Cannister help needed please.

[jeremywe]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for reading this.. hope i could have some of your opinions please.

I've recently added a Ehiem 2217 recently to my 24G tank and i have some questions. A little big for my tank i know, but this was a hand me down from my dad.

1) I notice a lot of bubbles at the output/return pipe of the canister. Why is this so? I tried shaking occasionally to get rid of the bubbles inside of the canister, but after a while, more form in it!

2) I draw water from the last compartment of my IOS (a chiller is also drawing water from this compartment and returning straight to the tank)

and return it to the middle compartment currently. I intend to return in directly into the rear of the tank after i solve my bubble problem. Will this be fine?

3) For the media in the cannister, I'm using only 1.3kg of bio home plus and about 1kg of ceramic rings at the bottom. That only fills up less than half of the canister, the other half is left empty. Any suggestions in this area? Mechanical filtration is done in the first compartment of my IOS.

4) With the setup as mentioned in (3), how often do i have to clean my canister? I'm assuming, since it is purely biological, i can clean is once a year? True?

5) As per recommendation for the bio home, it says it works best in slow flow. With that, i half closed the valve on the intake pipe to the canister, essentially lowering it down from 1000L/H to about 3-400L/H. Is it ok/recommended to do this?

6) On the bio home packaging, it says to avoid light. I have placed it beside my tank, slightly lower. Will the lights affect it? The plastic seems to be tinted green, will this cut of the light and keep the "insides" dark?

Apologies for that many questions... There is so much interesting stuff to learn! I promise to pay it forward in future!

Cheers and thanks again!

[jeremywe]

Oh yea.. a little off topic, but dont wanna start a new thread on it.

I'm getting like a million of those little white thing that jerks as they move. I can see them especially when i switch off my filters and wavemakers during feeding. More of them near the surface of the water then at the bottom. Are they pods? If so, how do i ID them? If they start increasing in population, are there any danger?

I do have a mandarin fish, but it really doesn't seem to be getting fat at all.

[Solo77]

not an expert in canister filter but base on your writeup, seems like air got into your canister filter. how long did you run it? maybe you monitor it for awhile to wait till it runs in or check all seals and the impellor.

you may wish to check on the actual installation and usage for ceramic stuff as improper setup may lead to nitrite/nitrate bomb build up. you may wish to see whether possible to just put the biohome at the rear compartment. so if this is possible, you dont need the canister filter anymore and less problem and save on electrical bill.

it is likely to be pods but how long was the tank setup? see whether your mandarin is pecking .....if not...the reason might be your mandarin is not feeding yet.....

Hi everyone,

Thank you for reading this.. hope i could have some of your opinions please.

I've recently added a Ehiem 2217 recently to my 24G tank and i have some questions. A little big for my tank i know, but this was a hand me down from my dad.

1) I notice a lot of bubbles at the output/return pipe of the canister. Why is this so? I tried shaking occasionally to get rid of the bubbles inside of the canister, but after a while, more form in it!

2) I draw water from the last compartment of my IOS (a chiller is also drawing water from this compartment and returning straight to the tank)

and return it to the middle compartment currently. I intend to return in directly into the rear of the tank after i solve my bubble problem. Will this be fine?

3) For the media in the cannister, I'm using only 1.3kg of bio home plus and about 1kg of ceramic rings at the bottom. That only fills up less than half of the canister, the other half is left empty. Any suggestions in this area? Mechanical filtration is done in the first compartment of my IOS.

4) With the setup as mentioned in (3), how often do i have to clean my canister? I'm assuming, since it is purely biological, i can clean is once a year? True?

5) As per recommendation for the bio home, it says it works best in slow flow. With that, i half closed the valve on the intake pipe to the canister, essentially lowering it down from 1000L/H to about 3-400L/H. Is it ok/recommended to do this?

6) On the bio home packaging, it says to avoid light. I have placed it beside my tank, slightly lower. Will the lights affect it? The plastic seems to be tinted green, will this cut of the light and keep the "insides" dark?

Apologies for that many questions... There is so much interesting stuff to learn! I promise to pay it forward in future!

Cheers and thanks again!

[jeremywe]

not an expert in canister filter but base on your writeup, seems like air got into your canister filter. how long did you run it? maybe you monitor it for awhile to wait till it runs in or check all seals and the impellor.

you may wish to check on the actual installation and usage for ceramic stuff as improper setup may lead to nitrite/nitrate bomb build up. you may wish to see whether possible to just put the biohome at the rear compartment. so if this is possible, you dont need the canister filter anymore and less problem and save on electrical bill.

it is likely to be pods but how long was the tank setup? see whether your mandarin is pecking .....if not...the reason might be your mandarin is not feeding yet.....

