Eheim 2215 Help

[lissali]

Hi

I cleaned my external filter last night and was expecting to wake to a nice clear tank. However the spraybar appears to be pushing small dirt? particles back into the tank.

Does anyone have any ideas of what I've done wrong. I have white filter medium at top then several blue sponges and ceramics at the bottom. Also I seem to have a snail problem within the cannister which are gradually working their way into the pipes. The snails are small and cone shaped. Thanks for any help. Melissa

 

[Spinal]

Hi

I cleaned my external filter last night and was expecting to wake to a nice clear tank. However the spraybar appears to be pushing small dirt? particles back into the tank.

Does anyone have any ideas of what I've done wrong. I have white filter medium at top then several blue sponges and ceramics at the bottom. Also I seem to have a snail problem within the cannister which are gradually working their way into the pipes. The snails are small and cone shaped. Thanks for any help. Melissa

The snails you mention are probably MTS (Malasian Trumpet Snails) (see wiki: http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_Trumpet_Snail )

Secondly, it is always a good idea to have your filter floss (the white fine grained stuff) BEFORE your bacteria cultures (the blue medium in your filter). The bacteria really don't need all the gunk flowing through them, and all it does is make the filter need cleaning more often (and in my cynnical view, is a ploy to get people to buy/change filter medium more often by the companies).

Thirdly, you cleaned your filter... how? Did you remove all your sponges, rinse them out with tap water and put them back in? If so, you have a problem as the tap water will have killed your bacteria culture. (You might be able to get someone to donate some mature media to get your filter going again). IF you only removed a part of the sponges (say, 2 or 3 or them) rinsed them/squeezed them, then replaced them, you should be fine.

As for your snails in the filter, you have a few options. One is to buy a net and cover the inlet for your filter (stockings work well), but this can reduce the lph output of your filter. A second option is to remove some (ok, ALOT) of snails from your tank. Any snail eating fish can do this for you. Can't think of any others, but I'm sure people around can help better than I can with snail reduction problems (I'm currently trying to get MORE snails... annoying nerites are too picky about where they breed and the mahogany mts I have seem to dissapear in my substrate).

A final thought. Small dirt might just be just that. Small dirt that go disloged from the inside of the pipes while you were cleaning...

Michele

 

[lissali]

Michelle

Many thanks, I think I will put a piece of stocking over the outlet pipe on the cannister? The snails are not in the tank only the canniser but are blocking the outlet curved bit of the pipe on the cannister if allowed to build up. I think I made a mistake when I was given the ceramics from lfs. These were in a stocking which I removed! oh dear!.

I only cleaned a couple of blue sponges, not all my filter media so as not to destroy all the bacteria.

So you suggest I should put at the top of the cannister blue sponge and then the white media?

I am really not happy with the results of the eheim, I have a 180Litre tank and the eheim 2215 which I was advised would be sufficient filtration. I do keep central american cichlids which I know produce a lot of waste matter but I have a large amount of waste showing on the gravel only after about 3 days after gravel cleaning which I thought the filter should be handling, and also the problem of small specks in the tank which settle on the bog wood and plants etc, the specs are like little particles of grain or something but really spoil the clearness of my water.

I was considering changing to a sand substrate so the snails might not be a bad thing do you think if I put a few in the tank? Any further advice would be gratefully received. I am about ripping my hair out trying to sort out the filtration - or rather lack of it.

Thanks, Melissa