Aquaclear Filters

[RobberyinCSharp]

Hey everyone,

I'm curious if anyone else on the forum has had similar experiences with AquaClear filters. I purchased one of their filters for my 20gal tank about a year ago. Over the course of that year I've had a variety of different problems - mostly with the filter pushing water to hard, or it just completely stopping. I have woken up to hear my filter grinding like crazy with no water flowing out of the output valve, and bacteria/dirt growing through the entirety of my filter system.

The other day, I awoke to find that not only had my filter STOPPED, but was grinding like absolute crazy. I looked in my tank to find that my filter had SPIT OUT all of the "gunk" that it originally filtered. My water was brown and murky. I ran to the pet store and bought a new filter - though obviously I did not buy AquaClear again. I bought a beautiful Marineland Penguin and added it to my tank. Even after 10 minutes of filtration, my tank still looked like this:

About 10 water changes and 10 hours later, the water cleared up. I cut up my old media and added it to the new filtration system to speed up the cycling process. I've got two rams in there, one of which is somewhat rare (as it is a balloon electric ram) as well as three croaking gouramis. I am LIVID that this filter would fail so horribly on me. Because of the filthy water, as well as the shock of the repeatedly changing water parameters, I have lost my Julii Cories

I'm interested in knowing if anyone else had a bad experience with these filters

 

[Duck and Dive]

Did you manage to check the impellor in the aquaclear filter? As if there was a grinding noise the shaft holding the impellor may have snapped or something is touching/blocking it. That seems to sound like what the problem was by your description.

 

[tkdjr1186]

AC is the best HOB filter on the market in my opinion. when you hear grinding you definately need to check the impeller

 

[Tolak]

Part of maintaining filters is removing the impeller, and cleaning out the recess where it goes, along with the rest of the filter case & intake tube. If you have sand & are running any filter without a pre-filter you will go through impellers. That is the most likely cause of your grinding & stoppages.

I've never run AC's with sand, and have for all practical purposes torture tested them. Beyond trying to kill them with sand I've never had a problem with them in what would be considered excessively extreme use.

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

I actually checked forums and learned about impeller cleaning. That was the first thing I did

I started cleaning it once a month to get all the gunk off, and then rinsed the filter with white vinegar and water to clear off anything inside

When I checked that morning, I found no substance blocking the impeller blade from spinning

 

[Tolak]

It's an issue with wear beyond the tolerances needed for running it. With sand the impeller will go through shafts & such, as well as tearing up the plastic tabs that lock it together. It will spin too freely, rattling around on the recess of the case. It will also do this if you are missing the bushing on the end of the shaft, I'd have to dig an old AC out to take a look, but if memory serves me there is a bushing on the bottom. This can wear out as well, making for a loose rattling impeller.

 

[onidrase]

I actually tore down all my bio wheel filters in favor of the aquaclears. They've been running much more efficiently and quietly than my bio wheels did. With my emperor 400, it only took a few weeks for the filter to totally bite the dust and put out less GPH than my 20 gallon bio wheel. The 20 galloner also had issues priming and would often turn off totally with a burning hot motor. My 75 galloner ran flawlessly, aside from being a bit noisy and rather large and clunky, I replaced that one solely for the aquaclears more compact and manageable design (not to mention I don't like carbon, and with the aquaclear I can just not buy the carbon rather than having to deal with cutting the filter pads open and bang them against the trash can for 10 minutes). Another thing I noticed with my old bio wheels is that the adjustable flow seems to have very little to no change in power, whereas the aquaclear adjusts the entire source of the water coming in, rather than just a small valve in between which has a minimal amount of sucking power.

Just in FYI, marineland enjoys sending people over sized intake tubes, as seen in the picture of your tank now. It's good to cut them down to size or just totally remove them. My emperor 400 came with an intake tube that was 2 feet long which made the intake a total of about 36 inches, which leads me to believe you're supposed to cut it, or marineland is just tripping on the idea people have super deep tanks. But it's probably not a good idea to have the intake in the sand and the filter not really hanging on the back. The part I'm lead to believe you're supposed to cut is the part in between the adjustable valve and the intake protector thing.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

So I have now got something in the neightoborhoodarea of 24 AquaClears running (and 3 more going into to service soon). This includes the very first 200gph I got in about June of 2001. I do not believe I have had to replace a single impeller so far. I have no problems with them as long as I keep them clean. This includes changing out the filter floss and rinsing out the sponges weekly. I have recently begun using sand in some tanks and have not had any preblems re that with them so far. But that may be because every one has a pre-filter sponge over the intake.

I have used an Emperor 400, Liberty 200, Whisper Minis and even had a TetraTec on a tank for 24 hours. But I own all those ACs.

IMO they are one of the most reliable, versatile and easy to maintain as well as cost effective power filters out there. They were a lot cheaper and better made 10 years ago than they are today. Despite that they are still good filters today.

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

the adjustable flow seems to have very little to no change in power, whereas the aquaclear adjusts the entire source of the water coming in.

Just in FYI, marineland enjoys sending people over sized intake tubes, as seen in the picture of your tank now. It's good to cut them down to size or just totally remove them. My emperor 400 came with an intake tube that was 2 feet long which made the intake a total of about 36 inches, which leads me to believe you're supposed to cut it, or marineland is just tripping on the idea people have super deep tanks. But it's probably not a good idea to have the intake in the sand and the filter not really hanging on the back. The part I'm lead to believe you're supposed to cut is the part in between the adjustable valve and the intake protector thing.

I'm afraid mine was unadjustabke I tried and I tried. It doesn't work in this model.

Also - YES! Mainland DID send me oversized intake valves! Luckily this came with detachable, separate parts so I was able to fix it its normal now, thank goodness!!!!!!!

So I have now got something in the neightoborhoodarea of 24 AquaClears running (and 3 more going into to service soon). This includes the very first 200gph I got in about June of 2001. I do not believe I have had to replace a single impeller so far. I have no problems with them as long as I keep them clean. This includes changing out the filter floss and rinsing out the sponges weekly. I have recently begun using sand in some tanks and have not had any preblems re that with them so far. But that may be because every one has a pre-filter sponge over the intake.

I have used an Emperor 400, Liberty 200, Whisper Minis and even had a TetraTec on a tank for 24 hours. But I own all those ACs.

IMO they are one of the most reliable, versatile and easy to maintain as well as cost effective power filters out there. They were a lot cheaper and better made 10 years ago than they are today. Despite that they are still good filters today.

Hmmmm.....maybe I just bought a lemon model

 

[drobbyb]

I'd have to echo what everyone else has said. I have owned several aquaclears over the years and they have all been great filters. It's certainly possible you might have gotten a bad one though. Just like any company, every once in a while a bad product gets through and shipped out.