You've got a point.. I'm not quite sure why i'm using the canister. Haha. Perhaps the reason is that i wanna put all my bio home (bought 1kg for the canister) into it. The rear is filled with my skimmer and some other medias like PUR-II, phosphate and some nitrate removers.

Yup, i've got air in the canister, but shouldnt the pump expel the air after a while? It just started running about 6 hours ago. I wasnt quite sure if i should be adding the ceramic rings, but i did it because it was too empty with just the bio homes. Maybe i should remove them, as i've read about them being nitrate bombs in canisters too.

Tank was set up about 2 months+ ago with live rocks. Once, i did buy 2 bags of water from Iwarna for water change, all other times, i used distilled. Mandarin is pecking at random stuffs like rocks and sand.. It's been in there for about 1.5 months now.

[Fuzzy]

You've got a point.. I'm not quite sure why i'm using the canister. Haha. Perhaps the reason is that i wanna put all my bio home (bought 1kg for the canister) into it. The rear is filled with my skimmer and some other medias like PUR-II, phosphate and some nitrate removers.

Yup, i've got air in the canister, but shouldnt the pump expel the air after a while? It just started running about 6 hours ago. I wasnt quite sure if i should be adding the ceramic rings, but i did it because it was too empty with just the bio homes. Maybe i should remove them, as i've read about them being nitrate bombs in canisters too.

Tank was set up about 2 months+ ago with live rocks. Once, i did buy 2 bags of water from Iwarna for water change, all other times, i used distilled. Mandarin is pecking at random stuffs like rocks and sand.. It's been in there for about 1.5 months now.

You need to change at least 20% of the tank water every month. Preferably every 2 weeks, replacing it with fresh saltwater.

I suspect there is a leak along the intake line of your canister. or in the canister itself. If you turn off the pump for a minute, stare carefully to see if you spot any droplets of water forming anywhere along the canister seams, or along the tubing.

[jeremywe]

You need to change at least 20% of the tank water every month. Preferably every 2 weeks, replacing it with fresh saltwater.

I suspect there is a leak along the intake line of your canister. or in the canister itself. If you turn off the pump for a minute, stare carefully to see if you spot any droplets of water forming anywhere along the canister seams, or along the tubing.

I change at least 10% every 2 weeks with fresh saltwater using tropic marine salt. (NO3 = 0, Phos = 0, Cal = 460-500, PH = 8, so i guess i should be ok for now)

I've checked all tubings and observed the intake pipes... There seems to be no leaks of any signs of bubbles along the intake pipes. The intake pipe is placed beside my skimmer. Does that affect anything?

Thanks!!

[Fuzzy]

I change at least 10% every 2 weeks with fresh saltwater using tropic marine salt. (NO3 = 0, Phos = 0, Cal = 460-500, PH = 8, so i guess i should be ok for now)

I've checked all tubings and observed the intake pipes... There seems to be no leaks of any signs of bubbles along the intake pipes. The intake pipe is placed beside my skimmer. Does that affect anything?

Thanks!!

Have you measured your Ammonia or Nitrite levels? Having 0 Nitrate readings are quite rare, especially in a tank that has already been running for a few months, are you running a denitrator or chaeto in your refugium?

And Wow you have 0 phosphate too? we might all need to learn your secret!

How heavily stocked is your tank and how heavily do you feed your livestock?

Hmm it could be that the canister is sucking bubbles from your skimmer which collect them prevent the impeller from working properly.

Is the skimmer releasing any bubbles into the water? What kind of skimmer are you using? If the intake pipes and canister itself are ok, then it has to be sucking in air from the intake tube.

[TayHongSiang]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for reading this.. hope i could have some of your opinions please.

I've recently added a Ehiem 2217 recently to my 24G tank and i have some questions. A little big for my tank i know, but this was a hand me down from my dad.

1) I notice a lot of bubbles at the output/return pipe of the canister. Why is this so? I tried shaking occasionally to get rid of the bubbles inside of the canister, but after a while, more form in it!

2) I draw water from the last compartment of my IOS (a chiller is also drawing water from this compartment and returning straight to the tank)

and return it to the middle compartment currently. I intend to return in directly into the rear of the tank after i solve my bubble problem. Will this be fine?

3) For the media in the cannister, I'm using only 1.3kg of bio home plus and about 1kg of ceramic rings at the bottom. That only fills up less than half of the canister, the other half is left empty. Any suggestions in this area? Mechanical filtration is done in the first compartment of my IOS.

4) With the setup as mentioned in (3), how often do i have to clean my canister? I'm assuming, since it is purely biological, i can clean is once a year? True?

