Eheim 2217

[cneal112]

OK over the weekend I went out and bought a new 100 gal set up and it came with a Eheim 2217 filter. I noticed today when I was putting some more plants into the tank that the filter is moving water but I took a hand full of normal flake food and put my hand under the water and released it and it sank right past the inlet without sucking in a drop of food. Again the filter is moving water. I have never owned of of these filters and so I dont know if I have something connected wrong or if I just got a dud. If you have any ideas let me know

[lloyd berg]

i only have one of these filters (got it in a used package) but i have to say i am not impressed with it's mechanical capacity. the fact that eheim reduces the return line to fake volume with pressure out the spray bar is enough for me to dis this filter before i ever set it up. things to check before returning it: make sure the round plastic spacer is fitted at the bottom to allow flow easily into the can, use only one sponge, toss out the white screen filter to allow easier flow, and bag all your media so you can clean out the filter easier and more frequently. you might also consider to remove the doubled up valves on both lines. valves always restrict flow and having two of them on each line is not very efficient. IMO,HTH.

[cneal112]

I had a bad disconnect valve on the suction line and I removed it and now it works just fine.

[AquariumPro]

The Eheim is a true chemical-filtration filter which operates under pressure, hence the reduction in the return.

For chemical filtration (ie carbon/phosphate remover, etc.), you want pressure, not flow rate. High flow rate is great for mechanical filtration, but not for physical adsorption. Read our article on filtration for more information.

[lloyd berg]

i still don't like the one i have. :p

[cneal112]

I think I will keep it for a while to see how it works. I might mod it some to see what I can do with it. I will probably make a custom inlet for it instead of using the standard green cheepy it came with

[lloyd berg]

the plumbing that eheim puts out (where do they even find that crappy unflexable green hose??) is another reason to dis them. :p (IMHO, of course)