Tetratec Ex600

[Marve99]

I have the ex600 and originally thought it seemed like a great filter. Very easy to set up and very quiet. I have however noticed that the flow has reduced substaintially (and it is only 2 months old). The water used to come out of the spray bar with some force, now its not much more than an inch of spray (tested during a water change when water level below the spray bar). I have been through the trouble shooting guide (cleaned the filter/media, removed impeller to clean, cleaned intake) none of which were particularly dirty, but have had no improvment. The only think I have not done is dismantle the piping and clean those (access is more difficult than it should be- which is a lesson learnt)

Any one else has similar problems?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[rabbut]

It does not take much dirt in the pipes to kill the flow, so that's where I'd start 12mm pipes are quite thin for any reasonable amount of flow as it is, without dirt fouling them. I have a filter hose cleaning pipe that lets me clean the pipes without removing them. You just detach the elbows from the spray-bar or inlet strainer assemblies, before draining the water from the hoses and then running the pipe cleaning brush up the pipes Also, the holes in the spray bar do clog quite quickly, so you may need to press a bit or wire or a pencil through each hole to remove any debris that is blocking them up a bit. Aside from that, check the internal hoses of the pump head for debris also. I presume it sounds like it normally does?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[mixmaster jay]

also all the crud that ends up in the media reduces the flow sometimes too

 

[Marve99]

Cheers guys

Filter media is clean, so I guess the pipes need some attention. The spray bar holes are not the propblem as when I removed the bung at the end of the spray bar when the water level was low, it just trickled out where once it flew with some force!

I am going to measure the flow tonight by timing how long it takes the filter to fill a 1 litre jug, but I can't imagine its flowing at more than 100 Litres per hour - but I'll hopefully be suprised.

 

[mixmaster jay]

has it got shutoff valves at the filter pump connection end if so check them too they might not be fully open or something just a thought as ive done it on my cf 100 lol

 

[Marve99]

I have tried them at every concievable angle with no improvement.
Thanks though

It does not take much dirt in the pipes to kill the flow, so that's where I'd start 12mm pipes are quite thin for any reasonable amount of flow as it is, without dirt fouling them. I have a filter hose cleaning pipe that lets me clean the pipes without removing them. You just detach the elbows from the spray-bar or inlet strainer assemblies, before draining the water from the hoses and then running the pipe cleaning brush up the pipes Also, the holes in the spray bar do clog quite quickly, so you may need to press a bit or wire or a pencil through each hole to remove any debris that is blocking them up a bit. Aside from that, check the internal hoses of the pump head for debris also. I presume it sounds like it normally does?

All the best
Rabbut

Will check the above - filter sounds great - super quiet.

 

[waterdrop]

rabbut,

How long do you generally go between hose cleanings? Also, I remember a nice tip from one of the experienced ones here that hose is cheap enough that at some interval (which I also can't remember) they would opt to replace the hoses without bothering to clean them that time and doing the replacement would guard against an aging hose that gets stiff at the edges and could possibly slip off or leak.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mixmaster jay]

rabbut,

How long do you generally go between hose cleanings? Also, I remember a nice tip from one of the experienced ones here that hose is cheap enough that at some interval (which I also can't remember) they would opt to replace the hoses without bothering to clean them that time and doing the replacement would guard against an aging hose that gets stiff at the edges and could possibly slip off or leak.

~~waterdrop~~

i do this too about every 3/5 months usually its cheap enough to do it

 

[rabbut]

I clean when ever the hoses have visible dirt build-up in them I haven't had to replace any hoses on any of my filters yet, I just dip the ends in boiling water when ever they stiffen up or deform. This fixes that issue even more cheaply than replacing the hoses

 

[Marve99]

Only had the filter running for a couple of months, and haven't cleaned them at all.

Sounds like a job for this weekend!

Tank in a bad location, I have no access to the hoses without moving the tank, so should take me a couple of hours, I can see that I will have to rethink the layout!

 

[mixmaster jay]

I clean when ever the hoses have visible dirt build-up in them I haven't had to replace any hoses on any of my filters yet, I just dip the ends in boiling water when ever they stiffen up or deform. This fixes that issue even more cheaply than replacing the hoses

yeah i agree mate alot cheaper its just something i do lol piece of mind for me i suppose i dont want my 6500lph ocean runner popping the hose off and soaking the place lol i know it wont its all clipped up

my tank is like that mate no water near it i have to get a hose from my bathroom (the only tap that a hose fitting will fit lol) across the landing down the stairs and in the tank its a right job lol

 

[OldMan47]

You said that you cleaned the impeller but did you use a bottle brush to clean the well that the impeller fits into? A very small amount of fouling in that area can almost stop the impeller from turning but it will look pretty clean if you just inspect it. When you are done cleaning around the impeller, make sure the impeller shaft seats properly into the bearing, that is also a thing that can ruin your flow.

 

[Marve99]

Thanks for all of the advice - I have now sorted it . although should have done so sooner as checked my flow last night and it was just a dribble. Checked water stats and I have a trace of ammonia, checked stock and I had a dead cory . I am assuming that the reduced flow has killed off some of my bacteria and I am back into a mini cycle - very frustrating, but an important lesson learnt.

My intake pipe was full of a dark brown algae (very stickly, a bit like what I imagine blanket weed is like), having dismantled the hose and run the tap through it, I was shocked at the ammount of this stuff. Put my filter back together having cleaned all the media (the water left in the filter having taken the mdia out was similar to the stuff in thew hoses - filthy) and all is now well. The harlequins are loving the inceased flow.

What I have learnt - regularly check the flow from the filter and clean hoses when necessary.

Question - what is the stuff which has caused my problems? - I didn't think I had an algae problem as water and tank appear to be crystal clean.