Re: [APD] Re: filter vs pump -- or - Siphoning a few more details

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

--- Daniel & Anita <daniel_anita at bigpond_com> wrote:
> . . .  Just a
> side-note regarding 
> the ecco's; the cam which is used to attach the head to
> the canister 
> has a tendency to be somewhat troublesome - sometimes
> locking, and 
> sometimes not opening properly.

Jonathon Dooley tells me the clips that attach the lever to
the canister have been redesigned.

>  Also due to the design
> of the priming 
> mechanism, the head can sometimes become stuck on the
> canister due to a 
> vacuum inside the canister 

Not possible if the valves are open. The lever should never
be rotated unless both valves are open. 

> - all easy enough to deal with
> using a 
> little common sense problem solving, but not so great for
> the novice 
> fish-keeper.  A friend of mine who owns an lfs swears by
> Eheim, but 
> doesn't carry the Ecco range for this reason.
> Now of course, I appreciate that Scott has been able to
> use the Ecco's 
> without problem's, 

Naw. I've talked about the lever clips before. It was a
design flaw that Eheim didn't catch before they went into
production.

> I just thought you might like to hear
> another view.
> Further to that, while I think that the pro II's are a
> beautiful 
> machine (only a fish person could call a filter beautiful
> ;) ), 

While on the subject of the Pro II's, the seal on the
priming mechanism must be kept lubricated with petroleum
jelly. Two things can happen if it is not:  1) the primer
becomes difficult to work and more or less ineffective and
2) water can leak past the seal -- at which point it tends
to show up at the place where the electrical cord leaves
the pump head. If your Pro II has been seeping water near
the cord, put some vaseline on the primer seal and that
ought to fix the problem. Eheim includes a small tube of
vaseline with the filter.

One other thing about the Pro IIs. The little ball that is
marketed as a flow rate indicator functions as a one-way
valve when using the primer so that water is sucked in
through the inlet only and expelled through the outlet.
When this ball becomes worn, the primer becomes
ineffective. The price from Eheim to replace the ball (part
#7444410 Ball with ball cage) is $16.76 -- ouch. the very
same ball is used in Ecco filters and the price from Eheim
(part #7481020 Ball cage with ball) is only $4.81. Go
figger :-\

> I 
> mainly use the Eheim "classic" filters (2213, 2215, 2217
> models) - 
> these are no - nonsense just damn good filters (which
> consequently now 
> come with filter baskets - as they originally did not),

Alas, I am disappointed with the baskets for the calssics.
The 2213, 2215, & 2217 Plus version has a single basket, so
basically, you open up the canister and then you can lift
out -- voila --another "canister". It's not quite the same
as having separate media baskets for diff media. But the
pump head O-ring seal is much improved in the current
version of the classics -- it's automatically held in place
for a good seal. And the Plus version now comes with the
quick-connect-disconnect valves.

> and if you 
> don't mind priming the filter yourself, you get a great
> filter for 
> about 2/3 the price (or less!) of a pro II.

You said it. Definitely consider them. Eheim's strong point
is the reliability of its pumps including those built into
its filters. But if you're willing to step down from the
Pro IIs, then consider also the Filstar and Via Aqua
filters, with which you can get much of the functionality
even cheaper than the Eheim classics. Shop around for price
-- they vary widely. I have had several years of very
reliable performance from the Filstars and Tom B., I
recall, has reported good experience with the Via Aqua.
Both of these tend to have a higher rated flow per canister
volume than the Eheim -- not that anybody knows just what
the best rate of flow is ;-)

Scott H.

=====
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