Fluvals Flow Rates Anyone Managed To Get Them

[mystic.bertie]

Dodgy motor unit can seap voltage into the tank Happend to me when my old 404 was dieing Normaly they just leak having had the seals pack up, the voltage seapage is quite rare though, but painful if it happens to you

All the best
Rabbut

thats_SHOCKING

 

[jgray152]

Rare, I think that is the only case I have ever heard about. There must have been a crack in the housing some where to allow water to enter the motors enclosure. The motor is completly sealed off from water, obveously.

When that happends, ofcourse the motor will start to die out. Dodgy motor?

I don't want this to be thrown around (as I have seen twice so far) as this being a usuall "Issue" with the fluval filters.

Unfortunatly, out of the millions thats have probubly been sold working just fine, if it happend to you, then that one complaint will stick ad be tossed around.

Also, can someone tell me why its so had to maintain these filters? Give me a rational explanation because I can't find one. The fact that they could clog up easily is probubly because they are being used on tanks they shouldn't be used on. I clean my 304 every 4-6 months or so. Its on a 29 gallon with tropicals and African Cichlids. Not only that, I run small partical filtration in the baskets, it still runs for 4-6 months or so.

 

[rabbut]

Primeraly, it's down to priming them The prime pump does not work for many people after the first few starts when the tubes are empty, so lots of pumping to get them started, or, god forbid, you actually have to suck on the outlet The units seem to trap air in them fairly easily too IME, and it can take a while to get them to purge There have been a few times when I've know the seal to twist when re-seating the pump unit, if you don't seat it perfectly horizontally when you push it back on, and the result is a rather wet floor.

With practice, they can be primed easily, as you would prime any filter without a primer, doing the conventional suck to start method. This method isn't too bad for seasoned hobbyists, but a few "wimps" that don't like sucking on hoses that have been in the tank end up futily pumping the primer for a loooong while to get the thing to fill. OH, fill the canister then try start it I hear you shout. That leads to air locks IME

The motor unit on my faulty one had no obviously visible cracks in it, though that does not mean to say that there were none. The motor unit didn't loose any more performance, nor did any water seap from the unit, which is not massively supprising if they make the motor's Electro magnet bit in the same way as the internal filters IMO. The wires are usualy coverd in a load of plastic/silicone/other waterprof substance, so there is no way the unit can easily short without sustaining substantical damage. This does not stop them from seaping voltage though if there is a scratch in the afore mentioned covering

It may the the only case you know of, but of the 2-3 Fluval units a week we sell at work, in the last 2 years I've been working there, I've know of 2 or 3 units come back with this fault, just outside warrenty, with the customer wanting to know if there is anything that can be done about it. 6-8 have come back with leaks in warrenty, and we get mebe 1 question a month about new seals after they have blown water all over the place, the customer obviously needing a replacement in a hurry... Of course if a customer asks, they are the best thing since sliced bread, as they are the exturnal we get the most £ for, due to bulk retailer order discounts...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[jgray152]

Primeraly, it's down to priming them The prime pump does not work for many people after the first few starts when the tubes are empty, so lots of pumping to get them started, or, god forbid, you actually have to suck on the outlet The units seem to trap air in them fairly easily too IME, and it can take a while to get them to purge There have been a few times when I've know the seal to twist when re-seating the pump unit, if you don't seat it perfectly horizontally when you push it back on, and the result is a rather wet floor.

With practice, they can be primed easily, as you would prime any filter without a primer, doing the conventional suck to start method. This method isn't too bad for seasoned hobbyists, but a few "wimps" that don't like sucking on hoses that have been in the tank end up futily pumping the primer for a loooong while to get the thing to fill. OH, fill the canister then try start it I hear you shout. That leads to air locks IME

Gez you make it sound difficult

When ever I clean the filter I ALWAYS fill the canister with water before putting the lid back on. Never ever does the filter air lock. I also put the filter cover on at slight angles, never perfectly straight and never have an issue with a ...... wet floor.

Don't know what is wrong with the rest you.

 

[rabbut]

Or whats right with yours

If you have only ever had exturnals of the Eheim Classic style, or only ever had Fluvals, yes they are easy to work on. If you have used something like a Tetratec or Eheim pro1/2 though, it is a royal pain in the a#!.

With the fluval, you have to un-hook the hose, suck on the end, place the end in a bucket, wait for water to come out, raise the quick release valve, put the hose back where it belongs, lower the quick release valve and then switch on if no water is in the hoses, or the same without sucking on the end if there is water in the hoses, and you are away. The alternative is to spend 1/2 an hour pumping the primer, or a couple of days listening to niagra falls in the filter while it purges having started it up with a full canister With a Tetratec, you press the magic primer button ONCE, go make a cup of tea, then switch on.... Fluvals hard to prime, not literaly, but relative to other brands, yes, very. Mainly because the primer in many cases does not work, and for a lot of users, starting with the canister full results in by-pass TBH, I'm glad it does, as it surgests there is no by-pass through the foam screen frame, meaning the rest of the media does not clogg as quick.

Re-quick clogging... I had a 404 on a 335l tank. Fluval reconed the 404 was good for either 400 or 500l tanks (Can't remember which now) and with a 1200lph output, gave 3.58 times an hour theoretical turn-over, which is ample for the tank. It needed weekly attention. A Tetratec EX1200 running the tank alone, also with 1200plh of flow, can go 6 months on the same tank now without attention. To me, that is a massive difference in maintanance. The filters have the same hardwear specs near enough in pump output, so they are comparable The issue is the small media surface area after the foam screen frames I recon. This can be sorted with low-maintanance media set-ups, but that results in particles in suspension in the water IME You can also go 2-3 modles up from the one Fluval recon you need, but IMO that would mean overkill flow in the tank conserned unless you can modify/position the outlet apprepriately...

All the best
Rabbut