My canister just died... what do I do?

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Argblarg

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 6, 2006
Messages
85
I'd just finished cycling my new 46 gal tank last week and added a couple more fish. During my PWC this week the intake for my Fluval 304 decided to come detached up at the top, causing the Fluval to stop pumping. This thing has been giving me problems since I got it a month ago (used from a friend0 and it seems like it finally bit the dust.

I opened it up, spinning the impeller manually while it was plugged in and there was no response at all. I have also smacked it a few times to see if that would fix it. In the process I'm pretty sure I broke the primer pump thing. Great!

I have a little Aquaclear mini HOB that is still running that will have to do for tonight. I am at the mercy of the local Petsmart for a replacement in the morning. Any tips there? Am I going to be able to move the media from my Fluval into whatever I get and not have my tank go into another cycle? Especially after 12 hours of just sitting in there?

Thanks for your help! Not the first post I wanted to have here, have been lurking quite a while.
 
If you take the media out of the filter and put in a bucket of the tank water and put in a bubbler, and a spare heater if you have one available, it should be fine. The more you do for it, the better it will keep.
 
I don't have a bubbler or a spare heater yet. Hopefully everything will be ok.
 
It might just need to be re-primed with tank water to start up again? Sounds like it might have ran dry? Sure, It could be dead, but if you fill it with water and re-prime it, it could restart. Might be worth a try.

Keep the biomedia moist. You could put it in a mesh bag in the tank till a replacement filter arrives.
 
My Fluval 304 sometimes takes a long time to start pumping again after I cleaned the filter. I'm sitting there for maybe 15 minutes priming and priming, switching that thing on and off, shaking it to dislodge air in the filter etc.
Does it make any noise at all when you have it plugged in or is it deadsilent? If it still makes some soaking noise you might be able to prime it with some patience.
Otherwise you could put some filter material into the tank and let it swim in there over night, to keep your bacteria alive. It's not pretty, but you will get a new filter as quick as possible anyway.
When you have a new filter (tomorrow), continue to minitor the water parameters for another week and change some water. That way you should be fine! Good luck and I'm sorry for what happened.
 
if it is broken, just do as everyone else said and keep the media moist or in the tank to keep the bacteria and run the little ac unit in the meantime. If there are no fish in the tank then nothing to worry about.
 
Tried for another hour to get it to spin at all. Wasn't making any noises so I figured dead motor. I ended up getting a new 305. I should have tried a different brand because this one was just as much of a pain to get started in the beginning, but after it was up and running everything's fine (and way quieter than the 304 was!)

I didn't have a seperate heater or anything so I just left everything in the old canister until the morning. Fish are all OK, ammonia and nitrites are both zero. My nitrites are also zero, could this be related to this brown algae that is starting to cover my fake plants?

Right now I have:
4 cories
1 rubberlip pleco
6 white clouds
5 ghost shrimp
 
Algae take in nutrients too, but that you don't have an ammonia or nitrite spike might be more from having maybe the filter material in the tank, already bacteria in the gravel and on your decorations that denitrify wastes.

Keep monitoring for a week just to be on the safe side.

As for trying a different brand, I had an expensive Eheim canister filter before. They run as great as the Fluvals, but they are a pain in the behind to prime and get going too.
 
I run the XP3 myself, and going to start my XP2 on my 29G soon. Very easy to get going, and very quick and easy to prime.
 
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