what the heck is wrong with my canister filter??? Help!

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lix.ma14

Hydrolycus Armatus
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2011
7,182
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92
Ontario, Canada
Hey guys i got a used ehiem canister filter during the summer of 2011. It was in great working condition and looked new except for the bad algae stains on the tubing. I cleaned it up and it worked awesome until now. last week, my filter was spewing out "powder green dust junk" which i suspect of as decomposing stuff in my filter. what is happenning??? i suspect the filter is around A year and a half years old. The previous owner of the the filter said that I DON"T NEED TO CHANGE THE INSIDE FILTERING AND CARBON THE TANK! is that true and is this the reason why??? I did a water change last friday and now there are still junk in my filter!!! Never happened before. WHAT SHOULD I DO?:cry:
 
Filters need to be rinsed out at least every couple months. You don't want to clean it to well that will wash out all the bacteria. Just rinse off the heavy chunks and gunk. But if you never cleaned it since you set it up last summer a cleaning is over due. Usually I clean mine when I notice water flow begin to slow down. Or I can see heavy buildup in the filter. My canisters are a tinted clear so I can see inside them without opening them up.
 
Exactly what media is in the canister? Stuff like carbon and filter wool/floss or any fine mechanical media needs to be replaced. I clean my canister out every few months or like above said when I notice a decrease in flow.


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Hot Slime said:
Exactly what media is in the canister? Stuff like carbon and filter wool/floss or any fine mechanical media needs to be replaced. I clean my canister out every few months or like above said when I notice a decrease in flow.


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There is gravel, small pipe looking things and I think carbon in it. Do I need to replace the carbon?? the previous said that i'll never need to buy anything. fail.
 
If it were me, I would remove everything. Replace everything.
Dont throw away the gravel and pipe looking things. The "pipe looking things" are mechanical media used to remove large particles. The gravel is your biomedia
Eheim usually stacks the media starting with coarse media, called Effimech(pipe looking things) followed usually by a reticulated sponge. This is your mechanical filtration. Next, bio media called Effisubstrate. It is a sintered glass and it looks like gravel. A better upgrade to this is the Effisubstrate Pro, however, any media will work and the gravel-looking stuff is perfectly fine. After the biomedia is usually a polishing pad that resembles floss or cotton...remove and replace.
As far as maintenance, I have heard of people not touching their filters for months. I dont think this is a good idea as the accumulated sludge could cause a higher than normal or desired Nitrate level. Regular maintenance is more realistic on a monthly schedule and you replace the polishing pad keeping your water sparkling clear. It all depends on the load you are giving the filter as far as gunk it intakes. Feed fish sparingly and you can go longer intervals between cleaning. If the filter isnt adequately filtering the load, consider a smaller second filter.
Good luck.
 
Hot Slime said:
What model Eheim are you using? You don't have mechanical media in your filter? Yeah carbon needs to be replaced often, but honestly there is no point in running carbon 24/7 in your filter.


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IDK but I think it's the standard one for a 75 gallon.
 
boldtogether said:
If it were me, I would remove everything. Replace everything.
Dont throw away the gravel and pipe looking things. The "pipe looking things" are mechanical media used to remove large particles. The gravel is your biomedia
Eheim usually stacks the media starting with coarse media, called Effimech(pipe looking things) followed usually by a reticulated sponge. This is your mechanical filtration. Next, bio media called Effisubstrate. It is a sintered glass and it looks like gravel. A better upgrade to this is the Effisubstrate Pro, however, any media will work and the gravel-looking stuff is perfectly fine. After the biomedia is usually a polishing pad that resembles floss or cotton...remove and replace.
As far as maintenance, I have heard of people not touching their filters for months. I dont think this is a good idea as the accumulated sludge could cause a higher than normal or desired Nitrate level. Regular maintenance is more realistic on a monthly schedule and you replace the polishing pad keeping your water sparkling clear. It all depends on the load you are giving the filter as far as gunk it intakes. Feed fish sparingly and you can go longer intervals between cleaning. If the filter isnt adequately filtering the load, consider a smaller second filter.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

what can i take out and wash and put back in, and what do I need to to replace completely?? Your info is excellent but I can't absorb all the info at once.
 
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