I had the seal on an Aquaclear 70 go up on me last night. Luckily I noticed the drop in water level after only 1-2gallons dripped out. Has anyone tried to replace their seal or just bought new? I’d like to repair it, but I’m not confident that it will be good as new afterwards
Aquaclear Seal leak
- Thread starter decoy50
- Start date
The o-ring seal on the pump is replaceable and I've bought one for an AC110 and it's good as new.
If your o-ring isn't damaged, try cleaning it up with clean water and a rag and apply some plumber's grease or similar lube that is drinking water safe or I've used Vaseline in the past, just a thin coating.
If your o-ring isn't damaged, try cleaning it up with clean water and a rag and apply some plumber's grease or similar lube that is drinking water safe or I've used Vaseline in the past, just a thin coating.
This is one design flaw of AC. You need to unscrew the motor to access the impeller for cleaning. It doesn’t take too many rounds of screwing to damage the seal, specially with aging rubber. Another flaw is the cover never really works as a clogged up foam will push it open and potential drip water over the top.
I can’t agree in considering the lid a design flaw. I have been using AC’s for decades (since the original Hagen’s amber color casings) and if I squeeze (rinse) sponges weekly I have never have had clogged sponges or lids being pushed up.
While it may be preferable not to need to unscrew the motor, if kept oiled (silicone lubricant) the o’ring will not crack for years.
Putting together these ‘flaws’ with the various benefits of AC filters, you have some of the best HOB filters out there. And yes I do have and use others (Penguin, Emperor).
While it may be preferable not to need to unscrew the motor, if kept oiled (silicone lubricant) the o’ring will not crack for years.
Putting together these ‘flaws’ with the various benefits of AC filters, you have some of the best HOB filters out there. And yes I do have and use others (Penguin, Emperor).
Few users rinse AC sponge weekly due to laziness or vacation. A clogged cartridge style HOB will never pop up by design. I can understand AC is appealing to big fish keepers due to high gph. But in light that you can get wavemakers for greater gph, efficiency and ease of maintenance , AC is not as appealing and high gph may even compromise the filtration efficiency.
"Few users...." - I can't agree with this either.
If someone does not want to squeeze sponges as little as once a week, that someone needs to live with the consequences.
Clogged cartridges - Neither occur under my watch (no cartridges, as I modify those to become permanent, non-disposable; No clogged, as al media on HOB filters gets squeezed weekly.)
Aquarium maintenance - One has choices (lots of them on lots of aspects), and one lives with the direct results of those.
But I respect other's choices. I just make those I consider best for me.
If someone does not want to squeeze sponges as little as once a week, that someone needs to live with the consequences.
Clogged cartridges - Neither occur under my watch (no cartridges, as I modify those to become permanent, non-disposable; No clogged, as al media on HOB filters gets squeezed weekly.)
Aquarium maintenance - One has choices (lots of them on lots of aspects), and one lives with the direct results of those.
But I respect other's choices. I just make those I consider best for me.
I have run ACs for 20 years now. If you know how to set it up properly, any overflow should be into the tank. Most H.O.B.s, and AC for sure come, with a spacer on the bottom or on the motor. This allows us to have the filter tilted slightly towards the tank. When you get lazy and let your media clog and it raises up, the overflow goes into the tank and not onto the floor.
My oldest AC has been running since late 2001. it is the 200 now called a 30. I have never had the motor seal gasket wear out and never had one leak. I ran an Emperor 400 for about 8 years until it quit. I replaced it and the changes Marineland had made resulted in it being on the tank for less than an hour and being returned. I always considered Penguins to be a cheaper version of the Emperor and never owned a penguin. One of the first things I did was to lose the Marineland carts and replace them with much better media. But the design ot the Emperor and Penguins made them more expensive to run and more work to clean. But the wet dry nature of the biowheels make it a great bio-media. I decided the negatives outweighed that benefit went another way.
Any filter one does not maintain will clog. When it does, bad things usually result. I have never flooded the floor from any of the 30+ ACs I have owned but I have had canisters leak.
I have used an Eheim Liberty filter which I loved but i standardize and the Liberty does not offer bugger models. So I could not standardize. (I have every modael AC made.) I have a Tetra Whisper Mini on a 5.5 but I have a piece of AC sponge and a piece of Poret fioam as the media, not the Whisper bags and skeleton. I eve tried a Tetra filter when the came up with ta strange design,. It gurgles so bad I gave it away.
A filter does not filter, the media does not filter, the microorganisms that live inside that sponge are the filter. So the the hall mark of a good filter are it space for media, how easy it is to use various different media in it and assuming these qualities the real issue is how long it runs well if one maintains it properly.
In all of my ACs I run two sponges and a layer of floss between them. I can throw a bag of carbon on top of this when I need to pull meds etc. In the past 7 or so years when an AC foam needs to be replaced, I cut a 20 ppi Poret foam block the same size, and use that instead. Talk about making a good filter even better.....
My oldest AC has been running since late 2001. it is the 200 now called a 30. I have never had the motor seal gasket wear out and never had one leak. I ran an Emperor 400 for about 8 years until it quit. I replaced it and the changes Marineland had made resulted in it being on the tank for less than an hour and being returned. I always considered Penguins to be a cheaper version of the Emperor and never owned a penguin. One of the first things I did was to lose the Marineland carts and replace them with much better media. But the design ot the Emperor and Penguins made them more expensive to run and more work to clean. But the wet dry nature of the biowheels make it a great bio-media. I decided the negatives outweighed that benefit went another way.
