Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

[RichardChen]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

To take out white particles I think I need more mechanical filteration.  Is Rena easy to customize into mechanical filter?  Is Rena quiet?
Eheim came with substrate (biological) and o-ring (mechanical), if I remove o-ring and just having substrate to grow bacteria, will the gunk got into the pump and mess it up?  What size of Rena would you recomend?

[armthehomeless]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

I don't think you'll want to remove the O-ring under any circumstances (unless the filter is leaking). Perhaps we are talking about a different O-ring. The O-ring thatI am thinking about is what causes the two halves of the canister filter to seal together.

Rena's have been very quiet and easy to customize in my experience. The easiest to cusomize though are the Eheim classics. I would go with an XP3 if you choose that route.  

A slighty cheaper option than everything else mentioned is to just put a prefilter (course sponge) onto the eheim that you already have. That may be enought for your needs.

...Just brainstorming here...

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

I think he is referring to the Eheim Ehfi-Mech which are the cylinder rings.


I would leave the the eheim the way it is.....add another(if you buy new it should come packed with everything already. Then what you do is go to walmart or the crafts store and buy a bag of pillow stuffing or buy a bag of filter floss from the LFS... Both should not be flame retardant or have mildew inhibitors. Add the floss on top after the filter is packed that should help with your fine particles.

[RichardChen]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

Oh, my bad.  I didn't mean o-ring o-ring.  I meant Eheim-Mech.

Do the filter floss or pillow stuffing label if they contain flame retardant or mildew inhibitors?

Eheim classic filters come with lattice screen, Eheim-Mech, coarse pad, Eheim substrat pro, fine pad, carbon pad, and another lattice screen (from bottom to the top).  Do I put the pillow stuffing / filter floss in between carbon pad and lattice screen? or do I use pillow stuffing / filter floss instead of fine pad.  One fine pad and one carbon pad cost me $8.00 each service once a month.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

I would use it in place of the fine pad and carbon pad.....those carbon pads are overrated. you must have one of the older models if you have the screen plate in yours...all of mine come with the media basket.

[armthehomeless]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

I agree. The filter floss will cut down on your monthly expenditures. It should say on the bag whether it contains any sort of flame retardant or mildew inhibitor.

[RichardChen]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

EK,

If I don't use the carbon pad, won't I lose the chemical filtration?
My Eheim 2217 has screen plates but Eheim 2213 has the media basket.  Can I still use pillow stuffing in my 2217 which has screen plates instead of media basket?

I really appreciate your info which would help me saving money.  In return, I will provide you the following information..... There is no.. I mean no lfs here in Port Lavaca.  There is only one in Victoria but the business just changed hands.  The new owner is focusing her business more on birds than fish.  She knew very little about Cichlids.  The near by cities which have lfs are Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christie.  There citys are two to three hours to drive from here.  With the population a well run lfs should hit the jackpot.

[Zulaab]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

RichardChen - Carbon is "dead" after 3-4 months.. ie all the fine little pores are filled up chemically with the stuff that you want to capture.  After you have run one load of it for about 3-4 months I would remove it and put something else in what would help with your biological filtration as its what will keep your tank going for months on end.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

Carbon will leach impurities once saturated.

I never really use carbon and have no problems doing so.....an alternative I use is Seachem Purigen.

With the filter floss use it at the very top inside the media basket on the 2213 and below the screen plate on the 2217.....just make sure it won't get all into the impeller.

[RichardChen]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

Wow, so I started the 125 gallon tank in July and I changed the carbon pad every month.  By now 5 months had passed.  So I don't need to put carbon pad in the canister no more?

Last month I found brown color water in the tank.  I think the carbon must has been leak into the tank.  It took me twice weekly change water at 30% to remove that color.  
Do not use the reuseable plastic strips come with the Eheim media bags.  Who would know those red stripes will release the red color everythere.  Same time last month I found red color started to show on my white substrate rock.  I can't find the source until I service the canister.  The white Eheim media bags turn red.  Since then, I stop using the media bag at all.  I also suspect the media bag got clogged up, less water flow into the bottom of the canister, and the impeller tries to pump out water on top so the carbon stuff got into the water.  I still can't get rid of the red color on the substrate though.  Any suggestion?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Performance of Odyssea Internal filter

Honestly though....I don't think the single carbon pad in the eheim is even close to what it would take to clear a 125g on it's own.