Eheim 2213 disappointment

gilfish

I was really attracted to the Eheim 2213 because it only needed cleaning every 6 months, per my LFS. But starting only a few weeks after I clean it, the return water pressure starts fading and within 6-8 weeks is just dribbling out. Every 2 months, I have take apart all of the hoses and the filter and clean out all of the gook from all of the hoses. So much crap is stuck in the hoses (green gunk). I wouldn't mind doing this every 6 months like I was told when I bought it, but every TWO? Ugh. [/code]

Altohombre

I just got the same filter and have heard the same things. Maybe you got a bad one? I haven't totally set up my aquarium yet so I don't have any results but what I have read in reviews it should be more like you said your LFS told you. Is the filter too small for your size aquarium or are you overpopulated?

tophat665

I'm running a 2217 and a 2215 on two different tanks and I haven't had that problem. Suggestions:

1) Double up on your mechanical filtration media at the bottom, and cut your water polishing floss out or in half (and adjust biofiltration to fit).

2) Backflush at least every three months, more frequently if you can. With the quick release taps it's still easier than cleaning an HOB. Just take the top off, point the innlet down into a sink, and let the water out the inlet. Then take a couple of gallons of water from the aquarium and pour it in the top of the filter to let it run out the inlet. Turn off the taps and fill it up. Hook it back up, turn the taps back on, and plug it in. It'll run noisy for a minute, then quiet back to nothing.

3) Check that the impeller isn't clogged every three months, and clean it if it is. Careful though, the axel is ceramic.

4) Put a sponge pre-flter on the intake (use a coarse one or you'll have the same problem for different reasons.) This is a last resort and amounts to giving up on using the cannister for mechanical filtration. Course, if you do it this way you can pretty much cut out the mechanical filtration and go with efi-fix and filter floss to get really crystal clear water.

gilfish

Thanks much. Might someone tell me exactly what an impeller is and where it is and what it looks like and how to clean it? Thanks.

tophat665

The impeller housing is on the bottom of the motor housing (lid). Dead center there's a cover with some slots in it. The impeller (which is like a propeller, but pulls the water instead of pushing) is behind that. Now, I am not going to take one of mine down and look at it to tell you exactly how to get it off, (it should be in the instructions if you have them), but as I recall, there's a piece that twists to unlock, and then the cover lifts off. Should be pretty easy to get by looking at it and figuring how the parts move and maybe fiddling a little. In any case, once the impeller cover is off, the impeller assembly lifts right out. It's basically the same exact thing as in an HOB filter. Rinse it off in water pulled from the tank. Get any things gunking it up out, and then just side it back in and re-cap it.

tophat665

This won't tell you details about the impeller (she'll get smug and say "You did keep the instructions, didn't you?") But this is a great maintenance routine for an ehiem classic filter:

http://rexgrigg.com/Eheim%20Classic%...structions.htm

But I already told you that. Whoops!

gilfish

Thanks. I already was aware of that one and there's no mention of where the impeller is or how to clean it. Also, neither rexrigg nor the instructions (which I do indeed still have) say to clean out the Eheim tubing with brushes. THAT is where all the GOOK is.

Sure you can dump aquarium water over the media and backflush but you have to pull apart all of the hoses and get brushes inside them to REALLY get this thing clean, and back to some serious return pressure. I know because I just got done doing it. Took me hours, and now the return is SHOOTING out like a BANDIT and rustling up the top of the water with some serious pressure.

To my original point, I thought I wouldn't have to do such serious cleaning every 2-3 months, but I do, and that's that.

Out.

tophat665

Now that's really odd. While mine get a certain amount of gunk in the tubes, it's nowhere near enough to significantly impede the water flow in a year. That would really piss me off if it did. Flip side is that, if it did this to an eheim it would do it to any cannister filter, so it's the type, not the brand.

Was it just the intake that was all gunked up, or both tubes?

gilfish

All tubes, including the black and gray Eheim connectors, and the media, and the impeller. Maybe my fish are just slobs.

Thanks.

tophat665

Looking at the fish load in that tank, i think the problem is that you have a really healthy and food rich environment for nitrobacter. I'd double up on filtration capacity.