Flourite broke my filter!

[Quitcuttin]

Ok I bought a bag of Flourite. After I add the contents of the bag I notices that my water was very cloudy. I knew it would get this way because the instructions told me it would. So I decided to cut my tetratec pf150 power filter back on. After doing this the filter didn't work at all. My question is did i have a crappy filter or did the flourite do it. Now I only have a under gravel filter trying to clear my tank...

 

[carpguy]

Its probably just jammed from all the muck. This happened to my AquaClear when I silted my tank opaque with laterite.

I set up the water bucket with dechlorinated water in it. First, I took the filter apart and cleaned it out. Cleaned out the impeller under the tap. I could feel the motor humming, but the impeller (the little propeller) wouldn't move. I gave it a little nudge with a toothpick and it kicked right in. I now keep a long coffee stirrer in the supply kit. Every once and I while I need to give it a little push on startup.

Then I left the water bucket at tank side and rinsed the pads every hour or so, turning the filter off at every change. Lots of sediment, had it clear by the next day. Rinsed out the filter case again and its been fine ever since.

I think you may damage it if you let it run for awhile while jammed, but mine did run for awhile (half hour?) before I noticed and no harm done.

I also broke my heater during that incident: the sediment settled on the holder and created a hotspot. You might want to make sure that stays clear.

 

[Quitcuttin]

Called my genius of a girlfriend and she fixed it. Does anyone eles have this same filter? Thanks

 

[djlen]

Wash it!!!

You can avoid all these problems the next time by buying a 5 Gallon paint strainer at Home Depot and putting the media(a few pounds at a time) in and running water from the hose through it til it runs clear. Remove the substrate and put another few pounds in. I washed 60lbs. in 15 minutes and never had a bit of clouding.
Len

 

[wetmanNY]

Filter! schmilter! we need your girlfriend!

 

[aquascaper]

One thing about flourite is that you wash and wash and you will still be cloudy...rinse as much as you can and when filling your tank, just fill slowly. Dont just pour water in the tank, this will just agitate the flourite and create cloudy water. If you pour slowly, your tank should be clear when it is full.