Purigen?

[Jim Miller]

Well that was interesting. I took out the Eheim stock fine filter pad and it was obviously compressed by the addition of the Purigen bags. The compression significantly reduced the flow. I noticed it last night when I turned the filter back on. It likely also improved the filtering as well as a tradeoff. The pad was pretty grungy again when I just took it out and rinsed it even though I had rinse it out last night. BTW, we have well water, no chlorine here.

So even though the water cleared up quite a bit last night it appears it was due to the freshly rinsed compressed pad.

I replaced the pad with the polyfiberfill that Sue had laying around. The holddown for the fine pad made a good template for cutting it out. I placed the Purigen bags on top and put everything back together. Everything fits much better now.

The "interesting" thing was when I put the filter back in place and turned it on a big whoosh of filter debris blew out. I'm guessing the polyfiberfill doesn't hold back the output of the filter as much as the fine filter pad. So now the water is not nearly as particulate free as it was earlier today.

If the Purigen can take the "stuff" back out of the water without the need for the restrictive Eheim fine pad it will be a net plus since the filter flow is obviously higher without the fine filter pad.

I'll give it a day before trying something else. I could place the Purigen bags in the coarse filter tray before the coarse filter sees the water and put the Eheim pad back in its place. There's room in the coarse tray. But the bags would be subject to the early tank flow rather than act as a late stage filter enhancement.

Jim

[Jim Miller]

I'm going to order a couple of spare Eheim fine filter pads and thin out a nice notch for two bags to fit in.

I get my best ideas while driving on I-83. Used to do the same thing while stuck in traffic going to work. Why is that?

jim (work...i've heard of it...)

[jweis]

The "interesting" thing was when I put the filter back in place and turned it on a big whoosh of filter debris blew out. I'm guessing the polyfiberfill doesn't hold back the output of the filter as much as the fine filter pad. So now the water is not nearly as particulate free as it was earlier today.
Jim

I get that whoosh of filter debris blown into the tank whenever I do maintenance on my ECCO. I can't figure it out? Is there a way to prevent this? It is frustrating to go to all the trouble to clean the filter only to have a bunch of nasty looking gunk suddenly blasted into the aquarium.

[londonloco]

Every filter I have ever owned, be it HOB, canister, trickle or sump, always sprays that crap back in after weekly WC's. I have even put filter socks over the returns to try and catch it before it entered into the tanks. I've stopped doing that, I have 8 tanks set up, way more PITA than worth the hassel.

[krisw]

Most of that gunk is build-up in the tubes themselves. It can be particularly bad when you have CO2 reactors, heaters, UV sterilizers, etc in-line.

My solution, after cleaning the filter, and before reattaching the tubing, shake out the tubes a few times to loosen the debris. Then, open the valve underneath the tank into a bucket. All of that gunk drains into the bucket. When the water runs clean, close the valve, and hook-up the filter again. You should have vastly less debris blown into the water.

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

The debris on start up i thought came from dirty pipes.

[Ltrepeter2000]

+1 on Ghaz comment. Thats the pipe coming into the tank getting cleared of build up from the flow slowing down to the point it couldnt push that stuff out.

[jweis]

Most of that gunk is build-up in the tubes themselves. It can be particularly bad when you have CO2 reactors, heaters, UV sterilizers, etc in-line.

My solution, after cleaning the filter, and before reattaching the tubing, shake out the tubes a few times to loosen the debris. Then, open the valve underneath the tank into a bucket. All of that gunk drains into the bucket. When the water runs clean, close the valve, and hook-up the filter again. You should have vastly less debris blown into the water.

I do have a lot of in-line stuff (heater, UV sterilizer, reactor). My set up is tricky to shake the tubing though. I will have to ponder how I can de-gunk the line.

[B Considine]

+1 for generic poly batting from Michael's!
+2 for Purigen!

Blaise

[krisw]

Often times you don't have to shake much if at all. The reversal of flow that occurs when the outflow pipe drains dislodges a lot of gunk.