Does this make sense to anyone with a Eheim canister filter?

gilfish

My Eheim Classic 2213 is about 14 months old. It ran great for the first 6 months with minimal maintenance. Now, every few WEEKS, the return pressure has become but a dribble of water. So now every few WEEKS, I take apart the whole thing, clean everything inside the canister, and clean all the tubing with long brushes during which globs of greenish black gunk plops out into my sink from every hose. It takes me a good couple of hours. When I return the filter and turn it on, it is like brand new, with water aggressively shooting out of the return and rippling the entire surface of my 55G. Then, within WEEKS, it's back to just a dribble, and I repeat the process, with all of the greenish black gunk plopping out into my sink from the canister and from all the hoses, then runs like new.

This sucks! I thought I was saving myself from all this by buying an Eheim. ADVICE? Click on TANK BLURB for tank info. THANK YOU.

dodgeboy

my brother got the same filter with a 55 he bought what a piece of crap. i so would go with a rena xp3. i have two one on a 55, one on a 120 with a penguin 350. since then my bro also got one to help the ehiem.

herefishy

I'm a Magnum guy. Been running those canisters for well over 20 years and never had a problem other than just plain wearing out parts. Which, by the way, are inexpensive and easy to find. I still use four of them that are at least 24 years old. Motors are still strong.

fish_4_all

I'm not sure that switching to another type of canister is the solution.

I would be more interested in figuring out what the gunk is. A certain amount of mulm is normal but having so much collect in a few weeks is a lot. Even with my Aqua Clear HOB filters I have never seen enough gunk to restrict flow and they have algae growing inside of the tubes. Even when I used the cheaper Aqua View it never restricted flow when it got some gunk in the main tube.

Could be a couple things:
The flow is too slow for some reason and gunk builds up on the tube walls.
Could be an issue of not enough filtration for the amount of waste produced.
It could also be some type of bacteria/slime that is growing in the tubes. This actually makes more sense because it is both in the intake and outlet hoses, correct? Unfortunately, if it is something growing in the tubes, I don't have a clue how to get rid of it short of improving overall water quality.
I am guessing it could be an issue of filter media placement, location and or amount that cold restrict the flow and cause the buildup.

If oyu owuld tell us what types of media are you using, where is it in the filter and how much might give some of the more experienced canister users here a better chance of getting to the bottom if this.

gilfish

Hmmmm...thanks. Are you implying that maybe I put the filter media in wrong after I cleaned it or something? I always take it out in the same order that I put it back in. I did change the pads last year but that was because they were drenched in this black slime. The media I use is what came with the filter and what the directions say to use: From top to bottom: The carbon pad, a fine pad, a few inches of ehfisubstrat, a course pad, and a couple of inches of Ehfimech at the bottom. Last time around I put in ssome brand new Ehfisubstrat, but same issue persists. Maybe I am overstocked and the fish are just prducing too much gunk for the filter. FRUSTRATING. Thanks all for any more help. Note: Yes, the black slime is in all of the hoses, all of the connectors, all over all of the filter media and all over each of the pads in the canister. It plops out in blobs when I blow on the tubes after taking them out. Gross. Might just upgrade to a larger Eheim. I have to do something - the return is now barely dribbling any water out and the tank stinks. BLAH!

1077

Have you considered reducing tankload? I was trying to picture my own 55 gal. with the 40 some fish that you have. Would be hard for one filter in my view to keep up.

tophat665

Your stocking is the problem. A 2213 is nowhere near enough to handle that many fish. The amount of nitrogen fixing bacteria necessary to handle their waste is probably the cause of your slime problem. If it smells more or less like fresh dirt, you can count on it. This will not go away, and the only thing you can do is give the nitrobacter more surface area to inhabit in another filter.

I have a 2213 on a 40 breeder with with 4 Swordtails, a big threespot gourami, 6 Praecox Rainbows, 8 Panda Cories, 7 Albino Bronze cories (all cories half grown or less), and two small (2") Bristlenosed plecos, and I have to clean it monthly. On the other hand I have a 75 with 5 Yoyos, 8 B. Striata, 4 Kuhlis, 3 SAEs, 2 Blue Gouramis, 3 Cherry Barbs, and 8 Harlequins, running a 2217, and I only have to clean that quarterly.

I can't recommend enough that you get a second filter on that tank, either a second Eheim (2215), a Rena XP3, a Magnum 350, one of the new Marineland cannisters, or one of the double well HOBs (like an Emperor 400).

fish_4_all

The emporer could be a good choice. Another good one would be a lagre Aqua Clear HOB. Lots of room to put tons of biological media. Both of them will let you put a lot in if you do it right.

I was just curious about the media you put in it. I have heard of the same type of problem before and it was caused by stiffing it too full of filter floss.

gilfish

Well in a fit if rage I threw my 2213 in the garbage. It was not worth keeping in there even with another filter because the return would barely dribble out any water. I bought a BRAND NEW 2215. It's a little bigger and made for aquariums much larger (93G) than my 55.

And here is why I think I am in sort of Eheim Twilight Zone. This one lasted barely 4 weeks in my, now reduced-stock, 55G. It was awesome at first, gushing water back through the return and producing great quality, clear water for the first few weeks. After a month, the return is barely enough to produce a ripple on my surface water. If you've read this whole thread, this happened before because of gunk in the pipes. Now there is barely any gunk, the pipes are clean, etc., etc. I just can not get it to the power it had been when it was brand new. Drs. Foster and Smith is letting me return it for full refund thankfully, and I will never again buy another Eheim product. What a waste of time.

gilfish

Finally, a HAPPY ENDING... I returned the useless Eheim 2215 and bought a Fluval 405 for only $109 brand new on eBay. WOW! This thing is on a whole different plain than Eheim. A big colorful instruction book, A DVD TO GUIDE SET-UP!!!, a filter that kicks - a$$, good-looking, big hoses, simple set, up, explosive return pressure, easy maintenance... AND CHEAPER???? WHY DID I BUY AN EHEIM??

THANKS FLUVAL!! :D :D :D