# Never Changing Eheim Filter Media?



## jonathantc08

So I asked my LFS when I should be replacing the media in my eheim filers (Ultra G 160) and his response was that I should never replace ANY media in my filter. I then asked how often must I rinse the media then, and he said Never. All he suggested was that I replace the pre filter and filter pads once a month...

I'm pretty sure that you can get away with not replacing the media, but only if you keep it free of debris, and how else are you going to keep it free of debris if you never rinse it. Keep in mind I said "rinse in aquarium water" so he couldn't have mistaken that for rinse under tap. You would think being a retailer of eheim and eheim media he would want to sell as much media as possible so that's why I am confused.

How should I clean my filters? What I was prepared to do is the following:

1. Once a month rinse the filter media (in aquarium water) and replace filter pads.
2. Once ever 2 months, replace 1 of the 4 media baskets with new media to seed off the remaining 3.
3. Once every 4-6 months clean filter head and propeller assembly.

Now would that not sound more logical than "never replace or rinse anything?"


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## 13razorbackfan

Just rinse in old tank water or dechlorinated water. I clean my canisters once every two months. I dip the biomedia as well but don't actively scrub. I just dip it a few times to wash off the loose gunk buildup. I only replace my mechanical media when it is starting to shred. Sounds like you are on the right path.


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## marius432

only do #1 and #3. you don't need to replace your filter media. actually don't do #1 the way you said..........rinse filter media every 3-6 months


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## mdog

I only clean the cannister filters once every 3 months or so. At that time I replace the fine white pad and rinse the blue coarse sponge and filter media with dechlorinated water. I've never replaced the media and it's been years and the tank is very healthy.


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## marius432

your right mdog, the blue pad just needs to be rinsed. It should be rinsed in dechlorinated water. I don't do that , because i'm lazy and I just run it through the tap and dry it a little


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## b3w4r3

I don't have a canister filter, but IMO cleaning the pre-filter section should be done on a weekly basis. The prefilter's job is to trap solid waste, not serve as a biological filter. The more solid waste that builds up in it will restrict water flow, and just add to nitrates unnecessarily. A quick dip in removed tank water (you can squeeze them out gently too) will go a long way to keeping nitrates lower.

The best way would be to swap prefilter pads regularly once a week, or even every few days, to prevent them acting as a bio-filter. The more solid waste you remove the better your water quality will be.


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## jonathantc08

thanks all!

So I think I'll stick with just rinsing the pre-filter pad every week and swap it out for a new once every month. Right now I have just the eheim blue pre-filter pad but I want to add another micro polishing pad because I have a lot of particulates floating around.


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## nodima

b3w4r3 said:


> I don't have a canister filter, but IMO cleaning the pre-filter section should be done on a weekly basis. The prefilter's job is to trap solid waste, not serve as a biological filter. The more solid waste that builds up in it will restrict water flow, and just add to nitrates unnecessarily. A quick dip in removed tank water (you can squeeze them out gently too) will go a long way to keeping nitrates lower.
> 
> The best way would be to swap prefilter pads regularly once a week, or even every few days, to prevent them acting as a bio-filter. The more solid waste you remove the better your water quality will be.


in theory you are correct. In practice, the "pre-filters" are contained in the canister itself, so going into it weekly is a bit too much work for most. If one put a coarse prefilter on their canister intake it might be easy to do weekly. That is one advantage of a well designed sump and I guess for a HOB filter too.


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## mdog

It can't hurt but in my opinion rinsing or changing filter pads weekly is unnecessary. I just replace the white pad when I clean the filter.


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## kmuda

I go to the other extreme. My base philosophy of keeping fish is to keep organics as low as possible in order to limit populations of heterotrophic bacteria. Filters gunked up with months worth of detritus are a nitrate factories that become a breeding ground for heteroptrophic bacteria, some of which can become pathogenic. In addition, heteroptrophic bacteria can vastly outcompete the nitrifying autotrophic bacteria. If the media is not kept clean of heterotrophic baceria food sources, and organics kept low, over time, these heterotrophic bacteria will take over available (and declining) surface area. In short, old, improperly maintained and exhausted biomedia will eventually house insufficient colonies of nitrifying bacteria to maintain an ammonia and nitrite free tank. Any environment conducive to this scenario is also conducive to excess nitrate.

