Canister Disaster

[Damascus]

Hi all,

Currently going through a power outage in my area due to a bad storm. Normally no biggie.

However my new canister filter (properly set up and run) siphoned water out of the aquarium and through the area where the head of the unit deals to the body, dumped it out. You know, the area with clamps all the way around it...???

Had my dog not woken me up screaming and barking about why her room was flooding, it would still be dumping water on the floor.

I intend to take this apart tomorrow to figure out why a new filter would back pull 55+ gallons of water out of my 220 before I caught it.

Does anyone have any ideas?
I am livid right now.

 

[fishhead0103666]

Was the o ring put in correctly?

 

[Damascus]

Was the o ring put in correctly?

Yep. I'm at a loss here because we went through a longer outage last week and nothing happened

 

[celebrist]

What kind of canister and how old

 

[Damascus]

Hw-3000 and maybe a month

 

[deeda]

A canister filter shouldn't do that (obviously) if all the seals are installed correctly and the canister body isn't deformed in some way. I have heard anecdotal posts that this may happen during a power outage IF there is a lot of water height between the canister top and the tank rim.

Can you post a pic of how the filter is installed or at least how you have the input/output hoses hooked up to the tank, that is are the hoses over the tank rim, through bulkhead fittings on the bottom/side of the tank and/or the distance between the canister top and where the hoses are connected?

 

[TheWolfman]

Bad Gasket will do that. I've had it happen before. Replace the one that was leaking.

 

[celebrist]

I have never really trusted those cheap knockoffs

 

[NCHornet]

There are only a few possible causes, a rupture in the canister/lid/hose, a bad seal between the lid and the canister body or a defective valve. It's strange it wasn't leaking before the outage. How long had it been before the outage since you had the lid off? This could be user error as much as filter error. To be honest I haven't heard great things about these filters since they came out. I have 4 Sun Sun 304's and I think the 404's and they have done fine except they are much louder than a Fluval. Unless they are in a cabinet I wouldn't use one myself. They are good for the money but I still prefer a used FX over a new Sun Sun of any size. Let us know what you find out. Thanks
NCH

 

[Oughtsix]

I had a fluval 404 that would to that if it wasn't put together just perfectly... but it wouldn't wait for a power outage to do so... it would wait just long enough for me to leave the room.