# Priming My Eheim Pro 3



## mrlbem

Can someone provide advice as to why I can't prime my Eheim Pro 3 in the tank I'm trying to set up? When I push the prime button once or twice, I get a little flow down the intake tube, but that's it. Would excess sediment from the substrate affect priming (I rinsed it, but there's still a lot of sediment in the tank). Could it be there's too much slack in the tubing? The water level is within 3 inches from the top of the aquarium, so I don't think that's it. Anybody have any suggestions? It's not like I can take the setup back to the LFS to have them look at it. It's very frustrating.


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## Bryeman

You have to press that button in repeatedly. doesn't have to be super fast, but keep pushing it down over and over again. sometimes mine takes 10+ pushes. Once the water begins to go down towards filter, don't let up! Once you see and hear the water fully going into the filter at full force you can stop. I own two of them and they can be tricky at first.


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## khanzer22

What you can also do is pre-fill the canister with water so that the impeller inside is semi submersed... Once you plug and run the filter, you then now push the priming button a couple of times to aid pushing out the air/water and establish a running flow... This method works for me as I have my 2075 hooked up to bulkheads (drilled bottom tank)... Hope this helps...


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## OVT

I have 2 x 2075 and 3 x 2028 atm and here is my personal experience:


Filter has to be empty as per Eheim rep (instructions are not clear, especially for 2028 ), plug in the quick disconnect with the flow lever all the way (to the left (max) on 2075 or forward on 2028 ) and you should see/hear the filter starting to fill with water. Once the filling noise subsides, plug the filter into power. After about 1 year of use, I might have used the priming button on 2075 once. (and gazillion times on 2028 )

Filter's base (bottom) should be at least 12" below the tank's base

Make sure that both intake and outflow are completely covered with about 1" of water (if spray bar is installed vertically, the top outflow hole must be covered). Removing the end-cap from the spray bar before filling helps a lot also.

Hope this helps. GL.


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## mrlbem

OVT said:


> I have 2 x 2075 and 3 x 2028 atm and here is my personal experience:
> 
> 
> Filter has to be empty as per Eheim rep (instructions are not clear, especially for 2028 ), plug in the quick disconnect with the flow lever all the way (to the left (max) on 2075 or forward on 2028 ) and you should see/hear the filter starting to fill with water. Once the filling noise subsides, plug the filter into power. After about 1 year of use, I might have used the priming button on 2075 once. (and gazillion times on 2028 )
> 
> Filter's base (bottom) should be at least 12" below the tank's base
> 
> Make sure that both intake and outflow are completely covered with about 1" of water (if spray bar is installed vertically, the top outflow hole must be covered). Removing the end-cap from the spray bar before filling helps a lot also.
> 
> Hope this helps. GL.


Well, this may explain it. The set up sheet says that the water level has to be no more than 4 inches below the top of the tank. My water is up to 3 inches below the top, but I have the outflow tube mounted horizontally and it is entirely above the water level. Could that be the problem?

Also, are you saying that plugging in the quick release with the lever in the "on" position will get the siphon going without using the priming button??

I guess I'll fill the tank higher and try again as you suggest. If your method doesn't work, I'll try filling the canister with water as per khanzer 22.


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## niko

Or you can bypass the priming gizmo and just suck on one of the hoses to get a syphon.

Ugly, primitive, unhygienic - but it always works with every canister filter.

--Nikolay


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## khanzer22

Or a wet and dry vac... Just remember to use it in the output pipe/tube, not on the opposite...


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## OVT

@mrlbem: yes and yes to your questions. Just did a WC with 2075 today. Move your outflow below the water level. And yes, it will also work with filter full of water but the initial suction strength will be lower. Physics at work.

@niko: sucking on a spray bar... Sorry, but you just made me laugh  Might take some practice getting all the outflow holes covered  Also, just imagine the size of those lungs. Sucking on the intake might take less practice but I wonder how long will it take with the outflow up in the air :loco:

<puts on a serious face>Eheim is doing something during priming that most (normal) people would find counter-intuitive at the first thought. Press the priming button and watch what's happening in your tank. You will see air (and muck) coming out of your *intake*. Interesting. Then, where is the water to fill the filter comes from? *Outflow*. Full filter or not, with the outflow up in the air, your result will be the same: you are sucking air into the canister. Now Eheim's recommendation to remove the end-cap from the spray bar during priming starts to make some sense. Why did they do it this way? Just think where most people usually put their intake. (hint: suction force generated at the moment of priming into an empty filter is substantially stronger then what's generated by impeller/motor during normal operation).

