Filter cleaning

[Delta Yarbrough]

we have watched countless UTube videos and read countless blogs. Half of them say clean your filter by spraying with tap water, and the other half day never do that. Instead leave the goop on your filter and just rinse occasionally with pond waster. What do you recommend?

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

I use pond water. I have a Skippy filter, so I will occas. let it gravity drain to wash the gunk out of the media. In addition, I have a small pump that I'll put a hose on and use that to "rinse" the media from the top. I've heard where some people dump buckets of water over the media -- too much trouble for me.

 

[bagsmom]

I have the biofilter in the falls. According to the instructions, I shouldn't do anything with that for a year, at least. In the skimmer, I have a pre-filter to catch all the doo-dads and little things that don't stay in the skimmer basket. Since the little oak pollen doodles and things like that will tend to clog the pre-filter pad, I do take that out and blast it with the garden hose on the "jet" setting. It's the only way to get it even "sorta" clean, since the filter pad fibers catch and hold everything. On the one hand, I probably am hosing off some good stuff -- but there is more good stuff in the media in the waterfall. And if I didn't do it, it would affect the way my pump works.

 

[mrsclem]

Our tap water is pure bleach! I hook up a hose to my pump output line and use that to clean my filters

 

[Tula]

I too blast my filter pad inside my skimmer with my hose on "jet". My sand and gravel filter is cleaned by a back wash with an air blower, then I add water to the pond, to replace what was flushed out......using Prime for chlorine.

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello
For my pond and fish tank filters in use my tap water and the same for water changes and I put in decor when I do
This.
Lucky I have two and three filters so I never clean them at the same time, plus my pond has a lot of areas where beneficial bacteria can grow. Been doing it this way for years.

Ruben

 

[Meyer Jordan]

For biofilters:
If you are just 'rinsing' the filter media, tap water is OK. If you are 'cleaning' the media, pond water is a much better choice.

 

[teeemkay]

I rinse the skimmer net almost daily with the hose (we have a well we use for the pond/garden). The brushes in the skimmer box, the bio-balls, and the pads in the waterfall... I rinse those gently about every 4 weeks, especially if there is an algae overload on them.

 

[tbendl]

@Meyer Jordan, I seem to remember reading that if you have multiple filter media to rotate cleaning with tap water? I have the 8 large sponges in my 2 filters that I bought and I've been rinsing them with pond water but I wonder if I shouldn't clean 1 sponge with tap water every time and rotate through. I clean my filter between 3-4 weeks but this will be the first summer with them so it might be every 2. What are your thoughts on that?

 

[Gandalf]

It depends on your pond size but in general rinsing a filter pad with tap water shouldn't affect anything. If you have rocks or other filter media in a bag, leave it alone. if you are concerned about bleach in the filter pad, leave it out in the sun for a day or two. It will pretty much eliminate all the chlorine from it.

 

[Gene B.]

Our tap water is pure bleach! I hook up a hose to my pump output line and use that to clean my filters

Culligan installed a big carbon filter in our laundry room, in the watersupply pipe that goes out to the tap. I'm sure other water companies do it as well. It costs btw. $250 and $400, but it's a more or less permanent, no-maintenance solution that removes all chlorine and thus the possibility of catastrophic contamination when one forgets to turn the chlorinated water off whilst replenishing the pond. And it's convenient, as tap water can be safely used for filter cleaning etc.