Good Morning,
Although I am very pleased with my external filter in general, I am having a devil of a job keeping the pipes clean, they are constantly gunked up and crusted with debris and old food particles. I tried running fast flowing water through them which removed about half of it, but they soon became filthy again. Does anyone know of a good way to clean them out? I thought about pipe-cleaners, but due to the length and diameter of the pipes, I don't think that will work.

ANY suggestions will be much appreciated!! Thanks

Maybe a long handled bottle brush? How long are you talking?

They are about 3 foot in length each, diameter of just under an inch.

If you have a small bottle brush or something similar you could securely fix it to a piece of garden cane or long straight stick and push it through. I use this method for cleaning my water tubes in my tank but I use a mini bottle brush and a chopstick, and it works a treat.

Luckily I haven't had to clean mine

can i ask what type of filter it is?

oh yes i am very interested in wisdom on this i actually got so fed up i replaced mine, seemed easier

Cut a 3" square of clean dishcloth type material,tie it tight in the middle with a 6ft length of thin string,tie a weight on the other end that will pass through the pipework easily,draw the string through a few times in a bucket of water until pipes are clean.It works for me.

you can find brushes Here!

if you do it one way just at least 1cm over halfway through pipe and then do the other side so you end up with the clump in the middle then you wouldn't need to extend anything and when you turn the filter back on you just need to hold a net over the outlet for about 10 seconds to catch the algae

Great!
Thanks all. I have a TetraTec external by the way. I'll get cracking on that this weekend!