Any filter one does not maintain will clog. When it does, bad things usually result. I have never flooded the floor from any of the 30+ ACs I have owned but I have had canisters leak.
I have used an Eheim Liberty filter which I loved but i standardize and the Liberty does not offer bugger models. So I could not standardize. (I have every modael AC made.) I have a Tetra Whisper Mini on a 5.5 but I have a piece of AC sponge and a piece of Poret fioam as the media, not the Whisper bags and skeleton. I eve tried a Tetra filter when the came up with ta strange design,. It gurgles so bad I gave it away.
A filter does not filter, the media does not filter, the microorganisms that live inside that sponge are the filter. So the the hall mark of a good filter are it space for media, how easy it is to use various different media in it and assuming these qualities the real issue is how long it runs well if one maintains it properly.
In all of my ACs I run two sponges and a layer of floss between them. I can throw a bag of carbon on top of this when I need to pull meds etc. In the past 7 or so years when an AC foam needs to be replaced, I cut a 20 ppi Poret foam block the same size, and use that instead. Talk about making a good filter even better.....
LOL
Only “rinse sponge weekly due to laziness” wow thats the weirdest complaint i have heard of AC users. LOL. Its all about what is in the tank. And what the ac user layered in their acs Rules are always different with different stocking in each tank so whatever fin you are pointing at the AC users is an unfair assumption. ??? sure its a “big fish keeper that prefers them” having an AC110 in their 300g that made me laugh most ac users i know the bigger the tank is like over 110g like myself i do one fx6 and one ac110 for a different reason its called a secondary filter nothing wrong with that ? but anything over X amount of gallons idk if i have seen many ac110s its sump or fx6 sized filters for the big fish keepers generally. So the fx6 users are more lazy than we are not touching the units for weeks at a time? Also those sump users. Oh my. I feel bad for myself and my fellow AC users for being “lazy” ???? those canister filter users are criminals in your line of thinking of not even rinsing out those sponges weekly. Wow those o rings on those canisters definitely can break down quicker if it was weekly.
Wheres your complaint about the cartridge needing to be cleaned/rinsed as well. Not necessary to be crying about how ones filters need to be cleaned each filter system has their own pros and cons. ACs are customized people can choose what to use for media BTW. My only gripe is when i burn the motor its costly to replace. And thats literally the only gripe i have it was my own complete fault when those motors ran dry. User error. Been in this hobby for more than 3 decades. ACs are still my favorite HOBs out there i have heard of tidals being close but ive not had the opportunity to try a tidal out.
Now YOU can tell us how you clean your HOB with those cartridge things. How do you do it? Whats the tank and stocking like? Im interested in your HOBs as i like seeing improvements in technology those days. I remember when i was a kid those cartridges were costly to replace though.
Only “rinse sponge weekly due to laziness” wow thats the weirdest complaint i have heard of AC users. LOL. Its all about what is in the tank. And what the ac user layered in their acs Rules are always different with different stocking in each tank so whatever fin you are pointing at the AC users is an unfair assumption. ??? sure its a “big fish keeper that prefers them” having an AC110 in their 300g that made me laugh most ac users i know the bigger the tank is like over 110g like myself i do one fx6 and one ac110 for a different reason its called a secondary filter nothing wrong with that ? but anything over X amount of gallons idk if i have seen many ac110s its sump or fx6 sized filters for the big fish keepers generally. So the fx6 users are more lazy than we are not touching the units for weeks at a time? Also those sump users. Oh my. I feel bad for myself and my fellow AC users for being “lazy” ???? those canister filter users are criminals in your line of thinking of not even rinsing out those sponges weekly. Wow those o rings on those canisters definitely can break down quicker if it was weekly.
Wheres your complaint about the cartridge needing to be cleaned/rinsed as well. Not necessary to be crying about how ones filters need to be cleaned each filter system has their own pros and cons. ACs are customized people can choose what to use for media BTW. My only gripe is when i burn the motor its costly to replace. And thats literally the only gripe i have it was my own complete fault when those motors ran dry. User error. Been in this hobby for more than 3 decades. ACs are still my favorite HOBs out there i have heard of tidals being close but ive not had the opportunity to try a tidal out.
Now YOU can tell us how you clean your HOB with those cartridge things. How do you do it? Whats the tank and stocking like? Im interested in your HOBs as i like seeing improvements in technology those days. I remember when i was a kid those cartridges were costly to replace though.
I use the cartridge style Penguin HOBs that have essentially the same design for 40 years. I run it for mechanical only and never installed the biowheels nor bought their expensive cartridges. I precut my own filter pads from Polyester battings I bought from Joanna Fabric for less than a nickel each, and clamp it in their refillable media cage. I hang three of them in my 125g and two in my 75g, all heavily stocked and planted. As soon as the filter is clogged and begin to bypass making cascading noise, I replace the filter pads with fresh ones, which can be as frequent as twice a week but take only a minute. The most time consuming task is to precut the filter pads ahead of time which I do it about once a month. There are other cartridge style HOBs in the market, all function similarly, and you can improvise DIY filter pads or foam to save money. Unlike AC style, cartridge style HOBs will never leak or overflow, but you cannot be lazy as the media volume is small that demands frequent cleaning.
