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Re: Which Eheim do you use?



Jody wrote  << I use the 2226 on my 75G tank.  It has a heavy fish load and
lots of plant.
I have found from using others advise that putting a sponge filter on the
outlet makes my water sparkling clear.  Hope this helps.>>

I think this may have caused some confusion. The sponge or prefilter
replaces the basket or strainer on the *intake* that send water *to* the
filter. You never want to impede the flow that leaves a filter. We used a
Fluval in-tank sponge on the intake to our Eheim 2228. We replaced this
with the inexpensive FilterMax III prefilter which has a cylindrical sponge
supported by a slotted plastic tube. It comes with adapters that fit all
tubes and connectors that permit horizontal or vertical placement. Excellent.

The idea is that the prefilter, when cleaned regularly, reduces the bioload
inside the Eheim, so you can really do what they advertise: maintenance
every 4-6 months. The Eheim is our biofilter. We also use a Magnum 350
filled entirerly with floss. This keeps the water just as clear as with the
Magnum micron cartridge, but with *much* less maintenance! We change the
floss every 3-4 weeks and rinse the blue foam sleave every 1-2 weeks. We
scrape algae off the walls of our 135-gal every week, and the Magnum
catches considerable amounts of gook. We have a large fish load, so there
is no nitrate deficit and this prefiltering works out fine. The division of
biological and mechanical filtration is becoming increasingly popular.
Otherwise, you need to service the Eheim Pro more often just to change the
final fine-filter pad, when it would otherwise not need it. 

Note: I've heard that Eheim is coming out with a Pro II series. I
understand there is a priming button and some kind of indicator for when
maintenance is required. I don't know if the current models will still be
produced. In any case, they may drop in price when the new models come out.

Jared
___________________________________________________________
Jared Weinberger                    jweinberger at knology_net  
______    http://www.knology.net/~jweinberger/     ________