fishie filters?

Question

Hi. I have one betta left (my crowntail died on friday :-( ) and he's about 3 years old. He is one hearty little guy, too: I got him from a co-worker who lost interest in him and she didn't clean his tiny pathetic little bowl very often and one time when she did, she actually dropped him into a sink of hot soapy water. Now he has a nice little tank with a filter and he gets his water changed when it looks icky, but I don't know how often I'm supposed to change the little spongy thing in the filter.

Answer 1

this depends on the type of filter you have. If you are using a "biobag" (a white cottony bag over a plastic frame with carbon in the middle) then the black sponge infront of that should only be rinsed using room temp water and put back in, it holds the beneficial bacteria and you dont want to kill them, it can be good to even just rinse them in water you take out for water changes. that should be done only about once a month when you change the filter cartridge. If you have something that has a sponge "prefilter" you should rinse it when you do your water changes, but again only luke warm water so you dont kill the bacteria. If you have an aquaclear filter that has a sponge, then a carbon insert, and then the ceramic rocks in a bag, you should again, rinse the sponge every month, being careful not to kill the bacteria. If well maintained, you can use the filter for years, so long as you keep it rinsed. it may turn from a nice white to a brown, but that isn't necessarily bad and it should be fine! good luck!

Answer 2

You probably have him in a Aqua cube tiny tank. The little filters (one black sponge followed by a white filter pad) only need to be replaced when they start falling apart. Until then they just need to be rinsed when you do a water change or 1 time a week. Good Luck!

Answer 3

As others have said, rinse it out in the old water each time you do a water change and it will last for years.

MM

Answer 4

every 2 months