Need help with my Fluval

[Lady Hobbs]

Can anyone help me understand why I always loose my prime when doing filter maintenance? Sometimes I just can't get my canister going again so must be doing something wrong.

I lift up on the black lever to stop water flow, unplug the unit, then lift up on the silver lever that disconnects the hoses from the canister. (As instructed in the manual.) If I dump all the old water and do a refill, I have no problem getting it going. But, if I leave the water in there and try to hook it back up, all I get is a bunch of rattling and can't get it going again without messing around with it for an hour. I'm sure I am getting an air lock but don't know how to prevent it.

The manual gives the sequence of unhooking but not hooking back up so I just repeat the same steps as the unhook. Silver bar first, plug in, then black lever. What am I doing wrong please?

Big sale on them at Big Als again and I'd like to order another if I can figure this out.

[gm72]

Interesting. I have no Fluvals in my arsenal so I don't know. Have you considered adding a sponge prefilter (yes, I am a broken record on this facet of running canisters) to avoid having to open the canister? I have gone from opening mine once every 6 months to only opening them when the flow drops. Zero problems. Rinse out the sponge prefilter when it looks dirty and BOOM! Zero maintenance troubles.

[Fishguy2727]

I turn it off, lift the flow shutoff valve, lift the locking latch, clean, fill with water, reconnect the hoses, open the flow valve, plug it back in. Sometimes I plug it in then immediately before I open the flow valves so that there is a little pressure to go when the valves are opened. I fill the canister before I put it back on. When I leave it empty it seems to take longer and cause more problems. If it doesn't start up immediately (rare) I unplug, pump the primer, plug in, pump, etc. until it gets going again.

[sergo]

hobbs if your not filling it back up before you put it back together then that is the problem. i've never had a problem with my 305 getting going again after i clean just the canister. also when you put it back together don't plug it up immediately, allow some water to flow from the tank in to it to equalize it then plug it in. it'll spit and sputter for a few while it works the little bit of air out that's left. also you'll need to tilt it side to side and front to back a little too help work the trapped air out. but with all of that it should be back to normal in less than 5 mins of hooking all back up. see how that works for ya.

[KcEE]

I'll have to agree with everyone else here Hobbsy! I kinda figured that out myself too a month back. I was also wondering why I had to spend half an hour pumping the canister like mad. LOL! Whenever I clean the canister now, I have to fill it up until just above the top tray. After that, i give it a few pumps, switch it back on and it's done! Hope it'll work for yours Hobbs!

[slinky]

I have a 205 and found that happening once. I made sure to give it a bunch of pumps with that little pump pin until the air was all gone from the output. It works perfectly that way. If I don't pump enough I'd get that rattling sound. It's an awesome cannister...

[Lady Hobbs]

Well, darn, the manual says not to fill it up with water in big bold letters (page 11). I assumed that means to not fill it yourself but let the canister fill it. It seems like when I start with an empty filter and use the primer, it works good but trying to start it with the water in it is where I run into a snag.

So, when it is making that kinda of grinding noise, do I just let it go. Or just leave it unplugged for awhile and wait for a bit?

Sorry, you guys all lost me when you said you fill it.

[Lady Hobbs]

I have a 205 and found that happening once. I made sure to give it a bunch of pumps with that little pump pin until the air was all gone from the output. It works perfectly that way. If I don't pump enough I'd get that rattling sound. It's an awesome cannister...

Tried that, too. The canister is already full so priming doesn't do much but I do it anyway to let the air out. Maybe it's causing more air?

[Lady Hobbs]

Interesting. I have no Fluvals in my arsenal so I don't know. Have you considered adding a sponge prefilter (yes, I am a broken record on this facet of running canisters) to avoid having to open the canister? I have gone from opening mine once every 6 months to only opening them when the flow drops. Zero problems. Rinse out the sponge prefilter when it looks dirty and BOOM! Zero maintenance troubles.

gm72, I was using Soil Master Select with give a horrid black cloud whenever I moved plants around or planted new ones. So much of that black stuff would clog up the filter media that the canister would just slow down to nearly a stop. Until I switched to sand, I had to keep changing out the floss to keep it going. Last night I added peat to the filter so had to open it again.

But I do believe I will invest in the prefilter as well.

[gm72]

As most already know, this is the one I use on all of my filters. I just really can't tell you how much it has diminished my need to perform filter maintenance. Don't know how I got along without one before.

http://www.aquariumguys.com/lupr.html