"George" wrote in message
.. .

"david williams" wrote in message
...
HI,
My filter seems to soon fill with a browny green sludge. Should I clean
it
or will cleaning it destroy the bacteria i need?


Take a bucket and fill it with some of the pond water. Rinse it out with
some
of this water. Don't use tap water.


The brown-green sludge is most likely a combination of the dead bacteria,
algae, and sediment that settled onto the filter media. It can be safely
washed off.

As for not using tap water. I wouldn't worry about it. The bacteria are
growing everywhere in your pond. Within a few hours of replacing the filter
media, the bacteria colonies will begin to establish themselves on the
filter media.

The few million that die from chlorinated water exposure may cause a spike
in ammonia/nitrate levels for a day, until the bacteria can fully establish
themselves. Hardly worth worrying about, or the extra effort of using pond
water to clean.

When I clean my bio filter, I use a garden hose and spray the muck off the
filter. I usually try to save as much of the mucky water as I can, to water
the roses. The rest just gets dumped onto the lawn.

Snooze