Aquaone 620

[KrazyKuhli]

My friend has an Aquaone 620 90Lt and is having trouble with her filter. there is a powerhead that pumps water into the hood and the filter pads are in there,I go round every 2week to her and do a waterchange and filter squeeze. now, after 3-4 days the water level in the first compartment fills right up and overflows over the wall and back into the tank and barely come out the other side, I have cleaned all the ceramics, pads and took the carbon plastic bit out as they clogged in hours(and a year old). She has taken out the little plastic divide and said it works better (had to explain that the water was just flowing over the top).
Anyone got any tips on how to sort this or just get an internal filter instead...

Many thanks Kuhli of crazyiness

Edit: can't freaking spell!

 

[KittyKat]

Did you clean the outlet tube? Is the water coming out evenly throughout the whole length?

 

[KrazyKuhli]

The water gets trapped in the first section, the second section is the same just goes over a wall the out of a hole

 

[KrazyKuhli]

Heres some pics of it to make things easier:

 

[MBOU]

For a start.... eeeewwww!! Those sponges are filthy! What on earth do they have in the tank?? 10 goldfish!?

That much dirt will certainly make it over flow!

That aside, the black plastic tray with ceramics underneath it, is that clean? with the middle partition in, the water has to flow underneath the tray to get past in but if its clogged up, it flows over it instead!

 

[KittyKat]

Hmm, looks like the filter design has changed since I've had/worked with these tanks. Just based on looks, the filter needs more regular cleaning… and does the divider fit all the way down?

 

[KrazyKuhli]

Its not normally that dirty and I cleaned them after taking the pic, I took everything out of the top and washed it in tank water. still flowing really slow and filling up. I think I persuaded her to buy an internal filter, just going to put some of the sponge in that.

Cheers

 

[MBOU]

Filters havent changed in design in years, i had a 620T or rather my ex did/does and i used it for 3 years and he had it for at least 3 years before we met so tank is now at least 7 years old.

Only thing that changes is the sponge layout because you can put thm any which way plus the OP has taken the wool and carbon pads out and its just the ceramics and black sponges now.

 

[mattlee]

for it to flow backwards there must be a blockage somewhere. dont discard these filters as they are great wet and dry filter systems and keep the tank clear of horrid internal filters

if those sponges are cleaned every 2 weeks then they have some crazy messy fish in there......

there may be too much media in the bottom half of the tray to allow the water to flow through causing it to backflow

 

[iSnail]

Does the water come out of the filter through holes in the bottom of the box? I suggest checking to see if the holes are blocked by algae and dirt. I had a similar problem recently with one of my trickle filters.

 

[Simes]

In the second picture where the filter pipe enters the first tray at the right angle, the tank is missing a rubber u shaped style grommet that the pipe sits on. This stops the water coming out of the first tray..

 

[Xraymark]

<br />In the second picture where the filter pipe enters the first tray at the right angle, the tank is missing a rubber u shaped style grommet that the pipe sits on. This stops the water coming out of the first tray..<br />

<br /><br /><br />

I've been looking at these tanks as a possible purchase and they have set up advice on the filter on YouTube. I think I seen that rubber spacer type thing being used.

 

[Juggler75]

I've just set one of these up today for my cousins 2 fancy goldfish (2nd hand one with no rubber grommet on 1st section) that previous owner had warned the filter was knackered.
I too binned the carbon/cotton wool/black sponge inserts but kept the noodles.
I took out the grill and placed some of the noodles at the very bottom of the section, taking care to allow enough space in the centre to allow the grill to be replace right at the bottom, then put in the divider. Then I placed the rest of the noodles in the first section and on top of that I placed a piece of black pond filter sponge (which cost me £5 for a shedload - green, black and white large sheets). In the 2nd section I placed a cut to fit green pond filter sponge and on top of that a cut to fit white sponge. I topped the white sponge up with some filter wool which over hangs into the return section.

I then started filling the tank by pouring the water into the filter slowly to wet the sponges and filter wool and pushed them fully into their sections.

After a couple of buckets, got sick and filled the rest of the tank directly. Attached the spraybar and turned on. Because the outlet is submerged I can't tell the flow rate but its by no way knackered and it producing quite a bit of oomph even accounting for a small ammount flowing back ontop of the powerhead but 90% is flowing in the correct direction.

Just realised I've written War and Peace but I hope the description gives a good idea

Based on my experience and assuming the water is leaving the spraybar at a quick lip, I would reccommend completely empyting the trays and grill, doing a thorough clean and replacing the aqua-one inserts with pond filter sponges from a garden centre cut to fit (Even if I was going to replace the sponges every month - which I'm not - I'd estimate I have enough sponge to last 2 years).

You could empty the trays and run the filter to check if the water flows as expected - if not then it may be that its not level and gravity is forcing the water out the powerhead end.

My daughters Endler/Betta/shrimp tank is one of these tanks and I have used the same setup in her filter with no problems for last year with no ill effects with the only filter maintenance being to replace the filter wool when the flow slowed (4 times in a year).

Just realised I've written War and Peace. Apologies