Need adivce on how stock my canister filter asap

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
F

fishinatank

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2008
9
0
0
in a tank
hello, everyone. i actually been a member of this website for a while but never posted before, just reading/searching thru the post to get any information needed. so this is my first post.

anyway, i am kinda stump here. my question is i just got a eheim classic 2215. i never used a canister filter before. and i did a good search on this forum on information on canister filter. and from what i read i have thought up this setup, which is having my existing hob filter to serve as mechanical filtration only. and make my canister bio only. this way i can clean the filter maybe a few times a year and the hob every time i do a water change, which is every week.

the part where i have a problem is what to put in the canister for bio filtration only. (by the way, if having my canister set up for bio filter only is not a good idea please let me know). i was thinking of putting blue coarse filter pad that came with the canister on the bottom then fill the whole thing up with eheim substrat pro. or should i just fill the whole thing up with eheim subtrat pro only (will anypart of the canister clog up with this setup since i will not be having any floss or pad in it to catch and gunk). as for what media i currently have in hand is everything that came with the canister, which is eheim mech, eheim substrat pro( i got enough of this to fill the whole canister with by the way), the blue coarse filter pad, the carbon pad, and the fine white filter pad. from what i read i was also under the impression that having the filter in the canister will clog the thing faster which means more maintence on the canister.

so what the ideal setup for setting my canister for bio filtration only and minimum maintence (i will be using my hob for mech).

any advice and comment is greatly apprieated.

-ps sry if there to many grammatical mistake in this post, i kinda of typing this in a rush. kinda have the eheim canister stuff all over the room now need to clean. so plz reply quick so i can setup the canister asap....thanks for your time (by the way this is a great website)
 
fishinatank;2654457; said:
hello, everyone. i actually been a member of this website for a while but never posted before, just reading/searching thru the post to get any information needed. so this is my first post.
Click to expand...

Welcome to MFK :)

anyway, i am kinda stump here. my question is i just got a eheim classic 2215. i never used a canister filter before. and i did a good search on this forum on information on canister filter. and from what i read i have thought up this setup, which is having my existing hob filter to serve as mechanical filtration only. and make my canister bio only. this way i can clean the filter maybe a few times a year and the hob every time i do a water change, which is every week.
Click to expand...
I think this setup is good. I used to have a mechanical filter for only taking the gunk out, and I used to regularly clean it every time I did WC. I think it worked perfectly for me.


the part where i have a problem is what to put in the canister for bio filtration only. (by the way, if having my canister set up for bio filter only is not a good idea please let me know). i was thinking of putting blue coarse filter pad that came with the canister on the bottom then fill the whole thing up with eheim substrat pro. or should i just fill the whole thing up with eheim subtrat pro only (will anypart of the canister clog up with this setup since i will not be having any floss or pad in it to catch and gunk). as for what media i currently have in hand is everything that came with the canister, which is eheim mech, eheim substrat pro( i got enough of this to fill the whole canister with by the way), the blue coarse filter pad, the carbon pad, and the fine white filter pad. from what i read i was also under the impression that having the filter in the canister will clog the thing faster which means more maintence on the canister.
Click to expand...
If you can help it, and if I had the exact same bio media as you have, I would only fill the whole canister with pro. Some say that you should always have a layer of mechanical filtration in the bottom layer (when the water "comes into" the canister), followed by the bio layers. I think the more you maximize the bio media, the better. Thus, even for my existing 2260 setup, I have not used any of the blue media/layers that eheim sells. I would therefore recommend to only fill the canister with bio media. If you are that concerned about clogging up the media, you can add a small blue media layer -- though that will probably reduce the time between maintenance.
 
I recommend you run the 2215 as it came stock. I would not want the bio-media to look like what the mechanical does after two or three months. Gunk in your bio-media will reduce it's effectiveness once all the pores are clogged
 
thanks for the quick responses, theoscarguy and bderick67.

yea about the clogging up of the media, thats pretty much the main reason why my canister is still not plug in yet. because i mainly want to maximize the bio-filtration potential of the eheim 2215, which from what i read on this site makes a great bio-filter. and of course, i am bit lazy, so i wanted a setup with less maintence require.

as for using the media that came with the filter, if i did that wouldnt it make the canister into a bio/mechanical/and if i add the carbon pad, a chemical filter.

so let say i use the blue filter pad at the bottom and from there fill the thing up with substrat pro, will that be sufficent enough not to clog up the media too much and will it allow me to only clean the filter maybe every 3-6 months, or whenever the flow rate decrease <that what i also read here that one should clean the filter when the flow rate of their canister filter drops; please correct me if i am wrong>.


also one more quick question. the eheim mech thing its main purpose is for mechanical filtration right? just wanted to make sure what exact it does. since, i am setting the canister for bio-filtration, i can replace it with substrat pro right? (just wanted to make sure cuz this is my first canister and wanted to do it right from the start.

once again thanks for info/advice
 
run a pad/sponge first and fill the rest with bio, as far as cleaning it that would depend on how fast it clogs up, youll get a "feel" after a while as to when to clean it.
 
dmopar74, thanks for the info

just to make sure: as for the pad/sponge , the coarse blue pad thingy that comes with the canister is sufficient enough, right? than fill the thing up with all eheim substrat pro , correct?.

sorry for so many questions , just wanted to make i get it right
 
yup, that's what i would do to maximize the bio filtration. At least use the blue pad to catch majority of the stuff it sucks up, then give it some time, once the bio bacteria establishes it'll work even more efficient prolonging you cleaning the filter, just remember that when you clean your canister, rinse the substrat pro in the tank water so you don't kill off the good bacteria. good luck...lets see some pics!
 
alrite, i got it now, thanks for all the help guys, gonna set it up later today, i just hope priming it wont be too hard.... as for pics, sry cant post any up since i dont have access to website like imageshack to upload my pics.... but anyway greatly apprieacted all the inputs all of you gave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom