Three Years Without Cleaning Canister Filter!!! 

Hope you enjoy the video, check out this new filter: bit.ly/2E9ahX2

I never touch my canisters unless the flow comes to a crawl. That sludge is phenomenal BB.

Why can't I tear my eyes away? There's something super satisfying about extreme before/after pics. :P

I am amazed, three years, and that was as bad as it got? I've got HOB filters that get nastier than that in only a month, lol.

I can't get borred watching your videos Bob...they are funny and entertaining; educational too. Keep them coming.

Some suction cups can be "revived" by dropping them in water that has just been boiled. Doesn't take more than a moment. It only works on suction cups that were once stiff i.e. it won't fix a crappy quality suction cup. Handy if for no other reason than to buy you some time until you order new ones.

I love tank/filter clean-up vids they inspire me to also do some cleaning!

It really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be! Nice shot at the end. 😍

Great video Bob! I didn't clean my fluval 404 for roughly 2 years and mine was in about the same condition as yours. Gotta love sponge prefilters

I went to pick up a tank from an old lady who couldn't take care of her fish anymore, she put in one of the first gen fluval canisters and never cleaned it even once since she bought it. This was back in 2018, so it wasn't cleaned for many years. I cracked it open when I got home and it was actually very clean. She had all fake plants and one pleco she had in there for years, so not much bio load.

Hey Bob, been missing a few videos due to personal reasons but now I'm back. Great video again as always

Very cool video. Its interesting to see how everything looked after 3 years.

I’m currently afraid to open my canister filter after 6 months but after seeing yours after 3 yrs I feel better now 😂! Awesome rainbows by the way 🌈

I figured you'd have a glass ready to squeeze the sponges into, and have a drink. Lol. Its good to know that canister filters can go so long without cleaning. Great vid Bob! 👍

This is smells terrific. I bet it has that new car smell

I turned off my canister for a month and it wad still full or dirty media and water. I realised after a month that the canister is still full so today I opened it. My god the smell was awesome. Nearly puked multiple times and I just completely killed the bacteria, using disinfectant and chlorine. I’ll cycle it again when I set the tank up again. The nastiest smell I have ever smelled, so much ammonia.

You definitely don't overfeed like I do. Very nice.

Bob, try boiling the suction cup for 2-3 minutes. They should comeback to initial form.

My GOD!! I SPEECHLESS

I thought mines were bad because I had not cleaned them for a year lol you got me beat haha😜

I have the same problems with 2 power heads every time I do water changes . I just unplug them and take the front off and spin the propeller manually and plug them back in . If it's not spinning the right way just do it again and spin it the other way .

I have the same circulation pump and you have to keep unplugging it and plugging it back in and it will pump the right direction eventually

I have a canister filter that I bought 2 years ago and it's never been maintenanced. I only change the sponge on the HOB filter.

Looks like chocolate 🍫 nice cleaning video Bob! Now you’ve got another 3 years before you clean it out again 😂

Bob when your HOB stops working when plugged back in means you have to clean the motor assembly area really good and the impeller. Then when you plug it back in, it should start up again. I have to do that with my Aqua Clears all the time. About every 3rd to 4th time I clean my HOB I have to clean the motor and impeller area really good.

Should have tested your nitrate to see how bad they got in that filter 😳

You must've had a mega colony of beneficial bacteria in there. Plus a lot of expired bacteria. lol I think without the pre-filter on the intake, It would've been clogged up pretty bad. Interesting video.

Watching some oldies but goodies while working 😊That was not as bad I would have assumed it would be! I am not sure I would have the guts to go 3 years...even with my pre-filter sponges 🤣

I use sun sun 603b canisters on all my tanks, on my 55 I use a 603b and a 603. I just cleaned the filter on my 29 gal after 3 months and it was real clean so I try and wait a year. Thanks for the great video.

You can put your suction cups in really hot water for a bit and they go back to original shape and work like new.

i bet ur flow will be better now

Love your channel 😊

The title is all I needed before my first canister purchase.

I know this is probably too late.. anyway.. you can soak suction cups in boiling water to make them like new again.

I'm not the least bit surprised at how clean the filter sponges were. People don't seem to grasp how mechanical filtration works. That "pre-filter" sponge was finer than any of the sponges in the canister. That means it was impossible for anything big enough to clog the filter to actually get to the filter. The only mechanical filtration on that pump was the pre-filter. The correct way to do mechanical filtration is to go from coarse to fine as you go downstream. The pre-filter should be a screen just fine enough to prevent fry or large debris from getting into the pump. Then work your way down through the grades of foam to as fine as you want or can get. If you really want to get fancy you can do sand, then garnet, even down to diatomaceous earth like pools and municipal water supplies use.

That was surprisingly clean

That looks like the soup I just made. Delicious!

Awesome video bob

Great video bob those rainbows look nice

Heres to another 3 years!!!! LOL

“This smells terrific “....lol!

Awesome ! I wonder how it will work with saltwater . Thanks

Look at all those colors after three years!

