Fluval 405 Deceased

[Realtree]

If I'm right with my guess of failed impeller shaft, you should only need a new impeller and impeller shaft to get it up and running again. Once it's going, get shot of it (sell it) before it causes you more issues If I were you though, I'd take the new Fluval back and swap it for something more reliable, like a Rena, Eheim or Tetratec. In 3 years time you'll probably have a similar issue to this with the replacement unit, as they either die shortly after purchase, or live 3 years then die IME... As many point out, not everyone as issues with Fluvals, but in the Leeds area, the folks that don't have issues with them seem to be a minority...

All the best
Rabbut

Cheers mate
Unfortunately I have already bought and attemted to fit a new impeller and shaft but the same problem exists impeller will not fit into housing unless extreme force is used and then it is so tight it has no chance of spinning at all

 

[rabbut]

That is rather un-usual, even for a Fluval... Was the filter working when you look it apart? If not, did the unit feed warm, or is there any signs of melted plastic anywhere? I assume the unit did not pop it's fuse in the process of breaking?

 

[Realtree]

That is rather un-usual, even for a Fluval... Was the filter working when you look it apart? If not, did the unit feed warm, or is there any signs of melted plastic anywhere? I assume the unit did not pop it's fuse in the process of breaking?

The unit felt very warm when I took it apart initially

 

[rabbut]

Unfortunately the LFS may be right this time If the pump stops, the unit looses it's cooling and if power continues to flow into the unit, it will overheat. Usually, they will just burn-out the motorhead, but you can get melted plastic in the process. If you took it apart to take a look at why it died, I'd guess that the impeller/impeller shaft failed, the unit over-heated and some plastic has warped to cause teh jamming of the impeller firmly into the well I'm going to have to pass on what's caused the fault if the unit was fine when you first took it apart...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Realtree]

The good news is that I have been educated into using the "dead" 405 inline with the new one
Thus doubling my filtration and not having a complete loss
I use my 405 for my Malawi cichlid set up so the more filtration the better.
Both (dead and new) run off the one working motor and this has no detrimental effects at all - even no loss of flow can be determined
Here's a pic of the filter set up and it works superbly (and took no more than 20 mins to complete)

I have step by step instructions to complete this process if anyone wants them. This is an ideal method to reduce number of inlet outlet pipes when using 2 external filters and I'm sure with a bit of lateral thinkihg can be adapted to any model.

 

[rabbut]

Actually, that will caurse a premature motor unit failure, as it's increasing the negative pressure on the working pump. It's not positive pressure that kills aquarium pumps, it's negative pressure as it increases wear on the moving parts. You've just made an already un-riliable filter even more un-reliable What you really wanted to do to put two filters on the same inlet and outlet pipes is to split the hoses after the pipe-sets have left the tank/filter

 

[Realtree]

Actually, that will caurse a premature motor unit failure, as it's increasing the negative pressure on the working pump. It's not positive pressure that kills aquarium pumps, it's negative pressure as it increases wear on the moving parts. You've just made an already un-riliable filter even more un-reliable What you really wanted to do to put two filters on the same inlet and outlet pipes is to split the hoses after the pipe-sets have left the tank/filter

Unsure what you mean by splitting the pipes after leaving the tank
With this system the water enters the motor driven cannister from the tank inlet pipe and leaves he slave cannister via the tank outlet pipe therefore the cannister becomes twice the length pressure remaining the same ?? - I believe

 

[rabbut]

For splitting the pipes, one pipe comes out, goes into a Y junction, then a pipe on each end of the Y connector goes off to each filter, and the same at the other side

The way you have it set-up isn't too bad, it just make the slave canister a pressurised system. So, your motor won't prematurely fail, as you are putting positive pressure on the pump due to resistive losses as a result of moving liquid at speed and pressure. However, you are pressurising a canister that was not designed to be pressurised. This can and often will lead to leaks in the slave canister eventually, as the canisters weren't designed to run under pressure. The issues arise when the slave's media starts to clogg, increasing the positive pressure in the slave's canister... The canisters were designed for neutral or negative pressure when running, or the VERY small (relative to what the master pump's output will be supplying) pressure of the water in the hoses trying to enter the filled canister when not running

I have two filters running off one set of in-let and out-let pipes ATM. I use the Y junction (well, T junction to be exact) fittings I mentioned above. I was going to initially do it your way, but Three engineers and a Hobbyist that had tried your method before all advised me against the idea. They all explained that Master into Slave lead to leaks eventually, and slave-into master lead to premature motor failures. It's all down to your method of twin unit rigging subjecting the filters to pressures at the pump head and canister seals that they were not designed to take. This is why parallel rigging via the method I described can work, there is not difference in pressure at the pump head, relative to running one filter off the inlet and outlet pipes, provided the inlet and outlet are slightly wider than that supplied with the filter

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Realtree]

For splitting the pipes, one pipe comes out, goes into a Y junction, then a pipe on each end of the Y connector goes off to each filter, and the same at the other side

The way you have it set-up isn't too bad, it just make the slave canister a pressurised system. So, your motor won't prematurely fail, as you are putting positive pressure on the pump due to resistive losses as a result of moving liquid at speed and pressure. However, you are pressurising a canister that was not designed to be pressurised. This can and often will lead to leaks in the slave canister eventually, as the canisters weren't designed to run under pressure. The issues arise when the slave's media starts to clogg, increasing the positive pressure in the slave's canister... The canisters were designed for neutral or negative pressure when running, or the VERY small (relative to what the master pump's output will be supplying) pressure of the water in the hoses trying to enter the filled canister when not running

I have two filters running off one set of in-let and out-let pipes ATM. I use the Y junction (well, T junction to be exact) fittings I mentioned above. I was going to initially do it your way, but Three engineers and a Hobbyist that had tried your method before all advised me against the idea. They all explained that Master into Slave lead to leaks eventually, and slave-into master lead to premature motor failures. It's all down to your method of twin unit rigging subjecting the filters to pressures at the pump head and canister seals that they were not designed to take. This is why parallel rigging via the method I described can work, there is not difference in pressure at the pump head, relative to running one filter off the inlet and outlet pipes, provided the inlet and outlet are slightly wider than that supplied with the filter

All the best
Rabbut

WOW thanx for the explanation.
Am i correct in thinking that your method can only be achieved with both cannisters having a working motorhead ?
Also if I regularly maintain the slave cannister(will maintain both obviously) the chances of leaks will be reduced ?
The guy who told me my method certainly didn't mention the risk of leaks and he runs this system with both his cannisters having a working motorhead giving him the option of using 1 or both of the motors, as you know I don't have that choice

 

[rabbut]

Cleaning the slave more often will reduce the risk of leaks, yes But it will not rule the risk out

Yes, for my system to work, you'd need two working motor units

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Realtree]

Many thanx for all your time and explanations