Flow Rate Eheim 2262 after 1 year w/o opening canister

[CA-Delta]

This is an interesting resurrection of an old thread. As nc_nutcase said two years ago I'm not sure I clearly see any conclusive information as we do not have anything under the exact conditions to compare it to.

Buc_Nasty : curiosity question, you have 22 fish of varying size in a tank who's mechanical filter has not been cleaned in five months and you have not done ANY water changes in two months and you are reporting a ZERO Nitrate reading ?
Do you have any other devices that would remove Nitrates ?
Call me crazy but I don't see how that's possible, and if it is, I certainly want to know what the secret is.

As to the general premise of the thread , and with all due respect, I don't see how any information of value can be gleaned from it. There are just to many variables.

 

[Buc_Nasty]

The information you can glean from this thread is that eheim 2260's and 2262's are ridiculously good biological filters.

I'll tell you exactly the conditions
5 clown loaches no bigger than 3.5 inches
5 denison barbs no bigger than 4.75 inches
5 odessa barbs no bigger than 1 inch
3 bosemani rainbow no bigger than 4.5 inches
1 prochilodis taeniurus 4 inches
2 kribensis no bigger than 3 inches
6 half inch krib fry
1 bristlenose pleco 3 inches
1 L204 pleco that doesnt leave the filter intake 4.5 inches
You can see the plant situation in my picture earlier in the thread or profile.

I was running my 2260 that was getting an actual 225 or so gph (just tested it, it might have been running up to 300gph then becuase I think it recently deteriorated). Media: 3-4 inches mech, two 1.5 inch poret foam sponges: 10ppi and 30ppi. The rest of the canister is filled with a TON of substratpro, and two "the bag's" of seachem purigen.

Also I didnt realize you're supposed to put the lattice screens in, which I didnt do, but allowd for probably 2-3 more liters of media if not more.

I was also running a magnum 350 with blue filter sleev and leftover poret foam clippings in the media container.

I didnt change the water for at least 7 weeks, it was closer to 8 I think but definitely 7. Before I started I had been doing weekly 50% water changes for months, and did 2 water 50% changes right before the non change period started.

With tests the color is sometimes hard to tell but it was definitely within the 0 and 5 ppm range for nitrate test (closer to 0, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite. I'm pretty sure I'm not colorblind.

Make what you want of this thread, I think its a great one and just shows how beastly 2260s and 2262s are. "the secret" is big eheim canisters with tons of substratpro haha

 

[Buc_Nasty]

Yes, that will cause your problem with low pump flow and crappy filtration.

Hopefully you have inserted the green lattice screens properly. The long leg lattice inserts in the bottom of the filter with the legs down. The short leg lattice inserts on top of your media with the legs up.

Did you ever get a copy of the owners manual?

I just realized a huge aspect that Rex Griggs's site and/or eheim didn't really consider.
I measured, and using the lattice screens takes up SIX LITERS of space in the canister. Stating the obvious like Rex would THATS 33%.
Eheim says put %15 of the total volume of mech in, but alternately 15% of 12 liters of mech is practically nothing and hardly covers all the lattice.

I'm thinking maybe its accounted for by ehfifix and ehfisynth being compressed?, but still I fit SO MUCH more media when not using the lattice screens.

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

HarleyK, Ive got a couple questions...
Do you use powerheads in your tank anywhere? If so how many/how strong?
Also if you get a chance, itd be interesting to see the flow rate of JUST your pump not attached to the canister, with only the output tubing hooked up so we can compare it to my non-eheim pump.

I have two 2262s on my tank, and a 2213. (for surface extraction) No additional flow. Matter of fact, I added extra large holes in my spray bar to reduce flow velocity because I was experiencing bearded algae when I added the second 2262.
Sorry to say, but me measuring pump output only is unlikely to happen. I am a lazy person and I would shy away from dismantling my canister if at all avoidable.

I'm curious as to what your nitrates are generally at after a year of not cleaning? How stocked is the tank?

I have a 24/7 drip system and a massively planted tank. My nitrates hover around 20ppm (tap water level), but in these circumstances that doesn't say much.

As nc_nutcase said two years ago I'm not sure I clearly see any conclusive information as we do not have anything under the exact conditions to compare it to.[...]
As to the general premise of the thread , and with all due respect, I don't see how any information of value can be gleaned from it. There are just to many variables.

The measurements I posted were done on the same tank, which IMO effectively eliminates variables. Stock stayed the same, just grew. Plants stayed the same, just get weeded out from time to time. It's a constant system with measurements of flow after certain time intervals. Sorry if that's not controlled enough, what other variables are not accounted for? And do they matter considering the tank's general set-up remained constant?

Lastly, I'm not saying this is the be all and end all. It's just what I observed on my tank...

HarleyK

 

[CA-Delta]

OK everybody take a deep breath and slow down a second.
I don't have a dog in the silly fight over which canister is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I could really care less. Honestly.
In no particular order of importance :
Harley,
Buc_nasty may have the same "tank" as you but there are, based on the information you have both chosen to share, considerable differences.
Buc_nasty has a single 2260 and a magnum 350.
You have ,according to a reread of all of your posts on this thread, two 2262's and a 2213. That by itself is a huge difference and would likely yield different results. There has been no consideration given of how they are plumbed, IE suction and return loctions nor any discussion of similarity , or lack thereof, of plantings.
I cast no aspersions on either of your findings, with one glaringly obvious exception and I pose this question to you Harley.
Buc_nasty tells us he has, by his latest count, 29 fish in a tank that has not had it's mechanical filtration serviced in a year and has not , according to his updated information, had a water change in 7 or 8 weeks.
One of two things is occurring here. Either Buc_nasty has inadvertently ommitted the fact that he has a 24/7 water change system or his initial claim that he had a ZERO Nitrate reading must be inaccurate. Granted his latest update tells us that the reading is "definitely within the 0 and 5 ppm range ". That's fine. I can take him at his word, but, when you post to this forum that you have a ZERO Nitrate reading based on what he initially reported you had better be prepared to explain how you managed to pull that off as it is highly unlikely.Desireable but unlikely.
As I said Harley it is an intereting ressurrection of an old thread, but , when sharing setup information and advice is accuracy not important ?

 

[HarleyK]

All right,

To de-escalate a situation that CA-Delta apparently feels uncomfortable with, please allow me to explain:

This is

• a simple thread about data, really, just documentation.
• flow on a canister filter measured on the same tank over time
• a follow-up to a previous discussion
• an answer to another members' request, you may say a favor.

This is not

• a fight, silly or not
• a claim to the best filter in the world
• a discussion about the history of sliced bread
• an extrapolation to any tank other than mine. Seriously.
• about my set-up because I didn't change anything during the study, i.e. I am not comparing a 2262 on a 40 gal tetra tank vs 220 gal piranha tank.
• about zero nitrates

This thread is simply a documentation of my filter's flow rate over time.

If anyone has any specific questions about my set-up to find out for yourself if/how my findings *may* apply to other members' tanks? Just ask specific questions. It is really that simple...

BTW: At the time this was posted I only had one 2262 on the tank, no change in filtration occurred during this study.

HarleyK

 

[CA-Delta]

Harley, As I said "I cast no aspersions on either of your findings".
PM to follow.

 

[CClump]

i believe buc nasty also has a planted tank and as such, some or most of the nitrates are being used by the plants no?
i like this thread though. I ought to check my 2075 next time a clean it.

 

[HarleyK]

some or most of the nitrates are being used by the plants no?

Quite possible. One of my tanks I had to add nitrates to in order to maintain plant growth ...

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Could you open it up and take a picture of the horror inside?