In any case, I just hope it works for you.

PS: @khanzer22: wet/dry vac on hi on outflow == no fish, no plants, no wood, no stones, no substrate left in the tank. Cool, we just figured out how to fit a 40G breeder into a 2G filter: compaction


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## khanzer22

OVT said:


> PS: @khanzer22: wet/dry vac on hi on outflow == no fish, no plants, no wood, no stones, no substrate left in the tank. Cool, we just figured out how to fit a 40G breeder into a 2G filter: compaction


It's just a matter how you'll use/operate it 

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## Kenho

I just changed the hoses on my 2071 and had trouble too but I found easy way to prime. 

At the top of your hoses, the plastic brackets that connect to your intake and outtakes has a cap screwed onto each top. Unscrew the caps and use a funnel to fill the hoses with water. Once your hoses are full the prime push button works like a charm. I've had my filter for a year and never realized what that cap was for until now.


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## OVT

Kenho said:


> I just changed the hoses on my 2071 and had trouble too but I found easy way to prime.
> 
> At the top of your hoses, the plastic brackets that connect to your intake and outtakes has a cap screwed onto each top. Unscrew the caps and use a funnel to fill the hoses with water. Once your hoses are full the prime push button works like a charm. I've had my filter for a year and never realized what that cap was for until now.


True that. Good point. IME this works better with filter filled with water, or you will be funneling for a while


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## Kenho

OVT said:


> True that. Good point. IME this works better with filter filled with water, or you will be funneling for a while


Actually it doesn't take much water to fill the hoses. Use the flow control on the filter and set it to off. Then you don't have to fill the entire canister, just the hoses. Once the hoses are full, just turn on the filter and open the flow, instant prime.


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## mrlbem

Kenho said:


> Actually it doesn't take much water to fill the hoses. Use the flow control on the filter and set it to off. Then you don't have to fill the entire canister, just the hoses. Once the hoses are full, just turn on the filter and open the flow, instant prime.


This worked!!!!  Thank you. The filter has been running since last night. Two more questions. It's silent except every 2 minutes it gets loud for 5 seconds (sounds like water churning) and then gets silent again. Is this normal? Also, how long until it clears up the excess sediment in the tank from the aquariumplants.com substrate that I have in the tank?


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## Kenho

I get the churning sound sometimes too after cleaning. It's just trapped air. I sometimes power on and off the filter. I also use the push button prime to help blast out any trapped air. It should go away on it's own within a day.

After making a mess in my tank it's usually clear by the next day. I love my filter. It's so easy to work on and does a great job polishing my water.


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## Rip_G

Thanks to all for your contributions to my success... This discussion led me to eliminate what was _not_ the problem with my Pro 3. Made me focus on another solution...

After trying to prime unsuccessfully and attempting several different possible solutions repeatedly for over 4 hours, I realized (at about 4:00 a.m. when I awoke thinking about this problem) that my problem was not air IN the filter. My problem was air entering INTO the canister.

What I saw at 4 a.m. in my horizontal but lucid state, was that air was entering the intake tube at a greater rate than the water was. I tried pouring water down the hose to fill it up, but that didn't work. It turns out that it was a simple fix--one that I had inadvertently caused--and it worked beautifully with the following first try. And, wouldn't you know, the answer is in the triangle "!" message after step D1 in the set-up instructions.

"When connecting [the] intake installation tube into the elbow connector, only push [the] intake receptacle into [the] tube half way."

What occurred in my installation is that when you push the tube too far in, it pushes onto the raised interior vertical strength protrusions, and the the O-ring no longer can seal out the air.

All you have to do is to pull the tube and elbow apart, check that the O-ring is smooth around (I replaced mine with the spare), and put it back together. After that, I poured water into both the in and out tubes, pumped the air out about 3 times, and VOILA! It now works super!!! --Rip :bounce::bounce:


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## vancat

Kenho said:


> Actually it doesn't take much water to fill the hoses. Use the flow control on the filter and set it to off. Then you don't have to fill the entire canister, just the hoses. Once the hoses are full, just turn on the filter and open the flow, instant prime.


Thank you for this hint!! Basically that is the same thing that is happening when you have a functioning filter, turn it off to clean it, and then hook it back up. The hoses have remained filled with water.


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