Turtle tank canister filter help

N

nickolbag

AC Members
Jan 13, 2005
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NJ
I went away for a week and the person feeding my turtles must have overfed them......times 10!!! When I got back there was a clear/brownish slime everywhere. The filter is caked in this stuff. The tubes were filled in this stuff. The filter had failed at some point. I assume because it was completely clogged. I cleaned out the filter and pads and 2 hours later I had it running again. I squeezed the tubes while it was running to break up the slime inside and had it looking pretty clear. Then cleaned out the pads again. It ran for about a week and failed again. I tried cleaning everything out even though it isn't that dirty anymore. The impeller seems to be having trouble moving. If I plug it in the impeller won't move. If I plug it in apart I can poke the impeller and it will start up for about 5 seconds and get stuck again.

Since the impeller will spin briefly with assistance what could the problem be that is causing the impeller to have trouble starting again? If it helps the top of the filter was warm so I assume whatever stopped the impeller caused something to heat up. There was no smell though.

So, any ideas on how to fix this? Or is the filter junk?
 
What brand and model filter is it?
 
Hmmm....the only thing I'd say is to take it apart and clean it some more. It definitely sounds like something is up with your impeller. Possibly the motor is fried. I use to have an XP1 until I gave it away to a friend because I upgrade my turtle tank. I can't recall having any issues with it. Is it under warranty?
 
Vicious_Fish said:
Hmmm....the only thing I'd say is to take it apart and clean it some more. It definitely sounds like something is up with your impeller. Possibly the motor is fried. I use to have an XP1 until I gave it away to a friend because I upgrade my turtle tank. I can't recall having any issues with it. Is it under warranty?
Click to expand...

To be honest I know nothing about the warrenty. I'll try giving it a good cleaning again. Maybe it just needs a new motor. Do they sell just parts for the filter? I guess I need the top piece that clips on to the canister if I can't get it working again.
 
I'd try cleaning it, and then running it for an hour on a bucket of warm (not hot) water. Then I'd determine if it was broken, or suitable for reinstallation on the turtle tank.

By cleaning, I mean, completely dissasemble the filter and clean the impeller housing with a qtip and water, rinse all the bio media, replace the foam pads.

I'd also probably replace the hoses, or at the very least, run hose brushes through all of them.
 
So this is how its going. I cleaned it out real good. This is the only way it will start up. I have to start it with the top off and manually get the impeller spinning. Then close everything up. Now to get it it to actually pump I have to make sure the inlet is 6 feet over the canister. Only then will it start pumping. Once it is started I can drop the inlet back to about 3 feet where my tank sits over the canister. When I got it a couple months ago it would start right up at the normal height without a problem. Now I have to lift it to get it started.
 
Well at least you got it working!
 
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