Eheim Pro 4 - ***

Went upstairs to start my water change a few minutes ago and found there was no water coming out of the spraybar attached to the output of the Eheim Pro 4, which is maybe 6/8 months old. Pulled it out and opened it up and there was no smell of dying bacterial cultures (must have just stopped) so I put it back in place with the cannister full of water, reconnected the hoses and turned it on - still nothing. So I pumped the primer (which usually doesn't do much) and after 6 or 10 pumps water started coming out of the spray bar again ????? I have no idea what caused it to malfunction, but it seems like either it wasn't getting water in (I clean pre-filters on the intake daily) or air built up in it somehow? I had just cleaned it maybe two weeks ago and it had been working great so I'm clueless what happened.

Anyone else have anything like this happen with an Eheim or any other cannister? I'm worried now that it may happen again in the middle of the night.

Any ideals please let me know

Thanks all!
Jim

hahahah, just noticed the censor took out the 3 letters in the title - too funny :p

Jim. I had the same problem with my Eheim Pro 4. I did not have the E series. Here is my experience.Mine was about the same age and I went thru all of the troubleshooting guides and then some and it would not pump water much at all. Contacted Eheim and they never got back with me. Some day when I have time I will take the head totally apart and see what is going on. I could not find a complete new pump head only parts. MY Eheim would quit pumping water and I would stop it and then restart it and it would pump water. I cleaned it monthly. Changed filter pads, cleaned hoses, checked for internal leakage and checked seals. The pump head just seemed to gradually loose power. Hope you have a back up filter just in case. I always keep a aqua clear 110 available for just these reasons. Hope you have better luck then I did. Bought a Fluval 406 and no problems so far.

Imo, Eheim canisters died after the Pro II line. Had a Pro III quit on me the same way some years ago, never went back. Seemed like a big downgrade in quality even before the failure. Zero canisters now, but I'd check out the Cobalt with the quick detach if I needed one.

I've been running a pro 4+ 600 since July 2016. 0 issues.

Interesting responses with some having issues while others don't. Here's my theory - let me know if this could apply to your problem.

A few weeks ago I cleaned he filter, since I have prefilters on the intake it was surprisingly clean still on the inside. Where the problem MAY have started is I removed the floating plastic media from the bottom basket (I'd already replaced the plastic in the second to the bottom basket with ehfisubstrat pro when I set the filter up) and replaced it with approx 2 litres of substrat pro. Since the substrat pro is so porous I'm thinking that maybe there was air trapped inside that slowly leaked into the filter cannister and caused an air gap that stopped the flow of water - also - I always refill my filters manually rather than try to count on the primper pump and maybe all the air wasn't displaced and removed when I refilled the cannister. Long shot I know but it's either something like that or Eheim is no longer the product it used to be

If it becomes a recurring problem now then the above won't hold water (pun intended :p ) and I"ll have to replace the pump. Since I have Euro Top Acrylic tanks I cannot use HOB filters and am "stuck" with cannisters.

On the bright side, my Eheim wet/dry is still working flawlessly and it's getting pretty old at this point (bought it when they first came out - are they even selling them anymore?)

Thanks for the feedback!

Jim:(

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Originally Posted by Cosmo

Interesting responses with some having issues while others don't. Here's my theory - let me know if this could apply to your problem.

A few weeks ago I cleaned he filter, since I have prefilters on the intake it was surprisingly clean still on the inside. Where the problem MAY have started is I removed the floating plastic media from the bottom basket (I'd already replaced the plastic in the second to the bottom basket with ehfisubstrat pro when I set the filter up) and replaced it with approx 2 litres of substrat pro. Since the substrat pro is so porous I'm thinking that maybe there was air trapped inside that slowly leaked into the filter cannister and caused an air gap that stopped the flow of water - also - I always refill my filters manually rather than try to count on the primper pump and maybe all the air wasn't displaced and removed when I refilled the cannister. Long shot I know but it's either something like that or Eheim is no longer the product it used to be

If it becomes a recurring problem now then the above won't hold water (pun intended :p ) and I"ll have to replace the pump. Since I have Euro Top Acrylic tanks I cannot use HOB filters and am "stuck" with cannisters.

On the bright side, my Eheim wet/dry is still working flawlessly and it's getting pretty old at this point (bought it when they first came out - are they even selling them anymore?)

Thanks for the feedback!

Jim:(

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Interesting. I have never run that plastic bio mech media. Didn't see the point. I run lots of matrix and substrat pro. I have never had an priming issues. Maybe once or twice I had a tough time getting filter to prime using priming button but typically not. I use a prefilter and run only the coarse sponge inside not the fine one. I see how it can be easy to get an air lock though depending on what you may be doing with the filter.

