[rich815]

I friend gave me a good, working Rena XP3 filter. It's been used on a salt water aquarium and has media in the three trays. A guy at the LFS told me to just run/test the filter with the input/output hoses in a bucket of fresh water and rinse and run through for about 30 minutes or so, maybe dump the water out, do it again with more fresh, and then I should be fine for using with my freshwater planted tank.

Anyone want to add to this, or tell me why this might not be all I need to do? Just want to be sure.

Would it be best to dump the existing media and get new? Or if rinsed and washed thoroughly is it still ok to re-use?

(Please, anwer if you have direct experience or truly have knowledge that can help me. Answers posted that say "Well, (I really I have no direct experience or know, but...) I would imagine that you should...." are not really going to help me here.)

Thanks.

 

[epicfish]

Is there algae/Ca/salt deposits in it? If so, run with vinegar in water...sometimes it'll take a while to dissolve all of the gunk.

What media is in it? Depending on how dirty it is, get new media.

 

[jmhart]

My first eheim(2026) was from a SW tank, and I used it on a FW. I don't know what the minimum amount of work is. Just flushing it out might have been fine, but, that's not what I did. I broke it all the way down, gave everything a really good rinse. I then heavily rinsed the media, and actually boiled it.

Put it in, and I've never had a problem. It was the Efhisubstrate. It's been running for a year without a hitch.

 

[mrwindupbird]

My first eheim(2026) was from a SW tank, and I used it on a FW. I don't know what the minimum amount of work is. Just flushing it out might have been fine, but, that's not what I did. I broke it all the way down, gave everything a really good rinse. I then heavily rinsed the media, and actually boiled it.

Put it in, and I've never had a problem. It was the Efhisubstrate. It's been running for a year without a hitch.

ditto, just went through the same exercise with my 2217 formerly from a reef tank. i had to scrub some parts with a metal brush to get the coral off. then a wash in white vinegar, and a few minutes in boiling water for substrate and noodles. new filter pads for sure.

 

[rich815]

Is there algae/Ca/salt deposits in it? If so, run with vinegar in water...sometimes it'll take a while to dissolve all of the gunk.

What media is in it? Depending on how dirty it is, get new media.

No algae, just a small bit of calcium deposits in the canister which I've already wiped out fairly well. I'll run some vinegar in the first flush to be sure. The media is the ceramic rings, some white, gravel-like stuff, and the black small "rice-like" particles.

 

[YSS]

In my opinion, you just need to rinse with water and you should be good to go. That's what I have done in the past.