Eheim 2222 External

[Barday]

Hi all,

Well I finaly got my filter through yesterday It's bigger than I thought!

Anyway this is the first esperience I have ever had with an external filter so I've got a couple of questions to ask.....

I was expecting it to be quite a bit more powerfull than what it is. I have the flow set to max but the water flow from the spray bar dosent seem to be any more powerfull than that on the Fluval3 plus internal.

The intake dosent seem that much more powerfull either. I mean after putting food in the tank some was just lying next to the intake without getting sucked in.....is that normal?

My tank is ony about 1ft deep and the rod you put the intake on is quite long so it's literaly sitting on the gravel....is it a problem being this low down?

Also I noticed some trapped air in the filter, whenever I tipped it to an angle some would come out. Is it important that all the air is out of the filter?

Any advice appreciated
Thanks

 

[Bloo]

I have the 2224 model and though there's not "obvious" suction (ala vacuum style) going on, the filtration it offers is fantastic and my water is squeaky clean (or food particles etc.). Though I don't think it sounds correct that you have air trapped in the filter compartment I'm sure I don't have any air in mine at all.
Saying that, my spray bar does not have a tremendous output, and if I hold my finger in front of one of the outlet holes, it feels quite gentle.

Though does the job

 

[Tolak]

I have a 2222 & a 2224. You don't need massive water flow with canister filters, due to the amount of media. Mine do the job just fine.

As long as you have the strainer on the intake, you can have it that low. Without the strainer you risk sucking in gravel.

Air in them seems to be a common problem after cleaning & starting up. I just rock mine back & forth a little while running. Eventually the air works it's way out.

Tolak

 

[Barday]

Thanks for the replys guys,

Yea I do use the strainer, mainly because I have a lot of pleco fry and I dont want them turned into filter food! So I guess that's Ok

As for the waterflow.....Because the intake is "weak" it dosent seem to take a lot of the larger particles floating in the tank, oh well cant have it all i suppose. At least me water looks clearer!

Anyway do you use carbon in your filter permenantly? I was thinking of doing it just to polish the water that extra bit, but I decided to only use them when removing meds.........will it do any harm to leave themin ther permanantly?

I still have the internal running in parallel with the external, but I'm gonna take it out over the weekend because it seems to have clogged again. Squeezing out the crap from the internal into the external should be enough to kick start the biofiltration right?

last question(s) i promise .........

How often do you clean out the filter? Is a reduction in flow the only indicator that it needs a clean?

Thanks again guys.....I appreciate the help

 

[maestro]

Personally as I safetly I precaution I think you want teh stariner to be fairly high in the tank, this way if a disaster happens and teh hose leaks or disconnects from the filter who will only lose a few inches of water, not the whole lot.

The output from externals isnt that strong, teh output of a 2222 is 500lph, the fluval 3 plus is 700lph, thats why I use an oversize 2217 on my 40 gallon.

If you use carbon you want to use a small amount and change regularly, I use 50grams of high quality carbon for my 40 gallon and change it every month, if you leave it longer it will leack back out the toxins it has absorbed

I would use rmove the media from the internal and place in the external filter to seed it.

I think really you want to keep them fairly clean, I think once a week is ideal

Thanks for the replys guys,

Yea I do use the strainer, mainly because I have a lot of pleco fry and I dont want them turned into filter food! So I guess that's Ok

As for the waterflow.....Because the intake is "weak" it dosent seem to take a lot of the larger particles floating in the tank, oh well cant have it all i suppose. At least me water looks clearer!

Anyway do you use carbon in your filter permenantly? I was thinking of doing it just to polish the water that extra bit, but I decided to only use them when removing meds.........will it do any harm to leave themin ther permanantly?

I still have the internal running in parallel with the external, but I'm gonna take it out over the weekend because it seems to have clogged again. Squeezing out the crap from the internal into the external should be enough to kick start the biofiltration right?

last question(s) i promise .........

How often do you clean out the filter? Is a reduction in flow the only indicator that it needs a clean?

Thanks again guys.....I appreciate the help

 

[Barday]

Once a week serious?? that often?? I was thinking more like once ever couple of months!

Good point about the strainer position.....never thought about it like that! The thing is that the pole it's on is pretty long...so i'm gonna have about 1/2ft of pole sticking out the top of my tank!

as for the carbon I was gonna use pads rather than the real mcoy


cheers maestro

 

[Bloo]

mmmm surely not. I've started cleaning ever couple of months and it's absolutely fine. The_Wolf I think even does his like every 8 months though that's possibly way too long for me.

 

[maestro]

People do alot of things but its not ideal, Im just saying what would be the ideal, prefilters in the external collect alto of crud and need to rinsed through regularly

You do want to keep a fairly clean external or its just goign to become a nitrate factory, and the putput is going to be reduced, remember all the mess that is in the external is still in the water column and you certainly wouldnt want 2 months worth of mess in your tank,

The new eheim proffesionals have prefilters built at the top so you can gain quick access and change them.

A great tip that i picked up is to place a course sponge over the top of the strainer, this will act as a prefilter and you can quickly take this off and give it a scrub under the tap every few days, providing you keep i clean it wont effect the flow at all and saves you having the clean the filter out.

Barday if the pole is too long you cut them down to size with a hacksaw, thats what your meant to do.

 

[Tolak]

I clean mine every 4 to 6 months. They are both running on an overstocked 55 along with 2 other filters.

I also have a 2026 & an AquaClear 300 running on a fully stocked 65 gallon. That gets cleaned every 6 months, the AC gets cleaned every 3 or 4 weeks. Canisters are better suited for bio filtration, a good hob is better at mechanical filtration.

I've heard it stated that debris in the filter is the same as debris in the aquarium. If you have gravel it is much dirtier deep down than the inside of a canister filter, especially if you have an undergravel filter.

I only run carbon to remove meds, or for a few days on new or newly cleaned tanks. I save it for when I need it.

I position the strainers as low as possible, that way I don't have to shut down & restart the filter during water changes. If you do somehow spring a leak it will empty the tank down to the intake. I do large water changes, 50% or more so I put mine low. If you are doing smaller water changes you can put it higher.

Tolak