Cleaning filters/pads with tap water treated with Prime?

Tha Bizness

Title says it all. I use a Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer so I don't have a bucket of used aquarium water to rinse the filter and pad in. Can I just use tap water in a bucket treated with Prime?

Nubster

I'd think that would be ok since prime is supposed to work instantly. If you are concerned you could get a small 1g bucket from someplace like Lowes and dip some water into it from the tank.

chevysoldier

I use the same thing to change my water. But when I clean my filter instead of hooking it to the faucet, I sometimes just use it as a regular siphon to drain some water into a bucket for rinsing. I also have one of those cheap gravel vacs, just the tubing and vac end, that I use just to siphon tank water into a bucket.

Byron

This will shock some, no doubt...

I have always rinsed my filters under the tap. However, there is a qualification to this: live plants. If the tank is well planted, biological filtration is not necessary because the plants do it. My canister and sponge filters are just there to keep the water clear, and they do that simply by moving the water through media. The job of keeping the water clean is left to the plants.

There is also more nitrifying bacteria in the substrate and on every surface in the tank, than in the average filter. So unless the tank is overstocked or biologically unbalanced, no detriment is likely to occur from using tap water to rinse the filter media. But, this applies to well established tanks. I would not recommend this in new tanks without plants.

Byron.