External Filter Set Up

[robjwood]

Hello all, I'm just trying to set up my EC, i haven't used one before so i just want to make sure it looks ok before i turn it on!

*I assume this loop isn't brilliant mechanics!

*About 1-1/4 inches off the bottom of the tank, planning to sit just on top of the gravel (or sand?)

*aiming for the water level to be just touching the underneath of the spray bar, i'll tilt as needed so the holes fire out water about an inch onto the water to create turbulence.

ALSO! in this picture, if you look carefully at the line outside(behind) the tank you can see it goes slightly elongated or squashed in two places due to the packaging position in the box. Will this affect flow? I tried re-squashing but to no avail, i also saw a slight crack appear on the inside of the tube when i did this, whoops.

I read somewhere to put the disconnect valves close the unit for ease of cleaning...

The 4way plug socket is for the light(on timer), canister and thermometer only.

Got a little scissor happy with the tubing so it has to sit on an empty box.

The hood fits on nicely...

Ive since taken off that black tape, not sure why it was on there.

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Any Comments Welcome!

 

[walkers101]

to reshape the pipe heat it up with hot water then once you have the shape place it in cold water for a few seconds

 

[Uriel]

You can buy the pipe for £3.50 for 2.5m at Maiden head aquatics. But make sure you get the pre-cut rolls which are 2.5m or it's £3.50 a metre. Same pipe so don't know why but just a solution if you want to put the filter on the ground. Is there nowhere in the cabinet that the tank is on that you can hide the filter ? Not complaints just thoughts

 

[waterdrop]

Agree you should just replace the hose that has cracked, better than risking it. You could get a standard eheim output crook pipe - the hose would simply come straight up to it and it could go over the right end, where you could run the spraybar along the right side of the tank spraying along the length of the tank (this makes a nice lengthwise circulation.) The spraybar itself can be cut/sawed if it is too long.

Don't leave the filter on the box. Instead, figure out a more solid place for it. All filters have a height range for the pumphead to be optimized - that should be in the eheim literature. Once you figure out the height the pump should be from the water surface, figure out a place and solid support for it. Then take a little field trip down the kitchen isle of a bigbox store like Walmart or something with your filter (and cabinet if applicable) dimensions and a measuring tape in your pocket. Find a translucent kitchen container (those rubbermaid (is that USA only?) sealed containers can work well) with high sides the filter can sit in with some nice space around the filter so you can fit your hands in to lift the filter out of the container (ideally it would be like setting the filter in a trash can that is larger than it.) This container will catch the little water spills when you remove hoses and can act as a beginning catch in a worse emergency. If it came with a lid, the lid can be used as a nice tray for holding plant debris when you are doing the weekly prune of the plants or whatever. Label or color identify your filter and heater plugs so you know which is which easily on maintenance day.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[robjwood]

unfortunately not, it's my set of draws not a cabinet! I'm not too fussed at the moment though. Thanks for the replies.

Rob