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I've been replacing each poly/carbon cartridge every two weeks or so (one at a time as the box says to never change them at the same time.) How thorough can I clean the rest of the unit? Is running tap water through the foam pads ok? I have replacement BIOMAX nodes, but haven't had the filter for 6 months yet. The instructions say to only clean the body filter once a year?? Seems crazy.

Thanks in advance!

In the long run, you'll likely find the U3 isn't a powerful enough filter.

That being said, you can clean the other parts. However do not use tap water. Tap water has chloramine or chlorine added to kill bacteria. We want to grow bacteria in our filter to convert ammonia to nitrate, which we remove via water changes. Cleaning filter parts in tap water will kill that bacteria, and we start over.

When you want to clean the sponges/biomax, siphon so e of the aquarium water into a bucket. Squeeze the sponges out in the water a few times and swish the biomax around. That's it.

Oh, and here's the secret: they tell you to replace the sponges and biomax so they can sell you more. Replace the sponges when they start to fall apart. I'm told biomax lasts forever. I've moved to a larger canister filter, but I still have some of the same biomax I had when I started over two years ago.

You do replace the carbon because it can't be rinsed to rid it of the impurities it has adsorbed.

When you find you want to move to a canister filter, move your biomax into it. That will help seed the system.

Only filter media you should be replacing is the carbon or charcoal. The sponge can be cleaned in some tank water and the ceramic can also be rinsed in tank water. Replacing is bad and should only be done when it starts to fall apart.
Carbon should be replaced every 2 months ish

Awesome, thanks so much!!