Leaky Canister?

[Gruntle]

Hi all.
 
I have a 200l 4' long tank with an Aquis 1000 filter, both purchased second hand. On the initial set-up the canister had a tiny dribble where the head joins the body, so on the advice of a fish-whisperer friend, I dabbed a little bit of petroleum jelly around the rim and no worries from then on.  Until Sunday.
 
Finding a couple of Cherry Barb fry in the tank earlier this month, I thought I'd do a careful check of the canister in case any had been sucked into the filter and were somehow miraculously alive in the bottom.
 
Disconnected the filter, disassembled it and carefully rinsed all of the components in a bucket of siphoned tank water, then filtered that through a fish net. No fish. No surprises really.
 
Then I did something I've never done before, which was empty the water out of the canister through the net to make sure there were no babies.  Again, no fish and no surprise.
 
Reassembled everything, filled the canister with siphoned tank water, reconnected and away we go.
 
This morning (Thursday), having been a bit busy and preoccipied all week, I noticed the tank had about an inch less water than I'd filled it.  Aagh! Disaster! The filter is once again leaking a little bit.  To make it worse, the stand that came with the tank has a particleboard base where the filter goes, so it's all waterlogged, and knowing particleboard, will probably collapse sooner rather than later (don't worry, I have plans to replace the base with some solid wood as soon as possible). So I've lost about 10l over 4 days.
 
So once again I've put some petroleum jelly around the rim, and hopefully when I get home the leak will have been patched.
 
Is this a common problem with canisters? Should there have been some sort of rubber (latex, plastic, whatever) seal between the canister and lid/powerhead? Is there anything I can do to make sure the darn thing never leaks again?

 

[ShinySideUp]

Be so careful. As you say, that particle/fibre/chip board stuff will 'blow' if it gets wet. My 640 litre had a bit of a flood and I lost about fifteen litres around the base of the stand. Most of it is real wood but there are some chipboard bits and with nearly 800 Kgs of glass and water on top I try to make sure there are no more possibilities for leaks -- it's my biggest fear with having such a large tank.
 
All I can say is check your seals, keep them lubricated, replace them before they need to be, check hose connections on a weekly basis and EVERY time you do anything to, around or near your canister filter. Check your hoses and make sure the bits that hold the hoses into the tank are also secure. I am quite fastidious about it after my leak but am always afraid I forgot somethig -- sometimes it verges on OCD now.

 

[Gruntle]

Fortunately the rest of the stand is solid wood, it's just the base of the stand (inside the cupboard where all the bits and bobs get stored) that's chipboard. I just found a tip somewhere that said put a baking tray under the canister so you can see if it's leaking and contain any leaks, so the Good Lady Gruntle may get her baking cupboard raided when she's not looking.

 
I have identified the source of the wood for my stand renovation project, so now it's just a matter of when I can get the time to rebuild the floor of the stand. Maybe enough left over to build a decent wooden hood as well.
 
As far as I can tell, the canister doesn't have a gasket or O-ring where the head joins on, so I might run my fingers over it to make sure there's no bumps or holes, and might have to source a new filter if worst comes to worst. The chipboard was varnished, but it's cracked here and there, I can tell because it's swollen where the water got in.

 

[Rak9378]

I found the manual for your filter..... http/www.aquaone.co.uk/documents/Aquis500-1200_instructions_lowres_new.pdf

Check out Fig 9 on page 12. It looks like there should be an o-ring where the head attaches to the canister. If your filter does not have one then you should get one immediately. Without it the filter is not sealed and will leak. If you do have one you should check it to make sure it hasn't worn out in any spots. And don't lubricate the o-ring with petroleum jelly. It will break down rubber over time. You should use an aquarium safe silicone lubricant. Hope this helps.

 

[Gruntle]

Thanks for that Rak. I'll take a closer look this weekend, for now there's no leak and I've put a big serving plate under the canister to identify future leaks.

Now for replacing the chipboard...

 

[KirkyArcher]

If there is in fact found to be a rubber O ring in place, using petroleum based grease will lead to the rubber breaking down faster than not using anything at all, applying the petroleum jelly usually effects a temporary repair by "filling" any splits or nicks, much better to replace any problem components and use silicon based grease in future to prolong the O rings life span

 

[Gruntle]

You know, I've read that manual about 10 times and never seen the reference to the o-ring before. Goes to show...