Fizzle

I am new to this forum and new to this hobby. I bought the Eheim canister filter for my 70 gallon fish tank. I have read some of the older threads and some people keep the spray bar submerged and some keep it just right above water level. Well, I was told to keep mine submerged. However, after I took some water out to see if the sprayer was working, I noticed that the spray bar was not spraying out that much anymore and it was more like dripping.

I have a bubble curtain on the backwall. Do you think that having my spray bar submerged and having these airbubbles push their way into the spray bar is causing the tubing to have bubbles and therefore being less powerful when it sprays?

Do airbubbles even come through the sprayer if I submerged it? Thanks so much!

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!!!!!!! usually if the spray bar is acting weak with an output of water, you can pump the top of the canister to prime it some more or maybe its really dirty and clogged up ....also, check all your hoses to make sure none are kinked( mine were and after tearing it all apart, it was a simple kink LOL ) ...how long has it been running? my spray bar from the canister is not submerged and I dont think its suppose to be either ...

Fizzle

I bought my cannister filter brand new. I'm just new to this...is the water coming out of the spray bar suppose to be really strong or just a steady stream? Last night, I tried releasing the water our from the output tube and blowing through it so hopefully the air will go out. Then, the water coming out of the spray bar is more of a steady stream.

Everyone I have talked to in person told me to submerge it. People in these forums, there are varying advices. But I'm just wondering if the wall of bubbles have anything with clogging up the spray bar? If so, then I can just leave it a bit above water level and let it spray out like that. Thanks for your quick response.

dee34

hi fizzle welcome to fishlore i have the same filter as urself and every time i have to clean it i get the same problem. first of all make sure the outflow pipe is not submerged , some times the system gets air locked i tend to blow into the outflow pipe and it usually takes a few minutes to get the proper presure

Fizzle

Thanks for the help, I just don't understand how everyone I talked to told me to submerge it. I will add more water today and make sure the spray bar is on top. This hobby is a lot of work! haha.

Shawnie

the spray bar should be a nice stream were it has enough force to move the surface of the water around....again, mine isnt submerged and a kink in the line slowed mine down allot..they give you a ton of hose usually and that can happen....good luck!

mathas

To add my opinion to the confusion, I've used both Rena and Eheim canister filters with spray bars, and both have worked perfectly fine with the spray bar submerged. I'd look elsewhere for the flow problem... kinked hose, clogged media, adjustable flow set too low, etc.

I don't know which Eheim filter you have, but the manual for my 2026 explicitly says:

Maybe look through the manual list at Eheim's site and see what your particular filter's manual says?

http://eheim.com/base/eheim/inhalte/...n&list=afilter

Fizzle

Do you think my back wall of bubbles will clog up the stream way of the output holes in the spray bar? That's what I'm thinking when I keep my spray bar submerged...that the airbubbles is putting bubbles into the tubes and that's making it lose power.

mathas

I doubt it, but I guess anything is possible.

The bubbles only have buoyancy in their favor. The filter, however, has a mechanical pump that's pushes the water from the canister to the spray bar. Even if air bubbles from your bubble wand did get into the spray bar while the filter was off, I would assume that the force generated by the pump would be more than enough to push the bubbles back out and keep them out.

What model Eheim do you have?

Fizzle

Eheim Classic filter 2217 is what I have. I just got home from work and started working on it. Right now I have it barely above surface level. I have noticed that if I slant it a bit (instead of keeping it leveled), then the stream is a bit stronger but eventually it will stagger. I don't know what's going on and this sucks.

People said this would be easy to setup and I thought I had everything going right. I took my water into the fish store and they said the water is good. Everything is suppose to be where it's at (I just started my fish tank two weeks ago). I bought 3 fish last night and had to take some water out of the tank to put in the bucket before I put the fish in. This was when I noticed the spray bar was not working properly. It just doesn't remain a constant stream. Anyone out there who knows the solution, please help! I'm getting discouraged already and I have spent so much on this new hobby!!!

mathas

I've never used an Eheim Classic, only their Pro II line, so I can't offer much specific to that product, but I do see that for that line of filters Eheim agrees with the people who say keep the spray bar above the waterline:

Some general, non-Eheim-Classic questions:

How much higher is the spray bar than the top of the canister?
How much hose do you have between the spray bar and the canister?
Do you hear any grinding/rattling noises that might indicate an impeller problem?

Fizzle

The spray bar is maybe a good 3.5 feet about the canister...as well as the tubing. Just went to the local petstore. They said that maybe the airbubbles are causing micro air bubbles to be pushed inside it. Or that the filter media might not be packed correctly. (I doubt the second one though because I bought it brand new). We'll see. It's still pumping water out at the spray bar but I feel like it's weak and the water flow is staggering. If I can't get this resolved soon, I'll probably just have them come look at it...$80 they charge down in Houston though...yikes! Just got me some tiger barbs and mixed cichlids. I'm excited bout my tank...just got a new house and I want this to work out. I've been having a 10 gallon fish tank these past 3 years at my apartment but man, I didn't know the upgrade was going to be this hard.

MizRamzi

To heck with the madness just return the darn thing and get a new one. You seem to be doing everything right so it must be the filter

By the way, WELCOME to FL!!! You will be getting a lot of mixed opinions, mixed advice, but one things for sure your bound to find the right answer here. If someone asks a question, if we don't know the answer, we'll look it up.

Fizzle

I just got it to work...hopefully it will stay working now. haha. Thanks for all the help. This forum is extremely helpful!!!

Fizzle

now the only problem i have now is that the spray bar is pushing out too much water and causing so many microbubbles in the tank. How did you guys remedy this? Which direction did you point the spray bar? Did you minimize the pressure on the outtake tube?

Fizzle

Oh yeah, the spray bar is shooting at a 45 degree angle right now.

graham50

you can minimize the water flow a small bit if you have valves but this might make the filter not filter as much water as it would with full flow on..