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Ok, so I just moved into college, and had to leave my turtle at home due to lack of space and pets not being allowed.

I left him in his 55 gallon tank at home under my mom's care. My problem is that my mom called telling me that the filter wasn't working, so I tried to talk her through the priming process (which I've ALWAYS had a VERY hard time doing myself), and she eventually got it working.

Now she has told me that it is working at very low pressure and water is just trickling out of the output tube. I'm away from home, and don't really have a chance to go home for another few weeks.

Anyone know why this might be and what I could do to help my mom?

Sounds like you might have loose seal somewhere and you have too much air in the canister. I would defiantly check to make sure that the tubes and nozzles are fitted as tightly as possible. Can she re-prime it if necessary?

Also, this might be dumb, but make sure the flow controller thing is all the way open.

The filter was working fine when you left? Is your mother hearing any spitting or wooshing sounds (would indicate air in the filter somewhere)? Is water leaking from anywhere (top of the filter, from any of the pieces on the outflow, for example)? Was the filter opened at all since you left?

Is the filter on the floor under the tank?

When the pressure dropped like that and there was no noise, for me it meant that something was clogged somewhere. Just a possibility, are you using a microfiltration pad at the very top of the filter? They can lower the pressure if they somehow get bunched up and impede the water flow.