Previous filter set up was like this:
Eheim 2217
Fluval 305
Fluval 205
Picture:
So many filters? Well, i'd been striving for 'perfectly clear' water - and never quite got it. My tank looked clean... but i wanted the kind of 'mountain stream' clear water you see in amano tanks. Also, when my cichlids would dig, they'd often cloud the water - despite all the filteration and movement in the tank lots of solids were settling.
I did some reading on here and saw that many people using UV filters said that their water was much clearer than before - and i also wanted more varied movement in the tankn to keep more waste in suspension. If i was doing the tank again, i'd set up some UG jets... but i'm not stripping the whole thing down 'just' for that. I wanted more water movement, but also to rationalise the number of filters on the tank, too.
I noticed that the new Eheim Pro 3e range had two things i wanted:
1: class-leading pump output
2: a 'wave' function
So... this week when i saw a brand new tetratec UV sterliser AND an ehem pro 3 e on Ebay... I decided to take the plunge. These two go well together because the UV a rated for a max flow of 1000lph and the ehem filter has a max flow of 1000lph once fully loaded with media - the flow without media is 1650lph.
This is what arrived:
A beast of a filter!
The Tetratec UV seems small, but is rated for tanks up to 400l and according to Tetra, the UV bulb was developed in conjunction with philips to output a high amount of UV light for it's size.
This is the UV in situ screwed to the wall behind the tank.
It became obvious quite quickly that the filter was so huge that space in the cupboard would be tight - so mounting the UV behind the filter was the only choice without longer hoses. I plan to redo this when i have more funds and mount the UV and the other cupboard with quick-release valves for maintenance.
The Eheim filter - amazingly - held all the bio-media i had in all THREE of the other canisters.
The media loadout of the filter is as follows:
1 water flows in at the top
2 through a coarse blue foam pre filter (mounted at the top of the filter so you can clean it without ripping the whole thing apart)
3 through a channel to the base of the filter
4 through a tray of coarse alfagrog (ceramic material)
5 through a tray of Biomax sintered glass
6 through a tray of perlag, lytag, and some old small ceramic rings (this tray is a mixture of old biomedia i've had for years)
7 through a fine filter pad before being pumped back to the tank
The filter as several electronic functions... when you start it up it purges itself of air... it was a little worrying because for a few minutes it kept stopping and starting and increasing / reducing the flow. It's sensitive, too... if you pinch a hose and the flow drops, the filter isntantly goes into a diagnostic mode and reduces/increases the flow several times.
The electronic controls are a little confusing - there are only 3 buttons, but 4 different circulation modes, electronic flow controls, maintenance checks... and more.
You change the different modes by holding down different combinations of buttons at different times - this wasn't helped by the intructions which could be clearer and have every language on each page rather than a section for each country.
I have my filter set for the 'wave' function now and my fish seem to like it. The tank isn't quite clear as i took the chance to redo the decor, but it IS clearing fast.
Heres a Video i took of the wave function in action - it's quite neat to see it.
[URL="http
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS2mpRSLKOE"]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS2mpRSLKOE[/URL]
Another function that might be of interest to some fishkeepers is a system where the filter increases the pump output to compensate for blocking on the filter media - so as it gets dirtier, the flow rate in your tank stays the same. Cool.
The filter is a little bit noisier than i expected - but it's only been on a couple of hours, so it may run in slightly... It's a low hum, but louder than the 3 filters it replaced. I'm sitting about 10 feet away writing this and i can hear it clearly. We'll see if it gets quieter with a little time to settle / get all the air out of the impellor well.
It's too early to see if the UV is having an impact on the sparkle of the water yet... but it was easy to install and felt very robust.
The final install - much neater!
a couple of minus points... the horrible GREEN fittings - eheim has been using the same ones for over ten years. i used the old fluval 305 out take pipe because i didn't want to see that ugly green thing in my tank!
