Fx 5 Micro Bubbles? Help

[danny ..]

hi there guys , its been a while since iv needed help but the time has come again

my fish have been doing really well since the last help and even got a few babys swimming round now too BUT bout 3 months ago i brought a fx5 external filter which works brill till i come home today!! i noticed a few microbubbles coming from the outlet and could hear water in the filter running round which i never heard befor. iv turned off all the bubbles running in the tank even tho they were no where near the intake,, iv tryed turning down the outlet for a min (which is how i made the thing a bit quieter when i set it up) but there still there,also checked the pipe going down to the intake incase it was sucking in air
i no its got a self priming system on so iv unpluged it a few times hopeing it would help but no joy,,tryed shaking the canister too but nothing your help would be great thanks dan.

.p.s the microbubbles are not to bad or excesive but i can see them coming out and its annoying and the water noise is quiet but wasnt there last week etc

 

[Timmy_Bee]

sounds like air in the canister.

I don't have an FX5 so excuse any silly questions. I am assuming they are just like a big 405?

Are all seals under water (on your inlet/outlet pipes)
How does the self prime work? is it a manual pump, or something automatic? i would repeat that a few times
Was it a new FX5? are you confident the pipes are in good working order?
Is there any sign of a water leak around your canister?

 

[Defiance]

Hiya,

Got an fx5 myself

Here's what happens with mine (newly planted again so the odd leaf etc gets sucked in)

They look huge, actually the media mass is a lot less once you look inside, anyways ................

These are notorious for clogging the outside foams, with mine in say 6mths i've had to clean the outer foam filters 3 times

The micro bubbles in my case arrise from the outer foams imparing flow, so the pump is trying to push out more than it can suck in, this over time seems to cause a lower water level (air inside filter) and this in turn causes the bubbles as the water inside the filter gets mashed around creating the bubbles

I suggest taking some aquarium water in a large enough container, place media trays one by one after removing the outer foams in said water (carefully)

Now carefully swirl the foams in some aquarium water (save what's in the cannister for later) get as much large stuff off the foams

Now start to squeeze the foams to really clean them, again in aquarium water

Now restack the trays adding the 2 foams per tray, now what i do is this ...............

You should now have all trays back in the cannister but no water, i use a filter floss square over a mesh to now fill the used aquarium water back into A: the FX5 and B: back into the tank

I do work fast so hopefully not much loss of good bacs, never had a problem thus far doing it this way

Rem : As this filter sucks/pushes a decent amount, the suction side really does suck a lot of micro cwap in and tends to clog faster than a lesser gph setup thus making it seem to lose force faster and clog faster (law of deminishing returns i guess)

BUT, the above is useless with even the most minute hole allowed to vent/draw air

Hope it helps

Tony

 

[danny ..]

hi guys ,,, all sorted !!!! after some reading last night and a chat with someone at a fish shop today iv learned the the fine media in the bottom of my fx5 clog up reater quickly this causing the bubbles ,,,i found it was not the side sponge filters that were the problem more the very bottom white one i used that you would use in a standered duwel filter....iv got it running all good again now,,i can still hear some air every now n then but sure im right in thinkin this will be gone tomorrow as it done this when i first set it up thanks again guys ..