"Chagoi" wrote in message
...
Barry wrote:

I have a tetra canister filter. Seems like it's been about a year since
I
cleaned it.
Last time I disconnected it and simply cleaned it out. I'm wondering if
I
can some how reverse the
water flow to clean it out? I assume it has good bateria at the bottom,
but
I'm sure there's lots of
gunk down there as well.


Do you ave one of the PF series 1 - 2 or 3?

All I do to mine is remove the 2 filter pads for on top of the bio-media
and
rinse them in a bucket of pond water. I also disconnect the outlet to
the pond,
and connect another hose to it . I then pick up the canister and rock it
back and forth
to stir up the gunk on the bottom of the filter. I do this several times
until the water
flows clear again. The last time I cleaned the filter, I got more than
the usual amount
of sediment out, mostly the "KOI CLAY" I used to clarify the pond water
after
my newly potted cattails fell over and dumped regular clay into the pond.
I have not had to disturb or backwash the bio-media at all, If I keep
the filter pads
clean.

I added smaller bio-media to the large green media tetra gives you. At
least 20 of the
smaller media fits inside the larger media. This gives a greater amount
of surface area
for the bugs to grow on. And I still don't need to back wash the
bio-media.

Chagoi


Mine is the Largest PF series. I assume PF3.
Is this a garden hose you connect to the outlet connection or is it the
water from your pond?

I know I shouldn't but I use a hose to clean the pads. I also use extra
filters from my air conditioning system.