For about six weeks I've been running an Eheim classic 2213 on my 220l planted tank. It's freshwater community and pretty well fully stocked (as in I couldn't comfortably add any more fish) so I imagine the bioload is fairly substantial.
In the last week the filter output has reduced considerably.. basically, from a lovely air curtain to a trickle. The spray bar is still producing bubblings, but barely. There's no obvious blockage/kinks in the hoses so I figured the filter needed cleaning. I have the filter media exactly as recommended by the Eheim instructions; that is, a layer on noodles, a course sponge, a big layer of these round granules (ehfisubstrat, maybe?), and then on top a fine white sponge and a thin carbon sponge on the very top. I replaced the top two sponges because these seemed the most likely culprits.
I turned it back on, and after the air had worked out of the system... almost no improvement at all. I am totally flummoxed. I really don't want to touch the other layers of substrate in such a young filter system. The motor is working just fine as far as I can tell. I took it apart and there's no blockage whatsoever. Can anyone suggest a cause for this reduced pressure? Should I rinse the noodles in tank water, perhaps? I'm nervous about disturbing the bacteria colonies, but I'm getting a bit desperate, because I can tell that even with just a week at the reduced filteration the quality of my tank is suffering.
In the last week the filter output has reduced considerably.. basically, from a lovely air curtain to a trickle. The spray bar is still producing bubblings, but barely. There's no obvious blockage/kinks in the hoses so I figured the filter needed cleaning. I have the filter media exactly as recommended by the Eheim instructions; that is, a layer on noodles, a course sponge, a big layer of these round granules (ehfisubstrat, maybe?), and then on top a fine white sponge and a thin carbon sponge on the very top. I replaced the top two sponges because these seemed the most likely culprits.
I turned it back on, and after the air had worked out of the system... almost no improvement at all. I am totally flummoxed. I really don't want to touch the other layers of substrate in such a young filter system. The motor is working just fine as far as I can tell. I took it apart and there's no blockage whatsoever. Can anyone suggest a cause for this reduced pressure? Should I rinse the noodles in tank water, perhaps? I'm nervous about disturbing the bacteria colonies, but I'm getting a bit desperate, because I can tell that even with just a week at the reduced filteration the quality of my tank is suffering.
