[Chrisk-K]

After I clean my Eheim 2236's and reactivate them, the outlet pipes spit out very thin white silk-like stuff along with air trapped inside the canisters into the tank.

What the heck is it?

 

[Church]

It's just some slime and gunk that worked itself loose from the tubing/canister while it was powered off. No big deal. The air bubbles are just that-- air bubbles that were introduced when the system was powered off. It would be a problem if it constantly burped bubbles, regardless of if you just had it cleaned.

Sounds to me like everything is fine!

 

[Chrisk-K]

I know canister filters spit out air bubbles when reactivated. But I have never heard of their spitting out white, silk-like stuff. It looks like someone just peeled an onion inside the canister.

 

[lauraleellbp]

Is it organic-looking, or is there any possibility some filter floss got sucked into the motor?

 

[Chrisk-K]

It is organic. It looks like thin white layers of an onion.

 

[lauraleellbp]

Then Church nailed it, it's just biofilm that got loosened up.

And purging bubbles for a little while after startup is normal since there's usually a bit of air that gets trapped in the filter/filter media and has to work its way out. If it keeps bubbling past a few hours, you may need to check all the seals to be sure air isn't leaking in somewhere, though. My XP4 usually bubbles all night but the air has all worked its way out by the following morning. That's just from air getting into all the sponge media when I squeeze it out to clean it.

 

[Nue]

Mine does it too. It seems to disappear after a few hours.

 

[Chrisk-K]

So, the white stuff is biofilm, a thin layer of billions of bacteria, slime and gunk?

 

[timwag2001]

same thing happens to me sometimes.
when you put your white filter pad in do you put it underneath the handle?

 

[[email protected]]

that happens to me too. the last time I used the flexible hose cleaner and cleared out the inside of the tubing going back into the tank before I hooked it back up and there was no white gunk grossing out my tank. I cannot imaging that it is BAD for the tank, but it just seems like gross snotty film floating around. Some of the fish tried to eat it, so i now plan to just put the brine shrimp net over the inflow tube for a little while to catch all that stuff.

 

[Chrisk-K]

when you put your white filter pad in do you put it underneath the handle?

Yes. Plus, I place a micron pad on top of the white pad.

BTW, some of my fish ate biofilm. I'll put a net right in front of the outlet tube next time I clean the filters to catch the gross film.

 

[lauraleellbp]

I wouldn't worry about it. Fish eat biofilm all the time, just you normally don't see it.

 

[timwag2001]

the white pad is supposed to be on top of the handle

 

[mott]

the white pad is supposed to be on top of the handle

What?? on top of the basket? That is not correct I don't even know how you could get the top on with a pad on top of the basket...

 

[lauraleellbp]

the white pad is supposed to be on top of the handle

I don't understand that post, either.

 

[timwag2001]

have you ever noticed that the coarse blue pad is cut to fit inside the basket but the white one isn't?

 

[timwag2001]

i appologize i was thinking about eheim 2026.

 

[Divine Winds]

The manual should specify. My Eheim Pro 2222 says it should be on top of the handle. And as Timwag mentioned, the shape of the pad should give it away.

 

[mott]

Ah I see the mixup, on a side not I only use floss in my 2026 so not sure about the pad.

 

[Church]

In my 2213, the filter pads all fit inside the basket. Can't speak for the larger canisters though.