redearslider.com

when i bought the filter it was working great however since i have cleaned my tank out a few times, put water back in, primed and restarted it , it has very little output. there is not much space between the tank and the filter, and i had to cut the tubing very short. What can i do to get the power back into the filter?

also how often does media need to be replaced, and if i have the standard media's that came with the filter which ones should i replace first....

Bio media does not need to be replaced, mechanical media (the sponge) can be replaced if it can't be cleaned thoroughly.

It sounds like there might be a problem with the motor or there is too much air in the system. Is this filter under the tank? Was it successfully primed?

i have a 305 and I check it once a month. Clean out the initial foam filter. I replace the carbon pack at that time. I only replace half of it though. The other half I do the next month.

And then is your tank completely full? or only half full. I used to have my filter in another tank that I could only fill half way up. There was about 8 in. between the top of the tank and the top of the water. The flow seemed pretty bad. I upgraded to my larger tank and I can fill it up to the top and it flows much much better now. From my understanding as long as the top of the canister is below the bottom of the tank and the tube length is not more than four feet from top of the tank to the filter, it should be fine. If everything else is ok then I would check the impeller, anything sticking it up maybe?

right now, i am in between buying a larger tank. I setup a plastic tub half full with water and set it on a low nightstand. the filter is probably no more than one foot below the tank. I had to cut the tubing fairly short since there was not a lot of room to work with as far as height of the tub. additionally, I think i made the mistake of starting it before it was fully primed. this was because i saw some air bubbles coming out of it. my guess is there isn't enough water in the tank? also, when the flow was good, it still was not effectively cleaning the water like it did the first week. Im guessing the carbon needs to be replaced then?

what color is the water? You said it's not cleaning it effectively. What makes you say that? And as for the priming thing. As long as it wasn't running long with air in there it shouldn't have been damaged. your carbon should be good for at least a month. Not sure how often it should be replaced. Mine gets it about every two months. And for the amount of water in the tank. It shouldn't affect the flow of the filter. As long as it's not pulling water up more than 7 inches to get over the top of the tank and the top of the canister is below the bottom of the tank, generally speaking, you should be fine. Another thing, aside from the imnpeller, you could check is the tubing itself. Where the ribbed tubing meets the intake tube (the plastic thing), and the rubber sleeve joins the two, is that under water? If the bubbles are still coming out that could be a cause. Also, if bubbles are still coming out check the seal between the lid and the bottom of the canister. That ring should be clean and no cracks.

i think its a flow problem. i took the outtake hose out and saw that the weird being pumped out was fairly clean, yet the tank was filthy. Since this is a temp setup, i have a huge rock for them to bask on and i think its getting in the way of waterflow. and by huge i mean larger than 1/3 of the tank.

I have a 405 and it is pretty finicky about the water level. It might be that the water in the tank isnt high enough or there is too little tubing to get a good siphon from the tank.

What type of Carbon do you use? I stopped using the Fluval brand carbon because it was too fine and would leak out of the mesh bags.

UPDATE:

replaced the carbon, water was clear for about 2-3 days now its murky and has a slight odor to it. put the nozzle in a bucket to see what the filter was doing, and the water that was coming out of it ws relativity clear, not at all like the tank water...what could be the cause of this?

Is it white murky water? If so, it's likely just the tank cycling. Change 10% of
the water daily and give the tank about a week or two to clear up.