# What media are you using in your Eheim classics?



## mooncake (22 Oct 2019)

Hi all,

I'm currently having a bit of a pickle with my Eheim filters. I have a 2213 running on an ADA 45H and there is such little flow. The filter seems to be working OK from what I can tell. At the moment it's packed (bottom to top) with ceramic rings, a coarse sponge, a good 3-4 inches of Eheim Substrat Pro, followed by finally another sponge. This is what came from Eheim with the filter when I bought it. I now realise there is probably far too much packed in and I need to do-away with some! I do have a Hydor in-line heater hooked up, which I know will be decreasing flow, but I'm hopeful that sorting out my media will positively improve matters.

In preparation for having a play around to try to sort the issue this coming weekend, I was wondering what media others are using to fill the cannister of their Eheim 2213s, or similar? And in what order their media fills the cannister?

I also have a 2215 which I am about to set up on my 60p, and this came with only about 6 coarse blue sponges and nothing else. So I'm also wondering about how best to set this one up, in terms of media.

Any info will be much appreciated.


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## Tim Harrison (22 Oct 2019)

Aside from a coarse sponge prefilter I just use Eheim Substrat Pro. It's not so important to pack your filter full of media with a planted tank; the plants do much of the work. I've used just enough to cover the bottom of the trays in the past and all has been fine. Although, I tend to use more at start up to help deal with organics.


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## mooncake (22 Oct 2019)

Tim Harrison said:


> Aside from a coarse sponge prefilter I just use Eheim Substrat Pro. It's not so important to pack your filter full of media with a planted tank; the plants do much of the work. I've used just enough to cover the bottom of the trays in the past and all has been fine. Although, I tend to use more at start up to help absorb organics.


Thanks for the reply. So a large proportion of your cannister is left empty, with just the Substrat Pro at the bottom? From my research and what you say, I do see that the plants should be capable of doing most of the work. Unfortunately, mine aren't doing so great at the moment  I think I need to sort this flow issue first of all and then work from there.


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## Tom Michael (22 Oct 2019)

I like the classics as they are really robust and good value. They aren't the most powerful so I only use course to medium foam and clean every 2-3 months.


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## Millns84 (22 Oct 2019)

I suspect the issue with flow will be the inline heater. I'd also check if there's any build up in the hoses and/or around the impeller.

Substrat Pro is actually quite good media, even in respect of flow performance. The ceramic rings might be slowing it somewhat as they channel the flow in different directions which helps much settle out in the bottom of the filter.


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## dw1305 (22 Oct 2019)

Hi all, 





Millns84 said:


> Substrat Pro is actually quite good media, even in respect of flow performance





Tim Harrison said:


> I just use Eheim Substrat Pro


<"I like "coco-pops" as well.">





Tim Harrison said:


> Aside from a coarse sponge prefilter I just use Eheim Substrat Pro.


<"Same for me">. 

cheers Darrel


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## Aqua sobriquet (22 Oct 2019)

I gave up on the Classic as it was too noisy so I took the media out and put it in my old Tetra. Medium sponge, filter floss and SubstratPro.


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## Thumper (22 Nov 2019)

I'm currently using a lean water collumn dosing in conjunction with Soil and root tabs. For filtration i settled for something which can reduce NO3 and is widely accepted and cheap -> Pumice.
Seachem Matrix and ADA Bio Rio are both 100% Pumice and so far i dont see any downsides of using 8-16mm pumice stone bought at a bonsai shop.
For maximum clear water i also add a layer of filterwool and seachem purigen.


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## dw1305 (22 Nov 2019)

Hi all, 





Thumper said:


> For filtration i settled for something which can reduce NO3 and is widely accepted and cheap -> Pumice. Seachem Matrix and ADA Bio Rio are both 100% Pumice and so far i dont see any downsides of using 8-16mm pumice stone bought at a bonsai shop.


I like pumice as a filter medium as well, and I'm pretty sure the only difference is price, with a new name and "aquarium" magically quadrupling its value.  

