# Suggestions on how to clean my canister filter's tubes?



## YMS_1975

I've got an EHEIM Professional 3 - 1200 XL - 2080 canister filter, for my turtles in their 300 gallon tank (no fish are in this tank).

Anyways, I've done water changes & changed the filter media. But today I noticed the tubes have become significantly clogged with algae (and other waste).

I rinsed the tubes with warm to hot water. I would put just enough water so that half the tube had water in it, and then I covered both ends of the tube with my thumbs and swayed the water back and forth in the hopes that it would rock the algae off just enough. But nothing.

I read online that vinegar cleans off algae, so I tried that as well, putting in just enough to fill half the tube and rocked it back and forth. This seemed to help but not much; at least I'm able to see into the tube now. But there's still a significant amount of algae in there.

EHEIM has a flexible brush set (http://www.ebay.ca/itm/EHEIM-FLEXIB...0452308959&ih=025&category=20756&cmd=ViewItem) but when I look at that brush, the length of the bristles seem quite short and it doesn't look like it would be an effective cleaning tool. When I say "length" I don't mean the length from the wire to the tip of the bristle. It's kind of hard to explain. I guess the best way to put it is, it just seems there aren't enough bristles and more wire, which would result in me having to spend more time rubbing it back and forth, as opposed to having more bristles (thus more coverage).

Is there any brush that has plenty of bristles and is long enough to fit into these tubes?


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## characinfan

"Snake" brushes are available in different sizes. They have to be just a little bit longer than half the length of the tube you want to clean. (Disconnect the tube, clean one end, rinse out gunk, flip, repeat). The larger ones are less common and more expensive, but the smaller ones also work. Menagerie ordered some of the longer and bushier ones a while back; they may still have some in stock. As an alternative, push a wad of clean filter fibre through the tube ahead of the snake after you've done a preliminary pass. This will remove stubborn slime. (If you do this on the first pass, though, there is a higher likelihood of the floss getting jammed and needing to be blown out).

I find that the tubes need cleaning every few months. For me, with herbivores in a 48 gallon with an Eheim 2213, a complete filter strip-down and scrub (rinsing all filter media in tank water and replacing clogged floss, Q-tip and toothpick detailing of filter impeller crevices, snaking and rinsing tubes, reconecting them, etc.) takes about 45 minutes. I don't use vinegar -- only elbow grease. 

Hope that helps.


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## Fishfur

There are some brush kits you can get that have longer handles on them.. Big Als has a couple of them. Tube cleaning can be a pain though. There is one brush with a spiral wire spring 'handle' that has a small black brush on one end, a big black brush on the other, and it works well. Pretty long handle.. but I find the brush hairs tend to fall out pretty fast.

Another thing you might try is to either get some small clear glass beads from the dollar store, or some small, fine gravel. Put a couple teaspoons worth in the tube with some water, cap both ends and shake vigorously. It should take off a lot of the algae if not all. Might take several rounds to get it all. I have also twined several lengths of pipe cleaner together to clean tubes, but they are not very strong and you cannot really scrub with them. Good for lighter work though. Pipe cleaners are often called chenille stems now, and found in the craft section of dollar stores.

I've had some luck using either aluminum foil or mylar to cover as much of the tubing as I can, to prevent light getting in once they're clean, which stops new algae growth. I've wondered if there is a paint or coating that would be non toxic that I could use to stop light penetration, but until I find one, the mylar film does a not bad job of keeping at least some of the tube algae free.

If you don't mind waiting a few days, you could try dropping the tube in a tank with a couple of small Thorny or Horned nerite snails and they will clean it for you better than you can. This is my preferred method for my uplift tubes, but they are a fair bit wider than Eheim tubing is, so the snails have plenty of room.

One thing I have not tried but it might possibly work, would be to get a piece of soft rope that is as thick as the inside diameter of your tubing - snug fit. Feed it through, then see saw it back and forth gently or just pull it through and do it a few times. I'd prefer cotton rope, but almost any type would probably work. I'd think you'd need a piece of wire hanger or something like it, to make a hook through one end of the rope, and then thread the wired through the tube and use it as a handle to pull the rope through, sort of like a big sewing needle. I'd wrap a rubber band very, very tightly around one end of the rope, then make a hook in the wire and slip it under the rubber band, so it won't pull off.

I have also wadded up cloth or floss and used a chopstick to push it through tubing.. works pretty well, but can be a nuisance to get all the bits out afterward and not always so easy to get around curves. A chopstick, especially one split in half lengthwise, works nicely for getting into nooks and crannies for stubborn bits nothing else will reach.. or a piece of stiff wire from a hanger.


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## pyrrolin

What I have done is a combination of banging them to loosen the gunk and just pressing on the bad areas bending the tube a little and most of it comes off, I also run hot water through them. One person recently had their filter running very very slow just from the tubes being clogged.


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## PureHash

You can get extra long q tips for swabbing (microbiology) and you could use these to get into tight places, but the probably won't help with cleaning the pipe.. I'd take it to my garden hose, and blast a jet stream right through the tube.


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## smcx

How about the same way you clean a gun barrel? Get a length of string,(I use 50lb fishing line) tie a small weight on one end (to help the string through the tube). Tie a sponge or piece of cleaning pad on the other end, and pull it through a few times.

Sean


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## PureHash

smcx said:


> How about the same way you clean a gun barrel? Get a length of string,(I use 50lb fishing line) tie a small weight on one end (to help the string through the tube). Tie a sponge or piece of cleaning pad on the other end, and pull it through a few times.
> 
> Sean


Amazing.

