# Eheim Pro II 2026 - noise / clicking



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

I recently gave in to the Drs F&S deal on the Pro II's 2026's before it disappeared. I've installed it and it works like a charm. But it makes noise - a clicking sound - kind of like small rocks rattling around in it.

I thought this might be my being stingy on media, so I put more in this weekend. Now I can say with confidence that it is full. What could this sound be?

This sound is not real loud. If I close the door on the stand it's really hard to hear. So why do I care? Because it's the 2nd 2026 I have on this tank, and the first one is so quiet, I have to put my hand on it to feel vibrations just to know it's on.

So something is not right with the new one. Any thoughts?


----------



## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Is the little flow indicator ball rattling around?

Mike


----------



## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

Or check for snails/gravel in the impeller housing.


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Mike - I bet you nailed it! I don't know... I'll have to go look. But when I took it out of the box, the little red ball rolled out. Must not have been packaged right or something, because I didn't have that problem on the first one.

I tried to put it back the way it looked like it went.

I bet that's it. I'll go investigate. Thanks!


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Hey Bill - you ninja posted on me! I'll check that too. Thanks!


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Thanks folks. It appears to be the ball. No snails.

Upon inspection I found that this new filter's "pressure" indicator workings are VERY different than the first. The first has springs and red tube looking things and all kinds of stuff.

The second just has a ball and a red end plug thing. The first one has that end plug thing, but it has a spring on it, and it is DIFFERENT. Similar, but different. The one on this new filter could not accommodate a spring if it had to.

Someone at Eheim messed up IMO. Time to contact the manufacturer.

Thanks for the help.

Oh, yeah - I took out the ball. No more clicking noise. roud: Good call Momotaro-san.


----------



## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Happy to help.

My 2026 had the ball and the red plug. Nothing else. I never had a problem with it. I never suspected anything was wrong.

I still don't.

FWIW...I removed the ball as well.

Mike


----------



## random_alias (Jun 28, 2005)

I bought mine from foster&smith way before the sale and mine only had the reg plug and the ball. I removed them shortly after setup because I noticed the ball made a nosie when it travelled up and down.


----------



## Laith (Jul 7, 2004)

I've bought two 2026s (actually a 2026 and a 2126 more recently). The first one had just a red ball which I removed on the first day because it was rattling around.

The second one had an indicator with a spring attached and doesn't make any noise.

My impression was that Eheim changed the design due to complaints about the noise.


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

So - this looks like a _common _ problem!



Laith said:


> My impression was that Eheim changed the design due to complaints about the noise.


You are probably right. And I'll bet the noisy ones left over were put on sale!


I've looked at the other 2026 I have, the one that is silent, and it looks to me that other than the stuff that goes into observation tube, that they are identical. I'm gonna look into getting the parts to make my second one quiet too. The first is whisper quiet.

That's part of why I didn't mind getting two. Silent times two still equals silent.


----------



## jhoetzl (Feb 7, 2005)

Chalk up another person with both...the spring one in my newer 2026 is much better...just hope the spring in stainless or something good....

I removed the "flow meter" on my older one due to noise and inaccurate results...


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

On the Eheim part ordering area of their web site, they only show -

7444410 - Ball with ball cage - $16.76​
Which is the old variety. So I turned to the manual I got with my quiet one (assumed newer model) and it shows the same thing. And not the spring mechanism that came with it.

This looks like a product that was rolled out defective in it's first incarnation (did they even listen to it???), with no way to get replacement part that fixes the problem. This is definately a ding in Eheim's nice shiny reputation in my book.


----------



## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

*But do you really need it?*

Just removed mine since I see no need for it. I can tell when the flow is slower witout a mechanical meter. Were all so manic about maintence I'm not sure it would be too usefull to a planted tank member.


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

kzr750r1 said:


> Just removed mine since I see no need for it. I can tell when the flow is slower witout a mechanical meter. Were all so manic about maintence I'm not sure it would be too usefull to a planted tank member.


I agree completely. I never for a moment intended to use it. I wouldn't trust it. But the principal of the thing is galling.


----------



## Lorenceo (Jan 29, 2004)

My 2026 has a white ball and a red thing to stop it going up the output pipe, my 2028 has a red cylinder thing with an o ring on it and a spring, the red thing to stop it going up the pipe is the same.

