Ehiem classic canister filter maintenance

I was just looking through the manual of the filter for once and it says two things which I never heard before.

1. "The carbon filter absorbs possible dissolved harmful substances after newly installing the filter. After a working time of approx. two weeks, the carbon filter pad should be removed"

2. "The filter must have no water in it when reconnecting to the aquarium"

I was just wondering if I should follow this or not I have been doing filter maintenance with having it with water.

 

1. I don't run the carbon in my canisters. On my Classic (when I had it before upgrading) I think I ran the carbon, and then removed it. There's no need to continue to run carbon unless you've treated with med's, or trying to remove tannins (IMO)

2. Not sure what this is supposed to mean ??? It's easier to get the siphon going with the canister empty. I think this guidance is more about allowing the canister to fill from the aquarium, reducing air pockets in the filter. With or with-out water, you should be fine (IME).

 

Ok thanks

 

wait, so is it easier to start it with it empty? I've always filled it as much as I can before reconnecting and I have the worst time priming it. This last time as a matter of fact I couldn't get it primed so I had to take my aquaclear 50 out and put media in it. My eheim is just sitting empty in my cabinet right now.

 

Don't refill the canister before you reconnect it. When you turn the taps back on the siphon from the intake pulls in water, thereby pushing air out of the canister. They're much easier to restart without water in them.

 

But if for whatever reason the intake loses the suction when disconnecting, how do you get it to siphon water back into the canister? Maybe if I DIDN"T have water in the canister it would do it much smoother...

 

Then the intake tube needs to be reprimed manually by sucking on the end of the hose. Filling the canister with water isn't going to help it reprime anyway.

I try to avoid lowering the water below the intake suction, otherwise it's a pain to reprime.