MOPARDEVIL Posted December 27, 2003 Share Posted December 27, 2003 I have a few Aquaclear filters running on various tanks. If there is a power outage/blackout the water drains out of the filter when there is no power. When the power returns there is no water left in the filter. The filters start up again but there is no water in them & they dont automatically fill up with water again. I had a blackout last week & this happened & I was lucky I was still awake at 1am to sort it out. My question is, is there some sort of modification that can be done to fix this problem. Is this common with all Hang on Back filters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Osmos Posted December 27, 2003 Share Posted December 27, 2003 hey MD i guess it depends on how old they are and what type you have, i find all my older Aquaclears run dry after a blackout/powercut but my dynaflows stop/start with no problems at all, but this could just be me no mods i can think of, with out running a small powerhead into inlet cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOPARDEVIL Posted December 27, 2003 Author Share Posted December 27, 2003 They are all less than a year old. I have Aquaclear 500, 200 & Mini. They all seem to do it. I find them to be a great filter apart from them running dry on blackouts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted December 27, 2003 Share Posted December 27, 2003 I have a few aquaclears here, and one of them is pretty old (the old brown style) but they are all the same shape. The outlet is at the top of the filter, and the media chamber is lower than that, so I am unable to understand how your filter is draining. Even after doing a water change which brings the water level down below the inlet pipe, mine all still start again without any priming needed. Could yours be broken somehow? Where does all the water go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlecoSam Posted December 27, 2003 Share Posted December 27, 2003 Hi, IMO I think that all aquaclears should restart after a blackout depending on how high the water level is regardless of age. When I had aquaclears I used to sit them low on the tank and I ran my tank levels pretty high ( less than 1/2" from glass lid). I never had any problems with them restarting and some of them were over 7 years old. Cheers, Sam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bit Racer Posted December 27, 2003 Share Posted December 27, 2003 I have found that if your water level of your tanks is high then the aqua clears will have a better chance of priming themselves. When the water level in your tank drops during a water change then the inlet acts like a siphon and draws all the water out of your filter into your tank. Keep your water level high in your tank, switch off your filter and switch it on again to see if it primes okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOPARDEVIL Posted December 28, 2003 Author Share Posted December 28, 2003 Ok thanks for that guys. I will add a bit more water & see what happens. I dont know what Im going to do with my Aquaclear 500 as I have to keep my water level low as one of the fish hits it head on the glass when it dives to the surface & has caused a nasty wound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierced Soul Posted December 29, 2003 Share Posted December 29, 2003 not much you can do aside from increasing water level. Mine all drain too and I have a quite a lot of them. If I switch the filter off for cleaning, all the water in the filter will siphon striaght back into the tank. It's just a "normal" thing. I have the same issue with other HOB filters too so it aint just the aquaclear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yhbae Posted December 29, 2003 Share Posted December 29, 2003 Aha... I didn't realize it was tied to the water level. I was always curious as sometimes they easily re-start while in other cases, I see no water in the filter when it is turned off... (Hehe I just tried it again, that theory seems correct! Now the only thing I need to figure out is what is the minimum level of water required...) Thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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