Aquaclear 70 sudden shutoff?

[Nyk0nn]

I looked at a few pages of posts and couldn’t find and answer so I figured I’d ask.
I woke up this morning and noticed that my AC 70 filter was not running. Everything else in the tank was working so I checked the plug. Unplug, replug and nothing. I took it off the back and noticed the lil black propeller box was very warm? I took it all apart and cleaned it and plugged it back in and it worked. Put it all back togeather but now it’s making a horrible vibrating sound? Do I need a new one or was it just to propeller was clogged? I use a pre filter as well to filter out plant material my gold barbs chew off my plants. Took the prefilter off for the time being.

 

[NoodleCats]

I've had this same issue with aquaclear filters. They drain out their water and then burn the motor out running themselves dry.

I've had it happen more than once, so I wound up upgrading to a canister filter and never looked back. I don't use any HOB filters anymore because of these issues.

 

[fishorama]

You may have had a little power outage that only effected the AC, it happens. They can't usually restart after that like Noodle said. That's the only knock on them, I use several. As you've seen the "damage" is often not permanant if you clean them thoroughly including the impeller. Sometimes, if your lucky & catch it soon, just adding water to the filter box gets it going again. I have 20+ year old ACs.

The vibrating sound can be from not having the intake tube fully seated. It helps to have it all the way to the right side (I think...it may be left) to get the full flow working. It's usually air infiltrating the intake tube. Firm but gentle pressure with a little side to side wiggling can fix it. No big deal but a bit of playing around.

I also have canisters I'm not using right now, they can have their own issues. As long as your AC came back to life I'd say just go with it. I love mine!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If one does not occasionally clean the impeller and well, it builds up gunk. This is a bit slimey. It actually helps lubricate things and keep them quiet. But eventually it builds up to the point where it can keep running, but if it stops, it cannot overcome the amount of gunk and wont restart.

I used to have close to 30 running aquaclears. I used to clean them at least once a year. That prevented the restart from gunk issue. An AC will drain if it stops when the water level in the tank is lower than in the filter. When the motor stops the intake opeartes like any siphon in uneven levels of water, the water will flow down.

Canisters have one issue of which one should be aware. The bacteria we work so hard to cultivate are aerobic, they use oxygen. So the amount of oxygen they get is what comes in the intake water. There are more oxygen using microorganisms there as well. Normally this is not an issue unless something happens in the tank to lower DO levels. Using the return to agitate the surface is important unless one is injecting CO2 for plants.

I have 3 tanks with canisters. 2 are planted one is not. All have alternative equipment to help insure adequate DO, circulation and filtration.

I still have 18 assorted ACs (+ a Whipser Mini) but also 18 Poret cubefilters and 4 Mattenfilters. Only my 5.5 gal. has 1 filter (and lots of plants). All other tanks have 2 - 4 filters on them.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yep. You've discovered what are in my opinion the only 2 problems with AquaClear HOB filters. The impeller can become jammed/stalled and they can make a rattling noise.

#1 can be rectified by pulling out the intake tube and giving the impeller a flick start with a pencil or the likes. #2 usually comes and goes, but can be fixed as TTA suggests above.

 

[NoodleCats]

Yeah my impeller was cleaned 2 times a month and water level kept full to tank rim and still it happened every time for me, no explanation why. No power outages (the alarm clocks would reset if they did). Constant problems. I've lost several cycles from them draining and drying out media on me every time. No clue what went wrong. I gave up on them for reliability. Maybe just newer ones aren't made as well, I don't know.

I find canisters to be more reliable in terms of actually stay working. Pain in the behind to clean though lol

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I clean two of mine twice a year. The third is loaded 100% with Poret foam. It took me several years before it needed its first clean which was about a year ago. But it is on a 75 gal. jungle with small fish and and AC 300. The AC is rinsed weekly.

The thing I forgot to put in my first post was that many filters, including ACs will get a bit noisy after one has cleaned the impeller and well. That ss because the thing that keeps it quiet eventually is what causes it not restart, an accumulating coating of slimey gunk. Usually this starts to build up again not too long after the cleaning and the filter should get quiet.

Most of my ACs I have had for over 15 years and none fewer than 10 years. I have a couple in my AC box of spare parts. I like to standardize. All Hangs-ons I run today save 1 are AquaClears. All my canisters are the Eheim Pro 2 line and most of my "sponges" and all Mattenfilters are Poret foam. The rest are ATI pre-filters. Aquaclears today are made less well in terms of the body and other plastic parts. I cannot say re motor, impeller or baskets.

My very first filter was an Emperor 400 combined with a powehead driven UGF. The UGF was removed after about a year and an AC 200 was added. The Emperor died after about 8 years but I still have that AC200 running along with an AC 150 bought used within the next year. For downright simplicity, versatility, durability they were the best buy out there, especially since you can load them any way you want. I got most of mine between the end of 2001 and 2010. In the later years they were mostly acquired used. I cannot speak to the quality of the current versions.

I have always pretty much loaded mine with two sponges with floss between them. Over time i have replace the AC sponge with a block of 20 ppi Poret foam. I also pre-filter them all with a piece of AC sponge I cut to size for that purpose. I also have begun replacing them with black 10 ppi Poret.

Most equipment today is of a lesser qaulity in order to make it less expensive price-wise, but also, more profitable. Many of the name brands have been bought out and are now a part of the pet division of a conglomerate.

 

[fishorama]

Well, I clean my ACs every 3 or 4 months including the impeller. I use prefilters to keep out big debris & have to clean prefilters every 3? weeks except in my BBA tank...then I'm hoping for a week at most (fingers crossed isn't really working in that tank, grrr)

I say if you're cleaning the media you may as well clean the impeller. It takes only a few minutes more & you won't have restarting problems if you do. Almost everytime I do a "quick clean" & skip the impeller, I'm sorry & have do start over.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

When one has 30 impellers that is not so easy. And cleaning the well means removing the filter and emptying it. Most, but not all of my tanks use multiple filters and often not the same types. Many of my pleco breeding tanks are either air driven with multiple filters or I will have a hang-on as well as Poret cubefilters or a Mattenfilter.

This offers some protection from failures. The problem is I use central air pumps for miltiple tanks and if the pump fails, all the filters stop. So I have some tanks with a hang one and/or a powerhead with a big ATI prefilter. Electricity is essential for fish keeping on a any decent scale beyonf a few ranks. We do have a whole house back-up generator. The problem is, if that fails, we are still up the creek without a paddle.

To be honest, one of the biggest issue for me is getting old. I turn filters off in some way when working on tanks. Sometime I forget to turn them all back on and it takes me a day or two to discover this. The multiple filter types have prevented a few potential disasters. So have the live plants.

 

[fishorama]

When I raised discus the 1 time I bought a battery operated air pump just in case. That was the only tank with only a couple plants & a heavy fish load. In the east we might (rarely) lose power for a few days; here we only lose power for a couple hours at most...until a big earthquke hits. Then we'll likely have more worries than fish.

We have solar panels but a battery storage unit costs almost as much as the panels (BIG $$). A generator is a nice idea if you can store enough gas to keep it running long enough. No power, no gas pumps as we learned our first days long outage many years ago.