Picture of the tank now... a little cloudy still:
you can see a couple of other videos of my tank, here: CLICK
Hope that was in some way useful
Eheim 2217
Fluval 305
Fluval 205
Picture:
So many filters? Well, i'd been striving for 'perfectly clear' water - and never quite got it. My tank looked clean... but i wanted the kind of 'mountain stream' clear water you see in amano tanks. Also, when my cichlids would dig, they'd often cloud the water - despite all the filteration and movement in the tank lots of solids were settling.
I did some reading on here and saw that many people using UV filters said that their water was much clearer than before - and i also wanted more varied movement in the tankn to keep more waste in suspension. If i was doing the tank again, i'd set up some UG jets... but i'm not stripping the whole thing down 'just' for that. I wanted more water movement, but also to rationalise the number of filters on the tank, too.
I noticed that the new Eheim Pro 3e range had two things i wanted:
1: class-leading pump output
2: a 'wave' function
So... this week when i saw a brand new tetratec UV sterliser AND an ehem pro 3 e on Ebay... I decided to take the plunge. These two go well together because the UV a rated for a max flow of 1000lph and the ehem filter has a max flow of 1000lph once fully loaded with media - the flow without media is 1650lph.
This is what arrived:
A beast of a filter!
The Tetratec UV seems small, but is rated for tanks up to 400l and according to Tetra, the UV bulb was developed in conjunction with philips to output a high amount of UV light for it's size.
This is the UV in situ screwed to the wall behind the tank.
It became obvious quite quickly that the filter was so huge that space in the cupboard would be tight - so mounting the UV behind the filter was the only choice without longer hoses. I plan to redo this when i have more funds and mount the UV and the other cupboard with quick-release valves for maintenance.
The Eheim filter - amazingly - held all the bio-media i had in all THREE of the other canisters.
The media loadout of the filter is as follows:
1 water flows in at the top
2 through a coarse blue foam pre filter (mounted at the top of the filter so you can clean it without ripping the whole thing apart)
3 through a channel to the base of the filter
4 through a tray of coarse alfagrog (ceramic material)
5 through a tray of Biomax sintered glass
6 through a tray of perlag, lytag, and some old small ceramic rings (this tray is a mixture of old biomedia i've had for years)
7 through a fine filter pad before being pumped back to the tank
The filter as several electronic functions... when you start it up it purges itself of air... it was a little worrying because for a few minutes it kept stopping and starting and increasing / reducing the flow. It's sensitive, too... if you pinch a hose and the flow drops, the filter isntantly goes into a diagnostic mode and reduces/increases the flow several times.
The electronic controls are a little confusing - there are only 3 buttons, but 4 different circulation modes, electronic flow controls, maintenance checks... and more.
You change the different modes by holding down different combinations of buttons at different times - this wasn't helped by the intructions which could be clearer and have every language on each page rather than a section for each country.
I have my filter set for the 'wave' function now and my fish seem to like it. The tank isn't quite clear as i took the chance to redo the decor, but it IS clearing fast.
Heres a Video i took of the wave function in action - it's quite neat to see it.
[URL="http
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS2mpRSLKOE"]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS2mpRSLKOE[/URL]Another function that might be of interest to some fishkeepers is a system where the filter increases the pump output to compensate for blocking on the filter media - so as it gets dirtier, the flow rate in your tank stays the same. Cool.
The filter is a little bit noisier than i expected - but it's only been on a couple of hours, so it may run in slightly... It's a low hum, but louder than the 3 filters it replaced. I'm sitting about 10 feet away writing this and i can hear it clearly. We'll see if it gets quieter with a little time to settle / get all the air out of the impellor well.
It's too early to see if the UV is having an impact on the sparkle of the water yet... but it was easy to install and felt very robust.
The final install - much neater!
a couple of minus points... the horrible GREEN fittings - eheim has been using the same ones for over ten years. i used the old fluval 305 out take pipe because i didn't want to see that ugly green thing in my tank!
Picture of the tank now... a little cloudy still:
you can see a couple of other videos of my tank, here: CLICK
Hope that was in some way useful
