Eheim 2217 canister filter

[Billyboy]

I was just cleaning by eheim 2217 canister filter and there is a bag full of what appear to be rocks. The rocks in the bag make no sense to me. Am I supposed to open the bag and pour the rocks in? Let me know. Thanks in advance to all who reply.

[partypalooza5]

If they are in a mesh bag I think that's the Bio Media. I would leave them in the bag but that's just me..

[Billyboy]

No mesh bag, its plastic. There might be holes on the bottom of the bag, but I didn't want to mess with it.

[brutus]

Is it a new filter ?

[Billyboy]

about a month old

[brutus]

How did you set the media up in it?

[Billyboy]

I have it set up the way it came. I didn't read anywhere in the instructions that I had to set it up a certain way it just said to rinse before using.

[brutus]

Is it set up like this?Eheim Classic Canister Cleaning Instructions

[Billyboy]

Yes, so I have to take the rocks out of the bag?

[brutus]

The only thing that comes in a plastic bag is the efi substrate little round brown balls.You rinse it and pour it in on top of the blue sponge.

[Billyboy]

haha yea they look like coa coa puffs. There were also white cylinder shapes in a bag at the very bottom. I figured if they were in bags they were useless. I took the whole thing apart, cleaned it, and emptied the contents of the bags afted a throurough rinse. It is now running very smoothly. Thank you for the link Brutus.

[melosu58]

Moved to General hardware and equipment discussion.

[brutus]

The first time i cleaned mine i wasn't sure if i had the top plastic stand off in the right way.I had the legs on it down instead of up.That's when i found that web site.There was a thin cardboard cylinder inside it the same size as canister i hope you took that out.

[elbeasto]

Originally Posted by Billyboy

I was just cleaning by eheim 2217 canister filter and there is a bag full of what appear to be rocks. The rocks in the bag make no sense to me. Am I supposed to open the bag and pour the rocks in? Let me know. Thanks in advance to all who reply.

The Eheim Classics all come with the media inside the canister, all contained in seperate plastic bags.

Open the bags, rinse the media then put it back in the filter in the order shown on the box/manual.

You said there might be holes in the bag? If the media is wet, i.e. it's come in contact with tank water, rinse the media in tank water not tap water. If it's dry tap water will be ok.

There should be no media inside plastic bags while running the filter. If the media is inside a plastic bag the water won't come in contact with it and therefore bacteria won't grow on it.