my eheim 2213 has officially made me p/o'ed

I know how you feel

Do you have a prefilter, anything installed inline, or anything that could be clogging the inflow?

not that i know of, i'll check though

the pantyhose that i put to strain out the baby shrimp was clogged. oh boy, that means more works on the day i clean the filter out, i gotta clean out babies -.-

You might consider some form of sponge pre-filter on the intake tube.

It sounds like you did not prime it right. Shake the canister from side to side to release the trapped air. My 2213 runs so quiet that I cannot hear it at all, I have to place my hand on it just to tell it is working. However, if there is a lot of air in it, it will make a terrible racket until I re-prime it. If it continues to spit fine air bubbles it sounds like you have a leak somewhere that air is being drawn into the filter.

And a 2213 is rated at ~96gph without media, so its not going to give you tons of flow when its packed.

Have you cleaned your tubing? Eheim makes long brushes (about 40 inches {1020mm} long) to clean their tubing. It comes in different diameters for their different tubing sizes. You'll need the one for 494 tubing. Dirty tubing can really slow the flow. I believe PetBlvd.com is one of the places that carries it. For some reason I can't get on their site to find it. I keep getting an "Internal Server Error."
various Eheim brushes and part numbers: http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue/eheim-filter-cleaning-accessories.asp#product3479


Have you seen Eheim's Pre-filter? It should keep your tiny shrimp out.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...s/Categoryimages/larger/lg_900823_FS12758.jpg

Pre-Filter Module, CD-900823 $16.99
Replacement Pad, CD-902426 $2.99
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3614