Please Please Help - Filter Problems

[schmee]

Hi i thought this might get more attention here, i'm particularly worried because it's causing a lot of disturbance on the surface and the majority of the inhabitants breathe from the surface. They still can, nearer the front but i've seen betta in particular getting buffeted around and not able to reach the surface.The problem is that the filter is overflowing. My filter is a trickle filter, i noticed the part with the media had filled up rather a lot as the water level of the tank had dropped a few days ago. Now there is water running down the back and side of the tank (on the inside thank God!) as the filter is so overflowing. i've had a look inside the filter but i have no idea what the problem might be. Water is flowing out of the filter in the normal way fine as well, so it's not blocked as far as i can see.
Any ideas??

 

[jameshunter63]

i ont have a clue about the filter, but why are your fish breathing from the top?!? fish have gills that they breathe through. a few breath intestinaly to such as cory cats, but really most fish shouldnt be at the top breathing. how bigs the tank and whats the stocking? also check your water parameters. a picture of the filter may help solve that one out as well. have you tried just turning it on and off, or cleaning it and seeing if that helps?
james

 

[schmee]

Because bettas and African Dwarf Frogs breathe from the surface, and pygmy corys sometimes do as well. They're not hanging around the surface, this is just when they need to breathe ie. not often. The stocking is in my sig. But i assure you, they're all fine. It's the filter that is the problem.

 

[jameshunter63]

ahh i see. ok fair enough. as i said, have you tried cleaning it, checking the propelar, turning it on and off? is there a slider on the filter to regulate flow that youmay have brushed higher. i dont know the filter so dunno if i can help. you may want to post the model of the filter or a few picks and maybe someone can help.
james

 

[schmee]

Well, after you said that, i tried turning it off and cleaning out the spray bar but since i've turned it back on, it's actually worse! The only thing i changed was that i changed the substrate from gravel to sand a few days before this happened. So perhaps the sand is blocking it up. i'm going to have a bit of an investigate in a bit. Thing is i have to get all the media out or rummage about in it to have a look and when i do that gunk is coming out of the media into my tank via the overlow hole. Not ideal i guess. i think it must be the bit where the water comes out back into the tank which is blocking flow a bit, sorry i don't know the names of the parts of the filter. It's actually slowing the flow as i type, which is worrying. Lots is coming out of the overflow hole, so hopefully it won't actually overflow out of the tank, but think i need to get this sorted pronto.
Any other ideas or experience, please do say!

Oh ps. i don't know the model of the filter, it's one of those that came with the tank. The tank is a Aquastyle 380 and it's a trickle filter.

 

[Gvilleguy]

When you say trickle filter do you mean it's a "hang on the back" of the tank type? I have a HOB filter, and when I first installed the filter I used the carbon media that came with it (I no longer use carbon). I found that the carbon filter would saturate after about 3-4 weeks, slowing the flow of water and causing the water to hit the overflow channel and go directly back into the tank. This caused increased surface agitation as well as not filtering the "dirt".

So when I read your posts I'm wondering if you have media that has become saturated and needs gentle cleaning or possible replacing (without discarding too much bacteria).

 

[schmee]

No, it's just the filter that came with the tank. i'm really not knowledgable at all about filters and i can't find a single other example of my filter on the web. Very frustrating.
Anyway, i took everything out and cleaned it in tank water (which i hadn't done yet and it's been set up for a couple of months - possibly not great) put it all back together and it's the same if not worse. A lot of gunk came out and some sand but as you said, it did seem the carbon cartridge in particular is saturated. Should i take it out?? Do i have to replace it, surely the same thing will keep happening. But if i take it out will this lose me too much bacteria? i also have sponges and ceramic noodles in there.

 

[the_lock_man]

I also use an Aqua filter built in to my Aquamode tank, so it sounds like we have a similar set up.

As I understand it, the carbon is only really useful for clearing unwanted medication (and similar chemicals) from the water, and after a few weeks it stops doing that. However the bacteria will also colonise the carbon, so it serves a purpose in that respect.

What I've done is to (1) insert an extra sponge in the filter, and leave it for a couple of weeks to allow the bacteria to colonise the new sponge, (2) removed and disposed of the old carbon cartridge and (3) bought but not used a spare carbon cartridge to use as and when I need to remove used medication chemicals. That way, I knew that I wouldn't be losing too much bacteria.

