How often do you clean your Rena XP4

[Cichlid2010]

Just want to see how often do you clean your Rena XP4 Canister.

I have two XP4s running on my 75 gallon and I clean them alternatively every week. It does keep water clean but it is a lot of work. Wondering if there is an easy way.

[jobber604]

This would make for a great poll question in the future. I've had my xP4 for a year now. There are three instances when I will clean the filter out (rinse the Seachem matrix, and clean out the slimy filtration pads):
1.) When I notice the water coming out of the outflow to slow
2.) The week before I go on vacation
3.) Every 3 months

I feed often and have a lot of detritus from almond leaves so the filtration pads do get clogged up. I don't bother rinsing the bio-media these past few times; but focus on cleaning the filtration pads thoroughly and put the filter back together.

No easy way, but you could put a pre-filter foam on the intake; however, the foam does get clogged up quite fast due to the amount of water volume being passed through.

[taureandragon76]

I change mine as little as I can as if you clean it too often you could end up with mini cycles and cause problems with your water.

[jiayaw]

I have an xp3 for my 75 gallon, and what I do is when I do my weekly water change, I clean the spray bar and the intake pipes, and then take out the canister and leaving the media (seachem matrix and the sponge aside), I just change my filter floss on a weekly/biweekly basis depending on how dirty the filter floss gets by time I open up the canister. I try not to touch the Seachem matrix, but so far, I've rinsed the sponges once with old tank water and that was pretty much it.

[gklaw]

This would make for a great poll question in the future. I've had my xP4 for a year now.
1.) When I notice the water coming out of the outflow to slow
2.) The week before I go on vacation
3.) Every 3 months

My type of maintenance as well I put a sponge on all the inlet strainers to keep the sponge inside the canister clean and keep wood from being sucked in - good feeding ground for plecos as well. When the flow slow down, it usually means I have to clean the sponge at the inlet strainer - minimize having to open the canister. Once I thought my canister was broken when I forgot about the strainer sponge

I use filter floss only when I need to polish the water. They tends to require more cleaning/replacement as they trap a lot of detritus.

[hi-revs]

both my xp3 and xp4 i clean on an alternate monthly basis.

I use to use a prefilter, but find that it gets clogged up within days. Also hate using a prefilter because everytime i remove it to clean, all the crap falls back into the water.
I like the idea of using one, but seems like a lot of work to pull it out ever 2-3 days.

[Clayborg]

I have two XP3's on a 90 gallon which I alternately clean every month so they each go two months between changing (40% water changes every week or two).

I can't echo jobber604 's comment about also doing a change just before a vacation. I had an aquarium tragedy a while back that I mostly attribute to this mistake.

[Adz1]

I have 3 on my 250g and i clean 1 a week.

[Gregzz4]

I had 2 XP3s on my 125g for over a year. Tank was heavily stocked and over-fed twice daily.
I replaced the top floss pad once a month.
I had 2 each of the 20 and 30 pads in the bottom tray. They were only replaced every 3 months or so. I rinsed the new pads in the old water to scavenge some bacteria, then added tank water to re-fill the canister.
I NEVER cleaned the bio-stars.
And I waited one week between each canister bottom pad changes, but did the tops the same day.

[ninez]

I had 2 XP3s on my 125g for over a year. Tank was heavily stocked and over-fed twice daily.
I replaced the top floss pad once a month.
I had 2 each of the 20 and 30 pads in the bottom tray. They were only replaced every 3 months or so. I rinsed the new pads in the old water to scavenge some bacteria, then added tank water to re-fill the canister.
I NEVER cleaned the bio-stars.
And I waited one week between each canister bottom pad changes, but did the tops the same day.

Why do the 20 and 30 pads need to be replaced?