Hi Newbie Needs Help With External Filters!

[AshaBiggs]

Hi all,
 
Would really appreciate if someone can help. I got a 4 ft tank which came with a Tetratec ex1200 filter. I spent the first week trying to deal with a leak ( I paid £100 for tank + 8 parrot fish).  I then struggled and had sleepless nights trying to get the filter working with no luck despite instructions from previous owner, watching you tube, reading manuals.
 
I must add at this point that although the filter dd not have pipes complete. It definitely was working before. The previous owner has now stopped responding to my emails or picking my calls.
 
I then bought a £5 ultraget filter off some dude on gumtree, the filter did not have any media and the previous owner was using some pipes he bought from B&Q which appeared to do the job, Needless to say, I've now been unbale to get that working too.
 
I've now been reduced to running a 4 ft tank with a fluval 3 internal filter with 14 fish and having to do weekly water changes and pick up any obvious waste whenever I spot them.
 
Will someone please talk me through setting up any of these filters or better still if you can come help me sort it for a bottle of wine, a free lunch  or something!!
 
Please help!
 
Frustrated Londoner

 

[webbie]

Asha sounds like you are having a few probs,on top of your canister filter are your inlet and outlet connections to these you connect your inlet and outlet pipes, the other end of the pipes, the one with a strainer type object on the end is your inlet pipe, the other  with a nozzle prob is your outlet  pipe,these go into your aquarium,switch on your filter you should hear it working but it prob wont pump water as it will need priming,on top of the filter canister alongside your inlet and outlet connections is a button ,this is the priming button ,this must be pumped to draw water into the pipes then into the filter ,this sometimes takes quite a bit of pumping but it should sart pumping after a while best of luck

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

Are you talking about a leak from the filter or tank? Also what do you mean by filter not working? Is it running, but not pumping water?

Might be a simple fix.

 

[baker360360]

Could be inlet/out let pipes are mixed up or priming(button that acts as a manual pump) did you fill the filter with enough water before installing? Is it making any noise? Any lights that indicate power?