Eheim 2217 slow flow and suction ?

[candymancan]

I've had my eheim 2217 for like 7 months now maybe 8 and i noticed the flow on it kinda sucks, and when i watch debris float by the intake unless the water flow in the tank pushes it directly on the fins it doesnt suck anything up really.. Most of the time debris and particals just flow by it unless like i said the flow pushes them directly into the intake.. I have smaller HOB filters that has wayyyy more suction then this thing.. I can see them pulling debris into the intake like a vacuum cleaner

The water flow in the tank is well, meh its okay but it just seems slower then what i remember... I clean the filter every 4-8 days on each water change or every 2nd water change, and when i do i clean everything, the coarse foam pads, the little mechanical rings and the cintered glass balls.. I also replace the polishing filter pad eeverytime.. The filter seems to be doing its Job because i mean the mechanical filter parts, the coarse foam and those rings are filthy with chunks of brown debris.. And polishing pads are usually brown as well.. I know alot of it is mulm..

I cleaned the tubing which seemed to help a little bit and got all the mulm outa the tubes... but still... It has no suction... My Internal Top fin 40 filter has stronger suction power and i rely more on that thing with its spray bar to ciculate the tank then the ehim... and the intake is like 3x bigger in size and motor is not even half the size, so youd think it wouldnt have much suction but it does.. I see that thing sucking in debris like crazy.. It has 2 foam pads first then a Polishing pad and then some bio media after... And frankly it feels like i rely more on that thing suck in the particles floating around then the canister... Biologicly i know the eheim is working perfectly.. because i once used 2x of those internals on my 44g pentagon before i had the canister and they couldnt keep up with the bio load.. The canister easily can handle it, but like i said it just doesnt seem that great for actually filtering the water.


I had the same issue before i got my 92g i used the eheim on my 44g and the eheim was brand new too.. It wouldnt suck up debris very well, debris would litterally get half an inch to it and float right by it.. I had to add a small 30g HOB filter to the tank to clean up the particles and that thing had 2-3x the suction power it seemed

Any idea's is this normal for eheims ? It seems searching google im not alone.. ? Should I just lose the polishing pads in the canister and rely on the internal to plish the water. Because it deff doesnt look like 264gph to me. My internal is rated 171GPH and it litterally looks twice as strong in suction and water flow .. I bet the thing couldnt even fill up my 92g tank in a hour... The flow coming out of the hose if i remove the spray bar is much lower then flow coming from the faucet and it takes like 30 minutes for the tank to fill up completetly from the faucet

 

[Reygan2]

Gph will be less than advertised. However the 2217 is a workhorse. Once you've established that there are no blockages in the hose connections or anywhere else, you should check the impeller and impeller housing in the lid. I think you can find videos on how to access and clean that on YouTube.
Not sure why you are cleaning this filter so often.
You could also contact Eheim about your concern. I had a similar problem with my 2213, but after cleaning the impeller housing I noticed better flow.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[scuba dude]

Check the impeller and clean it , my 2215 slowed down and I cleaned the impeller and it helped a lot to get it back up to where it was ; be careful with the shaft that goes through the impeller made out of ceramic and could be broken easily if not careful.

I have two 2215 on my 90 gal and only clean one filter a month and alternate between the two. Clean the left then clean the right then back to the left.......

 

[candymancan]

Gph will be less than advertised. However the 2217 is a workhorse. Once you've established that there are no blockages in the hose connections or anywhere else, you should check the impeller and impeller housing in the lid. I think you can find videos on how to access and clean that on YouTube.
Not sure why you are cleaning this filter so often.
You could also contact Eheim about your concern. I had a similar problem with my 2213, but after cleaning the impeller housing I noticed better flow.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

I clean it because i feed my discus ALOT 3-4 times a day, the filter after 2 weeks if you use a flash light the bottom where the little mechanical rings that heim supply are.. Are FULL of junk, and when i take the filter apart the polishing pads are blocked up and the blue coarse foam pad is blocked up and when i rinse the mechanical rings (again not bio rings they are the mechanical ones) they are full of solid detrious material.

Doesnt bother me to clean it this much as my 92g takes awhile to drain and that allows me plenty of time to use the tank water coming out to rinse everything with.

I did some google searches, aparently these eheim canisters all have pretty low suction power on the inlets.. I guess its normal. I read many threads of pe ople even with new units like mine noticing material floating right by the inlet.


The inpeller is cleaned, my filter seems to get alot of mulm all over it, the tubing and impeller and inside where the impeller goes is usually coated in brown slimy mulm..

 

[Reygan2]

Oh, discus....gotcha. Yeah, I can see any excess food clogging things up and causing reduced flow.