marineland 360

[Daisy]

Hello all,

Could I get some advice on how often I should dismantle and clean my Marineland 360 canister filter?  I've understood that canister filters can run for a long time without being cleaned, but I'd appreciate advice on exactly how long.

Thanks.
Daisy.

[ciaus]

Daisy, Hi.
As you know I too have the 360.  From initial setup I ran 30 days, and when i opened it, the unit was nasty....I removed the top fabric "water polisher/floss" and the carbon completely and am now using ceramics in two of the four compartments, and the black plastic media balls in another(75% of the canister is being used for bio filtration)  The bottom chamber has the original large pore black sponge media.

I just opened the unit yesterday and cleaned it out.... (I did not rinse the bio media at all) but i was very aggressive in cleaning the sponge foam pieces.  The run off water was nasty, as black as used motor oil, but then I expected as much because it has now been running 7x24 for close to three months.

Carbon will reach a saturation point and must be changed, so not using carbon reduces the amount of times you need to tinker with the canister....

I am also using a sponge filter in the tank, as it too is an excellent bioload media filter.  I have it not for the added benefits it adds to my main thank, but it is ready to be a filter should I have the need to set up an emergency quarantine tank.

Remember I am running a bare bottom tank, with weekly 30-40% water changes on a 70 gallon system.  You may not care for the bubbling sounds of the sponge filter, and it is not needed, even in my system, but running the 360 as I am should allow it to run for 90 days without issue...it is the media which will dictate how often you have to open it up and clean, because some media will become so clogged as to visibly impair water flow through the canister...

hth

Ciaus.

[Rob Labonte]

I have a c-360 and found the included media was not good enough. mind you im running a turtletank that needs more mechanical filtration than biological.

but even for a strictly fish tank, I dont like the media that comes with the c-360. I find the wimpy little pad it comes with at the top does the only mechanical filtration which is equivalant to a 20g filter pad. id add some filter floss in if I were you.

what i did was find an old pillow I didnt need and ripped it open. stuffed some in my filter and filtration doubled. just dont put too much or you will lower your flow rate. what i did was just loosely pack some on the media that was already there and the flow seemed to stay the same.

[Daisy]

Thanks to you both -  this is very helpful.  It's clear mine is due to be cleaned so I'll follow your advice. 
Much appreciated...!
Daisy.

[Vincenzo.]

need to clean the sponge weekly.. everything else monthly.

^this depends on the size of tank and bio load, especially the bio load.