You guys know what I'm talking about I'm sure. That blackish stinky crud that accumulates in pond filters and stuff. WHAT IS IT? Is it anaerobic bacteria? Does MicrobeLift work on it?

Also, if I were to take my whole filter system (full of lava rock and filter pads) and rinse it in old pond water, do I keep all my bio-bugs, or am I rinsing them away? Cuz the rock is mostly just clean looking now, but I don't know if bio-bugs are visible with the naked eye or what?

I mean am I rinsing "part" of them away?

You wont loose your biobugs by rinsing in pond water, they should be on the surface of the thing.. but if its very covered in sludge, i'm not sure.. they might not be able to live under sludge

I think the sludge is just.. like.. poo. It smells VILE, I left my filter a little too long and had to clean it out last week and it was FULL of sludgeypoopstuff.

Nice smell, isn't it? I usually clean out my filters every now and then, and, yeah, its nice. Too bad that sludge is heaven for beneficial bacteria, its their food, as nasty as it looks and smells. Thats why I don't wash my filters too regularly. Once every month if I feed really heavy, like the fry, otherwise its once every 6-8 weeks.

Well I'm always worried that it's going to get my fish sick. It IS anaerobic bacteria, isn't it? I just did a bunch of work to the pond to start gettting it ready for the "big sleep". I rinsed the whole filter in old pond water (I didn't rinse it till the water was clear, but I did get rid of the stanky sludge) and I took the plants out, potted them, brought them inside, and put some big silk plants in to replace them. Hopefully my cycle holds.

I had to get most of mine out as it was blocking the filter up, it must have overheated and turned itself off because of it.

The black sludge is fish poo, food that didn't get eaten, and dirt. It has good and bad bacteria in it. Mostly bad because when the sludge accumulates it doesn't get much oxygen it it, especially the sludge at the bottom of the pond. When it's stirred up in to pond it can release the bad bacteria which causes ulcer disease, which of course is from Pseudomonas and Aeromonas bacteria. So you want to clean out the sludge, as you've done. I did mine in the fall and spring.

When you rinse your bio media (lava rock etc.) with pond water you will lose some good bactria but most stays. It is a good idea to clean at least once a month depending on how large your filter is, how many fish you have, and how much you feed.