Cleaning you Eheim Canister

[bmthomps84]

So I've had a 2217 for a couple months now and am wondering how everyone cleans their canisters and how often.

Right now what I do about every 3 weeks is disconnect both hoses, remove the top and take the entire canister into the shower. Here I spray water into the top and let the water and all the mulm, detritus, crap, etc. spray out of the output hose, essentially reverse flushing the canister. I shake it a couple times until the water is clean.

Is there a better way to do this? Any ideas?

One more question too, by now the polishing pad at the top of the canister is flat and there is about 1.5" of space at the top of my canister. Will this make the filtration less efficient, should I buy some more Bio media to fill it up?

 

[ProblEmZ]

You spray unconditioned water into the canister? Remove the bio media or does it get rinsed with unconditioned water?

 

[duanes]

When cleaning bio media, I use the old water flow from a siphon while doing a water change. That way I'm not compromising beneficial bacteria with chlorine.
I would clean mine at least once per week, because I like taking the sludge out of the water column as opposed to letting sludge and thus nitrate build up.

 

[tcarswell]

You spray unconditioned water into the canister? Remove the bio media or does it get rinsed with unconditioned water?

was wondering the exact same thing.... I put my bio media in a colander that fits in to a bucket of tank water. The rest gets rinsed hard. I only have to crack my eheim 2215 every 3 months and even then it was ok.

 

[Deaths Sting]

always use tank water to clean bio media! Never clean more then 1/3 of the bio media at a time.

mechanically media must be replaced once a month (white sponges) and the ceramic can just be cleaned. most solid medias never need to be replaced only the spongy ones.

the blue filter pad in some Eheims needs to be gently washed in tank water once ever 3 months. u can replace it as well but it holds a lot of the bacterial culture in Eheim filters.

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

I only clean my Eheims when the flow rate drops significantly. That's about once per year. I have to say that I wash my biomedia with tap water. Beneficial bacteria don't all die completely off and the tank (substrate) holds enough beneficial bacteria to quickly re-colonize the filter.

HarleyK

 

[bmthomps84]

Wow alright that makes sense about the chlorine, so for those of you who rinse with your siphoned tank water, do you remove all your biomedia everytime you rinse the canister?

I tested my water today and everything is in order but I'm also still using two HOB's that I let alone when I service the canisters.

Once a week to once a year? Sounds like I need to find out what works for my tank/bioload.

I'm thinking about just taking the polishing pad out of the top and puting more biomedia in, sound appropriate? I'm thinking the only downside would be that it would make the water less clear.

 

[keiths]

Unless I notice something wrong with my 2217, I only open it up about once a year and clean things out.

 

[bmthomps84]

Once a year sounds awesome.

 

[messerchmidt]

i clean my canisters and filters once every 3 or 4 months

dont rinse your bio media in tap water, use aquarium water to take out any dirt. the rest goes under the tap. i change my carbon every 8m~1y.