Not that I've suffered from overflowing, so perhaps it's a combination of factors that have caused your problem?

 

[waterdrop]

I seems to me that a filter using its overflow has got to ultimately display some reason for that. The problems I can think of are that the holes or other passages for water between sections are clogged, the section pieces themselves are being placed in their holders the wrong way, if its packaged media perhaps the media itself is being positioned in a way not intended by the designer or, finally, perhaps a particular section of media is of the wrong material or still too clogged despite squeezing/dunking it in tank water.

One of your goals as a beginner is to feel confident in all aspects of your filter. You should read the intstructions thoroughly (assuming they are of much help, lol.) You should squeeze out and/or shake/dunk the media, depending on whether it is spong-like or loose type. Then you should set all the various media into the tank water bucket and study all the parts of your filter. Take them all apart, drawing pictures for yourself if need be the first time so you can get it back together. See whether small brushes might be useful for cleaning your impeller and impeller well (the fan-like parts that actually move the water.) See exactly how any plastic or silicone parts are meant to go together. Go in to this with confidence, its really common sense involved and anyone can do it. The idea of course is that perhaps you'll find a slip-up somewhere.

Now, all that being said, there is an enormous variation in the design effort put into different pumps and filters by different manufacturers. At the high end (Eheim, Rena, Tunze etc.) you can find companies with engineering designers who have decades of experience and are just refining their tried and true previous designs. At the low end I think you can get companies starting up that are based on a marketing idea and may have had someone who is not actually a pump designer simply order or specify various parts as an afterthought to the marketing idea. And of course there are all sorts of gradations in-between I'd think. If the filter is not designed well then the problem might not be your fault!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[schmee]

Well, there's not a lot to explore to be honest, the way it's made, the water comes up the intake, the powerhead and any propellors are all enclosed. The media is in the compartment at the top, in layers. This is the only part which is explained in the 'manual' (sheet of paper) and i put all the media in exactly as told to begin with. The water then comes out of the spray bar and trickles throught the layers of media to flow back into the tank.

Anyway, i took out the carbon and cut off about 1/3, squeezed it out again and put it back. No more overflowing, it is now working absolutely fine.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Ah - good. It was just saturated carbon! You might want to consider replacing the carbon media with something else, because it's just going to keep happening to you. However, you don't want to just discard the entire carbon part, since you would also be throwing away the bacteria that have colonized in there. I don't know what your filter compartments look like, but if there was any extra space for you to put a sponge to start growing bacteria, you could run with it for a few weeks, and then possibly get rid of the carbon part and stick the sponge in its place.

It's a tricky thing dealing with media changes, so I hesitate to make suggestions without more senior opinions from the forum.

 

[schmee]

Well, i spoke too soon. It ran well all day until i noticed a little while ago that the flow had petered out to almost nothing. The carbon was saturated again but surely a day's worth of water isn't enough to stop the flow...in fact the compartment wasn't flooded which is strange. i put some tights over the intake today as i keep finding shrimp up in the filter, but i wouldn't think that would restrict water flow. Before i had filter wool over it which was a nightmare in some ways but never caused me problems with the filter.

i think i will look to change the carbon, but at the moment i'm just confused.

i've wrung the carbon out again and the filter is working nicely again but for how long??

 

[schmee]

i don't understand, this morning it had again petered out to almost nothing coming out of the filter but the compartment itself is not flooded. i squeezed the carbon out again and it returned to normal. Just a few hours later and the same has happened. The tank has only been running around 10 weeks, surely this is too soon to need to replace the carbon?? But it can't go on like this. It seems it's not even bringing enough water up anymore, as the compartment isn't flooding and overflowing, but why??? Do i take off the tights and lose my shrimp and possibly my beloved corys who aren't much bigger. The shrimp are far from tiny. i just don't get it.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Like I said, my carbon filters (approx. 4x6 inches) only last 4 weeks before they can no longer process the water flow. So I believe that is contributing to your problem.

 

[schmee]

Yes, but now the water isn't even reaching the filter compartment. i've run out of ideas.