Cleaning Filter Hoses

[waterdrop]

For a long time I've noticed patches of debris splotching up the inside surfaces of the input and output hoses of my external cannister filter. A while back I read an interesting post by one of the experienced members suggesting that the cost of tubing is so small that after a year or two passes, you might as well just replace the hose rather than cleaning it since it eventually loses its flexibility and gets stiff. You don't want one of those press-fit connections to a U-joint going over the edge of the tank to just come apart some day.

So I'd been planning to get some new tubing but found that my source was having a delay in supply for a while. So I decided to try cleaning out my tubes anyway! It had been bothering me for quite a while as I knew that uncleaned tubing could slow the flow rate and mine did appear to be a bit slower than when it was new. I'd heard good suggestions that a rag patch, pulled through with wire or twine should do the trick.

Of course, first time around when you aren't sure what works best can add some stress to a filter clean and it was no exception for me. It got to be quite a comedy scene in the bathroom with long strings of coiling wire and knot tying and little metal weights that turned out to be too large for the inner diameter of the 16/12mm hoses. Eventually though I was able to pull patches of rag through my tubing and I was amazed how clean the tubes were even on the first pass. The organic debris was not attached tightly to the inside of the tubing. I even cleaned algae from the little holes in my spraybar with the same small brush I use for one of the impeller passageways in my pumphead.

I was all quite satisfying seeing things come clean but the shocker came last when I fired the whole system back up. I simply could not believe how much flow rate I regained! It was amazing! I think my flow rate had been cut in half by that debris. Boy, were the comments from our experienced members understated! So a word to the wise all you beginners out there with external cannisters: don't let that hose cleaning chore go undone for too long, it makes a difference!

And you can bet that next time I will have built myself even better tools for hose cleaning -before- I get into the filter clean!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[arobinson1984]

I was the same waterdrop when I first cleaned the tubes of my eheim external. I bought one of the eheim cleaning brushes for a few pounds which is basically a brush attached to the a long wire, they are available in different sized brushes for different diameter tubing.

I found like yourself that one pull through the tubes got about 95% of the debris out in one go. I also purchased another set of tubing and now every 6 months I change from one set of tubing to the other and back to the origianl the next time. For a few days before the switchover I soak the tubes going on in hot/warm water which helps soften them and prevents them stiffening up.

I was also surprised how much performance I had lost lol, it doesnt seem noticable on a day to day basis.

Andy

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I think Dave Spencer had recommended that eheim hose brush to me a long time ago (ran across it in a search last night) but I have forgotten it. I may Ttry out one of my old brass instrument brushes and see if the bristle diameter is wide enough.

So you like that eheim brush? Its long enough? Another idea I like about getting more hoses is that I'll feel more free to experiment with shorter lengths to see how short I can get away with and still have maneuverability behind the tank. Of course, thinking about it, perhaps leaving a few extra inches would allow me to cut an inch off the ends periodically, the inch that gets stretched over whatever hard plastic it gets connected to. Thanks for mentioning the hot water, I had read and forgotten that one too. Do you feel it even helps the stretched ends significantly?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[arobinson1984]

I havent had any problems yet with the ends but the filter has only been running a year so I cant comment what they will be like over a longer period of time. Like you mentioned, my piping are all long enough to be able to cut an inch off the ends if need be.

The brush has a flexible wire that is 66" / 166cm long so easily long enough for all the tubes, the brush head is also detachable so you can fit different sized brushes to it if required.

I got it for about £4.50, which if I'm correct in thinking your in USA? is about $6-$7

Andy

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks Andy that's very helpful. Do you also have the little pair of impeller well cleaning brushes? I found these to be very helpful not only because the fit the impeller well so perfectly but also because the larger one cleans the rest of the impeller easily and the smaller one can not only be used on the impeller side feeder tube but also is a perfect fit for cleaning algae off the spraybar holes.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi waterdrop, no I dont have an impellor brush.

I normally tend to get as much out of the impellor well as I can with my finger but I think I'll definately have a look at them if they make life easier lol

Thanks

Andy

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, the larger impeller brush found organic debris deep in the impeller well and it also is the perfect size to clean two impeller blade surfaces at a time with a quick swipe. The skinnier brush cleans the narrower side tunnel and it found stuff there too. It doesn't appear quite long enough to clean that whole tunnel to me though, even coming from both ends.

Do you know the name or a source for a NON-petroleum based jelly to protect the silicone rubber parts. Eheim probably sells that too but it seems like there should be some drugstore or hardware store equivalent that we could trust not to be petroleum based or to have other tank contaminants.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

A nice stiff device for cleaning tubes that are not too long would be a patch holder end on a shotgun cleaning kit. Nice stiff rods about 3 feet long and the cloth patch you put in the end can be cut to give a nice snug fit in the tube. The rod in the typical cleaning kit even has a nice handle to grip easily.

 

[waterdrop]

Speaking of tube length, OM, give us your advice again, if you don't mind, on tube length. I'm afraid I fall victim to leaving mine a bit too long, always thinking maybe I'll need a bit of extra length but really its all a fixed setup so I shouldn't. Can you get detailed about what you think about before you take the knife to the hoses?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

What I ran into on one of mine is that I left the tube about 3 inches longer than the instructions called for. What I found quite soon after that was that the extra length had resulted in the tube getting a kink in it that had almost stopped the water flow. Read the instructions that come with the filter and try to get the length right as instructed. The slight extra length that I thought I had saved was making the filter not work right at all. Because some time had gone by, it took me fiddling around for a week on and off before I finally figured out my problem.

 

[waterdrop]

I guess then that we expect the manufacturers instructions to suggest a length that will help the load on the impeller to fall within the design specifications they've planned.

I think we know that excess length will add resistance and slow the filter's flow rate, whereas less length than expected might leave the impeller pushing too little and not running within its planned range, right? And I guess relative placement height compared to the tank surface height is probably a somewhat bigger factor on the work the pumphead does compared to drag load from hose length.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[fatheadminnow]

I just cleaned the piping on my HOB filer and man, did that ever make a difference! lol

-FHM

 

[OldMan47]

Actually the suction head on the filter's impeller is OK within a rather large range. What I did wrong was that when they suggested that I leave an extra 2 or 3 inches of length I figured what the heck, let's make it 4 or 5 inches. That turned out to be enough extra that the tube did not make a nice smooth curve coming to and from the filter and the slightly sharper curve became a kink in the tube after it had been running a few days. The place the kink developed was out of sight behind the tank stand and it took me far too long to notice it and figure out my problem.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I experienced kinking years ago and so have always been very sensitive to it. I study my hose placement and even devise supports if necessary to ensure nice large smooth curves if there are any curves at all. I found some really nice brushes today in my favorite little local store and just went ahead and picked them up because they were cheap and it felt like it was worth it as the price of admission for looking at their nice tank of rainbows and good plants, lol.

~~waterdrop~~