filter cleaning

[Dark Phoenix]

In the last few days I've read a couple of times that cleaning the filter
with tap water kills all the good bio-bugs. Is this true of any water (say,
untreated well water), or just chlorinated water? Once and a while I give
the filter a quick rinse to get the yeech off the back, but our water is
totally untreated. If you can't rinse it off, how *do* you get the yuck off?
(I'm speaking of stuff like uneaten flake food)
thanks,
Laurie

[Gunther]

In article >,
says...
> In the last few days I've read a couple of times that cleaning the filter
> with tap water kills all the good bio-bugs. Is this true of any water (say,
> untreated well water), or just chlorinated water? Once and a while I give
> the filter a quick rinse to get the yeech off the back, but our water is
> totally untreated. If you can't rinse it off, how *do* you get the yuck off?
> (I'm speaking of stuff like uneaten flake food)
> thanks,
> Laurie
>
>
>
Well water is OK. It's chlorine/choramine that's to be avoided.
Gunther

[Jim Brown]

Dark Phoenix > wrote in message
...
> In the last few days I've read a couple of times that cleaning the filter
> with tap water kills all the good bio-bugs. Is this true of any water
(say,
> untreated well water), or just chlorinated water? Once and a while I give
> the filter a quick rinse to get the yeech off the back, but our water is
> totally untreated. If you can't rinse it off, how *do* you get the yuck
off?
> (I'm speaking of stuff like uneaten flake food)
> thanks,
> Laurie
>
>

If untreated and safe to drink then that would be fine.
You don't say how often the flake food plugs the system. I might suggest
cutting back on the food, or switching to pellets which don't break down as
much. I could also suggest turning off the filter for the 5-10 minutes
needed for the fish to eat, but there is a very real chance that one might
forget to restart the filter.
As one of my hobbyist friends says, "No fat filter is ever going to win a
prize".

Jim