# Eheim 2229 problems



## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

Hello everyone,
My eheim 2229 wet dry is running continuously like a filter now I noticed there is some water in the breathing tube. I tried restarting it and had the same problem. I know if you want it to run continuously to put a plug in the breathing tube but I don't want it to run continuously so how do I get it to not have water in the breathing tube and get it to cycle like a wet dry again.

Thanks Gus


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Is the float valve raising and lowering at all?


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## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

No its no Going up and down


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

There are actually quite a few things that can cause the wet/dry function not to work correctly.

Has the filter been operating normally? What might have changed recently? When was the last time you cleaned the filter components (not the media) thoroughly?


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## smitty (May 7, 2004)

If Deeda can not steer you in the right direction then you better call Eheim.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Thanks for the vote of confidence, smitty!

Gusto, I would recommend reading the troubleshooting section in the manual to eliminate the obvious possibilities. I'm referring to cleaning hoses, float assembly, o-rings, making sure the breather pipe outlet isn't too near the water surface, etc.

One possibility that is usually overlooked is the pump head output port cleaning plug. I experienced this first hand & discovered the plug was damaged, probably due to my inattention.

A view of this plug location is provided below, showing the plug installed.










The next pic is of the plug removed.










I ended up replacing the Eheim plug with a rubber 'cork' that I found in my garage junk drawer. If you decide to use a cork, be aware that it will need to be removed occasionally to clean the output water channel in the pump head. I drilled a small hole in the cork to allow a screw to be threaded into it to allow for easy removal when performing maintenance. The screw is not permanently installed.


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## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

Thanks for your help, was a little busy yesterday. To answer your previous post last weekend I cleaned the filter and yesterday when doing a water change I noticed it wasn't stop and going like it should. I also noticed that the breather tube has a little water about 3" from the top of the filter. I will try to look at what you last posted and see if that's it.


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## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

thanks Deeda,
I took it apart again today and noticed a few things. in the top cover were the hoses plug into (locking clamp) had that area had water in it so I literally had to dump the water out of the cover and I also found some of the media inside the bottom part of the float chamber. I gave it another good cleaning and put it all together and it seems to be working fine. I just think I might have lost some good bacteria because when I opened it up only the bottom try was submersed in water, but if thats the only problem and the filter is fixed I'm ok with that.

Thanks for all your help I really appreciate it..

Gus


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Gus, great to hear you discovered the problem. I would say it was probably the media inside the bottom of the float chamber that didn't allow the float to seat properly.

I wouldn't worry too much about the upper 2 trays of media becoming dry because this isn't the only filter you have on the 150G tank (I checked your profile to see what tank you had this filter on).

BTW, you are very welcome!! I enjoy helping people troubleshoot their equipment. I just happen to be familiar with a few Eheims and have run into the same issues.


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