You and other people who have this problem with their AquaClear HOB filters not restarting, need to contact AquaClear (I think they are owned by Hagen) and let them know there is an issue.
Aqua clear filters fail to re-start after outage
- Thread starter gwand
- Start date
I never had an issue with mine either so they might have gone downhill over the last few years.Welp , all I can say further is I still think you’re not cleaning them correctly or else Aqua-Clear quality has gone down . I haven’t run one in a long time but I never had one fail in any way whatsoever . Or . . . . you could be a jinx.
My 13 year old Aquaclear 50 filter never restarted after turning it off for tank cleaning. Even if I cleaned the impeller properly, it would not automatically restart. I even lubed the impeller shaft. Even when new, it would not restart.
I got my first aquaclear in 1980. It needed a manual restart after power cuts. So I learned to do that. I've had the same thing with every one of the aquaclears I've had since then, of all sizes and models. They last on average 12 to 17 years, while other brands (except my workhorse no name Chinese ones that are starting to fail now after 12 years) are gone in 5 to 7. My marinelands were utter garbage, longterm.
The Chinese no names also had the restart issue, though a bit less. I'm no mechanic, but I've wondered if longevity and finicky restarts go together.
But I can assure everyone Hagen knows about the problem now. It hasn't been solved in 50 years. Since I'm a profoundly cheap guy who loves modifying media, I'll stay with the aquaclears. I may try the Tidals though, since they are manufactured in Italy. It's a consideration in today's world. It'll be interesting to see if they are workhorses over the long term.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Maniac
I never turn of my aquaclears when I clean tanks. Firstly, all of my filters have pre-filters on their intakes. Even in a lightly stocked tank where there filter media can go more than a week before needing a rinsing, I clean my pre-filters every week. Early on in my fish keeping years I hung out in a forum and chat room where a number of very experienced people also visited. One of these people worked in the pump industry. We are not talking small pumps like those used in tanks and in homes. He worked with the huge pumps that moved huge amounts ow liquids. The one thing he always taught us was that one should never restrict the intake side of a pump to regulate the floe rate. He explained that htis was the easiest way to destroy a pump.
So, I learned to rinse pout all of my pre-filter foams every week even if I did not work on the filter's internal media. With my ACs I have a routine I have used for over 20 years. First, I slip a fine mesh net over the pre-filter and then I removed the entire intake assembly. I then remove the pre-filter from it and rinse it out. I aslo pull the backet with the media and rinse it as well. I normally replace the floss pad I have between the two foams. I=with 28 ACs tro clean it is faster to replace floss than to clean it and I can afford to do this.
When everything has been rinsed I return the cleaned media in the basket to the filter and then I put the intake back in place, However, I keep the intake turned to the right and leave it raised so the filter does not resume working until I am ready for it to do so. The filter keeps running the whole time even though the filter is not working because the intake is not in place to allow it to do so. When I am done with all the maint. and am refilling the tank, then I put the intake back in place and the filter goes back to work as soon as the water rises high enough for it to do so. The motor never turns off the whole time. This method also prevents the filter from draining as the water level in the tank goes down
The one exception to this is on my lone 110 (500 gph). I actually unplug this. I have an ATI pre-filter on the intake and I completely remove it using a big net over the foam. Then I lift and rotate the intake so it stops working and then I unplug it. I only do this with the 110 as it is on a 6 foot tank as the 2nd filter and it gets very noisey when the stem is raised. Also, it can be a lot longer before I let it go back to work than happens with the other tanks with ACs. So, my ACs never fail to restart after a cleaning as they were never turned off. The 110 also will dain easily if I just turn it off and lower the water level in the tank. As mentioned, the 110 never fails to restart as long as there is enough water in the filter to let it do so when the moter restarts.
My feeling is if there was a flaw in the AC design that causes it not to restart after it has gone off for any reason and is then "turned" back on, this should happen every time and on all 28 filters but is does not. Because all my tanks were spead over 4-5 rooms in two different buildings, maint. takes a fair amunt of time. So I am somewhat lax about removing the AC from tanks to cleam them well at regular intervals. The ACs are almost exclusively on planted tanks so I have the plants as backup filtration. Not on;y do they help keepa tank clean but they also help to oxygenate it.
p.s. I always place heaters horizontally neer the bottom of tanks so I do not need to turn them off whem doing water changes.
So, I learned to rinse pout all of my pre-filter foams every week even if I did not work on the filter's internal media. With my ACs I have a routine I have used for over 20 years. First, I slip a fine mesh net over the pre-filter and then I removed the entire intake assembly. I then remove the pre-filter from it and rinse it out. I aslo pull the backet with the media and rinse it as well. I normally replace the floss pad I have between the two foams. I=with 28 ACs tro clean it is faster to replace floss than to clean it and I can afford to do this.
