurt to have little more filtration since I have 15 African Cichlids. Still waiting on the 3 I ordered but with the 12, I have a few waste spots where it wasn't that bad when I had 9 fish lol. So I'll be running the fx6 and 407 together.
That’s what I would do. When I bought my fx4 I was surprised at how much less room for bio there was than with the fx6. I would only choose it over the fx6 if I had more still water fish in a smaller tank
@@CichlidCharmer I also want to do to get rid of my sponge filter. But I got my new quarantine tank today, so when I need it, I have it. I know I'll lose beneficial bacteria with removal of sponge filter but the FX series will substitute that
@@dennispeleg7843 I stopped using sponge filters as instantly cycled bio media for quarantine takes a while ago. Now I just put a fresh sponge filter in the quarantine tank with a bag of bio rings from a seeded filter on top or next to it. It’s been working well. That way I don’t have to look at an ugly sponge filter all the time.
@@CichlidCharmer 10-4 on that. I will that in mind
@@CichlidCharmer when you had your fx6 on your 75 gallon, did you have valves open at full blast or did you tune the input and output?
It's not even dirty
Thank you 😊
👌😉
The red cap clamps the hose provided to the fx6 so it can't pop off. Don't take it off. Other than the fine sponge this filter wasn't ready to clean. Once a month open and clean the fine sponge leave the rest till it starts to look like the center sponges. Your not saving bacteria by using a bucket and tank water. All that stuff your squeezing out of your sponges is your bacteria. The nitrifying bacteria grow much slower than the rest of the bacteria do leaving your filter longer is better. It takes a month for a filter to recover from a cleaning. Last but certainly not least. You do not need to use tank water to clean your sponges. It's a myth. Tap water contains chlorine at such a low concentration that you would literally have to leave your sponges soaking in tap water for over an hour and a half to kill the bacteria. The reason the amount in tap water sanitizes it because of the amount of time it's in the water. The 30-40 seconds it takes to rinse a sponge doesn't kill anything. The reason people think it does is because they over clean their sponges and cause a mini cycle. When cleaning sponges squeeze them 3-4 times. Just enough to get them flowing properly and that's it. Leave some of the bio film which is what your rinsing out in them. You'll never have to worry about a spike, mini cycle, bacteria bloom, ect. It sponges on the outer of it fx6 should look like the coarse sponge in the middle before you clean. Depending on how many fish and how much you feed tank size is irrelevant well determine how long between cleaning. You can extend the cleaning period by using the right substrate "gravel" and adjust your water flow so the poop widths it's way into it so once a week when vacuuming you get the majority of the weeks poop out of the system. This will also improve water quality which will improve the health and color of your fish.
Thanks for the comment! I definitely don't feel my fish were in any danger from the amount of detritus and such in the filter, but the amount in the fine sponge would slow the filter down. I want to get the most gph filtered that I can, so I prefer to clean it at about this time, if not a little sooner. I understand if you would have waited, however. I have suspected that the amount of chlorine I have in our water would not kill off enough bacteria to cause a problem, but I still play it safe. I would never advise anyone else to just wash in tap water, especially if their water has a higher concentration of chlorine than mine. Anyway, this is how I do it, but I'm glad your way is working for you!
@@CichlidCharmer I agree your fish were in no danger but your taking about efficiency. For your filter to do its job efficiently it needs a certain amount of bacteria in it to filter both biologically and mechanically. Cleaning to often decreases efficiency. You are right about the flow. I hand many fx6 and I open them up and clean the fine pad monthly. I check the rest of the sponges and determine if they need to be cleaned. Usually it's about 6 months before they need to be cleaned. The chlorine level in everyone's tap water is regulated by the government. It's done so for a reason. Yes some peoples is higher than others but still what I said applies. The percentage is so low it doesn't kill anything. It literally takes tap water an hour and fourty five minutes to kill the bacteria. This is a fact. It's proven. Now if the chlorine level in anyone's tap water was high enough to kill the bacteria in the 30 seconds it takes to rinse a sponge it would at a minimum make you and your pets very ill and worse kill you. Every time you drank tap water it would kill all the bacteria in your gut and then you. I've been keeping fish for a long time. I have a thousand cichlids in my home. Several filters of all types. I rinse all of them in tap water every cleaning. Never have a problem. I've researched this and many other myths of the hobby and there are many. It was a micro biologist that proved this to me. There are also many studies done by both private and government agencies that prove this. That's how they determined his much chlorine needs to be in tap water to kill all the different types of bacteria. Anyhow over cleaning your filters kills efficiency just as much as a clogged one. The way I keep my aquariums all of them stay crystal clear with zero smell, and just as important to me zero algae. Not a spot of it. My most balanced aquarium hadn't had the glass cleaned in a year and the glass is pristine. Looks like it was cleaned this morning. Don't believe all the b.s. repeated over and over on RUclips by people that are just hobbyists like anyone else. No science or proof to back any claims up. The biggest one in my opinion is deep substrate and anaerobic bacteria lowering nitrate. It's b.s. in anaerobic conditions the bacteria that grows there through a process called assimilitory de-nitrification converts nitrate and nitrite into ammonia. The opposite of what you want and people wonder why they have algae problems. They're literally feeding the algae without even knowing it. Remember these videos get pumped out and repeated for one thing, well two things. Content and views.
@@SG-Cichlids sounds like you know your stuff! Thanks again for commenting!
@@SG-Cichlids do you wash your bio media in tap water?
I like how you said turning the intake on again would naturally fill it back up without having to add water back to it first. I always thought that but you were the first to mention that. That's cool. Thank you. I think if you have lower water level in the tank I think there is a way to turn the pump on with intake valve closed and with out put valve open and pump on I think it will drain the canister into the tank for you. So it's empty when you take it out.