Cleaning External Filter

[MermaidMel]

And the reason I bought a Tetratec EX is............[answers on a postcard please]

I thought the hoses did come off these models.See point 5 in the link below:

tetratec Ex

They come off but you can't stop water coming out of them when you take them off, you can shut the valves whilst they are connected to stop the flow into the canister but you can't just remove the tubes and have water not coming out all over the place. I think. Correct me if I'm wrong. After all, I am just a gurl

 

[TheConstantGrower]

well first i make a refugium
then i sell the external filter on ebay
use that money to buy plants for my refugium

Now its clean.


As for your filter. As for any evil villainous overpriced under functional device of this nature.


Put the whole thing in a plastic 5 gallon home depot bucket, make a big old mess in there. so you can save the excess tank water for cleaning detritus off your components. a simple cut down rag tied to a coat hanger or even a weight on a string, drop it through the hoses. one good pull and its all gunk in the bucket. next you take the hoses out of the tank put them in the bucket with the external filter seal the bucket up and fill it with concrete bury it 30 feet under your yard and put up a sign warning people of potential radiation hazards.

Jokes aside, that's how its done, everyone has methods, towels tricks and little ways around the fact that an external filter is a sealed component and not actually a device that allows water to defy gravity.

Happy cleaning.



EDIT: If water is continually coming out of the hoses even after the disconnect its possible that you have a reverse siphon happening and water will just keep dumping out until you raise the hose ends above the water line in the tank.just lift quickly and try not to electrocute yourself please

 

[MermaidMel]

well first i make a refugium
then i sell the external filter on ebay
use that money to buy plants for my refugium

Now its clean.


As for your filter. As for any evil villainous overpriced under functional device of this nature.


Put the whole thing in a plastic 5 gallon home depot bucket, make a big old mess in there. so you can save the excess tank water for cleaning detritus off your components. a simple cut down rag tied to a coat hanger or even a weight on a string, drop it through the hoses. one good pull and its all gunk in the bucket. next you take the hoses out of the tank put them in the bucket with the external filter seal the bucket up and fill it with concrete bury it 30 feet under your yard and put up a sign warning people of potential radiation hazards.

Jokes aside, that's how its done, everyone has methods, towels tricks and little ways around the fact that an external filter is a sealed component and not actually a device that allows water to defy gravity.

Happy cleaning.



EDIT: If water is continually coming out of the hoses even after the disconnect its possible that you have a reverse siphon happening and water will just keep dumping out until you raise the hose ends above the water line in the tank.just lift quickly and try not to electrocute yourself please

LOL like your answer, thanks

 

[flash22]

Hi mel

EX range is easy turn the taps off and lift the the gray leaver in the center up this disconects the tap block from the filter other way is to turn the taps off and undo the nuts on the bottom

when you take the tap block out make sure the o-rings are still in place

 

[shelaghfishface]

i drag mine as far out of the cupboard as it will go and cover the floor in tea towels/bath towels, whatevers closer, then open it and garuntee the floor gets wet anyway

 

[MermaidMel]

I have no slack on the pipes at all, its a nightmare set up

 

[flash22]

Read my last post bottom of page 1. lol

New hose is £2- 2.50 a meter (green ehiem stuff) thats the easy answer. common sizes are 12/16 or 16/22 (internal/external) you can get the propper tetratec stuff.

[URL="http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...700-p-1423.html"]http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...700-p-1423.html[/URL] Ex 600/700

Or

[URL="http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...200-p-1424.html"]http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...200-p-1424.html[/URL] Ex 1200

iirc you get 2 pipes around 1.8 m Long but you may want to double check that

hope this is of some help

 

[MermaidMel]

Read my last post bottom of page 1. lol

New hose is £2- 2.50 a meter (green ehiem stuff) thats the easy answer. common sizes are 12/16 or 16/22 (internal/external) you can get the propper tetratec stuff.

<a href="http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...700-p-1423.html" target="_blank">http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...700-p-1423.html</a> Ex 600/700

Or

<a href="http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...200-p-1424.html" target="_blank">http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...200-p-1424.html</a> Ex 1200

iirc you get 2 pipes around 1.8 m Long but you may want to double check that

hope this is of some help

AWw thanks, I should spend some time doing this at some point, its going to be a nightmare because there is no access to the back of the tank, its in a 4ft recess and when I set it up and filled it with water [60 gallons of] it didn't originally have an external filter, the tank itself has its own system, but I hated it and took it out and set up the external and OMG I had to do some serious arm squishing for that, to get the pipes behind and the thought of doing it again is but there may be a way I can use a hose adaptor or connector to simply extend what I have, rather than replace it, and one that may even have a stop valve... now you got me thinking!!

 

[flash22]

As i said before should be a gray lever on the top of the filter turn the taps off and pull the lever up to dis connect the pipe work from the filter

i would honestly replace all the pipe putting a join may restrict the flow a tad and its just another place where it can leak from (worst case)

snap i have my rio 300 in a alcove too I use a step stall to reach the very back of the tank even at 6'2" and long arms lol

Connect up the new pipe to the to the spray bar and intake feed the pipe down the back of the tank then cut to lengh and connect up to the filter connections easyest way tbh

i learnt this when doing my first tank (rio 180) the hard way but hay hoe

 

[MermaidMel]

As i said before should be a gray lever on the top of the filter turn the taps off and pull the lever up to dis connect the pipe work from the filter

i would honestly replace all the pipe putting a join may restrict the flow a tad and its just another place where it can leak from (worst case)

snap i have my rio 300 in a alcove too I use a step stall to reach the very back of the tank even at 6'2" and long arms lol

Connect up the new pipe to the to the spray bar and intake feed the pipe down the back of the tank then cut to lengh and connect up to the filter connections easyest way tbh

i learnt this when doing my first tank (rio 180) the hard way but hay hoe

When I get a chance I will take pics and show u how its set up, you sound like a wise one indeed

 

[flash22]

As i said before should be a gray lever on the top of the filter turn the taps off and pull the lever up to dis connect the pipe work from the filter

i would honestly replace all the pipe putting a join may restrict the flow a tad and its just another place where it can leak from (worst case)

snap i have my rio 300 in a alcove too I use a step stall to reach the very back of the tank even at 6'2" and long arms lol

Connect up the new pipe to the to the spray bar and intake feed the pipe down the back of the tank then cut to lengh and connect up to the filter connections easyest way tbh

i learnt this when doing my first tank (rio 180) the hard way but hay hoe

When I get a chance I will take pics and show u how its set up, you sound like a wise one indeed

Lol i have my moments of madness nah just logical really

 

[CentricOregon]

i've got a tetratec ex700 and don't seem to have much problems, I usually clean the hoses and pipes aswell though so everything comes out of the water. if you don't clean all that then just close the valves and lift the lever on the black thing that the hoses connect to, lift it off and the water shouldn't come out. just leave the black thing with the tubes attatched in the cupboard and pull ur filter out and clean it.

also I replaced the original hoses with fluval hoses, far better and they are much more flexible.