Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I read a bunch of reviews online to try and figure out what to buy to filter my 75 gallon freshwater tank. I had been using a carbon wheel filter and it just wasn't doing the job.
I got this unit, filled it with the included filter media, plugged it in, and set it to work. WOW, was it powerful! The jets of water from the outflow tube easily stirred things up in the tank, and within a few hours the water was on its way to clarity.
Unfortunately, within a few months the flow has reduced tremendously. I only get a trickle at the outflow. No problem, I thought, the filter is probably just dirty. I'll clean it out and be back to new. So I carefully took the filter apart as per the directions and cleaned the thing out, taking care to make sure I didn't disrupt my beneficial bacteria too much. I reassembled it, plugged it back in, and it was back to decent power.
However, after running a few weeks I'm back to only a trickle. So I AGAIN cleaned it out (including the impeller, impeller shaft, and all outflow/inflow tubes) and plugged it back in. Worked great... for about fifteen minutes. Then it made a bubbling noise and the flow died again.
At this point I have completely dismantled and reassembled the entire thing. It's clean as a whistle everywhere there are user serviceable parts. But when I plug it in I get an anemic flow at the outflow (maybe 2-5gph).
I'm very frustrated at this Eihem filter. It was a major expense for me and only worked adequately for a few months. My 75 gallon tank has a SINGLE fish in it, so I know that it can't be overwhelming the filter's capacity.
If I had it to do over again I would not have purchased this filter. I will try and get with Eihem customer support to figure out a fix and will report back here if I am able to get them to address my concerns satisfactorily.
*UPDATE* I spoke with Eihem's customer support and they walked me through the cleaning/priming cycle to make sure that I wasn't introducing air into the filter during priming. I followed their instructions exactly (I was on the phone with them while doing this) and the filter kicked into life at full power. Eihem was convinced that the problem was user error and this would fix it. Unfortunately, as before, the pump worked for a little while and then reduced power again.
If you search for the phrase "Eheim 2076 Pro 3 Bio Stream Wave Function on my cichlid tank" you can see an example of the Eihem 2076 filter with wave action (note: NOT the filter I'm reviewing here). The 2076 will use the wave function to alternate smoothly between a lower pressure and a higher pressure on the output jets. To give you an idea for comparison, my 2071 filter starts out at what looks like the high power setting on the 2076 (which is, I assume, the "normal" setting) and lasts for 30 minutes or so, then the output will silently reduce to the equivalent of the 2076's "low power" position in the video. My pump will then stay at that position until I empty it and reprime. Happens every time.
I'm reducing my rating on this pump down to one star since Eihem cannot seem to figure out what is wrong and I followed their over-the-phone directions exactly. I would strongly recommend against purchasing this pump.
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