Ok, I get the famous Eheim 2026. Pull the filter out of the box (engineered to house the filter within 1 mm). Impressive. I open the filter and look into the throat of the motor where the impeller seats - it looks like it could be the valve chamber in the advanced motor of a BMW. Looks like I'm going to have to read the instructions before I can assemble it. Damn. Oh, well.

Open the plumbing accessory box and low and behold it's all bright GREEN with the letters EHEIM painted in bright WHITE all over everything. I'm one of those people that pulls the logos off their L.L. Bean gear, so I don't have to be identified as a corporate entity. Now honestly, why couldn't they make the spray bar and tubes in black, which would virtually disappear in an aquarium with a dark background?

Now for the real question: Does anybody know if I paint everything with flat, black RustOleum whether or not it will poison my fish and plants with lead or some other chemical?

Alternatively, does anybody know of a source for 5/8" tubes and spray bars made in black to plumb a really nice canister filter in a 75 gallon?

-Russ

I'd love to know too. I found some clear, but I dunno if it'd be thick enough to handle drilling. Also, clear would show gunk. I'd like to find rigid black 5/8 tubing.

Eheim makes what they call Installation kit 1 and 2 which replace the standard green spraybar and uptake. They are grey in colour and quite nice as they are modular...

Not sure about rustoleum but I have painted quite a few intakes and spraybars with Krylon "fushion" flat black paint. Its made for plastic and is suppose to fuse with it so it doesn't chip off. I have pieces in all my tanks painted with this and have no problems at all and its been about a year or so. I just let them dry a couple days to make sure and then they're good to go.

Krylon Fusion, cool.

I am currently using the Eheim installation kits, but the pipes show up well when the tank is lit and I don't like the modular look. It's great functionally but all the nooks and crannies and joints make it stick out too much for my tastes.

Russ, the Hagen spray bar kit is 1/2" clear tubing with stealth flat black
suction cups. It's about 15-16" in length and $7 for the kit in most LFSs.
Seems like you could choke down from 5/8 to 1/2 without a lot of trouble
using clear flexible tubing. I used one with an Eheim Aquaball with no
problems.

Bill

Jon, thanks for the tip about Krylon Fusion. I'll check it out.

Bill, I'll check this out too. I used to have a Fluval 403 years ago and liked the plumbing accessories, but not the filter. I checked and you can still buy 403 parts at <http://www.thatpetplace.com/MainPro/IndexFishParts.aspx>.

-Russ