Washing Your Bio

[esoxlucius]

Dr Stephen Tanner, his advice highlighted in red in dogofwars earlier post, and as RD quite rightly picked up on, shouldn't be making blanket statements about how ok it is to rinse media in tap water. YES, if the tap water chlorine levels are low enough, are the same worldwide and never fluctuate, but definitely NO if the levels can be totally different from area to area, as is the case here.

We had a thread not long ago about misinformation being regurgitated by inexperienced hobbyists. This advice from Dr Stephen Tanner, which RD quite rightly finds ridiculous, too me, is incorrect information coming from a guy with "DR" in front of his name!! A newbie reading Mr Tanners blanket statement, and putting it into practice could wipe their tank out!

 

[dogofwar]

I've been using most of the pieces of Poret foam in my tanks for several years. Is yours in direct sunlight or some other odd conditions? Is it from Swisstropicals?

My Poret foam started deteriorating rapidly when I cleaned it that way. I resorted to blasting it with the garden hose and it's more effective and less damaging. Still, the foam only lasts about a year.

 

[dogofwar]

+1

I didn't post with the intention to convince anyone of its validity.
The OP asked "who else does this?" I raised my hand.
I am an experienced aquarist who has done this for many years. But, I know how.
MY tanks dont crash, my discus are healthy and strong, wild fish fine, my new altums doing great.
I will continue to wash my bio-media in tap, change it out for new every 4 years, and use my mechanical media strictly as mechanical.

 

[dogofwar]

Seems like the guy, a scientist no less, who uses and sells Poret foam (among others) and personally interacts with thousands of hobbyists around the world who use Poret (that he's sold them) would hear complaints or problems if the advice he was giving with regard to how to clean Poret was incorrect or was wiping out tanks.

In regards to residual chlorine and tap water, Dr. Stephan Tanner is talking out of his ass.

The residual chlorine level as it leaves the tap can be anywhere from 0, to 3 ppm+. (in North America) And that is not even considering the residual from chloramine, a residual that is not affected by "gassing off" etc.

As I have already expressed several times, what may work for one individual, and their set up, in their city, and their tap water, may wipe a tank out a few counties over. And that is not even considering the global nature of MFK, that has members world-wide.

Yes, most likely not all of the bio-bacteria will be killed off, even at elevated levels of chlorine, but it won't just bounce back in an hour or two, either. Why on earth would anyone want to subject their fish to that? It's like saying a little bit of second hand smoke won't hurt an infant. Really? Y'all do understand that many municipalities now use chloramine. Right? With chloramine it's quite possible to have the same residual at your tap, as it leaves the plant. Where I live the water from our treatment plant is piped to various cities, the furthest one an hours drive from here. And guess what, when it arrives that water still contains disinfectant!

Chlorine is a toxin to bacteria, that's why they use it for disinfection. Obviously the levels of disinfectant residual is going to be lower in some areas, and much higher in others. At higher levels it will kill a good percentage of the bacteria in your filters. The longer they are exposed, the more it will kill.

I feel like I just landed in the twilight zone.

Hopefully anyone reading this thread uses some common sense, and makes damn sure that they know what the residual level is coming out of their tap, before they follow anyone's advice.

 

[squint]

I've been using most of the pieces of Poret foam in my tanks for several years. Is yours in direct sunlight or some other odd conditions? Is it from Swisstropicals?

I did buy it from Swisstropicals. It's used as mechanical filtration in my wet/dry--nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[RD.]

Seems like the guy, a scientist no less, who uses and sells Poret foam (among others) and personally interacts with thousands of hobbyists around the world who use Poret (that he's sold them) would hear complaints or problems if the advice he was giving with regard to how to clean Poret was incorrect or was wiping out tanks.

If I had a nickel for every scientist that has been proven incorrect over the years, I'd be living on an island with Duane. lol I would assume that most people that use Poret have more common sense than the good doctor. I know a number of people who use, or have used Poret foam over the years, including a local discus breeder that ran 2,000+ gallons worth of tanks, and he never cleaned his foam under tap water. Never. Did he contact the doctor to tell him that he thought that was stupid advice? Not that I know of, he just went about tending his fish room like he had for several decades.

 

[RD.]

Just for funsies I checked out the local water report for where the doctor resides, Rochester Minnesota. The water tested in 2017 showed a range of chlorine residual at 0.5-0.8 - and an average result of 0.7

So the water as it leaves his taps, year round he would be rinsing in what most would consider a very low residual of chlorine. Depending on how far away he is located from the treatment facility, he could be showing only a trace of chlorine as it leaves his taps, possibly as low as 0.1-0.3

So yeah, the doc could easily get away with rinsing his bio-media in tap water.

I would like to see him try that in 2-3 ppm chloramine. Apparently unlike some here I've seen it done, so I already know the answer. Years ago I helped a friend who couldn't figure out what was going on in his tank, it seemed to always be cloudy. When I started asking more questions it turned out that he was cleaning his (established) FX5 media under the tap in his laundry room. @ 2 ppm chloramine that didn't work out so well.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I will not again go back thru the thread finding quotes about how I and some others take precautions to preserve some bb when cleaning bio-media. Already did that and these important parts of such posts continue to be ignored.
I expect some loss of bb colonies when I clean with tap water. I make sure to never clean all the media at one time. I usually do the cleaning during a WC so can treat for "residual" chemicals such as chlorine at the same time. I do not do the more thorough cleaning willy-nilly, but when it becomes needed.

It will not bother me if everyone in the hobby chooses the "rinse gently in tank water" for all media and does reuse gunked up mechanical media. I recall one statement that puzzled me. That being the use of old tank water to refill a filter chamber. Why not use new tap water with some PRIME in it the same as during a WC?

A more polite way to point out that there is selective pick and choose responses in this thread escapes me. I get that some are true believers with regard to a particular practice. So be it. I also do not feel that I and a few others are leading new fish keepers down the path to destruction as we did add cautions.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Let me again try a different point of view on this. Pretend your sump, canister, HOB or other such power filter has failed to the point of having to be replaced. Consider the steps you might take to preserve the bb when adding back a brand new power filter and apply these steps to cleaning old crudded up bio-media.

 

[squint]

Nitrifying bacteria are pretty tolerant of chloramine with some happily growing at 5 mg/L.

It's so common that every drinking water distribution system has to constantly battle nitrifying bacteria.

Interestingly, one method is to switch to free chlorine for a while to knock down the nitrifier population as they are less tolerant of chlorine.

So, at least some people can clean their bio media with tap water and likely get away with it.