# Connecting an Eheim 2217 to a 300W Rena smart heater



## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

this was really easy, and saved me like 20 bucks for the 'official' rena inline adapter










i simply cut the horrible, ugly 'baseball bat' intake off (seriously, who designed that thing?)










sand and then wash the place it was cut... and it will pop straight into the smart heater. its a nice, snug fit, doesnt feel at all 'dodgey'

the hardest part was figuring out the right place to cut the tube, once u do that your laughing.

i live in australia, so my eheim tubing has 16mm internal dimensions listed on the pipe. This is also the diameter that the rena heater adapter uses. so it was a bit of a no brainer in that regard.

my rena is also in degrees celcius, THE USA VERSIONS MAY NOT WORK LIKE THIS... make sure u check that your bonky old imperial measurement pipe fits nicely in your 'farenheit' smart heater... :lol:


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## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

been up and running for 24 hours now and it hasnt blown up yet :thumb:

it has improved the perfomance of the smart heater massively. when it just had the outlet pipe aimed at it, it would toggle on and off heaps, like every 5 minutes it would change... this had me concerned it would wear out the thermostat mechanism too quickly...

now its so much better  it stays off most of the time, and switches on for a while quite rarely. heaps better :thumb:


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

:thumb: Looks like a winner :thumb: 
Thanks for the tip


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## zcfish (Jan 31, 2009)

Great tip! I have two 2217's always been thinking if it would fit. Some good review for the heater too.


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## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

its really improved the heater, by about 500%

its rarely on now, stays off for a long time then switches on for a little while then back off. wheres before, it was like a car indicator! on off on off

also the water flow in my tank is much better, as the outflow is no longer hitting the heater and dispersing. im noticing less gunk on the bottom of my tank as the water can flow unhindered across the top of the tank, and back to the filter intake

so its been win - win so far :thumb:


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