Cleaning Impeller of Eheim Classic Filter

Cleaning of canister filter's impeller is often a pain because the instruction is not mentioned in the filter's manual. I am not referring to made in China filters only. The same issue applies to German made Eheim filters. Basically the manual is a junk to me as it normally does not contain information you need but contains all the information you already know.

Thanks to some aquarium forums that I have managed to figure out how to clean it although the information is incomplete. Therefore I have decided to write the instruction myself. In my instruction I will use Eheim Classic as an example because it's the only canister filter I have.

Before you start removing the parts, please make sure that you remember how you remove them, so that you will know how to fix them back. You may shoot some photos in the process if you have a poor memory or poor observation.

1. After removal of the filter cover, you will notice the most important section of the filter as below. First, you have to unlock the lock that protects the impeller by turning it anti-clock wise. Then pull the lock upward. Be careful not to break the impeller when pulling up the lock.


2. After the lock has been removed, You will see the impeller partially in hole of the middle section.


3. The next step is to remove the cover of the impeller as follows:


4. After removing the cover of the impeller, you will notice the impeller. Pull the impeller upwards to remove it. Be careful not to break it. There is a magnet holding the impeller in case you're wondering why it's not loose. Once you have removed the impeller, you can brush the dirt on the impeller and the filter with tooth brush. There may be some holes you cannot reach with a tooth brush. You can use a cotton bud to clean the unreachable areas. Then rinse them with running tap water.


5. Don't forget to remove the hoses of the inlet and outlet for cleaning as well. The hose may clogged leading to poor water current in the tank. Just place the hose connected to a water tap and let the strong tap water current push all the dirt out if you're too lazy to brush the entire internal part of the hose. You will need a special brush to clean the internal part of the hose. Since it will be tedious without a proper brush, I will skip the brushing.

6. Don't forget to wash the media of the filter with your existing tank's water to avoid losing beneficial bacteria. I will not cover this aspect of the cleaning process as the information is widely available on the internet.