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I haven't posted in a while because everything has been going well. The filter is cleaning the tank well now. I'm feeding spots less, and she seems to be growing more! Not sure how that works. My question today about the filter is that every few minutes, ir will randomly stop. The water in the flow bar will either falter for justmamsecond, or a few seconds, and then keep going, then it will stop a few minutes later, then start again. I haven't timed it but the longest time it's stopped has not been more than a minute, maybe. It's been doing this since I cleaned it, which was way back when I was having problems with it not keeping the tank clean. So I don't think it's buildup anywhere. Maybe it's air in the tubes? I don't know, has anyone had this issue?

There is buildup in the tubes that I can see. Should I be cleaning them, and if so how, and how often?

Tonight when I came down, spots didn't seem very active, so I checked the temp, and the water did feel cold. The tank is in our finished basement, so it's a little chilly down here when the air is on. I turned the heater up, and she seems more active now, but she's also been hanging out near the heater, warming up. It's 79 in there now. I fed her, but she's not eating. Hoping she'll eat when she warms up.

Sounds like the filter is purging air. Either the air is at the top of the canister or there is a leak on the intake.
Try rocking the canister back and forth to see if you can dislodge the air.
If it keeps up check your intake tube for leaks, make sure everything is tight.

See this thread too: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showt ... p?t=345386

Thanks! Of course as soon as I posted, the tank got very dirty. I needed to move it anyway, so I drained the water, and will try getting all the air our when I put it back together. Any suggestions for cleaning the hoses?

I usually stuff damp paper towels into the hose and use a wooden dowel to shove it through. They also make brushes for cleaning filter tubes... some just use the standard ones made for sinks. There was a pipe cleaner for a car that was really popular... I can't remember it's name though.

Paper towels and a long dowel worked fine, thanks! I set it all back up and I think I got the air bubbles out. I filled the filter with water after I cleaned everything, plugged it in, and primed it several times.

Glad to know it worked. Some people have said that the gunk in the tubes go away after some time, but they usually stick around in my experience.

Tubing is like $.33 a foot at the hardware store. I never clean mine.