# Cleaning Canister Filters



## Ibanez247 (Nov 9, 2006)

I run two eheim 2217s on my 125 gallon tank with 8 pygos. Recently my ammonia and nitrate levels have gone up. I noticed this last month and have cleaned one of the filters.(emptied contents into tank water then rinsing off large particles then reloaded the canister.) Im going to do the other one this week in hopes that the spike of ammonia and nitrates is from the filters being overwhelmed with plant particles. Fish are doing fine so its been a gradual increase. Just wondering how often you guys clean your filters or is it random and just change it when you notice a lot of debris in the filters. I do 25% weekly water changes but for the pass month Ive done two a week trying to reduce the ammonia and nitrate levels. That hasnt seem to do much so Im figuring its the filter.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

If you are showing ammonia consistently, I would say that your filtration can't keep up with the bio-load. In my opinion, 2 2217s are not enough for 8 pygos in a 125. If your nitrates levels are getting too high, it means you need to up the volume or frequency of your water changes.


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

I would clean out the filters using tank water ofcorse and then up your waterchanges to 40-50% with a thorough gravel wash a week. Also check for any uneaten food, you never know there could be a peice here and there that you may have missed.


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## PiranhaMike661 (Jul 9, 2010)

Check Craigslist.com for any great deals on some kick ass filters....I find em on there all time!


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## Ibanez247 (Nov 9, 2006)

I had cleaned one of the filters a month ago and just did the other one last night. Within half an hour my water was crystal clear. The ammonia and nitrates have only been high for a little over a month. I did pull some plants out so that might have caused the spike as well. The filter I cleaned last night was full of crap so Im thinkign that was the culprit. Yeah I had 6 pygos for a while but recently added two more a few months ago. That could be why I got the increase too. I'll look into another 2217 or larger filter. Never hurts to have more filtration. But to my original question. How often do you guys clean the filters? I think its been almost a year since I last did anythign to mine. That too long? I was previously cleaning them every 6 months for the pass few years. Thanks for the input.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

I probably clean mine every 3 or 4 months, but they could definitely go longer between cleanings.


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

I used to clean mine every 6 months but now I doit every 3 months, one filter every month.
I actually did my fx5 last night and also a waterchange


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## wisco_pygo (Dec 9, 2009)

with 8 pygos in a 125, you may want to look at cleaning your filters once a month- its a pretty big bioload.

maybe look into adding an eheim 2260 or fluval fx5 for an addition of higher flow rate filtration.


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## PiranhaMike661 (Jul 9, 2010)

I do once a month for both filters.


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## skylute3 (Nov 30, 2007)

What do you guys think about my pygo setup? I wonder this same question. I have only my eheim 2260 on a 180. 6 pygos. 2 nine inch reds, 2 eleven inch caribe, 2 piraya 9" & 12". I feed daily 1-2 shrimp each, or tilapia. Keep in mind, I do w/c every week about 40 gallons worth, while also syphoning out any poop visable...usually take out 10 gallons every other day due to feeding everyday, they poop every other day. Considering this, what do u think?


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## PiranhaMike661 (Jul 9, 2010)

Me personally, I think as long as your water chemistry is good, then your setup is perfect. Don't fix nothing that ain't broke already.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

skylute3 said:


> What do you guys think about my pygo setup? I wonder this same question. I have only my eheim 2260 on a 180. 6 pygos. 2 nine inch reds, 2 eleven inch caribe, 2 piraya 9" & 12". I feed daily 1-2 shrimp each, or tilapia. Keep in mind, I do w/c every week about 40 gallons worth, while also syphoning out any poop visable...usually take out 10 gallons every other day due to feeding everyday, they poop every other day. Considering this, what do u think?


It all depends on your water... if you never show ammonia or nitrite and your nitrate levels stay within a reasonable range between water changes, then it would be ok. If you have ammonia showing at times, then you should think about adding more bio filtration, if you have high nitrate levels, then you should up your water change volume or frequency.


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## Ibanez247 (Nov 9, 2006)

Yeah Im going to up my filter cleanings. After changign the second filter my water params are looking much better. Nitrates are now 40ppm instead of around 100 and my ph has actually gone up a little. I did add 6 more plants so have no idea if that effected the ph. Im guessn not but it could have effected my nitrates. Thanks for the info guys. I always thought canisters werent supposed to be touched that often but makes perfect sense to clean em out more with such a huge bio load. Always learning something in this hobby.


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## PiranhaMike661 (Jul 9, 2010)

Glad to hear everything worked out.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Id clean one filter each month and alternate filters so each filter gets cleaned every 2 months and there is always an established filter just incase you lose bb for whatever reason (though you shoudl still try to keep it alive)

Doesn.t have to be a major clean, more just to clean the media off and flush out debris.


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## 1rhom (Nov 6, 2009)

I clean my filter every 4 months.I rinse everything out in a bucket of tank water and add new peat.I never leave any uneaten food in the tank and the ammo/nitrite levels are always 0ppm.8 pygos require huge filtration imo.I would add another filter , maybe bigger than the ones you already have.


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## impalass (Nov 20, 2009)

Since swithching to Eheims 10 years ago, I thourghly clean them out every 3-4 months. Use efimech, efifix, efisub/pro, and filter floss, along with religiously changing 1/3 of the water every week, with Seachem Prime.
I never check my water with test kits, never had any issues. I noticed a lot of you people do test, am I just lucky to live in a big city with stable water or am I due for a tank crashing ?

Edit: Sorry, got carried away, did not intend to highjack the thread.


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## the_w8 (Jul 28, 2003)

I've gone 6 months without cleaning my 2217 on my 75G and it really wasn't that bad when I cleaned it. On the other hand the 2 A/C 500's on the 75G were pretty filthy. I usually clean every 3-4 months.


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

I do mine every 12month, enough said.


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