I have 2 cannister filters running in my 55 gallon tank.Since there are 2,I was adviced to clean them alternately.My question is,will it be okay to wash/change the entire filter media that's inside i.e bio balls,ceramic rings,sponges,carbon and all with tap water?And how often should I be cleaning the filters?Thanks...

I rinse my filter stuff with tank water from the tank. I've been told it helps to keep bio bugs in there, as untreated tap water has chorline which could kill all the bio bugs. I clean my filters when I do a water change, so when I siphon and fill up the first bucket, I use that water to clean my aquarium stuff in.

I do water charges once a week, but I clean my filters every 2-3weeks. I'm not sure if that's enough though, maybe I should be doing it every week

No, never with tap water: the chlorine will instantly destroy the bacteria and you will have to re-cycle. Use plenty of old tank water to wash the gunk out of the filter media; you're not looking for it to be sparkly-perfect, only solid-gunk free.

What kind of canisters have you got? Cleaning routines vary between brands (or so I have read). Some people only need to clean them once a quarter, other people clean them every 2 /3 weeks. Depends on how big they are and how stocked your tank is, etc.

I have a 55 g tank currently with 6 gfs,1 pleco.Weekly water changes 50% and I have been cleaning the filters once every month.1 of my filter is a tetra expower filter and 1 made here I think it's called X power box both designed for 55 g tanks.

My husband said that since there are 2,it'd be okay to wash it with tap water since bacteria is growing in the other one.I also wash it in between water changes just to be safe.Then I wait for a week and wash the other one.Am I making sense? I am not good at explaining so please bear with me Thanks..

Why would you ever want to wash your ceramics and bio media at all? The whole point is to have bacteria grow on them since they do no chemical or mechanical filtration by themselves. If you ever do need to rinse a filter, always use dechlorinated water. Chlorine will kill all your good bacteria and send you tank back into mini cycles.

Most of the media will eventully get some yuck on it - when I clean my cannister, I take it apart in a large bucket. I dump the nasty stuff that is in the bottom of the cannister. The baskets of various media get plunged gently up and down in used fish water to rinse the yuck out. They are replaced into the main body of the filter and the filter pad is usually replaced. I then fill it with used fish water and set it going again and then change out the tank the normal amount of water, just as if I did nothing to the filter.

A cannister does need to be cleaned. The media can use a gently rinsing - just not in tap water.

Thank you all so much for helping I will never wash it anymore with tap water.I wouldn't want to crash my cycle

Never wash the media with tap water. I did once and it crashed my filter system. It took more than 3 week to get the tank cycled again as my tank is bare bottom. My filter had 2 seperate section both with media and washing just one section caused the system to crash. I also learn that you need to check the PH regularly and keep it abouve 7.0 (PH7.5 is recommended from what read). Add some baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to act as a buffer as during the nitrification process the alkalanity will fall thus adding BS will help increase the alkalinity. At low PH or low alkalinity (low KH) the good bactiria will stop working and you will see ammonia in your tank.
Cheers....

Thank you Ranchu man
I'm soo glad it didn't crash my cycle.I washed them twice already Anyway,I'm gonna use tank water next time

I think you got the message.

Actually, my Ph is at 7.0 and my fish are fine. If your Ph is stable they can tolerate a wide range of Phs. Ph crashes are what kills fish.