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Filter Cleaning and Media Change - Eheim 2217

G

GregRM

Gambusia
MFK Member
Hi All,

Any help/advise would be very much apreciated here.

I have a 90 gal tank with two Eheim 2217 Filters running.

Inhabitants:

4 inch GT
5inch O
3 3inch SDs

I've had this setup running for two months.

Weekly water changes of 80%.

I use big al's water conditioner and cycled the tank thoughouly before adding my fish.

Very happy with everything water parameters are good (no ammonia or nitrite since end of cycle) nitrate has never gone above 15.

My O started at 2.5 inches and is at least 4 times the weight now. Crazy fast growth. Which I hope is an indication of excellent health. GT is growing fast too.

That's the background.

I have not yet cleaned either Eheim Filter. I plan on cleaning them on alternate months. I was told that I needed to clean them between 3-6 month intervals.

So I was thinking one at month 3 and the other at month 4. Then each on 3 month intevals> I don't want to do them at once to reduce the chance of killing off all my bacteria colonies.

Question 1: Is this a reasonable frequency? can I stretch it longer? Experience with Eheims would be great.

Question 2: I have the pasta stuff in the bottom, blue filter media then the ceramic (I believe) balls, white filter media (all the default setup from the manual (Which I found to be very light on details).

What do I clean, what do I replace, at what frequency? Anyone have any advise on how to clean this type of filter I'd really apreciate any insight.

Thanks Everyone!
 
Howdy,

I don't clean mine unless the flow rate drops significantly. Even then, I at first only replace the fine filter floss. My single 2217 on a 75 gal has been running for 5 months without cleaning of the biomedia... and it is still going strong.

If it's time to clean the rest, simply wash it all out. Many people recommend tank water to least disturb beneficial bacteria. But I rinse mine with a garden hose and have never had any problems.

HarleyK
 
I also have a 2217 on a 75 gallon with 1 5" O, 2 5" green severum, and 1 3" firemouth.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed the flow rate coming out of the spray bar was down a lot. I rinsed each layer of bio media in tank water, as well as rinsing out the filter pads, which seems the nastiest out of them all.

I had set the filter up back in october and hadn't opened it since.

Flow rate is back up and the water is looking NICE.
 
It sounds like you have a healthy cleaning schedule planned out. Sounds like the proof is being seen in your fish growth. I don't use ehiems, but periodic maintence sound like the most logical plan of attack. Just make sure you use tank water to clean it. You don't want to kill off any of your hard earned biological bacteria.
 
Sounds more than adequate, I would expect that the filters can go 6 months between cleanings. I've let mine go longer and it still had plenty of flow. Allot depends on stocking and other tank maintenance too.
 
Hey Greg....Wouldn't one 2217 filter the tank more than proper ? I was looking to add one to my 90 with two hobs....sorry not to hijack your thread.

Jim
 
No such thing as too many filters!

Luckily the 2217s have spray bars that, while moving a lot of water, don't create a huge current. It is a lucky fish that gets to live in a 90 with 2 eheim canisters running on it ;)
 
I've had people recommend that I should put on a big HOB on my tank on top of those two filters.

I got a good deal on the second as I found it used on Craigslist.

Eheim 2217 I belive push around 280 gallons per hour. For an Oscar tank (like I have) it seems like I need 5 times the volume of water of my tank per hour.

So at 560 I'm only a little over that. That was how I calculated things. I only have around 110 gals/hour of extra filtration going.

For me that's just fine :)
 
The advantage of canister filters is the ease at which you can maintan and clean them while getting great flow rate & media volume. I prefer having them frequently cleaned because over the long run, just any any other filters, they will turn into nitrate factories. While cleaning, make sure that you use the aquarium water to clean and handle them very gently--tap water, scrubbing, and sudden temperature change will kill the beneficial bacteria. During the earlier days of my hobby, I once overwashed my wet/dry media with heavy bacteria loss and had a nasty green water algae bloom right after.
 
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