Question For Fluval 405 Owners...

[JamieH]

I'm thinking of buying two 405's in the near future... i know lots of people didn't like the old 03 series, and that the 04's were mixed.. but specifically the 05's - people seem to rate them, no?

my tank currently has a tetra tec ex1200 and a fluval 4plus... i was going to add a second external anyway, but today i had a shock with my tetratec.

i was squeezing the intake tubing to free some of the trapped gunk on the inside of the intake pipe... and to my horror, so of the released crud came straight out of my filter outlet - these were fairly large pieces too. my filter has ceramic rings, filter foam, alfagrog, more foam, floss, and a final foam layer. there's no way anything should have go through that.

This means the tetratec filter must have a short cut. I've always been surprised at how little the flow rate slows over time - now i now why.

i've always thought the 'fit' between the pipe that take the water to the bottom of the filter, and the pump head wasn't that tight... but never thought it was loose enough to allow anything significant through.... anyway, a filter with a shortcut is no friend of mine.

 

[The-Wolf]

This means the tetratec filter must have a short cut. I've always been surprised at how little the flow rate slows over time - now i now why.

no this means that bacteria grow on the inside of all pipes, due to this minute particles
build up feeding the bacteria, making them grow and thus adding a bigger surface area
for the minute paricles to attach to.
you should periodicaly clean or replace the pipes.

 

[JamieH]

This means the tetratec filter must have a short cut. I've always been surprised at how little the flow rate slows over time - now i now why.

no this means that bacteria grow on the inside of all pipes, due to this minute particles
build up feeding the bacteria, making them grow and thus adding a bigger surface area
for the minute paricles to attach to.
you should periodicaly clean or replace the pipes.

you didn''t read it....

i did this on the INTAKE pipe... the gunk came out of the OUTLET pipe... which means either somehow, by a miracle a 1/2cm piece of crud made it all the way through the filter... or the filter has a shortcut.

 

[The-Wolf]

no this means that bacteria grow on the inside of all pipes,

you didn''t read it....

i did this on the INTAKE pipe... the gunk came out of the OUTLET pipe... which means either somehow, by a miracle a 1/2cm piece of crud made it all the way through the filter... or the filter has a shortcut.

you didn't read it, so I've highligthed the relevant part

 

[JamieH]

no this means that bacteria grow on the inside of all pipes,

you didn''t read it....

i did this on the INTAKE pipe... the gunk came out of the OUTLET pipe... which means either somehow, by a miracle a 1/2cm piece of crud made it all the way through the filter... or the filter has a shortcut.

you didn't read it, so I've highligthed the relevant part

so your saying that it's a coincidence that as i was squeezing the gunk on the inlet loads became detached on the outlet side and went into my tank? i doubt it.

 

[The-Wolf]

so your saying that it's a coincidence that as i was squeezing the gunk on the inlet loads became detached on the outlet side and went into my tank? i doubt it.

yes because you changed the pressure of the water flow, an increased pressure caused the piece os gunk to become dislodged.
not coincidence, physics.

whatever, I've answered your post enough.
I'm outta here
smoke me a Kipper I'll be back for breakfast.

 

[JamieH]

the pressure on the outlet side would have gone down, not up...

i've just done it again and the same thing happened - twice.

 

[smithrc]

Its normal on all externals and definatly not a fault with the tetratecs...
our fluvals were really bad for it due to the corrigated pipes - greater surface area more crud...

 

[JamieH]

Its normal on all externals and definatly not a fault with the tetratecs...
our fluvals were really bad for it due to the corrigated pipes - greater surface area more crud...

I don;t think anyone is getting me... i accept all external filters have crud on all the their internal surfaces...

But i don;t accept that crud going in the inlet should come out of the outlet. i've been squeezing the pipes to dislodge the build up for years on different brands of filter and have never experienced it coming out of the outlet... unless squeezing the outlet pipe.

I decided to give the filter a clean out last night - before i did, i put some tetra prima in the inlet basket and switched the filter back on... lo and behold, four granules came out of the outlet. which means there MUST be a way for water to bypass the media.