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Originally Posted by Ryan925

Interesting. I have never run that plastic bio mech media. Didn't see the point. I run lots of matrix and substrat pro. I have never had an priming issues. Maybe once or twice I had a tough time getting filter to prime using priming button but typically not. I use a prefilter and run only the coarse sponge inside not the fine one. I see how it can be easy to get an air lock though depending on what you may be doing with the filter.

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That's a good point. Sound like we have similar setups except I have been using 1fine filter, and at the time of changing it I remembered too late that I had not squeezed the air out of it like I normally do. Could be air from the filter that caused the issue too. The purpose of the plastic media is to insure the incoming flow of water is distributed all around the cannister, which is why I kept it in at first. The floating thing is too much of a PITA during cleaning though which is why I took it out and added more substrat pro. So far so good since the other night

Well, I got a replacement and it's in and running, though the media still has to setup. My Eheim Wet/Dry seems to be doing okay by itself but I've always been a fan of overkill haha

Opened up the head as much as they let you without doing major surgery. There is really only 1 movin part, which fortunately you can get to, so I opened that up and pulled out the assembly and it fell apart as I pulled it out. I put it back together and put it back in and was able to get the blades spinning, not correctly, but spinning. I held it over my head in the operating position and they stopped spinning - took out the assembly again and it was HOT! No matter what I tried I kept getting the same results so finally I just put it aside. Going to contact the store I bought it from and see if there's any recourse.

Damn shame to hear Eheims gone downhill with their canisters :(

I had a similar problem with my eheim pro 2028 or something like that. I bought the largest Eheim pump with the heater in the pump and put it in my brand new 450 gal acrylic tank. Was cycling tank with a bunch of tetras, came home one day from work and tank just didn't look normal, pump was running, but tank looked stale and cold. Touching the water it was cold, with the heater in canister and no flow water was not heating up. Now this pump has two inlets and one outlet and I could not get it to start pumping for jack, I took it apart and tested the pump and it was working, but it would not move water. Filled the canister fresh and fixed a jig to test with and I could not get it to flow. After a few hours I gave up on my test jig and installed back into my tank, still no go. Pushed that damn priming button a thousand times and then suddenly it started to flow, first just one inlet, then I would squeeze that closed and the second finally started to flow also and bara bing bara boom it kicked in and hasn't flinched again. I installed a second pump, a Fluval 405 and placed it inline along with the eheim and the large Marineland HOB. I also bought a Fluval FX6 in case either of the pumps On there now fail. I never turn off the canister pumps, I leave them on even when I clean the tank so when the water level drops I can see how much flow I'm getting from my pumps.

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Originally Posted by geo57

I had a similar problem with my eheim pro 2028 or something like that. I bought the largest Eheim pump with the heater in the pump and put it in my brand new 450 gal acrylic tank. Was cycling tank with a bunch of tetras, came home one day from work and tank just didn't look normal, pump was running, but tank looked stale and cold. Touching the water it was cold, with the heater in canister and no flow water was not heating up. Now this pump has two inlets and one outlet and I could not get it to start pumping for jack, I took it apart and tested the pump and it was working, but it would not move water. Filled the canister fresh and fixed a jig to test with and I could not get it to flow. After a few hours I gave up on my test jig and installed back into my tank, still no go. Pushed that damn priming button a thousand times and then suddenly it started to flow, first just one inlet, then I would squeeze that closed and the second finally started to flow also and bara bing bara boom it kicked in and hasn't flinched again. I installed a second pump, a Fluval 405 and placed it inline along with the eheim and the large Marineland HOB. I also bought a Fluval FX6 in case either of the pumps On there now fail. I never turn off the canister pumps, I leave them on even when I clean the tank so when the water level drops I can see how much flow I'm getting from my pumps.

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Wonder if I kick mine if it'll start working :p I always prefill my cannisters after cleaning, before I carry it to the tank - so much easier to lift the weight than it is to press that darn primer button 1000 times. Starting out with zero air, the filtration kicks in as soon as plugged in. Which didn't do diddly in this case because the pump is fubar :crazy: Doesn't give you much peace of mind knowing your filter could die at any time and you may not catch it for awhile.

BTW, never turn off a bio filter canister, your bacteria cultures will die and let off toxins that are bad for your fish when they are started again. I've even noted in my mechanical filter (Marineland Magnum 350 w/ micron cartridge) if I leave it off too long between cleanings the waste it's picked up starts to break down creating the same toxins (and the smell of rotten eggs)

BTW, never turn off a bio filter canister, your bacteria cultures will die and let off toxins that are bad for your fish when they are started again. I've even noted in my mechanical filter (Marineland Magnum 350 w/ micron cartridge) if I leave it off too long between cleanings the waste it's picked up starts to break down creating the same toxins (and the smell of rotten eggs)


Thank you for that info, I did not know that. I usually don't turn off my canister pumps any way, but i have noticed a strange smell at times after I've cleaned my tanks and have everything back up. Doesn't last very long and I blew it off as my imagination. I always turn of my HOB filter as it will stop working after tank level drops while I'm cleaning.