Rinsing filter media in tap water, fact or fiction?

[Odd Duck]

I’ve rinsed sponge filters and other filter media in tap water for decades.  I’ve never seen it cause a problem.  I don’t soak them in it, just rinse.  Because I don’t clean them that often, I try not to clean all the filter media in a tank at the same time since it takes a bit to clean them and I probably killing off or rinsing away a fair percentage of my BB’s.  Just to be safest, I try to separate cleaning the other media in any given tank by a week or 2.  I’m a multi filter kind of aquarist, so I almost always have more than one filter in a tank.

[Keeg]

On 9/17/2021 at 3:16 PM, Streetwise said:

@Ken, @Keeg, I grew up with perfect well water, so I could get away with 100% water changes before I knew any better. It is nice knowing that your water is safe.

Plus with no water bill, its like asking for more tanks

[ChemBob]

I saw Jason's video when it came out and have been using tap water since then. I have had no issues and have relatively heavily stocked tanks. I run a sponge filter and a Fulval 207 in both tanks. However, I do not rinse the sponge and canister media at the same time. I also have a prefilter sponge on the canister intake that is rinsed on a different day as well. I think separating the media makes sense. I also think if you use hot water that will kill of significantly more bb, so use only cold water. I think it likely depends a bit on your tap composition as well, so be careful and make your own decisions. 

Edited September 17, 2021 by ChemBob

[Tihshho]

On 9/17/2021 at 4:48 PM, Streetwise said:

However, my snails, shrimp, and grazers clean my sponges for me,

On the surface maybe. You'd be surprised on how much mud come out of some of the filters to the point they are not getting enough flow through them. I thought my Pleco tanks were bad, and I was of the mindset that shrimp are 'cleaner' and don't produce a lot of waste. Boy was that far from the truth. Sponges that I hadn't cleaned for 8 months took forever to clean once I pulled them from the shrimp tanks. Since then I put them in the rotation of cleaning. Every week I clean one of two sponges in tanks that have fish. In shrimp tanks I do the same thing every 2 weeks, just to play it safe. Even then the waste is insane. 

I should post a pictured of shrimp waste in the bare bottom cull tank, within 24 hours a squeaky clean bottom is covered in shrimp and snail poop.

[Streetwise]

@Tihshho, clean is not important to me. I run organic soil tanks with more plants than fish. Your mess sounds excellent to me.

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Thanks for posting this @Scott P.!  I love when Jason, a biologist, sits in front of his computer and shows you the actual research debunking "common knowledge" or things that "stand to reason".  It's one of the great things about science - sometimes you get so proven wrong you are completely surprised.  The best day for a scientist is a day your data tells you, that you, and by extension probably what we all think we know, are wrong! 

[mommygourami]

I think when people give advice, they are very cautious and tend to lean on the "safer" route for varied potential audiences.  A new fish keeper may not know to wait until the cycle is complete to rinse their filter - I noted Jason said he waits about 4 weeks before rinsing his sponges in tap water.  He also noted you would get more die off the longer you let the sponge stay in tap water.  Some folks may not think about the potential risk for soaps, bleach, etc. in the sink area.

Also, everyone's water is different.  I heard somewhere recently that sometimes municipal water can have significant spikes in chlorine due to some sort of "flush" to the system.

It's funny how many people interviewed on the aquarist podcast have memories of scrubbing down their entire tank, decorations, substrate, etc. with tap water because no one knew any better "back then". 

I like Jason and watched his videos a lot when I got into fishkeeping.  How smart of him to take his knowledge of science and bring his videos up a notch on the fish nerd scale.  I think even seasoned aquarists would enjoy learning about the advanced science to this hobby. 

Thanks for posting @Scott P.

[lefty o]

On 9/17/2021 at 7:41 PM, mommygourami said:

I think when people give advice, they are very cautious and tend to lean on the "safer" route for varied potential audiences.  A new fish keeper may not know to wait until the cycle is complete to rinse their filter - I noted Jason said he waits about 4 weeks before rinsing his sponges in tap water.  He also noted you would get more die off the longer you let the sponge stay in tap water.  Some folks may not think about the potential risk for soaps, bleach, etc. in the sink area.

Also, everyone's water is different.  I heard somewhere recently that sometimes municipal water can have significant spikes in chlorine due to some sort of "flush" to the system.

It's funny how many people interviewed on the aquarist podcast have memories of scrubbing down their entire tank, decorations, substrate, etc. with tap water because no one knew any better "back then". 

I like Jason and watched his videos a lot when I got into fishkeeping.  How smart of him to take his knowledge of science and bring his videos up a notch on the fish nerd scale.  I think even seasoned aquarists would enjoy learning about the advanced science to this hobby. 

Thanks for posting @Scott P.

you bring up a good point about soap, bleach residue etc in your sinks. when i do wash an aquarium item in a sink, i do not let it touch anything. picking up a household cleaner residue of any type from the sink or counter you might set it on is more of a concern for me than just killing off bacteria. dont forget to wash your hands before sticking them in your tanks too.

[Randall from Texas]

I rinse all my stuff in tap water after Cory mentioned it in a video. Sponges, hoses, ceramic media. Heavily planted though. I have never been able to detect ammonia for the week after. I have seen cloudy water but still no ammonia.

[StevesFishTanks]

I recently installed a "tank water" faucet on my sink next to the main faucet. It is tapped into my auto water change chloramine removal system. I mainly use it for brine shrimp rinsing and filling the ziss hatchers. Before installing I cleaned my sponges, hatched and rinsed brine shrimp daily in chloramine water with no negative effect. I now clean and fill using the filtered faucet.

[Fish Folk]

Great video from Jason! I use tap / city water. I run 2x sponges in most tanks, and alternate weeks cleaning out one side / then the other just to be on the safe side. If you have substrate and hardscape, I suspect that enough bacteria colonizes there to keep a tank from crashing even if a lot of bacteria is lost down a drain when cleaning a sponge. As always, if your bio load is really heavy, you need to filter accordingly.