Biomedia is effective because of the internal pores that results in expansive surface area. A single Bio-Max ring contains the surface area equivalent to 1" of gravel in a 10 gallon tank. Over time, these internal pores become clogged with biomass and waste. Once clogged, that same Bio Max ring contains the surface are equivalent to a 1" smooth rock.

I use sponge prefilters on the intakes of all canister filters. These prefilters are cleaned weekly. Prefilters help further protect your biomedia from gunk build up.

I clean all canister filters once per month. Bio-Media is dumped into a bucket of tank water and hand swished to release gunk build up. About 1/4 of the biomedia is replaced each month, with the old media being well rinsed in tap water using a dish sprayer and then boiled to further clean the internal pores. This cleaned media is re-used the following month. So a constant rotation with clean media is occurring. Combine this with over filtration with massive amounts of biomedia and you have a tank conducive to a healthy environment that can survive emergencies such as medication and power outages.


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## jonathantc08

so kmuda If I want to put an extra filter pad in my canister It would be better to put it before the biomedia (in the water flow direction)...basically you want the water passing over the biomedia to be as debris free as possible correct?


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## kmuda

That would be a correct statement. However, you don't want to place a fine filter pad, such as a polishing pad, in the lower chambers of a filter.


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## jonathantc08

kmuda said:


> That would be a correct statement. However, you don't want to place a fine filter pad, such as a polishing pad, in the lower chambers of a filter.


I'm guessing that's because it gets clogged easily?

so I'd want at least a coarse pad in front of it...


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## kmuda

Correct, a fine polishing pad lower in the filter chamber would clog too easily.

In my Eheim Classic canisters, I run the filter with the stock media specified as the norm for Eheim Classics, with a sponge prefilter on the intake. The Sponge prefilters are prefilters for Marineland Powerheads, sometimes cut in half with the hole stretched to accommodate the larger intake strainers.

In all of my filters with trays, I use a course sponge in the first tray, with the second tray being Eheim Ehfilav. Ehfilav makes an excellent mechanical screen while retaining biofiltration properties as well. I also place a piece of blue bonded padding on top of the Ehfilav.. The top two trays are a quality biomedia (Substrate Pro, Matrix, Cell-Pore, Biomax, etc...). If you use Eheim Ehfilav in the first or second tray of any filter, you'll be sold on it. It's the best mechanical screen I've used and it rinses fully clean. Sometimes it can be a pain to really get a sponge cleaned.

The more mechanical filtration you can get in front of your biomedia the better and prefilters would be the first step, allowing easy access for weekly cleaning. And anything that is squeezed out of the prefilter is something that did not get into your canister.


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## jonathantc08

I'm interested in the ehfilav... Why does it work better than ceramic rings? which is what I have right now, and can you just dump it in the baskets or do you have to use a mesh bag?

right now my bottom two trays are ceramic rings and top two are ehfisubstrate no sponges or pads in the bottom 3 baskets then on very top I have the sponge.


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## kmuda

By Ceramic RIngs I assume you are referencing Eheim EhfiMech. EhfiMech should continue to be used in your bottom tray. Ehfilav would be an improvement in your second tray as it catches finer particles than does EhfiMech.

Ehfilav packs in tighter, hence it's ability to catch finer particles. But the big benefit of Ehfilav is that it retains biofiltration properties even when serving the purpose of a mechanical screen, so you get a good mechanical screen and decent biomedia in the same media. I use it as biomedia in locations where mechanical filtration is limited, such as in the optional media cartridges for Penguin and Emperor filters and in the carbon container for Marineland Magnum canisters.

As previously stated, I also use it in the second tray of my canisters. I used it in my Fluval 404 before the 404 died. I used in my Cascades before I switched those out with Eheim Classics, and I currently use it in the second tray of my Marineland C-360. In each of these filters, it goes right into the tray without a media bag. As for the Eheim Pro filters (or other Eheim non-classic filters) I cannot attest to the need of a media bag as I am not familiar with the trays. Ehfilav is a relatively small media size so that would be a valid concern.

If your first tray is EhfiMech and the second is Ehfilav, I would also recommend a piece of blue bonded padding cut to fit your tray and placed on top of the Ehfilav, preceding the biomedia.


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## Ron R.

I've run my 2 2217 eheims in my 180g Oceanic tank since 1988. Changed the impellors 3x since then. I alternate cleaning my filters about once every 3 mos. Get the eheim brushes to clean out the impellor section and top section.

