canister questions and ECCO

[slvrcvc]

sorry to be so dumb about canisters, but is the ECCO canister filter by eheim a submersible filter? or do you have to hook it up to some sort of hoses for in-dirty water and out-clean water?
basically if I buy the ECCO what else do I have to have to use it? hoses, tubes, pump?

also would the ECCO be good for a 30gal planted tank with DIY CO2? (I've heard about the surface agitation of bio-wheels on planted tanks with CO2)

also I already have a 10gal tank doing well, what is the best way to transfer some of the bacteria to a planted tank? place gravel with bacteria in the top most basket of the ECCO?

 

[LongTime]

It is not a submersible filter and you do have to hook up hoses. Go to the Eheim site, http://eheim.com/, and select the Ecco line. It will tell you all about it.

I don't know anything about the Ecco line, but if it is like other Eheims, I have a 2217, the company would not recommend you putting gravel in the top basket because it could damage the impeller.

 

[anonapersona]

Transferring bacteria

What sort of filtration do you have in the 10 gallon tank?

If it is an undergravel filter, then moving gravel will be helpful, put some into the bottom basket of the ECCO. Or just do a good gravel vac, and save all that nasty water to dump into the new tank the day before you stock it. Overnight it will clear and be sucked into the filter and settle in the gravel -- voila! Fully cycled tank.

If it is a HOB filter, either cut off a bit of the filter cartridge cover when you put in a fresh cartridgeand put that into the lower basket of the ECCO. Or put some floss upstream of the cartridge now and move that to the ECCO when you start it up. Or if it has foam blocks, squeeze them really good into some tank water and dump that into the new canister or into the tank right at the filter inlet when it is running.

If you get the new tank really "dirty looking" (with filter squeezings or gravel vac dump) you have transferred enough bacteria to stock rather heavy. If you put some floss or gravel in the filter, I wouldn't be as comfortable aabout stocking much fish too soon, I'd want to test and be certain before adding more than 3 or 4 small fish.

 

[TonyN]

I have an Ecco, and I love it. It comes with everything you need, including media. You dont have to buy anything else to get it going. Later, you can experiment with different types of media if you want, but the stuff that comes with it does a really good job.

Good Luck