Eheim Pro Ii Cannister Filter - Which Media

[silverchild23]

Hi

I was referred here by Inchworm on another topic.

To cut a long story short it seems I've had a sudden drop in bacteria after a house move, and my ammonia level is starting to spike by the looks (currently 0.25ppm). I've always had the same filter media in my eheim filter (save a couple of changes in sponge) and both buckets seem to hold the same:

They are both filled with what looks like mech. filtration ('hula hoop'/tube shaped ceramic media)

When we moved the tank (Juwel Rio 240L) we also changed the substrate from gravel to sand (but stupidly did not keep any of the old substrate to put in the tank with the sand for bacteria). I think this may have been what made the filter struggle.

Anyhoo, now the ammonia levels are rising I'm thinking that the filter may not be able to do its job properly because of the double mech filtration rather than bilogical media.

Is this the case do you think, or should the sand colonise bacteria before long. (I will do daily water changes anyway)

Also, what's the best combination for an eheim and in what order? (I got it second hand with no instructions)

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[bigstevo]

If you have a local Maidenhead Aquatics near you, pop along and get your self some 'Nutrafin Cycle' ...... hth

 

[SJ2K]

If you have a local Maidenhead Aquatics near you, pop along and get your self some 'Nutrafin Cycle' ...... hth

Cycle does nothing just be pacient and do plenty of water changes untill the mini-cycle is complete.

 

[CLOSSIE]

I also have a pro II.
I have in the bottom tray mech with course sponge on top. This gives me a good mechanical clean.
In my second tray I have substrat pro for biological.
In the top tray I have filter floss to polish it all off and also provide simple biological also.
If you only have mech and a small sponge that may explain the ammonia spike (not enough biological).
Try adding another sponge in the trays or replace one of the trays with mech in it with bio balls or substrat.
Good luck and happy new year!

 

[Kevstir]

what you have to remember guys is that the bacteria are on every surface in the filter, it doesn't matter if a basket is for mechanical filtration and an other is for biological they all hold the bacteria.

as has been said above just do water changes to keep in under control, your just going through a mini cycle, it wont take long to right its self.

Kev

 

[Maximumbob]

what you have to remember guys is that the bacteria are on every surface in the filter, it doesn't matter if a basket is for mechanical filtration and an other is for biological they all hold the bacteria.

The only difference is that the surface area on the substrate pro is much larger than that of the ehfimech.

Ultimately, I think that sand will never hold the same amount of bacteria that gravel can. Partly due to the small size not allowing oxygen around it.

I think you may benefit from this in the long term. The short term is the same... water changes to get you through the mini-cycle.

Good luck

 

[Fredox]

I've got 2 eheims pro 2's running on my tank with both setup the same way. From the bottom up - 1 blue coarse filter pad, sbustrat pro to fil the basket and then another full basket of substrat pro on top of that with 1 white fine filter pad on top of the full basket with the green grill on top of that. Not exactly the way it should be done but it's about 3 and 1/3 full baskets of substrat pro in total so lots of biological filtration. I'd be tempted to say switch one basket of the ceramic noodles out for substrat pro and a blue pad but do it over time to allow the bacteria to colonize it slowly.


If I remember the instructions correctly the reccomemded setup is from bottom to top - ceramic noodles and a blue pad in the bottom basket and substrat pro and a white pad in the top basket. Have a look here http/www.eheim.de/eheim/inhalte/index.js...tail_27548_ehen for the instructions in pdf form.

 

[silverchild23]

Thanks everyone for the help.

I tested all the parameters again last night when I got home, and all seems to be settled (for the moment at least!). The ammonia is completely gone and Nitrites are zero.

I'm thinking perhaps I might have had a false panic - perhaps the two dead rummynose caused a little more ammonia in the tank. They could have died from stress for all I know. The rest of the tank seems fine.

Anyhoo, I've done another water change to be on the safe side. I'll monitor parameters daily to make sure it doesn't mini-spike again. I think for the moment at least I'll leave the filter as it is - speaking to another guy he reckons the bacteria would have plenty of surface area to cling on to in the noodles. However, if I find I do have problems I'll go for the substrat on the second layer.

Once again, thanks for the advice pepl!