I've also founf that the ball rattles, the red thing with spring is silent.
I've found the ball is quiet after a filter cleaning, but as it accumulates waste and the flow slows down the ball starts to rattle.
Also found that if the ball has vaseline on it it is quieter. I recall it recomends somewhere to coat the ball in vaseline to stop the rubber from aging. Think this was in the manual.

As to not trusting the flow reading, I find they work fine, say a week after cleaning the flow slows down slightly, and after about a month the flow is lower bout 3/4. Quite accurate imo.
Also the indicators act as check valves to stop water being pulled in through the output when priming.


----------



## Laith (Jul 7, 2004)

I don't think I'd want vaseline in my tank water...


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Lorenceo said:


> Also the indicators act as check valves to stop water being pulled in through the output when priming.


Well, there's a reason for leaving it in, IMO. Thanks for pointing that out, but it means bad news - lose the ball to lose the noise, and you lose the priming function too! :icon_frow


----------



## Lorenceo (Jan 29, 2004)

No, it will still prime, it will just take a lot of effort, because it will be pulling water in and out through both pipes.
If you bent the output pipe when the primer was going up this would give the same effect.. more effort though.

Also, with your bulk heads Steve, I doubt you'll ever need the primer, gravity is on your side in this case. If you had it set up normally, this would be more of a problem.


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Lorenceo said:


> Also, with your bulk heads Steve, I doubt you'll ever need the primer, gravity is on your side in this case. If you had it set up normally, this would be more of a problem.


Your assumption would be absolutely correct if I had set my bulkheads up "properly" Lorenco. Unfortunately some of the flex PVC coming out of the bottom of the tank undulates a bit - imagine an "S on its side - to get woven properly through the many obstacles in my cabinet. So there are air pockets in the lines.

The priming function helps flush those pockets. But the priming function also seems to help flush air out of the filter that gets trapped during maintenance operations.


----------



## Lorenceo (Jan 29, 2004)

Surely 75 gallons of water would flush out some air though..  
I don't know.. I've never had a drilled tank.

Perhaps rearrange the pipe so its straighter?
Maybe try flushing the pipes out into a bucket?
Or into the filters, but with both of them completley empty, and their pipes empty with the out puts above the water surface?
I don't know.. :icon_redf


----------



## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

I don't mean to make this sound like a big deal Lorenco. If it were, I'd have figured out a way to make the pipe nice and straight. It's just a minor annoyance. The air will indeed flush itself, but it takes a few hours for the minor gurgling to go away. The priming helped cut that down to a few minutes.


----------



## Georgiadawgger (Apr 23, 2004)

I noticed the little rattling of the ball the other night too....but these days the ratting doesn't bother me at all since all I can hear is the slight "whoosh" of my co2 being dissolved in the reactor which seems louder than anything else. 

As far as anything rolling around in the box when I got it (same purchase here too), I didn't have it...mine was "plug and play" and has worked great! Quite possibly one of the best investments made yet...the Milwuakee regulator, now that's a different story...next is an Azoo. Not to change directions, but JB is right...the needle valve on that thing plain stinks! I digress


----------



## Gohsef (Jan 27, 2015)

Thanks for pointing out the flow indicator! I have a 2028 spring and tube set-up and also had this same noise after cleaning the filter. Upon inspection, I found that the spring had come off the ring stopper, causing the indicator to move around and click. I took out the stopper, reseated the spring, and the noise is gone!


----------



## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Just have to smile when I see this sort of thing!!
We have a complaint and a solution found. Nothing strange about that except the original post is from 2005 and here we are in 2015 when someone finds the info helpful. 
Just the fact that there are still Eheim 2028 models still out and doing their job is some kind of surprise. 
For those who might have thought it a bad design back in 2005, maybe not if they are still doing the job 10 years later?


----------



## michu (Dec 9, 2008)

And here it is in 2016 and I found the info helpful. After reading on this thread there was a plunger type, I went to check on the other 2026 my kind LFS gave me for parts to keep the used one I just setup running. It had the plunger, swapped it out, no more rattle.  Gotta love this forum!


----------



## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

Had to smile receiving email notification from a discussion had 11 years ago.


----------



## michu (Dec 9, 2008)

LOL! I got a kick out of it myself.


----------

