O Ring Lube On Aquis 1200

[Deaks]

Hi all,
I stripped and cleaned my aqua one aquis 1200 the other day. Everything went ok untill i turned the taps on.
A small amount of water starting seeping from the fill hole at the top.

I dissassembled and re fitted and the same happened again.

I dissambled again and this time turned the plug 180 before refitting - it goes either way and there was no leak.

I did notice that the o-ring was fairly dry on the seal.

It mentions lubing it up -

I was just wondering what everyone else uses to do this - obviously it needs to be fish safe ??

Does anyone else have this filter and have any good or bad experiences of it ??

Many thanks

 

[Deaks]

I also found a tiny tiny leak from the shut off valve . Bloody thing

I re- cut the hose and re-fitted and used a little vaseline around the seal.

Im not convinced by the Aquaone to be honest.

 

[rabbut]

Vaseline is what I use on all my filters. I don't own an Aquaone, but I was going to get one due to the many good reviews on them on-line before Tetratec came to my attention...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Deaks]

Vaseline is what I use on all my filters. I don't own an Aquaone, but I was going to get one due to the many good reviews on them on-line before Tetratec came to my attention...

All the best
Rabbut

Thanks for getting back to me dude.

Im glad vaseline is ok . I was starting to have bad thoughts about dead fishies!!

Tetratec - Im leaning towards one at the mo. Probably the 1200. Are they fairly simple to clean and how about reliability ??

 

[Underwurlde]

to reiterate, vaseline will be commonly recommended for use with 'o' rings etc to improve sealing & more importantly to prolong life of the rubber.

Andy

 

[rabbut]

My two EX1200's go for six months at a time without getting attention, so don't realy need cleaning all that often. They have been on the market for about 4 years now, and the only accounts of failures are from abuse over time (failing to Vaseline the seals, kicking them, postage damage e.t.c) or one dodgy batch that went out. Reliability is thus far excellent, but they have't been on the market long enough to make a long-term judgement. They are easy to work, the priming button is literaly press once and make a cup of tea while it fills before switching it on. They are easy to open and clean also I've just bought my third Tetratec (an EX600 this time).... As per the last two, I can't hear it now it's running...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Schmill]

Hi, I have the Aquis 1200 filter, but thankfully I have never had a leak from the 'filler cap' but then again I almost never remove it

I used to use vaseline on my Aquis, but now I use a silicon o-ring lubricant that I got given by someone else. I don't know which is 'better' for sealing, but I find the o-ring lubricant goes on a lot smoother, and doesn't gunge up anywhere, (perhaps I was using too much vaseline before).
Anyway, whenever I take my filter apart I always lubricate the inner and outer edges of the rubber seals that go on top of each basket, and then I usually lubricate the top of the canister as well, as this is easer than trying to get to the o-ring on the lid. As I say, I've never done the filler cap, but I'm sure you could.
Overall I've found it to be fine as a filter, fairly quiet, and when it comes to cleaning I shut off the inlet tap, wait around 1 second for the pump to negatively pressurise the cannister, and then shut the outlet pipe and switch off. Then when you disconnect the quick release taps the water level in the filter drops slightly, and you dont make a mess
Despite what the instructions for the filter say I ALWAYS refit the filter empty of water. I connect the taps then open the outlet tap first, which allows the outlet tap to drain down into the filter, leaving the pipe full of air, (my outlet back into the tank is slightly above the surface of the water). Then I open the inlet pipe and because the pipe is already full of water on that side it just syphons down into the cannister, fills the cannister, and then fills the outlet pipe again. Once it's done doing its thing, switch it back on, and no problems

The only issue I had with it was I dropped the impeller when cleaning it and managed to break the ceramic shaft. However £9.28 (including next day delivery) and I had a replacement impeller and shaft assembly ready to pop back in.

 

[three-fingers]

If the O-rings are actually made of real rubber, then Vaseline will apparently corrode them over time, so over the long term it's a bad idea.

Many O-rings are probably made out of materials that can withstand petroleum-based lubricants (such as Vaseline) nowadays anyway, but just to be safe I recommend people use silicone based lubricants, which seem better than Vaseline anyway (less messy).

I've been using Eheims "Aquatic Maintenance Spray", which is very easy to apply, but pricy compared to other lubricants.

I've also heard of people using K-Y Jelly, though don't like the idea of going into a shop and buying it myself, maybe I just need to man-up .