A couple of posts from Simply Discus that comport with my perspective on the value of frequently cleaning canisters (especially with sensitive fish).
There are lots of folks who only clean their filters when the flow is reduced. Just airing an alternative viewpoint...
Matt
Something that I've noticed on a number of different threads is that hobbyists are only cleaning these filter every few months..........my question to them is what's the difference between leaving all the crap scattered around the aquarium or having it collected in one spot...ie: the mechanical media. Until the crud is actually physically removed from the system the water has not been filtered. As long as the crud is within the filter/system, bacteria will be breaking it down into DOC's and indirectly nitrates. Mechanical media should be cleaned weekly IMO.
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While discus hobbyists do massive water changes which keeps water pristine, chem wise, the crud that's accumulating in the filter is constantly producing negative products ........all you're doing is diluting them with the water changes
That crud is being broken down by hetertrophic bacteria which is producing ammonia via mineralization. That ammonia, in the end results in NO3...miss a few water changes and you have higher than normal NO3.
Pathogenic bacteria such as Columnaris, Pseudomonas and Aeromonas love crud...Aeromonas thrives on the casings of feces........
Parasites, like Trichodina, also love crud.............The bottom line is the sooner the crap is out of the system the better;
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IMO clean mechanical filter media as often as possible
