Zombie filters

[captmicha]

Something strange is going on with my HOB filters and one powerhead. They came back from the dead.

There were several that had completely stopped working and I took them out of the tanks and they've been sitting for months dry and I don't know why I decided to plug one in tonight but it worked! Then I tried the others and they do too.

What the heck could be going on??

All my outlets function.

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[XanAvaloni]

well, define "died." Did they start making horrible noises or just cease to move water? In the case of the HOBs it could conceivably have been sponges/media so clogged water was moving but couldn't get through them (which seems improbable as you are a good fishkeeper and would never let them get into such a state) or else, something was preventing the impellers from turning. In the case of the powerhead that's about the only choice on account of they have no media.

So during their months of dessication whatever was tying up the impeller shafts dried out. And shrunk. And may have disintegrated into dust. Whereupon the impellers had nothing to impede them and whoosh, water moves again.

Of course the only other logical alternative is demonic possession. So it's hard to say.

But on the off chance it was the gunk in the impellers it would be a good idea to take them apart and clean those out. I had some clog up from just a few very fine cat hairs one time, when I had a sick cat who spent all his time sleeping on top of the aquarium for the warmth. They were so fine as to be nearly impossible to see but with magnification and tweezers I got them off and the HOB runs fine to this day.

congrats on the revivified machinery. Maybe pick up a can of Demon-B-Gone for future use.

 

[excuzzzeme]

Sometimes when you try to restart them, there is no action and they seem to have died. If you unplug and replug them it will then work. Once in a while it has been known to take a few tries. All HOB's seem to be affected by it. It happens to canisters as well on occasion. Just part of the unknown.

 

[Rbishop]

Sounds like the beginning of a great movie....

 

[To3kn33]

'Zombie filters..... Be scared to rinse your media'


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[gmh]

One of my filters stopped working after a brief power outage that occured when the utility replaced our meter. I was cursing the new 'smart' meter for ruining my filter. As a desperation measure I tried unplugging it and then replugging a couple of times, and suddenly it worked again.
Electricity is a mystery to me.

 

[platytudes]

I, too, have had this happen...also filters that made terrible noises before have suddenly become silent after being pulled out of storage. Maybe they just need to rest for a while? lol

 

[Slappy*McFish]

I've had impellers on powerheads reverse their direction after a power flicker/outage. I always check my filters and pumps after power issues because many times they will need to be kick-started to run again.

 

[petluvr]

I have had hob's as well as powerheads do this, as someone said it is just part of the unknown I guess

 

[captmicha]

Weird stuff. And they were dead, as in not making any noise or doing anything at all. Boy am I glad they're working now. But for how long? I'm afraid they could die again at any minute.

After watching enough zombie movies, I've concluded that it's never a good idea to re-antimate the dead but I was wrong. Re-animated filters (and powerheads) is a good, good idea!