Filter Failure

[CletePurcel]

Last night I did a water change in my aquarium. When I came to plug the filter back in it didn't start up (Fluval U2). Is this common? What do people do in these situations? Is it necessary to have a backup?

I changed the fuse and that didn't work. Then I took the whole thing apart and cleaned the impeller and so on. It didn't seem to have any blockages or anything obvious that I could see. But fortunately when I put it back together it started working again. Now I am worried in case it happens again. How long can fish survive in a filterless tank?

Cheers.

 

[Joshwainwright]

The fish will be able to survive only a day or so providing you do daily water changes. Without a working filter, you have no beneficial bacteria to keep control of the ammonia levels therefore these would damage or kill your fish.

Not to worry though, your filter needs to be turned of for about 2-3 hours for the bacteria to start dying off.

 

[waterdrop]

You did the right thing, cleaning and continuing to work with the filter. They just do that sort of thing sometimes. The issue of what helps a motor begin spinning in the right direction when electricity is applied to the coils is as old as the invention of the motor, ask any electrical engineer! Small amounts of debris or air bubbles can throw a wrench into the motor designers plans sometimes.

The question of how soon fish would be in trouble without filtration depends on a lot of factors, water changes being the largest I would guess!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[adzilla88]

I have a fluval u3, and if I change a certain amount of water, it never starts up again. All I do is remove my blue media tray that slides down the middle of the filter and use something long and thin (ie a toothbrush etc) and poke the impeller with it. It then starts up immediately without any problems.

I think the problem for me was that the filter wasn't full of water by the time I had removed so much water, which led to it not starting up.


This may or may not be useful to your situation.

 

[karin]

I think it is helpful to have a back up filter. If your filter goes out completely then you can move media, not lose any of the beneficial bacteria and have a much less stressful life. That being said, I agree, sometimes filters just do that, don't work when you plug them in and then you tinker and it works again.

Good luck.

 

[iluvfsh]

I have a Fluval U3, and I have to poke the impeller every time I do a water change.

 

[Joshwainwright]

I have a Fluval U3, and I have to poke the impeller every time I do a water change.

I'm rather glad I removed my U3 now. That would annoy me!

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

do i have the worlds best u3? lol nothing like that has ever happened to me no matter what % i change!

 

[Joshwainwright]

You must have, although I didn't have any problems with mine in the 6 days I used it.

 

[CletePurcel]

Thanks for your replies.

I might get a backup filter just in case.

The problem this time was that I did the water change in the evening and even our pets at home closes at 8pm so it was too late to go out and get another filter.

Maybe I should only change the water when the shops are open

 

[Joshwainwright]

It's probably safest to have a filter available just in case this happens again. As for only changing the water when the shops are open, I wouldn't bother as your filter failing to work isn't exactly a regular occurrence.