Ira Posted December 23, 2002 Report Share Posted December 23, 2002 The CEO of Fluval's head on a pike! AAHHHH! A few days ago I noticed my cichlids weren't looking very happy. A few of them were gasping a bit so I threw an airstone in the tank. The next day one of my blue rams died but everyone else had stopped gasping. Hmmm, odd, one of the filters, a 304, looks like it's not putting out much more than a trickle. Seems like it's just got a bubble in it, it should clear up. Next day...Hmmm, odd, looks like the 404 is barely putting out a trickle too! So, today I've gone and cleaned both of them. The 404 I even yanked out all the hoses and checked them. Neither seems to be back up to flow after cleaning. Isn't the point of having two filters redundancy? Where's the redundancy if they both go at the same time? *Mutter* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 24, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2002 Well, I figured out why one of the filters wasn't going, the 304. Embarrasingly obvious, actually. The intake was clogged. It's behind a bunch of rocks so I can't see it. I should have thought of that, but I was more concerned with getting the other filter going well. The intake had even had a little clump of java fern growing out of it. Now it's going well, though. But, the 404 is down to barely a trickle again and I KNOW its intake isn't clogged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 24, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2002 Oh, great, I took the 404 off, tore it down completely, no clogs anywhere, doesn't need cleaned, I wiped the pump area out just for the hell of it and put it back on the tank. Now it's working great, let's see if it stays that way. I think I've figured out why all my 404s are buzzing, though. I noticed there's a little black bit of plastic that seems like it's intended to hold the impeller in place vertically. On both the 404s I looked at the piece has a ring apparently worn into it and on the lid(That clips onto the power unit) there's a little semicircle that must be won away by the impeller. BTW, never, ever, EVER when shutting down a tank just turn the cannister off and forget to clean it out. I grabbed one that was on a tank I'm not using anymore thinking I'd swap it with the misbehaving one and...It was...Well, it smelled a little like an outhouse sitting on a vent in Rotorua. It was all black inside. Nasty. Got it running in the sink with some bleach to kill anything. I doubt anyone's paying any attention...Oh well, at least talking to myself gets my post count up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AQUAMANX Posted December 24, 2002 Report Share Posted December 24, 2002 :lol: Hey Ira, How's everything going. I am paying attention. I just won't laugh at you for the obvious misstake. (no I don't know how to spell) Anyway I hope everything is going fine. Later, AquamanX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted December 24, 2002 Report Share Posted December 24, 2002 I too was listening Ira. Very closely for I run a 304 and it is due for its' clean out this week. Merry Christmas to you and your partner 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted December 24, 2002 Report Share Posted December 24, 2002 I was listening too! It is now 7.42 on Christmas morning. Grant was called out just after 7am!! I have a Fluval 404 so was noting everything you said. MERRY CHRISTMAS (are you going to apologise to the CEO? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 24, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2002 I might apologize to the CEO if I got my present. As it is, I got a TV&DVD player(Wife and I to ourselves), a screwdriver set, a swiss army knife, hagen long grabber cutter thing for fishtanks and a few other little bits and pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted December 25, 2002 Report Share Posted December 25, 2002 Totally understand Ira... my 404 brokedown a mth ago....just stopped suddenly...good thing i was there at the time thought the power was out, checked all the plugs, circuit boards etc...but localised the problem to the filter itself...everthing else worked when plugged in....the heaters in the tank were still going.... yes, i hate that black bit of plastic....It was acutally totally detached from the white propellers( mine must have cracked somewhere... u can take it out). kinda u shaped.. whenever i turn it the unit on, it would BUZZ LOUDLY......krrrchuncking noise....n the flow would trickle or b absent...tried shaking etc....doesn't work, n then silence....it just stopped( this never happened before)....found that the propeller/magnet unit actually lifts away from the power unit itself( it kinda floats on that cermaic brown stick whatever u call it, even with the clip-on lid still on ! anyway, after a few minutes of playing around, i managed to tie a big fat knot( using fine fishing nylon) on the shaft( brown ceramic stick), with the propellor-magnet unit plus that black piece properly in place...the knot was tied between the top of the propellor and the bottom of the clip-on lid....basically, i gave it enough throws to fill most of the gap between the top of the propellor n the bottom of the clip-on lid..... and i surprised myself....it ran so so smoothly thereafter....it used to have this chronic problem of krrrchuncking whenever u took it apart for a clean.....usually wears itself away after a while or a few shakings...now, it runs smoothly after every wash. oh, n Merry Christmas to all enough said about boring filters.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 25, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2002 Hey, that's an idea. I hadn't thought of that. Next time I have one of the filters out to be cleaned I'll have to try and remember to try that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted December 25, 2002 Report Share Posted December 25, 2002 Hi So Ira, do you believe me now that a Flugal can stop running without you really knowing it? I mean a trickle only. I know, most of you are Flugal die-hards. Nect week I buy an outsidefilter and get rid of my 203. Put it in the sparetank. Should I ever get a cannister filter, then only an Eheim, nothing comes close to it in quality. IMO the Flugals are over-rated. Sorry to say that, I don't mean to get personal. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 25, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2002 They may be overrated, but they're also half the price. A few hundred dollars is a big incentive to go with slightly lower quality. But, this is the first real problem I've had with my 404, still no idea what was causing it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brocky05 Posted December 27, 2002 Report Share Posted December 27, 2002 Hello All I agree about the price of the fluval but I have had an ehiem filter before and found it to be a complete pain when cleaning and reasembling,the fluval is far superior Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted December 28, 2002 Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 HI Ira So you say you don't know what caused it. You are not the only one. If it were a normal "screw type pump" you see the blockage. But with a weak impellertype pump it could be a bit of fluff. Which is not alway obvious. I had an idea, if you can buy it, a horizontal impeller type of indicator. Something like service stations have on their petrolpumps. Immediate indication of flow. The impeller inspection housing tells you if it is running and the speed also. So for the time being one can only check it by visible flow if the outlet is out of the water or by holding the hand in front of the outlet and "feel it". That's life. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted December 28, 2002 Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 Well, I have just been given an Eheim wet/dry filter (RRP $599.00). I also have a Fluval 404 (which is considerably cheaper) so I will be able to compare the two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 28, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 I was thinking something similar just last night, John. That it'd be nice to have some kind of little guage on the outlet displaying how much the filter is flowing. Maybe something like a little turbine attached to a small dial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted December 28, 2002 Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 Hi Ira That is exactly what I meant. At least someone understands my lingo. A commercial flowmeter is too expensive. But one can build a similar unit quite cheaply. All it takes is intuition. Caryl, as soon as you evaluatet it, let me know. But for now I'm going for the Marineland Wet/dry. Either the penguin 170 ($119) or the 330 ($195) which has baskets in them. Unfortunately my 3 footer is only 14" wide. If I install it, I probably would have to modify the hood wuite a bit. The hanon type will not allow it to be mounted on the rear. Because of the silly flange at the back and front of bigger aquariums. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 28, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 I'd think there must be inexpensive RPM guages that you could connect to the turbine. Most complicated part would be getting the shaft from inside the hose to the guage without causing a leak. You could calibrate it just by pouring into a bucket and measuring it with a measuring cup, maybe make a little chart saying 100rpm=400 liters per hour, 200rpm=1000 or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted December 28, 2002 Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 Hi Ira The electronics are easy. One pic-microprocessor, a few other parts. That is the cheap and easy one. I think the expensive part is the "flowsensor". I will look into it and come back to you. Here is a pic of many available, mechanical ones. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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