# maintenance on an eheim 2028 and 2229



## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

Hello Everyone,
I just set up a 150 gallon that just cycled and the tank been running for 5 weeks now. I have an eheim 2028 and a eheim 2229 wet/dry. I just wanted to know when to do maintenance on them and the best way to preform it ( how much media to change out and what just needs to be rinsed and put back).

Thanks Gus


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## TorontoRaptorsFan (May 20, 2005)

I try to rinse out the blue floss on my Eheim 2028 at least once a month. About every three months I rinse out the mechanical filter rings (bottom basket). Pour out the water. Put everything back together and re-fill using the existing tank water.

I'm replacing my Eheim 2028 with the brand new 2075. I just picked one up yesterday. I sometimes find priming the 2028 again can be a PITA!


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## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

Thanks

How often do you replace the media?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

The only media I replace in the 2028 is the white fine pad,if it's not too dirty, I reuse it after cleaning gunk out. I've had the filter for 5 years & have only replaced the blue pads once. The Ehfimech is rinsed in dechlorinated water & the Substrat Pro (bio) is rinsed in used tank water when I perform filter cleaning every 2 months. This tank is lightly stocked.


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## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

Deeda, now you have never replaced the media. I've heard some people saying that also. I looked at eheim they said to replace it every 6 - 12 months ( but they are also the ones selling it).

also do you clean all the media all at once or do you just do some to keep some bacteria. do you suggest me to clean one filter one month and then the other filter the following month.

Thanks Gus


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

When to clean your filter is dependent on a number of factors. How heavy a fish load you have, what & how often you feed, whether you have rocks, substrate, plants, etc.

I have a lot of rock & sand in my tanks so the bacteria have lots of places to grow. I have 2 Eheims on each tank so I rotate cleaning them, every other cleaning. I thoroughly clean the mechanical media & only clean the bio media in a bucket of tank water.

I see no reason to replace the mechanical media though some may need to be replaced due to breakage. The bio media should be good as long as it is kept clean. I have seen it suggested that 1/3 of the bio media can be cleaned when performing filter maintenance and have recently started doing this with no ill effects.


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

I recently replaced the media in a 2028 after ~ 5 years of use. I only did it since the substrat pro was getting discolored badly and thought it would give better results with new media. I left the efimech as is. What a waste of time and money. I coulda prolly got another 5 years outta that stuff.

First thing that disrurbed me was the cost of new substrat pro at over $20 dollars a box. Then I got no beneficial results. I put the old substrat pro inna sock and placed it in one of our sumps so no loss there.


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## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

Now this tank is a 150 gallon with a 30 gallon sump I currently have 12 Frontosa Kapampa's in the tank but they are very small maybe 1 1/2 inches. Now would this be the best way for me to go about cleaning my filters. one month clean the 2028 by cleaing all the efimech in dechlorinated water and rinsing off all the Substrat Pro in tank water. Now that month i will not clean my 2229 wet/dry ( it is loaded with Substrat Pro ) being it's filled with Substrat Pro that should keep all my bacteria. then the following month clean my 2229 by just rinsing all the substrat pro in tank water. Now that month when doing this will the one tray of substrat pro in the 2028 be able to keep enough bacteria. for the tank.

Thanks


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Gus, that should be fine. The 2229 has 3 trays of Substrat Pro because it is for bio filtration only (I have a 2229 also) and when it is time to clean the 2229, you can clean one of the trays in dechlorinated water with no issues. You could also put the pre-filter sponge back on the 2229 to keep the large debris out of the filter & rinse the sponge out weekly if you don't mind how it looks in the tank.

I didn't know you also had a sump set up on this tank. How do you have the sump set up?

Also, do you have a bare bottom tank, gravel or sand as your substrate? Any rock piles in your tank? These items will also have good bacteria on them so I wouldn't be too concerned with the filters' being the only home for bacteria especially since you will be alternating cleaning them.

I decided how often to clean my filters by trial and error. My large tank with many fish needs to have the filters cleaned more often than my 75G tank with 2 fish.

I hope this helps. Keep asking if you have more questions. That is how I learned.


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## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

Thanks Deeda,
I really appreciate all your help. I have black moon sand, river rocks. yes my tank is a reef ready tank before I switched to frontosa it was a reef tank. In the sump I have crush coral gravel and also it's filled with coral skeletons, I also have a refugium that I do plan on putting in some plants to make it kind of a veggie filter to absorb some of the nitrates.

Thanks again, Gus

Here are some pictures:


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Thanks for posting some pics. You have enough surfaces to grow bacteria on so you should be fine.

Very nice looking fish with good color. Looking forward to seeing them mature in this tank.


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

Nice looking Fronts! If you want a completely different view about how to maintain a canister filter, have a look at my site. You'll probably want to skip the priming stuff and go right to "Filter media and filter maintenance". Enjoy!

Frank


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## azhoracer (Jul 22, 2009)

I have a question about the 2229 filter. I just got one used with a 125G complete setup. The problem I am having is that after I start the filter it pumps allot of water and then just barely pumps at all. I have taken the impeller out and cleaned the algae off of it and the inside of the impeller tube and I don't see any blockages in the return lines at all. I don't have the instructions that came with it so I am kind of at a loss here. Thanks, Glenn


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

How quickly does it slow down? If it is a matter of minutes to slow to a trickle, you very likely have air stuck in the pump head that the filter can't expel by itself. Please visit my site for instructions how to get the air out. If the filter blocks up in a matter of days or weeks, you might have too much media in the filter, or there might be a problem with the hoses to or from the filter somewhere.

Admittedly my experience is limited to Eheim classic series filters. Maybe somebody another user of a 2229 could be of more help.

Frank


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Azhoracer, here is the link to the owners manual - http://www.eheim.de/eheim/pdf/en/anleit ... 7_2329.pdf.

The 2229 filter is supposed to ebb & flow like that. When the float is up, the water flow is strong; when the float is down, the water flow is slower. This is what makes it a wet/dry.

Now there is (supposed to be) a small plastic plug that is inserted into the side of the canister head. It is called a cleaning plug & unfortunately there is no pic of it in the owners manual, just a reference to it on page 29, part # 7343418. 








Here is my pic of the port the plug goes into.







. 
And this is what it looks like installed 







.

Mine got damaged/mangled during cleaning one day & I didn't have a spare one. So I just used a cork cut to size & it works perfectly. It needs to be removed during the filter cleaning procedure so I didn't jam it in there.

Hope this helps.


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## gusto (Jan 7, 2003)

hello Everyone, Thanks for the comments on the fish, sorry it took so long to post again, just been very busy and also I switched my cable provider to verizon fios and after months of having both email's working the old company finally cut off my email and I was scrambling to change it on all my sites and I wasn't getting a lot of emails so I never saw the email from cichlid forum that someone posted on this thread... Anyway its about time to clean one of my filters now fmueller I went to your site and thanks for all your input on the eheim. Now you use only filter floss instead of the echimech and substrate pro. How will that work in a 2028?

also fmueller love your frontosa tank, I've seen it before while I was searching online and your tank sold me on the fronts, Thanks. How do all your fish getting along, I love the fronts but would love to put another type of fish in the tank, I realize that they probably wont breed then also do they eat your plants?

Thanks Gus


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