How To Clean Canister Filter Hoses

[hakova]

Hi all,

I have an Eheim Ecco 2232 external filter with green transparent hoses. The stuff that covers the internals of the canister filter might be beneficial perhaps, but it just looks bad and I would like my hoses to look cleaner. How do you guys clean them when needed? I tried soaking the hoses in Oxyclean for ~10 min.s which didn't help. I could reach the first 10 cm.s from each end with the brush and mechanical cleaning this way definitely worked. I just need to figure out how to clean the hose in its entire length. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[waterdrop]

I'm sure there are other better/cheaper brushes on long wires but one way is to use the flexible spring-wire brushes that are sold to clean out trumpets, trombones etc. in musical instrument stores. You can coil them into a donut shape when not in use.

Another tip I read here on TFF is to think about how relatively cheap these hoses are. One of the problems with the material itself is that it will lose its moisture and flexibility at the ends where it is tighly pressed onto other tubes to keep from leaking. Eventually this "stiffness" will cause an unexpected leak. So the tip is to buy a relatively large supply of the right sized hose and then simply throw out the current hose at some regular interval and replace it with fresh hose. It saves you from bothering to clean and it avoids ever having a leak at one of the hose ends.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[three-fingers]

If seeing this dirt bothered me at all (which it doesnt lol), I would probably just replace the transparent hose with opaque stuff instead so I wouldn't be able to see it.

 

[Tolak]

A length of strong string or twine, a small rag & a small nail. Tie the nail to one end, the scrap of rag to the other. Feed the nail through, grab the string & pull the rag through. A few times each direction should do the trick.

 

[hakova]

Thanks a lot for different yet very valuable opinions, recommendations.

 

[waterdrop]

True experience shows! Tolak's suggestion is much simpler than mine! No trip to the music store or expense! WD

 

[Gav935]

http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...roducts_id=1804

I have a similar one, works a treat.

 

[Neo8223]

Attach it to the end of a high pressured water tap. Thats what i did with my eheim ecco 2332! Failing that, bleach it and repeat? (only if u know what ur doing)

Funny fact too... every now and then a new born baby bristlenose would get sucked into the filter. I'd actually see lines appearing from where they would eat the algae whilst having the huge water flow suck past them!

 

[waterdrop]

Funny fact too... every now and then a new born baby bristlenose would get sucked into the filter. I'd actually see lines appearing from where they would eat the algae whilst having the huge water flow suck past them!