Lost a canister last night

[mattison187]

well as the title states. Had an fx5 crap out on me. Pretty sure it was dead for a day or two atleast. Doing water changes last night i noticed once the water level got below the return that it wasnt running. Luckly after testing the water, i caught it before the tank crashed, but it was a big pain none the less. I ended up putting my media from the fx5 to a spare marineland 360. So the only thing im really out at the moment is my inline sterilizer. But i figured i would make a post to remind you guys to keep an eye on those canisters. No real way to tell if they are on if there are no plants or bubbles to see water movement.

Now its time to call fluval for a replacement motor.

 

[mattison187]

Hey on a little brighter note, i just hit 1000 posts apparently

 

[rucus]

Sorry to hear your canister crapped out on you. I'm always afraid of that happening but have never had one go out in use before. How old was yours out of curiosity? Congrats on the 1k though

 

[TwoHedWlf]

Only filters I've ever had die were fluvals. My FX5 I thought had died too a month or two ago. Found it not pumping, just like you. Might have been a couple days. Cleaned it, put it back together, wasn't pumping, cleaned it again pulled the whole impeller assembly apart and reassembled. Seems to be working fine since then.

 

[mattison187]

Sorry to hear your canister crapped out on you. I'm always afraid of that happening but have never had one go out in use before. How old was yours out of curiosity? Congrats on the 1k though

Complete guess here. But i want to say roughly 2012 or so it was purchased

 

[mattison187]

Only filters I've ever had die were fluvals. My FX5 I thought had died too a month or two ago. Found it not pumping, just like you. Might have been a couple days. Cleaned it, put it back together, wasn't pumping, cleaned it again pulled the whole impeller assembly apart and reassembled. Seems to be working fine since then.

I havnt torn apart the assembly yet. Cant say i ever have needed to. Maybe tonight ill tear into it and see if i can save it

 

[TwoHedWlf]

There's not really that much tearing apart you can do, pop the motor off, pull the impeller out, clean any gunk off, put it back together.

 

[mattison187]

There's not really that much tearing apart you can do, pop the motor off, pull the impeller out, clean any gunk off, put it back together.

Do you seperate the motor from the bottom of the canister to get to the impeller? Like the phillips heads that are kind of set in on the outside of the can?

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

well as the title states. Had an fx5 crap out on me. Pretty sure it was dead for a day or two atleast. Doing water changes last night i noticed once the water level got below the return that it wasnt running. Luckly after testing the water, i caught it before the tank crashed, but it was a big pain none the less. I ended up putting my media from the fx5 to a spare marineland 360. So the only thing im really out at the moment is my inline sterilizer. But i figured i would make a post to remind you guys to keep an eye on those canisters. No real way to tell if they are on if there are no plants or bubbles to see water movement.

Now its time to call fluval for a replacement motor.

Well, next time point the return output to water surface, if you didn't notice the water moving on the surface then...pretty much nothing left to say and for me I just look at how the water surface movement and I knew if the canister partial clogged or heavy clogged and need to clean up.

 

[Steve_C]

Do you seperate the motor from the bottom of the canister to get to the impeller? Like the phillips heads that are kind of set in on the outside of the can?

Yep. There are four phillips screws in the long "slots" on the motor housing, you'll need a screwdriver that has about a 6" shaft for so to reach into the slot to the screw head on two of the screws. Just take those four out and the motor will come right off and the impeller just pulls out.

BTW just watch when you take the screws off because the end they screw into that holds the motor on is just a small square captured piece and it can fall out and get lost somewhat easy. So just be aware of that when you unscrew it.