Troubleshooting advice?

TYPO

TYPO

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Apr 1, 2004
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Seattle, WA
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OK, i have a marineland penguin 170. i have sand substrate in my tank, and i havent had a problem with that and my filter at all.
Recently, the filter has been making a horrible grinding noise, and it might have happened after i turned over all the sand in my tank (i didnt think to turn off the filter.) I took it apart the best i could (removing the cartrige, imepller and wheel) and ran a lot of clear water through it; then i took a turkey baster to the impellers hole, and tried taking any water out, then spraying water in at high velocity.

Any other advice? I might try turning it upside down, and using a high pressure water stream to hose it out, but, id rather not go get a new filter. (I cant afford it...)

~typo
 
Check the impeller for abrasion. If it's rough, you'll want to replace the impeller or it will continue grinding and reducing flow. Otherwise--can you see any sand in the impeller seating? If not, and the impeller is in good shape, you should be fine to re-assemble and run.
 
If water is spilling out of the intake, check the media chambers--sounds like they need to be cleaned. I would plan on replacing the impeller soon as well--grooved is not efficient.
 
ok, thank you!

Also, the media is only a couple days old, and its barely covered in anything yet; you can still see all of the blue floss. But, again, thank you! Im assuming the marineland.com site is the best place to get a replacement impeller, then?
 
I don't know about the rough stuff inside the seating thing, but you can probably find replacement impellers cheaper than at marineland. Several online stores have replacement parts for penguin filters. OG's right about checking the filter media for clogs. According to my Penguin manual, overflowing the intake area means it's backing up and not flowing thru the normal route.
 
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