Fluval 404 problem?

travelinman1969

travelinman1969

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Oct 23, 2003
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Lost Nation, IA
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Maybe it's normal, but my Fluval 404 gets air in it and a rush of bubbles come out of the outlet once in a while. It makes the water not as clear as I would like it. Kinda gives it a cloudy look with all the tiny bubbles in the water. There are no leaks, the hoses are tight. I use it as a bio filter. Is the air being made from the bio process in the filter? Anyone else have this problem?
 
I find that when I restart my Fluval 404 after a water change that if I tap the cannister a couple of times before the output nozzle is submerged I generally don't get a problem with bubbles comming out of the filter.
 
No skimmer, no pre-filter.

This happens all the time, about once every 20-30 minutes or so. If I tap on the canister right now it will do it. Just wondering if it might be from the bio process in the canister. It's rather annoying too. Makes a lot of noise when it does it.
 
Is the filter new? I find when I first start up a new Fluval I have those bubbles, but it usually goes away after a day (with the occassional shaking of the canister). I had to temporarly use a Fluval 404 in place of my broken ecco canister. It was out of commission for a year or so, and it didn't seal properly... so it didn't prime correctly, and a lot of bubbles were produced. I just used a bit of brute force... I put my knee on top of the canister, and pushed down. That seemed to fix the sealing problem. Of course, be very careful, you wouldn't wanna break the thing.

HTH
-Richer
 
If its a fairly consistant thing it may be a bad seal on the filter or possibly a pinhole leak on the intake tube drawing in air. Could also be a problem with the aquastop sealing properly.
 
Okay, sounds like it's not normal. I'll tear it all down in a few days, want my penguin to get it's bio going again (just cleaned it real good today, minus the wheels, of course.) then I'll do it. Those bubbles drive me nuts. :argh
 
Getting in late on this one but my 204 did this after my last water change. I found I had to prime the h@ll out of the thing and then plug it back in. It managed to stop it.

Tom
 
Doh, I didn't think of that point. I find that my filter primes much easier and more completly if I have the output nozzle above the water level for a minute.
 
It's not from the output hose, It's in the canister area. You can here the a whoosh sound in the canister and then you can hear the bubbles going into the tube. Since I posted this it seems to be better. I did pull the primer plunger a few times, maybe that did it. Gonna pull it apart tonight and check it out. I'll let ya know how I make out.
 
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