# I presume the Eheim eco pro are useless compared to the classic?



## ojustaboo (2 Oct 2017)

As per title 

Looking for a cheap 2217 but none around on ebay at the moment. But have seen the eco pro. 

I realise the eco pro 300 is 750 lph compared to the 2217 1000lph, but I run two filters, already have one 2217 and was looking to replace my useless pro 3 with something similar.  (only 180 lt tank)

Anyone any opinions on the eco pro?  I suspect I will be better waiting until someone is selling a 2217.


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## ojustaboo (3 Oct 2017)

Think I'll wait.

There is a 2317 on there, I presume I don't have to use the heater hence it will act as a 2217?


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## ceg4048 (3 Oct 2017)

Why wouldn't you want to use the heater? Isn't that one less piece of gear you have to look at in the tank?
I think heaters are the most obnoxious looking items in a tank. Spraybars are only the second most obnoxious item, tied with Koralias or "wavemakers" or whatever...we go though all sorts of contortions to hide them in our aquascape. Ridiculous...

Other than that I'm afraid I don't really have an opinion on eco pro. Is it reliable and do you see good feedback when you google "problems with eco pro" or "eco pro sucks"? 
Is the bogus flow rating adequate for your needs? If yes and yes then go for it. Filters are just stupid plastic cleaning buckets with pumps attached. I don't even understand why there are so many models, because they all do the same thing.

One of these days I'll go to the "mops and cleaning" section at Tesco, grab a couple of buckets then attach a pump from the garden center and market the assembly as HyperNova Big Bang X Man Filter, with Phospho Zap and Nitro Glycerine Technologies (patent pending).

I'm just raging against the machine by the way. Don't pay me any mind...

Cheers,


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## DavidW (3 Oct 2017)

ojustaboo said:


> Anyone any opinions on the eco pro?


I have an ecco pro 200 on my 30 litre taiwan bee tank. It's doing a decent job, is easy to clean and pretty quiet. Never had a classic so couldn't compare. Smaller than you were after but there's an ecco pro 130 on amazon warehouse deals for £45, there's also a pro 4 plus 250 for £117.


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## ojustaboo (3 Oct 2017)

Thanks. Have put an offer in for a 2217, if I don't get that I'll try for the 2317, for some reason when I first glanced at it, I read 230W for heater and thought that's a lot, thinking my in tank heater was 1/4 that, but I'm wrong, my in tank heater is 200w, so not much difference (and of course once waters heated, heater is off).

Filter wise, with my existing 2217, an eco model will give me ample filtration, but I also use this filter with an UP inline atomizer and have a deep tank, hence need the power to get the CO2 from the spraybars to the bottom of the tank (I have a couple of power heads somewhere, but don't really want them in the tank), and I presume that 1000 lph (OK that's their quoted figures) will force the water out the spraybars at a much more powerful rate than a quoted figure of 750lph.

Alternatively, if I don't think the CO2 is reaching the bottom (first test today and didn't see any pearling, but wasn't on for that long) I might consider going for an in tank atomizer, but again the less in the tank the better.


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## ceg4048 (4 Oct 2017)

OK, well not sure why one day without pearling is the litmus test for judging. You can get pearling in a tank that's headed over the cliff, so I reckon if the plants are not melting, if they don't suffer CO2 related algae and if I can see new growth at some point then that's a PASS. Anything else is a FAIL.

Again, you can always put the powerheads in and see how effective THEY are just to use as a reference. They don't have to stay in, but it's a good idea to have a comparison before spending money on more gear.

As always, make sure you're not choking your flow at connection points or at the spraybar...

Cheers,


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## ojustaboo (4 Oct 2017)

Thanks.

Will investigate further.

Looking at it today, I can see a fine mist of bubbles from the spray bar, but they only seem to be at the top few inches of the tank which obviously isn't going to be any good.  Then again all the plants are moving,. so water flow is getting around, maybe it's just because the tops nearer the lights that I can see the bubbles so easily.

I also have a few floating plants and they seem to be collecting at one end of the tank which might indicate some sort of flow problem.

Will see how things go, and if I have any concerns, will try the powerheads, mind you they are so powerful , will probably push plants out of the sand 

The plants I currently have are a cheap collection off of ebay, in order to check everythings OK, obviously if they all survive and take off I'll be more than happy, but I'm more interested in getting things right before I invest in individual plants.


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## ojustaboo (4 Oct 2017)

Yay, won the ebay auction for Eheim 2317.  £64 with delivery. Very happy with that.

And I can remove the heater from my tank  (and chuck my Pro3 away, well keep it for an emergency spare)


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Oct 2017)

ceg4048 said:


> I'm just raging against the machine by the way. Don't pay me any mind...



Having one of them days Clive?  Yeah, I'm feeling a bit that way out as well, it happens.

My understanding is/was with the "Ecco" range when they first came out that it was all to do with power consumption and that's where the Ecco bit came from. They may be great filters for all I know because I haven't owned one but I remember when they first came out I noticed that they had a slightly slower turnover rate than there equivalent counterparts so it stands to reason if the pumps turning over less water it will consume less power. This then begs the question if they can match the turn over using less power then why not make them all do that? I tend to go for externals that have minimum gadgets. For me it's just something else to break and the last thing you need is no filter. I also hate cleaning filters so the less messing the better.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Oct 2017)

I'm actually fancying Clive's suggestion of a bucket and pump. Home brew 25ltrs fermenting bin with lid and a decent fountain pump with 25ltr capacity filled with toy soldiers. It's crazy but it just might work


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## Cactusface (19 Oct 2017)

Hi,
      My first good external was an Eheim 2213 and it still works today, but it just get used when I need a tank clearing, and in an emergency.....   I got it when they were giving the taps away with it FREE. What a bargain.


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## tmiravent (20 Oct 2017)

HI,
i had 3 classic's (2211, 2213 and 2215) all them pretty good, solid easy to maintain!
Also still have one ecco 300 (second hand), and i must say i'm surprised with performance. (i use with external inline heather and inline Co2 reactor). 
The ecco300 is very powerful, don't lose much flow as the classic's over time. You can grab the filter easily by the head and i think the 2 plug's on top are more friendly to manage. I love the classic's, they are war machines, very simple, very few part's to broke (easy to change and find).
The Ecco is a bit more expensive but i think is good investment.

I sold all my classic's and changed for Eheim with heaters, if you have the money that's the way to go!
cheers


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