+1


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## wildexpressions

smcx said:


> How about the same way you clean a gun barrel? Get a length of string,(I use 50lb fishing line) tie a small weight on one end (to help the string through the tube). Tie a sponge or piece of cleaning pad on the other end, and pull it through a few times.
> 
> Sean


exactly although I soak the hoses in bleach for 20 minutes or so first.


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## Spicoli

Further to this since cleaning can be a huge PITA, where is the best place to get replacement hoses for eheims? Can you buy it by the foot anywhere?


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## Riceburner

I've got a tube brush. the handle is flexible like a long spring....about 2 feet long. Guess you could call it a snake brush.


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## MDR

Spicoli said:


> Further to this since cleaning can be a huge PITA, where is the best place to get replacement hoses for eheims? Can you buy it by the foot anywhere?


Check what the internal diameter of the eheim tube is and then go to home depot and see what they have. Cheaper than from a LFS


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## Ryan.Wilton

If you cant get a tube brush, try some fishing line tied around a sponge piece, or moist paper towel, if you don't pull to hard it shouldn't rip.


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## 12273

when i clean mine (very soon) i am going to submerge in bucket with salt or bleach. i was thinking of running a air pump with small air stone in the tube and hopefully the vigorous bubbles will help dislodge the crap in there. that the theory anyways LOL

thats the one thing i dont like about the fluval is the ribbed plastic hoses. last time i cleaned my fluval i primmed it and the crap that came out of the tube was insane. filled my whole tank up with all sorts of debris


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## pyrrolin

There is a new coating that was recently invented that will make things not stick which would be great for aquarium stuff as it is food safe. I forget the name but looks so promising for many products


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## Scotmando

smcx said:


> How about the same way you clean a gun barrel? Get a length of string,(I use 50lb fishing line) tie a small weight on one end (to help the string through the tube). Tie a sponge or piece of cleaning pad on the other end, and pull it through a few times.
> 
> Sean


I do this at work for the drain tube on my reefer. I use florist wire on a spool. Cut a length just a little longer than the tube and tie a bit of a scrunchy to it and pull it through a couple a times. Then I fill a bucket about 5" full of water & bleach & curl the hose around the inside of it, making sure all the air escapes. Wait 30 mins & you have a new tube.

Oh & don't forget to rinse out the tube with a bit of prime or amquel & water to get rid of the chlorine.


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## balutpenoy2oy

aquaman1 said:


> when i clean mine (very soon) i am going to submerge in bucket with salt or bleach. i was thinking of running a air pump with small air stone in the tube and hopefully the vigorous bubbles will help dislodge the crap in there. that the theory anyways LOL
> 
> thats the one thing i dont like about the fluval is the ribbed plastic hoses. last time i cleaned my fluval i primmed it and the crap that came out of the tube was insane. filled my whole tank up with all sorts of debris


That is not all debris, most of it was good bacteria..


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## pyrrolin

it can still clog the tube and cause the filter to barely work. Someone else on these forums had a canister filter that barely moved water all due to the hoses being clogged.


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## YMS_1975

pyrrolin said:


> There is a new coating that was recently invented that will make things not stick which would be great for aquarium stuff as it is food safe. I forget the name but looks so promising for many products


I......see.


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## YMS_1975

MDR said:


> Check what the internal diameter of the eheim tube is and then go to home depot and see what they have. Cheaper than from a LFS


Yeah, no doubt. Well what I ended up doing was I took a steel hanger, untwisted the neck and then straightened it out as best as I could.

Then I took an old pillow case and tore it up from the seams, so that it was opened fully (not being stitched in any corners). I made a very small hole in the sheet, and looped an elastic band through the hole in the sheet.

Then I took the tip of the hanger and made a very small hook. I tied the elastic around that hook, and pressed hard with a pair of pliers. We laid the tube on the ground (straight) and I slowly and carefully ran the straight hanger into the tube, and the J-hook was attached to the elastic (which was looped into the hole in the cotton pillow sheet).

I ran it through the tube and as it came out of the other end, my son pulled on the hanger slowly. As the pillow sheet came out, it was all green and some parts were brown too (gross). We had to play around with the elastic band part at the end of doing tube #1 because it started to come undone, but hey....it worked. 

It took us like an hour to get it done (from start to end).


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## Fishfur

I'm guessing the first link below might be to the product pyrrolin was talking about. Some guys at MIT are going to make some serious cash from their innovative idea. But it will be some time before it's going to available to the likes of us, I'm sure. And the price might not be worth it to a hobbyist, unless the makers of the filters and tubing start using the stuff and then you'd have to buy either new tubing or new filters to take advantage of it. But the ketchup companies are surely going to love it.

There are couple of other links to a couple of other non stick technologies, if anyone is interested. One's commercial.. the company makes such coatings, one of which is both water and oil repellent, so I'd guess it might work a treat in tubing.. assuming it's non toxic to our wet pets, and cost effective, and I have no idea about either issue.

The third is a just a tidbit about one of the newest ways to make non stick surfaces, using cavities of such amazingly small size that they become water repellent, based on surfaces found in nature.. pretty fascinating but a long way from our sort of application.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679878/mits-freaky-non-stick-coating-keeps-ketchup-flowing

http://www.aculon.com/hydrophobic-o...0f21b9b107e1&gclid=CNLGtp-pyrUCFc9AMgodtG8ASg

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...earch-finds-slipperiest-nonstick-surface.aspx


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## BillD

I used a bamboo garden stake to push wadded up paper towel through it the same way you would clean a gun barrel.


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