Well That Was Unpleasant!

[bmonki]

Our external filter started making a funny noise last night every few minutes (almost like a whirring sound) so I grabbed hubby when he got in from work and made him help me do a deep clean of the filter and tank (its been left for prob 3months)... Honestly the state of it in there was awful! All the media had a rinse, the sand had a good stir in the tank and the decs had a little rearrange, algae got scrubbed etc - took forever but the filter hasnt made the noise again since putting it all back together. Is it probably just that the filter media was a little clogged making the filter have little dips in power or something?

eta - the water changes had been happening every 10 days, the filter hadnt been touched for 3mths

 

[VickyChaiTea]

It may be the impeller, I know my filters start to make funny noises and the impeller dies after a while. I have one (don't know how old it is, I got it dumpster diving 2 years ago) that makes this terrible noise then stops spinning. I have to go in and fiddle with it (take it out and clean it) then put it back in. It happens about twice a month.
 
I used to have a Marineland Penguin Biowheel... let me tell you that thing was noisy from the get go and only lasted a year. So different brands have different impeller lives. Luckily you can always order a new one if you need to.