How to Clean Matala® Bio-filters are full of live micro-organisms. Filter media are the bearers of this live. Over-zealous cleansing or purifying the filter media will unbalance the filter ecosystem by eliminating or killing this essential live. Disinfecting or drying of washed media only makes sense in cases where the whole pond needs to be disinfected or dried out. In essence, cleaning a bio-filter should be done with the intention to: Eliminate excessive organic waste (fish excrements, excessive food, plant remains) from the first section of the filter (sedimentation chamber, vortex, etc...). Such need to be done more often to avoid putting an extra burden on the real bio-filter. Rinse out excessive detritus or accumulated bacterial flock from the latter section of the filter to avoid plugging of the filter media, which would create adverse anaerobic conditions. Improve the living conditions of the nitrifying bacteria and micro-organisms that thrive in the bio-filter Please note that when using Matala® media in a well-designed bio-filter with proper flow rate it will be difficult to see plugging of this media. Excessive detritus or bacterial flock will tend to slug of and settle to the filter bottom. Purging the filter will take away this detritus. To clean the real bio-filter section: "Use volume – no pressure" Create handles with strapping material in order to remove R-Matala from chamber easily. Matala® cleans very easily by the following methods: Use water volume – no pressure: use a hose with a sufficient diameter and pour a good volume of water over the media. Pour a full bucket of water over specific sections of the filter media Take out 2 sheets of Matala® and shake the remaining sheets up and down in the filter tank; drain the chamber.   Remove the media from the tank; dirty water falls off; drain chamber. Picture 23: bottom side of black media removed from a pre-filter (sedimentation chamber) after pouring a bowl of water over the right side of the media only. Remove media only if strictly necessary; The above picture proves Matala® release its dirt quit easy. DO NOT THROW MATALA® ON THE GROUND TO KNOCK LOOSE DIRT. Over zealous cleaning is not necessary and will lose too much bacteria. Keep it gentle. Shake the media up and down in the filter tank; drain chamber.