am I supposed to clean this filter

[liljack]

I have an eheim I think it says 2213, anyway am I supposed to take it apart and clean it or something. Never have before. My water is always looking like it has brown stuff floating in it.The overflow filter to the bio balls has that blue/white filter stuff in it and it gets brown in no time at all and will have a lot of brown stuff sitting in the bottom of it. Ive seen other tanks and they all look much clearer than mine, change water weekly and vacume sand at the same time weekly. Thanks

[TaTeR ToT]

yeah, you have to disconnect it and clean it about every month, how big of a tank do you have it on?
if it is on a tank over 30g's that is well stocked, i would say clean it no less than onc a month.

[TaTeR ToT]

i have a rena xp3 and an eheim pro 2224 on my 125g and i clean them about every 6 weeks.

[liljack]

well crap! Ive never cleaned it, bought the whole tank set up off here from.....? any way its 125,well stocked-yes.....do you know how. take apart,wash? and just put together..i dont even know whats inside it.

[TaTeR ToT]

dang, you really need to upgrade that filter if its on a 125g! that 2213 is only rated for upto a 45g tank.
anywho, you shut of the little levers on the hose connectors, and then unscrew the ring that holds the connectors together, then take th canoster outside, and release the little levers again, and tlet the filter drain most of the water from it.
then, undo the little metal clips on the motor head of the filter. then rinse everything very wel, and put it back together the same way it came apart, then recoonect the hoses, and wait for air bubbles to come out of the spray bar. then when this happens, plug it in.

[supadave]

I agree with Eartheater, just make sure that you rinse everything off in tank water. This will prevent you from losing beneficial bacteria.

[myjohnson]

2213 are best for 10g tanks.

[Delock]

liljack,

you may want to look at upgrading in the near future to a 2260

[myjohnson]

+1!

[TaTeR ToT]

+2, i have a xp3 and 2224 and i dont feelits adequeate for longterm. i will soon be upgrading to a 2260

[TaTeR ToT]

heck i ran an xp2 on my 20g high when i had it in combination with a whisper ex 70 hob.

[myjohnson]

Brian,

You came over the other day and saw my filters.....to be honest I fell like I still need more.

Looking into some pond filters......stuff is relatively cheaper and moves a lot of water.....I haven't tried it let but been doing some reading.

[JStrider]

I would be inclined to only clean some of the media in the filter at once...

With that small of a filter, with that big of a bioload on it, disturbing the beneficial bacteria too much could very quickly cause a minicycle and a disaster.

If you have the money I would buy a bigger filter, set it up, let it run for a week or 2 and then clean the smaller one, that way your less likely to have a cycle that could harm or kill your fish.

[wesleydnunder]

Liljack, I run 2) 2217s and a magnum 350 on my 125. All filters should be cleaned/maintained regularly. Mulm buildup in filters can actually choke off and kill the beneficial nitrifying bacteria. I'm an advocate of multiple filters, especially for big tanks. If one filter fails the other(s) keep working. I agree with the other posts...an upgrade for your tank's filtration is necessary.

Mark

[liljack]

Ok so a 2260 is big enuff? or bigger? any suggestions on where is best to purchase one of these. I have the Bio Balls thing under there too. I think I bought this stuff from Delock maybe its been a long time and it was my 1st tank. Thanks for the info-my Fish will appreciate it! :) Oh yeh the water line in the bio tank is always real low, does that matter?