Many people advise cleaning the filter with tank water--I don't. With 2 filters when I clean one out I totally take it down and do a thorough cleaning. The other filter is able to keep the tank established.

I rinse everything well.........the little white rocks, ceramic noodles, green plastic mesh and cotton floss (can't remember all their proper Eheim german names LOL). I clean the cannister. In essence it becomes a new filter again.

If you only have 1 cannister running you cannot do this. With 2 I'm okay. Just be sure to alternate.

Again, this has worked for me for 24 years.


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## nodima

Ron R. said:


> I've run my 2 2217 eheims in my 180g Oceanic tank since 1988. Changed the impellors 3x since then. I alternate cleaning my filters about once every 3 mos. Get the eheim brushes to clean out the impellor section and top section.
> 
> Many people advise cleaning the filter with tank water--I don't. With 2 filters when I clean one out I totally take it down and do a thorough cleaning. The other filter is able to keep the tank established.
> 
> I rinse everything well.........the little white rocks, ceramic noodles, green plastic mesh and cotton floss (can't remember all their proper Eheim german names LOL). I clean the cannister. In essence it becomes a new filter again.
> 
> If you only have 1 cannister running you cannot do this. With 2 I'm okay. Just be sure to alternate.
> 
> Again, this has worked for me for 24 years.


  
Ron, that is impossible, I've read on the internet how bad that is for your tank - don't tell your tank about the internet, you'll get in trouble!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I use the same logic and approach and have done so for a long time.

(yes the first part of this post was sarcasm)


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## Ron R.

Funny. Gave me a smile.


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## jonathantc08

I had similar logic about running 2 filters and the _internet_ lead me away. If you have 2 of the same filters and you completely clean one out (even using tap water) and leave the other running, as soon as you add the cleaned one back it will seed off the other and pretty quickly.Nitrifying bacteria colonies double in size at an exponential rate so the more you leave un-touched the faster it will reach your aquariums "threshold". People (such as myself ) are overly cautious sometimes. Not to anthropomorphize our little friends but we want to make them happy as can be!


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## nodima

Ron R. said:


> Funny. Gave me a smile.


Good. It is so challenging to successfully show sarcasm on line. Glad it worked!

Cheers!


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## kmuda

You think two filters works well, try four. Works out even better. :thumb:

That was not sarcasm. :lol:


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## mdog

One of the things I like about my cannister filters - probably the main thing - is the very low maintenance. I only touch them once every few months, so I thought the cleaning suggestions here were "overkill". Certainly won't hurt, but I don't like doing more work than necessary. So I dug out the box where I keep instructions, etc. and here is what I found. This is from Eheim:
"Your 2026/2028 needs to be cleaned every 3-6 months. You should change 1/3 - 2/3 of the EHFISUBSTRAT every 6-12 months. The EHFISYNTH (white) pad should be changed with every cleaning (every 3-6 months) and the EHFIFIX (blue) pad should be changed when it becomes flattened or every year."


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## kmuda

My basic fish keeping philosophy is to keep organics as low possible. This is done for multiple reasons but the primary two are managing nitrates and disease prevention. With that as a basic concept, If you wait until a filter _needs_ cleaned you waited too long. My filters get cleaned monthly.

Filters packed with gunk are an all you can eat buffet for heteroptrophic bacteria, some of which are pathogenic, and are conducive to an environment restrictive to autoptrophic nitrifying bacteria (the guys we need to keep ammonia and nitrite in check).

And it's not necessarily about day to day fish keeping. It's also about surviving the emergencies. While a well maintained filter and a not so well maintained filter may both provide ammonia/nitrite management on a day to day bases, it's when the not so normal situations arise that the better maintained filter will continue to manage ammonia/nitrite while the not so well maintained filter may not. Situations such as power outages, medications, forgetting to turn a filter back on after a water change, forgetting to use a dechlorinator during a water change, etc.... The reason for this is the heteroptrophic bacteria can easily outcompete autotrophic bacteria by an exponentially profound margin. In simple terms, they can consume all available surface area, especially when the autotrophic bacteria are stressed or killed by one of the before mentioned emergencies. Even absent an emergency, over time, heterotophic bacteria will consume surface area previously inhabited by the autotrophs, especially considering that available surface area declines over time (the internal pores on the filter media fill in), a situation that becomes more profound if the filter is allowed to accumulate gunk and bacterial slime.

