A chemical to clean internal filter in my aquarium

Question

I have kept fish for about six years now and as most know cleaning the filter not the best however when i moved up to my large jewel 260 tank the filter is terrible its hard to get access to, its hard to clean, it doesnt do a very good job. However i cant afford a new filter and i dont want to look ionto anything other than external.

However what would be very good is a chemical that i could put in my filter that cleaned it and broke down the excretement thats in there. Does anyone know if such a chemical excists or something similar.

Also what do the "filter aids" do

Answer 1

I have to agree with Lan on this, filter aids really don't do anything.

ALthough your filter shouldn't need cleaned every month sometimes even cleaning it every three can be a daunting task.  The best  thing I found for cleaning the filter is elbow grease.

SOrry.  Qtips and new/clean never used pure sponges, rags and bottle brushes hot water and manual labor.

Answer 2

Any chemical that would do any good 'cleaning' a filter would also destroy your cycle bacteria and probably kill your fish.

The cleaning is a mechanical thing, you have to physically remove the gunge thats clogging the filter. Drano just isn't going to work !!

Ian

'Filter aids' are designed to remove money from your pocket.

Answer 3

If the filter contains activated carbon, then cleaning the filter won't fully fix it, b/c the carbon is needed to neutralize the nitrogen in the fish's excrement.

But I've had good luck just rinsing the filter under fast flowing water, so that the water pushes the gunk back out (the reverse of the direction it was in while filtering).  

You should be able to extend the life of the filter this way.  

I strongly recommend against using chemicals b/c they could poison the fish pretty easily. The purpose of the filter (other than any activated carbon) is just to filter the solids out, so you don't need chemicals.