Please Please Help - Filter Problems

[Miss Wiggle]

are you able to detach the pump and check if it is still working if removed from the filter. if you can take the pump off then do and just run it in a bucket of water and see if it's working?

if the pressure coming from the pump is wrong the that could cause the main part of the filter to overflow or to not fill up properly.

are you able to get into the pump to check the propeller, it may have got clogged up with something.

 

[schmee]

are you able to detach the pump and check if it is still working if removed from the filter. if you can take the pump off then do and just run it in a bucket of water and see if it's working?

if the pressure coming from the pump is wrong the that could cause the main part of the filter to overflow or to not fill up properly.

are you able to get into the pump to check the propeller, it may have got clogged up with something.

It's all in an enclosed powerhead so i'm reluctant to take it apart, it's also attached to the tank and so taking it apart would be within the tank which can not be great. It's not working at all now, i think it must be the sand that has clogged it as you say, but what do i do now?? i have no filter?? i can't see how another filter would fit onto my tank plus what would i do, just swap over the media? i'm at a complete loss.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum Shmee.
As others have already implied, you need to investigate your filter situation. I would personally clean the filter the best I could, using old tank water as my cleaning solvent of choice. All that I can see from your symptoms is that you are fighting a plugging type of problem with your media. That small amount of plugging may well make your filter start bypassing the active media in your filter. Miss W's advice to try to separate the flow issue from filter issues is fundamentally good. You may want to keep it in mind as you move forward in your troubleshooting efforts.