Cleaning Canister Filters

[adam_ottawa]

Thanks for all the replies folks!

The cycling is getting there.

Today, ammonia was at 0, nitrites 0.25 and nitrates 160 ppm.

Compared to 2 days ago:  ammonia 4.0, nitrites 0.25 and nitrate 160 ppm.

Compared to 5 days ago:  ammonia 8.0 nitrite 2.0 and nitrate 160 ppm.

Both ammonia and nitrites spiked last week and are going down rapidly.

When I empty the water to add the rocks, the nitrates will be lowered quite a bit.  In that respect, I'm thinkning it won't be a good idea to even consider cleaning out the filter anyway.  The output of the filter seems to still be very strong.

After the water change and rock additions, I'll add another dose of ammonia and I'm hoping to be on my way.

[artw]

you're going to want to remove all of the water (99%) but don't let the stuff in the tank dry out,  as some of your bacteria lives on the glass etc.