I have a 2217 on a 55g with 2 oscars in it. I was wondering how often i should wash/change my media?
Eheim 2217
- Thread starter Busdriver69
- Start date
i never washed or changed the media in my eheims. but if you do decide to clean it, i would do it once or twice a month with ONLY aquarium water
It can be washed and reused for a long time without changing it. The fine pad is the least durable, but the blue pad, the rings and the cocoa puffs hold up pretty well to repeated washings. I usually do mine every six months or whenever there's a noticeable decrease in flow. For minor cleanings, I just take the motor off, put it in the tub, and just backflush it with a couple buckets of water. For more thorough cleanings, I put the loose media in a kitchen strainer and rinse them in a bucket, and hose off the pads.
in my 2217, that's about every 6 months for the filter floss, and about once per year for the biomedia 
with just one 2217 on a 55G tank - - and 2 oscars - - I'd clean it every two months at first, but mainly to change the fine white pad on top, maybe give the other media a quick rinse (in tank water) . . .
maybe extend it to every three months if I'm not seeing any problems . . . again, it's mainly the white pad that gets really dirty . . .
I try to clean mine every 3 months, but yeah, unless you see any obvious problems, you can typically go 4-6 months between cleanings with an Eheim . . .
maybe extend it to every three months if I'm not seeing any problems . . . again, it's mainly the white pad that gets really dirty . . .
I try to clean mine every 3 months, but yeah, unless you see any obvious problems, you can typically go 4-6 months between cleanings with an Eheim . . .