Anyone have an Eheim 2080? I'm having problems - I think?

[mecula]

Hello all,
I recently purchased an Eheim 2080 from a large online retailer. After I ordered it, they emailed me & said it was "out of stock" & that it would be coming in from a retail store so expect a delay. This is all fine. When it arrived, it had been opened & there were tons of small scratched on the portions that I assumed rubbed against the box - still fine. I figure the filter is under the cabinet & no one will see it anyway. When I unpacked it, I noticed that the intake & spray bar were different than what was pictured on the box. The box showed the spray bar being green when the actual spray bar was grey & in about 4 snap together pieces. When I hooked it up, the left intake cavitated really bad & sucked up about as much air as water. When I put my ear up to it, I could hear air escaping. So I jiggled & re-tightened to no avail. All of a sudden, the pump stops pulling water but I can hear the pump is still on & is being stressed. I take it all apart to make sure nothing got sucked into the internal pump - nothing. I put it back together & turn it on & the cavitation is still there & it stops again after maybe 1-2 minutes. I proceed to take it apart & put it back together 2 more times. Finally, I start it up & it cavitates for a few minutes & then seems to level off. All priming was done beforehand. However, I fed the fish & watched the food literally float within 1/4" of the filter & not get sucked in. This just does not seem right to me. I also have some val right next to the intake within 1/8" & it does not get sucked to the grate. The spray bar is outputting water so it's obviously getting water. I was told this was one of the best filters you can buy. I have a planted 75 gallon tank.
To make things worse, I called the company that sold it to me & they said to send it back & they will test it. If it is working properly, they send it back & charge me shipping both ways. If it is working properly, I don't think it's worth that amount of money - my HOT Emperor pulls more waste than that. Any ideas? My main questions is "Is this thing working right?"
Sorry for the long story.

[rkilling1]

"intake"? The Eheim 2080 has intakes not an intake. It has two intakes and one outlet.

The grey spray bar is part of the instillation sets. It is WAY better then the standard green spray bar. Assuming you used the 'grey' intake (intakes) set as well?

Did you install the o-rings on the grey tubes before you put it together?

[mecula]

That is correct. I said I was noticing that there was cavitation in the "left intake", inferring that, obviously, there was a right intake. The right intake wasn't exhibiting any cavitation, but it wasn't drawing in debris any better than the left.
Anyhow, yes I did use all of the washers & felt all of the connections to see if I could detect any breaks in suction & I couldn't. It just doesn't make sense, right? For $450, I am severely underwhelmed if it is working correctly.

[rkilling1]

The only thing I can think of is that having two intakes is greatly reducing the suction the filter makes.

You can lower the water level to below the spraybar and judge how much out flow you have. On my 75 gal tank with an ehiem 2026, the spraybar flow hits the front glass from the back at about 8 inches down from parallel.

Air noise in the filter when it first starts is normal. When running, it should be almost impossible to tell it's on. ie no noise at all.