How To Clean My Eheim 2215

[martin_jones]

Hi. I have an eheim 2215 which doesn't seem to be keeping the water very clear. This came, 2nd hand, with my tank, so I don't know much about them.

How do I go about cleaning it? Do I have to completely disassemble everything, remove the gravel etc and rinse it, then reassemble? Is it just a case of rinsing the pads?

Also, I've noticed that the bottom plate seems to be in at an angle. Is this correct? (ie there is water in the bottom of the canister)

Finally, there is a think white plastic stick near the motor. This is in two pieces. Is this correct? (It looks like it's snapped). If it has broken, what are the implications of running the filter in this state? It seems to be the plastic bit that the magnetic bit goes round, if that makes sense (part 11 on the canister diagram). The filter seems to be running and pumping with the piece in two pieces.

Hope this all makes sense - I'm new to external filters having moved from my Juwel system

Martin

edit: also, in the instructions, it says to clean the gravel under running water. Won't the chlorine kill all the bacteria in the gravel if I do this?

edit: also, when I took the filter apart to look, in the canister, at the top is a plastic bit. Then, there is a black pad, then there is a blue pad, then there is gravel. Isn't there meant to be a white pad in there somewhere?

 

[The-Wolf]

martin
the plastic bit you refer to is the impellor shaft
this is broken and needs replacing. runing it in this state will
cause irevocable damage.

always clean any biological media in tank water
all other media, IE mechanical, can be cleaned in tap water.

 

[martin_jones]

Thanks for the info.

What do you mean 'mechanical' media? What category does the gravel fall into? Mech or bio?

Sorry if I'm being dull - it's early

M

 

[The-Wolf]

there are three, main, types of filter media
mechanical, chemical & biological.
it could be debated that bacteria will grow
on all media so therfore they are all a biological media
but I'll leave that up to others to debate.

mechanical media is quite simply any filter media that physicaly
stops the flotsum and jetsom from re-entering the tank.
sponges normerly fall into this catergory

chemical media is any media that absorbs chemicals,
carbon and zeolite fall into this catergory.

biological media is any media that encorages nitrifying bacteria to colonise it, like
ceramic rings, siporax.
Ehfisubstratpro or Ehfisubstrat would fall into this catergory.

to be 'safe' I'd recomend that you rinse all filter media in tank water

 

[Egmel]

If it's anything like my 2213 then you will have: (from bottom to top)

Hula-Hoop shaped ceramic bits (mechanical + some bio)
Blue Coarse Sponge (Mechanical + some Bio)
Ceramic bobbly balls (Bio)
White Fine Sponge (Mechanical + some bio)
Black Carbon Filter (Chemical) <- These need to be replaced regularly (I think I read every 2 - 3 weeks ) but I haven't put mine in! I'm saving it for if I need to remove excess med or something. The gist I got was that it's not necessary in general day to day use.

I'd agree with wolf and rinse everything in old tank water.

 

[martin_jones]

Thanks for the advice. I have now sorted out my filter.

It was bought 2nd hand and the media in it was as follows (bottom to top)

plastic thing (in at an angle)
3" of water
4 blue pads
1 white pad
layer of gravel (efistrate I think it's called)
1 blue pad
1 black pad
1 plastic thing.

So. I have now replaced it all with
hula hoop type things
1 blue pad
efistrate (twice as much as was in there)
white filter stuff

I haven't bothered with the black carbon pad as I have a planted tank (100 plants in 260L) and I've heard that they strip out stuff that the plants need (correct me if I'm wrong).

Also replaced the ceramic impeller shaft which had broken.

As a result, it is a lot quieter.

Thanks again for the advice - sorry about not getting stuff from you wolf, but I needed it asap to avoid damaging the pump.

M