I did wysteria years ago in a tank. It took over almost immediately. Had to trim it back every couple of weeks minimum.

Welp I liked the video because it was published on my birthday 😩🙌🏾 great video

I do have one exactly like yours, I had a piece of paper with the date that I cleaned last.. today I was cleaning the tank because i want to get some more fish and when i look at the piece of paper the last time I had cleaned was 5/20/2015 .. it was so dirty that I felt guilty and stupid for loosing so many fish probably do to that fact.

For it being 3 years without cleaning that is not bad

I never mess with my canister filter unless the water flow slows down. I have a Fluval FX6, the thing is a beast!

You're right, that was disgusting. $1 to drink it ... no, but maybe I'd consider at $5, LOL. Pre-filters are the way to go with canisters. Rainbows look great. Thanks.

Was kind of disappointed a swamp monster didn't crawl out of there.

just watching and i do hope you dried the electric plug before putting back in

"I'll give anyone a dollar to drink that "(nasty filter water) 😂😂😂😂

If you can can stick something I to that power head and touch the fan blade while it is running it will probably reverse the direction to make it spin the right way

I have them same powerheads and they will go back words to. I have to plug and unplug them and they will go forward

Did you prime the HOB?...and sometimes if you lift the intake and then push it back down they kick on.

Haven't cleaned mine in 4 years. Will film it when I do. Those look like red sulfur bacteria. I guess the smell confirms it.

I'm well over a year on my two cascade canisters, zero nitrate. Layered pond foams and otherwise full of Biohome. No nitrates or other problems, no water changes just evaporation top offs

I have the same problem w/ my sunsun jvp wavemakers, all I do is keep plugging and unplugging it and after a few tries it spins the right way

that was informative thank you Sir 😎👍🏻

i clean my fx6's on my 360 gallon once a year maybe ...floss in a seperate filter gets changed every few days takes 1 minute ....never understood people who constantly clean filters just because

I change mine in my 125 gal. when the pressure drops, about 3 months.

I have a custom DIY trickle wet/dry tower sump, and I only clean the filter sock and micro sponge about once a month or so. As for water changes, none whatsoever. I only top off my sump when the water level gets low. As for water perameters, all normal, no unsafe levels anywhere. I have about 130 Platties in a 45 gal tank, sump is a 25 gal tank, but really only has maybe 10 gallons of water in it. I only started with 6 platties. Am wanting to get plants put in, but am holding off until I get a much bigger tank. That way I dont have to deal with breaking down a planted tank.

I just went 4 and a half years with only cleaning a sponge filter by squeezing it in the water. I opened it up because the air wasnt going through and a bunch of nasty stuff was growing on it and won't come off lmao

Surprised that filter was moving any water. Why wait 3 years before cleaning? Thats crazy.

I might be weird but I HATE my FX6! Seemed like it was always needing cleaning. It has been replaced by 3 AC110's and is in the closet gathering dust.

Man that tank looks really neglected. I am curious why you didn't clean that canister filter for 3 years is it some kind of experiment?

Amazing.which filter is that by the way?

Did you get a shock pluging the filter in after washing the plug🤣🤣

By the way you don't need to clean your filter unless water pressure is low

Plants like softer water right??

Nice

The cheapo ebay pumps can be reversed with a thin paintbrush or stick. You just interrupt the prop and it will usually reverse after a couple tries. Small price to pay for small price. heh.

The power head needs the propeller taken out and put in back to front

Yikes!!!!! Woot woot

This smell is terrific hahahaha

Am alarmed! crushed coral, where is this stuff from? Oh my bloody good god!

If someone asked me "which youtuber just released a video with this title" youd be my first guess

Love the intro it is like stranger things

whats the deference between the garden hose and water from the sink

feel free to bag that shoe box and ship to me.

Did you actually reinstall every filter you removed and still had all that room for coral?

Hey Tom Hanks! Great beard bud!

Nice! Unfortunately I find myself watching your battlegrounds videos with Jimmy and flip more then the fish videos now they are entertaining

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Wow did I miss THIS gem? A water change video without flooding???? WTH?!

Lol I knew you’d make a video out of it.

Cool

Are you spossed to clean them 👍

it's a poop shake maker

8:03 is that DC or AC (In Australia we can not reverse our plug input, No use) if its DC it should reverse the direction of the propellor, if its AC It will (AFAIK) not change the motor spin direction, I think its because of the way the power is polarised after the bridge rectifier. What brand model? have you modified it or changed any parts?

Ayeee stranger things intro 🤙🏼

" there's nothing even in here ...interesting " lol

Can you just add crushed coral like that and doesn’t effect the ph? I tried adding a small bag to each of my tanks and next day I had a dead fish in each tank

What brand is this? You got it from EBay?

3 years ? Not bad at all

No just blow off the detritus on that sponge filter. If its growing moss

Oh snap I bet you could went longer 😁👍

7th video i gotta change this canister filter too its been a year some day but not today lol

Can I buy something to help clean up a character canister, like fuel clean

That's what you call acclimation!