Siphon break on canister filter?

[mikeross]

So I picked up some fish today locally. He was telling me how a loose clamp on the outtake of his filstar filter came lose and drained half his tank... tons of floor damage.

I assume if a small siphon break was made on his intake and outtake tubes this wouldnt have happen correct? Anyone have a small siphon break on their canister filters? Not for power outages but if a hose clamp comes loose.

How big of a hole would I have to make on a fx5?

 

[deeda]

I don't personally think this would work that well on the FX5 because the pump would still be drawing air and water out of the tank until the intake strainer was no longer in the water. If you did try it, I would think the drilled hole would need to be fairly large, at least 3/8" to 1/2" diameter hole.

The filter pump would probably continue to run even with no water in it and probably burn the pump up and seize the impeller. I'm not sure if there is a thermal cut off fuse or thermister in the pump circuitry.

 

[mikeross]

So the solution to this possible issue is to keep the intake as high as possible?

 

[deeda]

The solution is to check your filter and hose connections frequently and replace any damaged, kinked or really old hoses. Raising the intake can be helpful but you will still be draining a lot of water out of the tank before the filter stopped working.