5) As per recommendation for the bio home, it says it works best in slow flow. With that, i half closed the valve on the intake pipe to the canister, essentially lowering it down from 1000L/H to about 3-400L/H. Is it ok/recommended to do this?

6) On the bio home packaging, it says to avoid light. I have placed it beside my tank, slightly lower. Will the lights affect it? The plastic seems to be tinted green, will this cut of the light and keep the "insides" dark?

Apologies for that many questions... There is so much interesting stuff to learn! I promise to pay it forward in future!

Cheers and thanks again!

Regarding the bubbles part...you can solve this by adjusting yr o/p lower. Yr cannister will stop blowing bubbles after that.

Biohome no need so much....beta to put yr biohome in a filter bag. Everyweek, you have to dip yr biohome a few times using yr old water to remove dirt and dead bacteria...so beta place them inside a filter bag...only cost $1.

Just place yr biohome in the 2nd compartment...that will be fine and let yr bacteria cultivate there nice and cosy.

[jeremywe]

Have you measured your Ammonia or Nitrite levels? Having 0 Nitrate readings are quite rare, especially in a tank that has already been running for a few months, are you running a denitrator or chaeto in your refugium?

And Wow you have 0 phosphate too? we might all need to learn your secret!

How heavily stocked is your tank and how heavily do you feed your livestock?

Hmm it could be that the canister is sucking bubbles from your skimmer which collect them prevent the impeller from working properly.

Is the skimmer releasing any bubbles into the water? What kind of skimmer are you using? If the intake pipes and canister itself are ok, then it has to be sucking in air from the intake tube.

Measured nitrite a while back, it was 0 too. Ammonia did use a test kit but an in-tank indicator, colour seems to be on the lower side. I "cheated" to lower my nitrate by using az-no3 (and 15% water changes every 5 days for a few weeks), it dropped quite quickly from 80+. Have 5 fishes and 1 snail. Dont feed it much too, once of twice a day, whatever they can eat in 1 min. pellet and henry foods.

I suspect that could be the case too, that the skimmer is providing the air bubbles. I'll try to move the intake pipe to away from the skimmer to see if it helps. I'm using a small boyu skimmer, the skimate is quite wet and pretty dirty, have to clean it every 2 days.

[jeremywe]

Regarding the bubbles part...you can solve this by adjusting yr o/p lower. Yr cannister will stop blowing bubbles after that.

Biohome no need so much....beta to put yr biohome in a filter bag. Everyweek, you have to dip yr biohome a few times using yr old water to remove dirt and dead bacteria...so beta place them inside a filter bag...only cost $1.

Just place yr biohome in the 2nd compartment...that will be fine and let yr bacteria cultivate there nice and cosy.

Hi Ahsiang,

Whats O/P?

bio homes and the ceramic rings (probably will remove this soon) are already in individual filter bags. Learnt something new that we have to rinse the bio home weekly. All along i thought it was simply put in and leave it there.

the bio home cant fit into my compartments because they are already quite filled with other stuff. Heehe, put quite a lot of things la, quite kiasu...

[TayHongSiang]

Hi Ahsiang,

Whats O/P?

bio homes and the ceramic rings (probably will remove this soon) are already in individual filter bags. Learnt something new that we have to rinse the bio home weekly. All along i thought it was simply put in and leave it there.

the bio home cant fit into my compartments because they are already quite filled with other stuff. Heehe, put quite a lot of things la, quite kiasu...

You know yr cannister you can adjust the output (o/p) of the flow....just lower it will do...

I was told to do that for biohome and must use old water to rinse a few times....try not to cramp too many things into yr cannister....and if you are putting carbon....rmb to replace it every 2-3 months and carbon will absorb yr trace elements from the water also.

Yr first compartment always put filter wool....n take it out to wash or replace them weekly or every 2 weeks depending of your bioload of yr tank.

[Fuzzy]

You know yr cannister you can adjust the output (o/p) of the flow....just lower it will do...

I was told to do that for biohome and must use old water to rinse a few times....try not to cramp too many things into yr cannister....and if you are putting carbon....rmb to replace it every 2-3 months and carbon will absorb yr trace elements from the water also.

Yr first compartment always put filter wool....n take it out to wash or replace them weekly or every 2 weeks depending of your bioload of yr tank.

Actually I've never rinsed or washed my biohome in any of my freshwater tanks. I think you might have occasionally to if it is in front of all filter stages, but if there is filtration before it reaches the biohome should be better to leave it to do its job. Remember to ONLY use tankwater to rinse them, never fresh water mixed or treated water and especially not tap water.

Also remove all your ceramic bio-rings better replace all with live rock or biohome, over time rings trap detritus and become nitrate factories,

could be one of the reasons your nitrate managed to go as high as 80ppm!!

Your livestock was all ok?!