Habitat - Indoor :: Help with my filter ??

[rangerman2003]

So I just brought my first RES home and so far he is loving the tank.. BUT I bought a Marineland Penguin 200 (200GPH) for my 20 gallon.. Now my ? is I can hear it working but no water is coming out by the BIO-Wheel! So is it working or how do I make it work...I looked down inside of the pump and water is going crazy but its almost like it doesnt have enough water to go over the little wall and through the BIO-Wheel.. I cant raise the water anymore or my basking area will be high enough that my RES can escape

[JGoldinger]

unfortunatly, i think thats your only options, those filters are meant to work at certain water levels....

[Caphits]

The filter should still work, but with less output, if the water is low.

I am having the exact same problem with one of my filters, as of last night.


I will let you know if I can figure out anything with my situation.

[papoopeepoo]

The hang on filters have always been trouble for me with turtles, personally. The distance the tubing has to cover, and the flow lost by the extra height the filter has to pump, makes most of those types of filters basically useless. They are designed with a full fish aquarium in mind.

It may help your setup if you try and raise the water level in the tank so that it is about 2 inches higher than the bottom of the filter body. This will help the impeller by creating a siphon in the tubing.

If you need to compensate for having more water in the tank, a simple barrier that extends higher than the wall of the aquarium may help to keep your turtle in. Just make sure the barrier is safe and secure.

I recommend upgrading to a canister filter as soon as you can. The right filter will keep your 20 gallon cleaner and also help to keep a future tank cleaner, resulting in a happier turtle!

[scottpkura]

The penguin 200 should have come with an Extension. It extends the intake about 4-6 inches. I have one that I run on a 20 Gallon Shrimp/Platy tank. The extension has an upper intake which you'll need to close for turtle use.

[thegrandpoohbah]

Like scottpkura said, the filter may have an extension attached to the intake tube. If the joint where the tube and extension are connected is higher than the water level, then it may be sucking air which prevents it from creating a proper siphon. I had the same problem with my Rena XP3. The solution is to seal the gap using either aquarium safe silicone (Such as GE Silicone I Door and Window) or crazy glue. Either way, make sure you give it time to cure properly before setting the filter back up.

[Caphits]

I guess what I didnt mention before is that i have 2 HOT filters on that tank, and one works super duper awesome, but the other one has just a trickle. It happened right after giving the filter a good cleaning. Changing the tubes does nothing. I have no idea why it is not pumping water....

[scottpkura]

This might be obvious, but did you prime it properly? Priming it is as easy as filling the filter with water.

[Caphits]

It sounds like it is "primed"

You dont really "prime" a HOT filter. You can pour some water on the intake tube, and that sometimes helps, but generally, the filter draws up all the air from the tube all by itself. (as long as there is water in the filter)

...I wish I knew what was wrong with my filter too. At least I have another filter constantly on the tank, but it doesnt get the water nearly as clean with just the 1.

[marisa]

Filling up the filter with water is priming it. If my Aquaclear still seems to be having problems pulling up the water, I fiddle with the strength of the output by moving the lever back and forth. Continuing to add water to the side where the intake is also helps.

[jozzep]

Don't know if this is solved or not....but YES, it needs to be primed (filled with water)
I hate hang on filters for turtles and i sold mine on ebay

[Caphits]

I fixed my problem! It looks like it was sort of 2 things.

1. Just above the impeller, where it connects to the rest of the assembly, there is a small opening. This part was clogged.

2. It seemed there was a small piece of carbon (or something like that) under the impeller, and under the magnet. I think it was making the impeller assembly sit out of line.

Check out these parts on your filter, and see if anything is wrong.

I cleaned my other filter after cleaning the broken one in these spots, and it works way way better.

PS. I know this is a big bump.