Filter Not Working Properly

SaMoNaMe2010 said:

Hiya.
My tank has been set up for about 4 weeks now, the filter was working fine up until afew days ago, there is a tiny bit of a water flow coming out, but not nearly as much as there should be.
The tank is about 40 liters, 60 cm long, 30 cm wide and 30 cm high. I have no idea what make of filter it is or anything but i think it is a sponge filter and it is about 17.5 cm high, 5 cm wide and 5 cm long. I was thinking about getting a new one but i already have fish in the tank and it need acouple of weeks for the bactirea stuff to build up in the filter media so that wouldnt work, unless it is possible to put the filter media from my current filter into a new one? also the filter was previously used, at least acouple of years ago, in a coldwater tank, would that have made any effect at all?
Thanks for the help (If You Give It lol)

Click to expand...

Scotty001 said:

SaMoNaMe2010 said:

Hiya.
My tank has been set up for about 4 weeks now, the filter was working fine up until afew days ago, there is a tiny bit of a water flow coming out, but not nearly as much as there should be.
The tank is about 40 liters, 60 cm long, 30 cm wide and 30 cm high. I have no idea what make of filter it is or anything but i think it is a sponge filter and it is about 17.5 cm high, 5 cm wide and 5 cm long. I was thinking about getting a new one but i already have fish in the tank and it need acouple of weeks for the bactirea stuff to build up in the filter media so that wouldnt work, unless it is possible to put the filter media from my current filter into a new one? also the filter was previously used, at least acouple of years ago, in a coldwater tank, would that have made any effect at all?
Thanks for the help (If You Give It lol)

Click to expand...

pretty hard to tell at the moment, have you checked there is no blockages in he filter, is there a floew rate control ?? what colours are the filter, does it have any markings on it are you ble to post a pic of the filter
Scott

Click to expand...

SaMoNaMe2010 said:

Scotty001 said:

SaMoNaMe2010 said:

Hiya.
My tank has been set up for about 4 weeks now, the filter was working fine up until afew days ago, there is a tiny bit of a water flow coming out, but not nearly as much as there should be.
The tank is about 40 liters, 60 cm long, 30 cm wide and 30 cm high. I have no idea what make of filter it is or anything but i think it is a sponge filter and it is about 17.5 cm high, 5 cm wide and 5 cm long. I was thinking about getting a new one but i already have fish in the tank and it need acouple of weeks for the bactirea stuff to build up in the filter media so that wouldnt work, unless it is possible to put the filter media from my current filter into a new one? also the filter was previously used, at least acouple of years ago, in a coldwater tank, would that have made any effect at all?
Thanks for the help (If You Give It lol)

Click to expand...

pretty hard to tell at the moment, have you checked there is no blockages in he filter, is there a floew rate control ?? what colours are the filter, does it have any markings on it are you ble to post a pic of the filter
Scott

Click to expand...

Yeah i took it out before and i didn't see anything blocking the propellor. Yeah the flow rate control is on full. What do you mean colours and markings? And yeah heres a pic. Also i found out what kind of filter it is, its a Fuval 2 Plus. Soz its not a very clear pic.

Click to expand...

was oing to say by the pic its a fluval, ive got a few of them anf ther not bad filters, i have the same trouble with my 3+ i fint that if i unplug it and take it, clean the sponges out (in old tank water, NOT TAP WATER !!!!!) then put it all back together again it goes well, i have been able to trim back the media a little too but this is only becase the tank it is in is oly a 60l and lightly stocked. im not too sure on any other suggestions tho, but seems to be working k for me.

Click to expand...

StrontiumDog said:

was oing to say by the pic its a fluval, ive got a few of them anf ther not bad filters, i have the same trouble with my 3+ i fint that if i unplug it and take it, clean the sponges out (in old tank water, NOT TAP WATER !!!!!) then put it all back together again it goes well, i have been able to trim back the media a little too but this is only becase the tank it is in is oly a 60l and lightly stocked. im not too sure on any other suggestions tho, but seems to be working k for me.

Click to expand...

Snap. I would have said the same but, when you take out the filter, you'll probley get a load of crap coming out of it. So try and take it out very slowly.

When you rinse it in the aquarium water don't do it till its crystal clear, keep some smeg in there.

Even If it does dump a load of smeg into your tank after you've cleaned it, it should clear quite quickly.

The above is one reason I changed to an external filter.

HTH

Click to expand...

SaMoNaMe2010 said:

Hello
Soz a bit of a late reply. Yeah i clened out the filter and it is working perfectly now so thanks for the advice

Click to expand...

vinylman said:

SaMoNaMe2010 said:

Hello
Soz a bit of a late reply. Yeah i clened out the filter and it is working perfectly now so thanks for the advice

Click to expand...

If you look at the top of the filter, there should be a yellow cylindrical bit that sticks out - that's a flow indicator; when the filter starts getting blocked, that yellow bit will drop down (gradually) into the filter. That's when you need to clean it. I had a Fluval 4+ on my 4 ft tank for about three years and loved it; eventually, I got tired of dropping half the cack back into the tank whenever it was filter maintenance time. That's why I changed to an external (Tetratec EX700) - give it some serious thought. You'll never look back and your fish will love you for it.

Click to expand...