AquaClear 110 Media Basket Suddenly Rising on Right Side...

[Kaskade10729]

My AC110's media basket has been rising on its own on the right side (when looking at the filter head-on) even though the media has been thoroughly cleaned/dunked in removed tank water during the last water change (last Tuesday)...so I know the pieces aren't clogged. It seems no matter how hard I push down on the bio max, floss, Purigen and foam, to get them to seat as deeply as possible in the basket, nothing is allowing it to stay "locked" in place.

Is there anything anyone could suggest?

 

[NoodleCats]

Do you got a lid on your AC filter?

 

[Kaskade10729]

Do you got a lid on your AC filter?

Yes.

I just took the power off and got into the basket, making sure the foam was secured by those "hooks" in the side of the basket, then ensuring the rest of the media was packed down good (the floss, Purigen and BioMax).

What I did notice is overflow occurring on the side by the intake, which is weird; nothing is backed up there...

 

[Kaskade10729]

Just checked on the filter...seems to be staying in place.

Here's what's really weird, though: When I had asked about those little plastic hooks inside the media basket on this forum awhile back, and whether the foam block is supposed to be "tucked under" them or just "grabbed from the middle," member Dudley here replied and informed me that the AquaClears were designed so the foam/sponges are grabbed in the middle by those hooks, and those pieces of media are not supposed to be held UNDER them...

However, it seems the basket is now being held better -- and there's little to no overflow from the intake side of the chamber -- with the foam tucked beneath those hooks.

?

 

[the loach]

How are the goldfish doing? What happened to the cycle?

 

[NoodleCats]

Try taking the impeller out, take a pipe cleaner to it to clean out the inside and the removable piece too.

 

[fishorama]

Maybe your ceramics aren't as evenly distributed as is optimal? It can be hard to spread them out in a media bag over the entire filter especially in the corners.

Overflow down around intake side is almost always from more water coming into the filter than it can handle going through the media...that's sometimes how I know I need to clean my filter(s), lol. I have a little trickle like that happening right now. If cleaning the prefilter doesn't fix it I'll clean the media even though it seems I "just" did it. Might have been 2 or 3 weeks ago... The filter return flow is quite good, I'd call it robust! but it's not quite happy...

 

[Kaskade10729]

How are the goldfish doing? What happened to the cycle?

Thanks for asking.

The goldfish are still doing very well -- happy, swimming, eating and still growing. I don't know what happened to the cycle; the water has been remaining crystal clear, and the last time I did an API test check, things were pretty much the way they have been, with ammonia going down a little (so the readings were almost yellow, for 0 ppm).

I figured I'd just keep up with regular maintenance now, so the weekly water changes...

 

[Kaskade10729]

Try taking the impeller out, take a pipe cleaner to it to clean out the inside and the removable piece too.

I could try that, as I know the tubing is pretty nasty with sludge (not enough to impede the flow I don't think, though). I need to get a cleaner that gets into those bends...

As of right now, though, the whole thing is staying down; I think the action of me pushing the foam below those "hooks" and then pressing the whole thing down a little more did it.

What's strange, though, again, is that I don't know why I was advised that the foam ISN'T supposed to be held down by those grabbers, yet the basket came up after I installed the media without any of it really being "grabbed" by those hooks...

 

[Kaskade10729]

Maybe your ceramics aren't as evenly distributed as is optimal? It can be hard to spread them out in a media bag over the entire filter especially in the corners.

I'm using the genuine pre-loaded Hagen/Fluval BioMax packs specifically for the 110 model, so it comes as two packs of the rings, which I lay out side by side. They are definitely distributed okay.

Overflow down around intake side is almost always from more water coming into the filter than it can handle going through the media...that's sometimes how I know I need to clean my filter(s), lol. I have a little trickle like that happening right now. If cleaning the prefilter doesn't fix it I'll clean the media even though it seems I "just" did it. Might have been 2 or 3 weeks ago... The filter return flow is quite good, I'd call it robust! but it's not quite happy...

I can try cleaning out the media again, but I can almost swear that's not it; I'll maybe give it some swooshing on the next water change (this Tuesday).