We have a <"few pumice threads">, these ones speculate on where Seachem might <"get their pumice from">.  





Thumper said:


> For filtration i settled for something which can reduce NO3 ......For maximum clear water i also add a layer of filterwool and seachem purigen.


I'll be honest, that isn't a route that I would go down. 





Thumper said:


> For filtration i settled for something which can reduce NO3


Because these are planted tanks you don't need to have anaerobic denitrification in the filter. I actually look on <"simultaneous aerobic nitrification and anaerobic denitrification">, in a filter, as a deeply flawed, and dangerous, concept. 

The reason for this is that a finite amount of oxygen enters the canister filter and if you slow the flow down enough to achieve nitrification/denitrification you run the real risk of ammonia/nitrite levels rising in the tank. This isn't necessarily disastrous if you have plants, but <"if you don't, it is">.





Thumper said:


> For maximum clear water i also add a layer of filterwool and seachem purigen.


I'm not a fan of floss in a filter (I'll be honest I'm not a fan of floss at all) and I like to keep all the mechanical filtration <"in the pre-filter">, so that you can easily clean it, and flow (and oxygen levels) aren't compromised in the filter.

cheers Darrel


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## Thumper (22 Nov 2019)

Hi Darrel,

I'm pretty much on your side. Just a few remarks, so you understand my reasons.



dw1305 said:


> We have a <"few pumice threads">, these ones speculate on where Seachem might <"get their pumice from">.


Next to where i live there is also a huge pumice mine - looks pretty similar.. I mean, in the end its just a stone, right?



dw1305 said:


> The reason for this is that a finite amount of oxygen enters the canister filter and if you slow the flow down enough to achieve nitrification/denitrification you run the real risk of ammonia/nitrite levels rising in the tank. This isn't necessarily disastrous if you have plants, but <"if you don't, it is">.


Yeah, i figured that its necessary to have enough O2 at all times. Night is especially crucial as the plants will actually consume a bit O2 at night.



dw1305 said:


> I'm not a fan of floss in a filter (I'll be honest I'm not a fan of floss at all) and I like to keep all the mechanical filtration <"in the pre-filter">, so that you can easily clean it, and flow (and oxygen levels) aren't compromised in the filter.


My big tank has a prefilter (30ppi) in the Oase Thermomaster. Just for my small tank i'm currently not using any prefilters, but will add them lateron and test it.
I was never really a fan of floss, but it helps as long as its not packed and you keep an eye on it. The purigen wont get brown so fast and wont be "filled" with sludge.


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## dw1305 (22 Nov 2019)

Hi all,





Thumper said:


> I mean, in the end its just a stone, right?


It is, it depends a little bit on the geology of the volcano it was erupted from, but you only get exploitable pumice deposits where you've had a <"Plinian volcanic eruption"> and you basically only get these when the lava is rich in silica.

I can't tell you definitively whether there is an "optimum pumice" , but I'd be willing to wager a large sum of money that there isn't any practical difference, as filter medium, between similarly sized pumice particles from any source. 





Thumper said:


> I was never really a fan of floss, but it helps as long as its not packed and you keep an eye on it.


That is it. If you have floss you need to replace if frequently. If you do,  it doesn't  really matter where it is.

I'm a fairly lazy and shoddy aquarist, so I tend to not do the regular maintenance on the tanks as frequently as I should and I like to build in a lot of negative feedback loops and to try and avoid single points of failure.

cheers Darrel


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## Thumper (22 Nov 2019)

dw1305 said:


> I'm a fairly lazy and shoddy aquarist, so I tend to not do the regular maintenance on the tanks as frequently as I should and to build in a lot of negative feedback loops and to try and avoid single points of failure.


Each to his own. An aquarium must fit the owners expections in terms of time & material.
For me it's an escape from working on the pc all day and kinda relaxing to maintain it.



dw1305 said:


> I can't tell you definitively whether there is an "optimum pumice" , but I'd be willing to wager a large sum of money that there isn't any practical difference as filter media between similarly sized pumice particles from any source.


I wont bet against you


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