OK, so we've all seen these threads and I've posted in them. I wanted someone else to provide some input here. I already spoke with hagen and they are wanting me to do some ridiculous crap and are not emailing me. Lady said she did 3 days ago, it was never received and I check spam folder. Said she re-emailed me today and never got it either. Her explanation when I spoke to her this afternoon "We're having emailing system problems." Sure you are.
My FX is taking on a TON of air. Constant microbubbles and sounds like a waterfall inside my fluval.
So, what are most recommendations - 1. Replace ALL of the O-rings 2. Inspect and or replace ribbed tubing/ rubber hose connectors 3. Replace aqua-stop valves 4. Simply reseat the o-rings, maybe somehow the first time you didn't do it right 5. Lubricate o-rings (technically when you first install them I guess but too late for me) 6. Inspect all of the screws for the lid (none of mine are cracked)
Well, needless to say I've done all of that. Incrementally over 4 months to try and find the problem. First was the o-rings, reseating them a couple of times. And, its a given that they wear out, did not lubricate them initially because I sat them each (minus the aqua-stop to canister o-rings they are tiny) in a 5 gallon bucket of water for an hour for a "rinse" as they were slick to begin with. No success but it did slow down air penetration. 2 weeks later replaced aquastop valves, no change. 1 month later (work was killing me working 4 6 day work weeks so just WC's) replaced aquastop valves. No change again. Sigh, 2 months later (between work, getting married, wife going to the hospital from the food at the wedding along with 20 other people and our honeymoon) replaced the hoses. Did find a hole from the clamps being over tightened (I've never touched them because they never had a problem from prior owner in 5 years) STILL no change. Searched around at LFS's for an aquarium safe silicone lube, found one at a pool store "pinch-a-penny" and it's the same brand that's carried on Foster & Smith. AGAIN no change.
So I contact hagen via website give them my email, phone, address, etc and the same description. So, 3 days after the supposed first email I call them. Lady proceeds to tell me that my hoses are completely wrong because they need to be 100% vertical with no slack what so ever and only have a tolerance of between 6 and 12 inches apart. Um, ok so you want that much water to recirculate to the filter? None the less 5 years of no problems for me and I see nearly everyone doing this and generally no issues. Talk about a waste from them with 13.5 feet given of hoses if that was the case. Next she tells me that having 4 coarse (blue) filter pads is too much, as well as having 750g fluval prefilter, and 1000g (between lower trays) of biomax is too much. I need to only have 1 blue pad and 1000g of biomax and prefilter media in whatever order because they are completely filled in 8-10 days. Sorry lady, mine aren't with my bioload of >30 tropical sub 5" fish. Nor were they full after 2 months with Pbass, and large CA cichlids. And I actually have run upwards of 5 at one time with the cichlid setup. Never had air bubbles like this. But why are each of the tray's as big as my entire fluval 206 if I cannot use that space?????? And the typical question was " Do you have power heads and how far away is your aerator from the intake", my answer. 100gph powerhead intank uv sterilizer and the airstone is over 1 ft and the next is 4 feet near the output and airstones are buried in 2 inches of gravel to not release microbubbles saturating the water with air. She moved on but did say if taking out all of my pads and a tray of biomax didn't fix it that she wanted a picture of my setup. Seriously? I'm flabbergasted.
So, please. Enlighten me what else I can do with this goddamn filter other than throw it away, because I'm at a loss.
My FX is taking on a TON of air. Constant microbubbles and sounds like a waterfall inside my fluval.
So, what are most recommendations - 1. Replace ALL of the O-rings 2. Inspect and or replace ribbed tubing/ rubber hose connectors 3. Replace aqua-stop valves 4. Simply reseat the o-rings, maybe somehow the first time you didn't do it right 5. Lubricate o-rings (technically when you first install them I guess but too late for me) 6. Inspect all of the screws for the lid (none of mine are cracked)
Well, needless to say I've done all of that. Incrementally over 4 months to try and find the problem. First was the o-rings, reseating them a couple of times. And, its a given that they wear out, did not lubricate them initially because I sat them each (minus the aqua-stop to canister o-rings they are tiny) in a 5 gallon bucket of water for an hour for a "rinse" as they were slick to begin with. No success but it did slow down air penetration. 2 weeks later replaced aquastop valves, no change. 1 month later (work was killing me working 4 6 day work weeks so just WC's) replaced aquastop valves. No change again. Sigh, 2 months later (between work, getting married, wife going to the hospital from the food at the wedding along with 20 other people and our honeymoon) replaced the hoses. Did find a hole from the clamps being over tightened (I've never touched them because they never had a problem from prior owner in 5 years) STILL no change. Searched around at LFS's for an aquarium safe silicone lube, found one at a pool store "pinch-a-penny" and it's the same brand that's carried on Foster & Smith. AGAIN no change.
So I contact hagen via website give them my email, phone, address, etc and the same description. So, 3 days after the supposed first email I call them. Lady proceeds to tell me that my hoses are completely wrong because they need to be 100% vertical with no slack what so ever and only have a tolerance of between 6 and 12 inches apart. Um, ok so you want that much water to recirculate to the filter? None the less 5 years of no problems for me and I see nearly everyone doing this and generally no issues. Talk about a waste from them with 13.5 feet given of hoses if that was the case. Next she tells me that having 4 coarse (blue) filter pads is too much, as well as having 750g fluval prefilter, and 1000g (between lower trays) of biomax is too much. I need to only have 1 blue pad and 1000g of biomax and prefilter media in whatever order because they are completely filled in 8-10 days. Sorry lady, mine aren't with my bioload of >30 tropical sub 5" fish. Nor were they full after 2 months with Pbass, and large CA cichlids. And I actually have run upwards of 5 at one time with the cichlid setup. Never had air bubbles like this. But why are each of the tray's as big as my entire fluval 206 if I cannot use that space?????? And the typical question was " Do you have power heads and how far away is your aerator from the intake", my answer. 100gph powerhead intank uv sterilizer and the airstone is over 1 ft and the next is 4 feet near the output and airstones are buried in 2 inches of gravel to not release microbubbles saturating the water with air. She moved on but did say if taking out all of my pads and a tray of biomax didn't fix it that she wanted a picture of my setup. Seriously? I'm flabbergasted.
So, please. Enlighten me what else I can do with this goddamn filter other than throw it away, because I'm at a loss.