The same Eheim documentation also identifies than the Eheim 2217 can be used solo on a 160 gallon tank. While I am a huge fan of the Eheim 2217 (I have four of them in use), I would not feel comfortable with it running solo on anything larger than a 55 gallon tank. Only mentioned to suggest that not everything the manufacturer recommends is correct.


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## Mschn99

As was touched on before, With my canister and HOB filters i have extra bio and mechanical filtration on hand. When i change either out that allows me to run the old media and "backflush" it under running tap water without having to worry about the chlorine. Now i guess im just cheap because i just use dollar store pot scrubbies for bio, but having extra bio and foam for all my filters on hand allows me to clean them thoroughly. I have found that i rince my bio media in tank water once a month, and rotate it for clean media about every 3 months. I also over filter and have multiple filters on each tank which allows me to rotate my cleaning schedule to keep from having any chemistry problems created by myself.


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## BillD

kmuda offers some very good advice here. Since the heterothrophic bacteria compete with the nitrifying bacteria in a filter for oxygen, keeping detritus out of the filter is a good idea that will enhance the efficiency of the filter and result in lower nitrates. That is fact. Other methods may work especially if more filtration than necessary is used, but that doesn't change the reality. I can only imagine the outcry if someone came on here and suggested they left an under gravel filter go 3 to 6 months with out cleaning the gravel. Leaving a cannister that long is no different.


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## underwatergirl

Would you suggest pre filtering any Eheim Pro? I've run mine about 4 years without, and also with minimal maintenance (probably would make anyone on forum cringe). Needless to say, I'm not above learning from the pros. I was just always afraid of messing with a good thing (water parameters seem great since fish are spawning). Since reading this thread today though, I just emptied my canister and all the gunk, rinsed the media in aquarium water and changed the white filter pad. Hope they stay happy!


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## Deeda

The problems I see with using a pre-filter on any filter is that it will need to be cleaned more frequently than most people are willing to do. The only time I've used them is when I've had very tiny fry in the tank and once large enough, removed the pre-filter.

For what it's worth, I ocassionally find fry in my Eheims and I just collect them and put them back in the main tank.


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## kmuda

I run prefilters on all of my canisters. During weekly water changes, the prefilter sponges get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water. Takes about 1 minute per sponge. If I'm in a hurry, I have extras. I just pull the old one off, it goes into a bucket for later cleaning, and a new (recyled cleaned) one goes on. "Later Cleaning" involves squeezing it out in tap water and subsequent boiling. The "boiling" keeps the sponges "like new" for the long haul. Once cleaned, it's available for reuse in subsequent weeks.

Even if your not performing weekly water changes, prefilter sponges can be squeezed out in a few minutes per week. Overall, you are substantially reducing canister filter maintenance because much of the gunk that would otherwise wind up inside the canister winds up on the prefilter. This also serves to protect your biomedia from exhaustion (internal pores become filled with gunk).


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## b3w4r3

This is what my filter pads look like after only 5 days. Top layer is quilt bedding, bottom layer is a 100 micron pad.

This gunk will all break down into ammonia contributing to the nitrate levels. By removing it at this stage it doesn't get a chance to break down. Now consider how often you clean your mechanical media, lets say once a month. That's 6 times the amount of nitrate build up over that time. Never clean it? Well... let's just say I feel sorry for the fish.

People seem to treat their canister filters as out of sight out of mind. As long as their ammonia readings are 0 everything is fine. What happens after a bit is the mechanical filters get so clogged it can't trap any more crud, and that crud starts bypassing into the bio media.

I understand that some people are using multiple canisters, even HOBs, and it can be quite a task to clean them all every week. That's their choice though, running multiple filters when one properly set up wet/dry could handle their whole tank and make maintenance a snap. I don't mean to bash canisters, they are good filters if properly maintained. Problem is they don't handle large tanks well unless you run more than one, and that's where I think it starts to become a problem. People will vacuum the poop off their sand, so why let that same poop build up in your canister?

Anyway this is just my opinion. I don't mean to offend any canister users, just want to point out the level of gunk that can accumulate in a short time, and what can be done to lessen it's impact on your water quality. Obviously never cleaning your filters is a bad idea.


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