[dprais1]

I have about 35 OEBT shrimp in a 20L (prob holding 15 gallons of h2o)with a air powered sponge filter and a fluval 20, sponge on the intake.

for plants I have a bunch of moss and a good 20-40% of the surface covered in floaters.

I add no ferts except a 'dash' of potassium every two weeks when I change about a gallon of water.

every mon-wed-fri the shrimp get about 2-3 flakes of fish food.

I top off only with RO water.

On the fluval20 I only use the sponge inserts.

So far, I have had zero deaths I have a few saddled females and I have one berried.
20 shimps have been in the tank about 5 weeks. 15 in the tank for about 2 weeks.

My QUESTION...

How often should I clean my filters? I have been taking the 'keep your hands out of the tank' approach so far and I'm happy with that.

I was thinking to just clean the sponge after 3 months, the HOB 3 months after cleaning the sponge, then the sponge in another 3 months.
-you get the idea.


FYI all my parameters are fine and filters fully cycled, nitrate reads zero or it is so close I cant tell the difference.


any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[ctaylor3737]

Yea I don't clean mine very often unless its my heavily stocked neos and then that is only if it really needs it. The less hardy the species is I tend to stay out of the tank more, I even match the temp on my pure RO and drip the top offs in. Parameters never change

 

[Master503]

umm this is something great to learn here. I clean my sponge 1-2 for every month, but only clean my HOB once per month. When I clean ... I just do a quick clean, not super deep clean for both type and of course even clean every month it's still dirty ...

Myself don't really do drip for top off pure RO. I just put it in slowly by a small cup because I top off every week, and each time not alot of water .. like about 1 gallon or less. I do change 10%-15% water once per month.

 

[ctaylor3737]

umm this is something great to learn here. I clean my sponge 1-2 for every month, but only clean my HOB once per month. When I clean ... I just do a quick clean, not super deep clean for both type and of course even clean every month it's still dirty ...

Myself don't really do drip for top off pure RO. I just put it in slowly by a small cup because I top off every week, and each time not alot of water .. like about 1 gallon or less. I do change 10%-15% water once per month.

My cardinals like the higher temps even with a great lid, evaportation through where the filter comes in is enough to have to do it more often then I would like to.