From aquarium filters and air pumps to LED lighting and fish food, EHEIM has grown to become a household brand for fish keepers and aquarium. Founded in Germany by Gunther Eheim, the company has been a leader in the aquarium hobby for over 55 years. Unless you are looking to increase the flow in your tank, there is very little advantage to making this modification. EHEIM is a leading manufacturer of aquariums, aquarium parts and fish keeping equipment.
By simply increasing the flow rate in the 2215 you do not increase it's filtering capacity, you simply create a situation where less waste is removed with each pass through the media, but you increase the number of passes and that makes up for it. These are a German engineered filter and as such are not geared to the North American practice of high flow rates, they concentrate on the filtering capacity. The advantage of the 2217 is it's filtering capacity due to more media, not the flow rate.
Placing the more efficient impeller in the 2215 was guaranteed to increase the flow rate. The Eheim 2217 has a larger canister and more media to pull the water though and thus a more efficient impeller is needed. I dont have any powerheads for heaters I have two 300 watt heaters and everything seems fine. For filters I went with a Fx5,Eheim 2260,Aquaclear110 and Emperor 400. The results are fairly understandable though. Sounds like a good plan I also have a 240 gallon loach tank. Interesting test, however I'd like to see the numbers when using an accurate flow meter on the return lines. Surprisingly,elevating the filters did not improve the performance as I expected,and there was no measurable gain.However,my biggest surprise was that the output on both of the filters was the SAME,with the included Eheim filter media,and with empty canisters.Īdvertised flow rates are 164 gph for the 2215,and 2.ġ36 gph w/spray bar -152.5 w/spray barĢ29 gph open tube- 195.5 gph open tubeĢ02 gph w/spray bar -171 gph w/spray bar The tests were conducted with the filters sitting on the floor with a 50 inch water height to simulate actual conditions,and tests were also conducted with the filters elevated on a 30 inch platform after I failed to match the advertised flow rates.Results were obtained by using a stop watch to measure the seconds to pump 5 gallons,and then dividing the seconds by 3600 and multiplying this figure by 5.The numbers were rounded out to the nearest 1/2 gallon. That would be the cheapest.Compelled by the many contradictions on flow rates and overall lack of information available, I purchased a new Eheim 2215 and a 2217 for testing purposes.My primary intention was to test for flow rates on new filters,with and without filter media,and to see if these filters would actually produce their advertised flow rates.I also conducted tests with and without the included spray bars.Upon close examination of the filters I noticed that the impeller assemblies were identical on both of the filters except for the 2217 having a 6 blade impeller,and the 2215 having 3 blades.I then decided to test the 2215 using the 2217 impeller to overdrive it and to consequently boost the flow rate.I likewise ran a test on the 2217 using the 2215 impeller to under drive it to reduce the flow rate.As I expected,I was able to boost the flow rate significantly on the 2215 using the 2217's impeller assembly,and predictably got a corresponding reduction of the flow rate on the 2217 using the 2215's impeller. Or I was considering buying a 50 pound bag of small crushed lava rock and just filling it with that. I am a firm believer in over filtration.ĭoes anyone have any experience with De*Nitrate or Matrix? Now either of these options will take all most 3 times the recommended media for my tank size, which is great. This pre-cut 16/22mm plastic tubing is thick and durable and compatible with EHEIM filters 2217/2260/2226/2228/2326/2328/2227/2229/2327/2329/2026/2028/2126/2128. I really want to try to find a sponge that I can cut to fit the canister so it would be on the very bottom and about 5-6" thick and then layer the media of choice on top of that. I do not use filter batting on my first 2260 as Eheim doesnt recommend it. They are very reliable equipment offering exceptionally long service life.
When you stop to think that it holds nearly 5 gallons of media, it hurts just a little. EHEIM universal pumps offer a large performance spectrum and a wide variety of uses. The difference between these units is the ease of maintenance and the flow rate.
I want to go a different route than I did with my first one as it cost me an arm and a leg.ġ: Eheim Efphimech - about 5"( ceramic noodles) Here is the response from Eheim: 'Both Pro 3 and the large Classics (22) provide the same level of filtration. I just picked up an Eheim 2260 ( My second one - I love this filter ) for a measily $80 on Craigslist.