Old, used Fluval 203 - noise, poll

Squawkbert

Senior padder
Oct 3, 2006
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I'm a bit torn - I've been running a well cleaned 203 on a freebie tank (that I'm trying to keep as freebie as possible, at least for now) I'm setting up for about 20 hours now, and despite lots of shaking, tipping etc, it's still holding enough air to make the impeller rattle quite a bit.

What to do?
 
Has all the air purged out of it?try tilting it on its side while it is running to see if it gets any quieter.

You might try a new impeller too.
 
I've been tipping, shaking etc. pretty frequently since I got it going. I can't hear it over the dryer anymore, but it's still loud.

Impeller looked pretty good when I cleaned it all out. Maybe the shaft isn't straight or something...
 
meh, it happens... if it is quieting down you are okay, maybe it is air, maybe a little piece of gravel that you missed while cleaning it out... the possibilities are endless
 
Give it a swift kick. I have a 203 and a 403, the plan round black cans, pretty old, they sometimes turn off intermittently. I have the same problem getting them started, so I try to avoid opening them up at all costs. Sometimes unplugging it and shaking it a bit will release some air bubbles into the line which you can try to purge.
 
My 303 still works as good as it did as when I got it over 5 years ago used. Its probably at least 7 years old, it has developed a rattle but its not very loud by any means. I cant hear it from 5 feet away.
 
203

I had the same problem on a 404 and everything I tried didn't work. Turned out to be that the impeller shaft had worn the inside of the magnet at the top were the fan blades are and caused it to rattle until it eventually broke and I replaced it and it never made a sound after that. Hope I helped
 
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