When everything has been rinsed I return the cleaned media in the basket to the filter and then I put the intake back in place, However, I keep the intake turned to the right and leave it raised so the filter does not resume working until I am ready for it to do so. The filter keeps running the whole time even though the filter is not working because the intake is not in place to allow it to do so. When I am done with all the maint. and am refilling the tank, then I put the intake back in place and the filter goes back to work as soon as the water rises high enough for it to do so. The motor never turns off the whole time. This method also prevents the filter from draining as the water level in the tank goes down
The one exception to this is on my lone 110 (500 gph). I actually unplug this. I have an ATI pre-filter on the intake and I completely remove it using a big net over the foam. Then I lift and rotate the intake so it stops working and then I unplug it. I only do this with the 110 as it is on a 6 foot tank as the 2nd filter and it gets very noisey when the stem is raised. Also, it can be a lot longer before I let it go back to work than happens with the other tanks with ACs. So, my ACs never fail to restart after a cleaning as they were never turned off. The 110 also will dain easily if I just turn it off and lower the water level in the tank. As mentioned, the 110 never fails to restart as long as there is enough water in the filter to let it do so when the moter restarts.
My feeling is if there was a flaw in the AC design that causes it not to restart after it has gone off for any reason and is then "turned" back on, this should happen every time and on all 28 filters but is does not. Because all my tanks were spead over 4-5 rooms in two different buildings, maint. takes a fair amunt of time. So I am somewhat lax about removing the AC from tanks to cleam them well at regular intervals. The ACs are almost exclusively on planted tanks so I have the plants as backup filtration. Not on;y do they help keepa tank clean but they also help to oxygenate it.
p.s. I always place heaters horizontally neer the bottom of tanks so I do not need to turn them off whem doing water changes.
TNG
Fishaholic
I have 2 Tydal HOB in each of my 4'x18"x18". One is set at full flow during the day and turned off at night using a mechanical timer. The other one is set at reduced flow to reduce the noise of water falling from the filter at night, starts at night and off during the day, again using a mechanical timer. So over the 3 years, they have been turned on and off over 1000 times, just like experiencing power cut 1000 times, and have never failed to start.
I've never tried AC, but happy to stick with the Tydal.
I've never tried AC, but happy to stick with the Tydal.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Maniac
Here is how I see the AC not restarting. If this was a design flaw, then if I put a brand new AC onto a tank and ran it for 15 minutes and then I pulled the plug and waited a minute and the plugged it back in, the filter should not restart. But, if If I can do this repeatedly with a brand new AC, it suggests that the not restarting which we may see later on is not likely due to a design flaw. It is more likely due to improper or inadequate cleaning by us. For what it is worth, here is how Fluval (the new brand name which now appears on Aquaclear tell us to clean the motor/impeller:
I do consider one possibility but I cannot think of how to test it nor who would want to do what this takes. Since the AC runs on magnets these are not something universal. How strong they are, of what they are made is likely a factor in their cost. So, it may be that between when I got mine between 2002 about about 2013 and the present, Hagen decided to use less expensive magnetic technology which lowered their power enough so that it will eventually be insufficient to restart.
Whether this is due to degrading the materials in or working of the motor or is due to it there being issues with "muck" buiding up and allowed to inmpede the impeller from turing, I do not know. But is we believe what they say in the vid above, then the motor should always restart as long as we clean it properly. They do not suggest how often this should be done.
What I do know it I have had ACs on tanks that I have kept a number of crucial parts on the shelf. This included a few motors. I have never needed to use them. I have changed a few imppellers and a couple of shafts. I have had a number of intakes lids and even filter boxes get chipped or cracked. But only one box went out of service for good. Most of this was due to something I did- dropped, banged or otherwise accidentally mistreated something.
As as been observed, all equipment has it's faults. It is why over time designs change. Science also has a hand in this. So we all have to choose what we use and accept the "warts" that come with it.
One last note. It took a very long yime for me to be able to post about having a piece of equipment running for 20 years or more. These days very few things remain unchanged for that long. This is a bit different than a lot of what some of the older members here might remember
I do consider one possibility but I cannot think of how to test it nor who would want to do what this takes. Since the AC runs on magnets these are not something universal. How strong they are, of what they are made is likely a factor in their cost. So, it may be that between when I got mine between 2002 about about 2013 and the present, Hagen decided to use less expensive magnetic technology which lowered their power enough so that it will eventually be insufficient to restart.
Whether this is due to degrading the materials in or working of the motor or is due to it there being issues with "muck" buiding up and allowed to inmpede the impeller from turing, I do not know. But is we believe what they say in the vid above, then the motor should always restart as long as we clean it properly. They do not suggest how often this should be done.
What I do know it I have had ACs on tanks that I have kept a number of crucial parts on the shelf. This included a few motors. I have never needed to use them. I have changed a few imppellers and a couple of shafts. I have had a number of intakes lids and even filter boxes get chipped or cracked. But only one box went out of service for good. Most of this was due to something I did- dropped, banged or otherwise accidentally mistreated something.
As as been observed, all equipment has it's faults. It is why over time designs change. Science also has a hand in this. So we all have to choose what we use and accept the "warts" that come with it.
One last note. It took a very long yime for me to be able to post about having a piece of equipment running for 20 years or more. These days very few things remain unchanged for that long. This is a bit different than a lot of what some of the older members here might remember
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