Canister filter flow questions

[Luananeko]

I've used HOB filters almost my whole life, so I'm a bit of a noobie on canister filters... I picked up a Rena Filstar XP3 filter about 2 months back and it had a nice strong flow at first. Now it barely agitates the water surface at all... Is that normal?

The only thing I can figure is that maybe I have the media baskets too full? The filter shipped with only a small handful of the ceramic bio tubes and the foam bio stars, two thick foam pads, one small foam pad, and a bag of carbon. It looked way too empty in the baskets so I added enough ceramic bio tubes to completely fill the middle basket, part of the top basket, and added in polyfil to stuff the rest of the top basket. I've read that the flow rate can slow as the media gets full of gunk but I've rinsed out the polyfil and foam in the top basket thoroughly (in tank water of course) and it still doesn't have much flow. I stick my hand right at the spray bar exit and barely feel the water moving out of it.

I'm tempted to put my old Marineland Emperor 400 HOB filter back onto the tank to keep the oxygen levels where I want them!

 

[Cichlid Kid]

Try removing some of the media from the baskets that look the fullest and see if that works for you. I'd also make sure the impeller is spinning uninhibitedly

 

[mohican]

Mine do the same ring. I think ur baskets too full, take some of the bio out. Mine never runs as good as 1st day but it gets the job done on my tank.

 

[Luananeko]

I pulled out some of the bio media and a little of the polyfil so the baskets weren't quite so stuffed and that seems to have done the trick... Nice strong flow again! Now to see if it dies back down again after things settle... Thanks all!

 

[manbeast]

I've been running an xp3 for around a year best things I did was stop using the polishing pads as they clog way to fast, changed all the sponges to the courser foam and just filled the rest with ceramic bio media only have to do maintenance every 5-6 weeks

 

[Luananeko]

I've been running an xp3 for around a year best things I did was stop using the polishing pads as they clog way to fast, changed all the sponges to the courser foam and just filled the rest with ceramic bio media only have to do maintenance every 5-6 weeks

Ah, I bet that was the main part of my problem! I replaced the polishing pad at the same time that I trimmed down the other media, so I bet that was what really helped rather than my trimming... I still have two more replacements left for it, so once I run out from replacing it whenever it slows down I'll go polyfil all the way.

 

[Daxhua]

I keep both of my XP filters full of media, filter pads and I the flow rate stays strong for a month. I keep in the top basket of my XP2 & 4 a 20ppm foam pad, followed by micro filtration pads and top it off with a super micro filtration pad. If your flow rate is gradually slowing down then that's good your filter is doing its job by passing water through the pads and media rather than around. If the flow rate Is low from the beginning then something was put together wrong, that's happened to me a couple of times. If you don't want to be forced into replacing/cleaning your filter every week then remove some of the micro filtration pads hope that helps.

 

[Luananeko]

I keep both of my XP filters full of media, filter pads and I the flow rate stays strong for a month. I keep in the top basket of my XP2 & 4 a 20ppm foam pad, followed by micro filtration pads and top it off with a super micro filtration pad. If your flow rate is gradually slowing down then that's good your filter is doing its job by passing water through the pads and media rather than around. If the flow rate Is low from the beginning then something was put together wrong, that's happened to me a couple of times. If you don't want to be forced into replacing/cleaning your filter every week then remove some of the micro filtration pads hope that helps.

Awesome, thanks! My baskets were almost what I'd call overstuffed before, so I think I'm at the right level now... I might put some more bio tubes back in later after I swap from the micro filtration pads to straight polyfill, but it sounds like the micro filtration pads are just too fussy to handle a super full bio tube basket on top of the micro pad not being replaced weekly.

 

[Daxhua]

Awesome, thanks! My baskets were almost what I'd call overstuffed before, so I think I'm at the right level now... I might put some more bio tubes back in later after I swap from the micro filtration pads to straight polyfill, but it sounds like the micro filtration pads are just too fussy to handle a super full bio tube basket on top of the micro pad not being replaced weekly.

Awesome, thanks! My baskets were almost what I'd call overstuffed before, so I think I'm at the right level now... I might put some more bio tubes back in later after I swap from the micro filtration pads to straight polyfill, but it sounds like the micro filtration pads are just too fussy to handle a super full bio tube basket on top of the micro pad not being replaced weekly.

In case your wondering here's how I have my XP4 setup
Bottom basket has those cut to fit blue/white pads on bottom half followed by 20ppm foam pads from Rena in the top half of basket
The two middle baskets are full of media.
Top basket has a 20ppm foam pad and the rest is filled with the micro filtration pads from Rena toped off with one fine particle filter pad from Coralife.
I have all that and the water pressure doesn't start to drop until about a month.

Last month I did my filter maintenance and a thorough gravel vac after months of neglect so there was a lot of free floating waste and dirt in the water. The next day while feeding my fish I noticed the water current seemed low, so I found that the filter output flow was down to a trickle. I had to clean the pads again b/c they were caked with debris. So if you have a lot of wast in your tank maybe that's why your doing weekly maint on your filter.

 

[Luananeko]

In case your wondering here's how I have my XP4 setup
Bottom basket has those cut to fit blue/white pads on bottom half followed by 20ppm foam pads from Rena in the top half of basket
The two middle baskets are full of media.
Top basket has a 20ppm foam pad and the rest is filled with the micro filtration pads from Rena toped off with one fine particle filter pad from Coralife.
I have all that and the water pressure doesn't start to drop until about a month.

Last month I did my filter maintenance and a thorough gravel vac after months of neglect so there was a lot of free floating waste and dirt in the water. The next day while feeding my fish I noticed the water current seemed low, so I found that the filter output flow was down to a trickle. I had to clean the pads again b/c they were caked with debris. So if you have a lot of wast in your tank maybe that's why your doing weekly maint on your filter.

Very helpful to know... This is my first time actually replacing rather than rinsing the micro filtration pad, so I guess 2 months is actually pretty good. I do weekly 50% water changes and generally don't have much waste floating around unless I've added a new plant that's adjusting to my water parameters after being shipped. I'll see how long this pad goes before getting too clogged up to see if it's worth buying more replacements or if I should go for straight polyfil

 

[Daxhua]

Same thing I've got going on as well, I rinse my micro filter pads till they fall apart after about thee months. I don't fill that it's that big of an expense. I tried poly fill but didn't really like it, you'll prob go through the poly fill faster than the pads.
IMO once the poly fill gets dirty then you get water flowing around it rather than through it. I'm just guessing though.