eheim 2224 maintenance

[fraley]

Hi all,
my tanks been up and running for a couple of months now, very low stocked.
Was wondering how often i should be doing filter maintenance, obviously im doing water changes every week.
Looking through the manual it says how to do it but not how often, also i need to know how often i should change the foam pads and other mediums..
Any help would be great..
: - )

[nanaglen2001]

You said you have a tank with low stocking. Thats good, weekly waterchanges, very good.

Is the water which comes out from the filter outlet going out in a strong current? If yes, its fine.

When the current becomes much weaker (it will become a bit weaker after 2 or so weeks, but this is normal) and I mean much weaker, then its time to clean the filter material.

But with your low stocked tank it can be a while till this happens.

You neednt to chance the foam pads, just rinse them in not too cold water, and dont rinse them too well. Give some of the bacteria which live inside the foam stuff a chance to stay alife.

A canister filter shouldnt be cleaned too good, cause this could mean a whole new nitrit peak. The reason is, if too well cleaned, all the good bacteria are gone.

[hungryhound]

I personally clean my cannister once a month. This entails washing the biomax and course filter pads in tank water. I keep the course filter pads, but throw away the fine ones. IN stead Of buying the expensive filter pads I buy filter floss and use that in place of the fine. It is cheaper and I find it works better and holds up longer.

I never change the biomax.

[Fishguy2727]

What media do you have in the canister? Mechanical media should just be rinsed and replaced as needed. Biological media should be checked and if there is any debris on it, rinse it with tank water. Maintenance should be done monthly. This will remove denris before it has a chance to break down and cause nitrate spikes. Even if it has not slowed the flow of the water, it is still good to get rid of that debris before it causes problems. Prevention is the easiest way to deal with most aquarium problems.

[fraley]

Im using the ehiem media supplied with the filter which are the coarse and fine pads, ehfisubstrat and ehfimech which are the ceramic tubes.. I have been checking water parameters every couple of weeks and they are all perfect, and the outflow is still as powerful has it has always been.. But i will definately start checking the filter every month now.
One more query- do i have to unplug the filter at the mains or can i just stop the flow by the taps??
Thanks for all your help everyone : -)

[nanaglen2001]

hmmm I hope I got your second query right...

While maintenancing it, of course unplug it from electricty, I think you have to do it anyway, cause I guess you clean it in your bathtub or so.

To get it away from your aquarium just do it http://www.shopsolution.nl/clients/seame/prod_images/ef24.gif this way.

[gm72]

I strongly advocate the use of sponge prefilters for all filters. I use them on all of mine and I only very rarely need to perform cannister maintenance now, maybe once every 6 months, and even then nothing is very dirty/clogged. I use these to excellent benefit:
http://www.aquariumguys.com/lupr.html