Tropical Fish Forums

[hilly81]

I installed a ehiem ecco external filter about 6 weeks ago in my juwel vision 180 to run alongside the internal filter that comes with the tankk. I recently noticed a buildup of b black and white substance in the inlet and outlet pipes and was wondering if anyone could shed any light on what it is? Filter appears to be working fine and all water perameters are OK.

Man! Thanks.

[Lord Steve0]

Might just be dirt that gets stuck inside the pipes. They won't stay perfectly clean forever.
If you notice that it's starting to block the intake of the filter then maybe clean the pipes out.

[Bob]

You do get a build up of "gunge" in the filter pipes (One of the reasons water companies put Chlorine in our supply pipes). It will be bacteria, general dirt etc.

It may look bad, but I would guess it would take a few years before it caused the filters output to slow.

The way to deal with it, is to use some kind of "Pull or push through" cleaner.

This could be a bought from a shop tool (I am sure someone makes one), or you could make something yourself, a lead or small heavy weight, tide to some string, tied to a bottle cleaner etc.

Atternativly you could buy new plastic piping once in a while, it's not expensive when bought in bulk.

I just did a quick web search and it looks like there are plenty of "hose, flexible cleaning brushes" about.

Bob

[Lord Steve0]

Yup, you need something similar to what you clean the barrel of a rifle with.

Long string with weight on one end and a sponge or something on the other.
Drop the weight in the pipe and when it gets to the other end you can pull the sponge through the pipe to wipe the slime off it.