Can I wash an aquarium filter to reuse? It's for a 4 gallon tank for a betta.?

Question

I washed it before with the water spray, and it cleans it. How many times can I do this? I need to change the water for the fish today, and I ran out of filters. Nearest pet shop is like 1/2 hour away.

Answer 1

i do it all the time but you have to use water that has alot of pressure to get all the slime and stuff out

Answer 2

when rinsing a filter it is best to do it with existing tank water, water that you take out of the tank for a water change, this is where most of the bacteria live that keeps the water safe for the fish, I keep my filters for 6-8 months before I buy new ones,but I do not use my filters for anything other then catching debris in the water.

Answer 3

It is better not to wash it, so the good bacterian can help cycle the new betta tank faster!

Answer 4

DO NOT replace the filter pads unless they fall apart

just simply either rinse them in tankwater which you have taken out or rinse them under roomtemperature tapwater

nothing will happen to the good bacteria, it's just important that you wash of the gunk which is accumulating on the filtermedia and slows down the flow of you filter

as for the carbon, replace it about every 2 months, they have refill containers at the petstore

just open the filter bag

remove the carbon, and replace with newly rinsed carbon

as simple as that

any time you replace filter media, your tank will go through a minicyle which is stress for the fish for nothing

Answer 5

Ya you can wash the aquarium filter then reuse it. I do that all the time & nothing bad ever happens. Just be sure to wash it really good.

Answer 6

Yea thats fine,  you shouldn't keep the same filter in for more than 3-4 weeks, but you really should change it every 2 weeks to make sure the water stays clean. Otherwise the bacteria thats still in the old filter will multiply quicker and it makes the water dirtier faster and its not helthy for the fish. Also it makes it smell faster and youll have to clean the tank more often

Answer 7

oh what a bunch of great anwsers (not)

some filters come with a sponge or other bio pad of sorts that is suspose be rinced and reused other filters have a pouch type filter bag that contains activated carbon with thease you should replace the filter in a pinch you can rince them out and reuse untill you can get a replace ment filter

if the tank has been set up for a while you can get a scrubber pad like you use to wash tephlon pans and cut it to fit in place of the filter bag I use two different pads with diferent density of the pad fibers and then you have a reuseable filter medum for the filter the activated carbon isn't really needed in an established tank