# XP3 filter hook up question



## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

Hello all,

I am so close to finishing this bloody set up!!, the pictures show how i have hooked up the xp3 to the inlet/outlet overflow things. I just wanted your opinions..is it wrong or right, any other ideas??. My biggest worry is if it leaks!, i think initially i will put a big rubbermaid container under neath it as i fill it. Is it best to prime it by filling the cansiter with water?



























Cheers


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks fine to me. I presume it used? I would definitely put it in a tote in case it leaks and be ready to unplug it quickly lol I don't think you will have any issues from what I can see


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

LOL i know!, it is ued, has been sitting for the last 2 years, checked all the seals, i think this Sunday or Monday i will add the gravel/decor etc, then have a few drinks then fill her up!!, thanks for the input


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Mine works fine but i have it in a bucket just in case


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

Is it best to prime it by filling the canister with water??


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

if you have the original inlet /outlet fittings, one should have cap that screws on the top( the inlet/suction I believe) . Just take the cap off & pour water in it and that will fill the tank. you will see the air bubbles coming from the outlet.


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## theinnkeeper (Sep 12, 2011)

Diztrbd1 said:


> if you have the original inlet /outlet fittings, one should have cap that screws on the top( the inlet/suction I believe) . Just take the cap off & pour water in it and that will fill the tank. you will see the air bubbles coming from the outlet.


Unplug it. Fill it with this method, close cap. And plug in


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

i dont have the original inlets, should i just fill it form the inlet on my tank?, i hooked it up directly to the tank outlets


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

This is my inlet


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol thanks for adding what I left out Innkeeper

you have the hoses connected to an overflow type eh Roshan? You can fill the tank of the filter and start it that way too. The tank has to be full as the actual pump is at the top of the filter obviously. When you clamp the top on, the water will overflow a little so make sure to have it in a tote for sure.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Way easier than suggested. 

The way you have if hook up, just fill the tank and the canister will fill itself by gravity.

If the filter has been sitting for 2 years lubricate all the O-rings with plumber silicon. Do keep the filter in a small tray in case it it develops small leak.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

thanks for the help, but now i am a bit confused, where will this overflow come from?, the hoses are attached directly to the in/outlets. Sorry i am new to this type of set up, will the water flow out of the canister?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks like your inlet and outlets are direct plumbed to the bottom of the tank and behind and overflow? My big cube is drilled but from the side and I had no problem getting the filter to start when I set it up. Just leave it empty. Once you lock the the adapter in, gravity should do the rest as long as both inlet and outlet are under water.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

thanks Gord, LOL what are o rings?


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Looks like your inlet and outlets are direct plumbed to the bottom of the tank and behind and overflow? My big cube is drilled but from the side and I had no problem getting the filter to start when I set it up. Just leave it empty. Once you lock the the adapter in, gravity should do that rest as long as both inlet and outlet are under water.


Yes it is, do u guys mean that in a normal set up there is a seprate overlow tank?


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

roshan said:


> thanks for the help, but now i am a bit confused, where will this overflow come from?, the hoses are attached directly to the in/outlets. Sorry i am new to this type of set up, will the water flow out of the canister?


Gary is actually probably right and you don't need to do it the way I described. The water overflowing I was referring to was on the filter itself, when you put the top back on , it would push the water in the filter bottom, up a little bit before you clamp it it together. sorry for the confusion.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

roshan said:


> Yes it is, do u guys mean that in a normal set up there is a seprate overlow tank?


In a normal setup with a canister filter, you have no overflow and you use a siphon tube for the inlet over the side of the tank and same with the outlet. Overflows are normally designed to work with sumps.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> In a normal setup with a canister filter, you have no overflow and you use a siphon tube for the inlet over the side of the tank and same with the outlet. Overflows are normally designed to work with sumps.


Ok i think i get it now :lol:


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

Diztrbd1 said:


> Gary is actually probably right and you don't need to do it the way I described. The water overflowing I was referring to was on the filter itself, when you put the top back on , it would push the water in the filter bottom, up a little bit before you clamp it it together. sorry for the confusion.


Please dont worry about it, you are trying to explain this to someone who has no idea!


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol been there myself, if you were closer, I'd come and give you a hand. Some things are easier to show, than explain here lol


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

Diztrbd1 said:


> lol been there myself, if you were closer, I'd come and give you a hand. Some things are easier to show, than explain here lol


indeed no worries


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

*Antoher question about the xp3*

just noticed a rubber o seal on the underside of the filter, looks broken or is it meant to be that way?


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

it shouldn't be broken, but I don't believe it will hurt anything if you use it. It's inside the filter, nothing is going is leak because of it.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

cool thanks


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

You may get a lot of air noise because now the pump is no longer isolated by from the canister by the seal so the pump may cavitate, but you won't know until you try it. You may want to replace it though.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

thanks for the help


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

The O-ring is actually the way it is. Just push it back and you will be find.

As suggested earlier, you need a way (valve) to control the outflow (not the inlet) so your canister does not such in air from the tank overflow just like your bath tub forming a vortex when draining.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

gklaw said:


> The O-ring is actually the way it is. Just push it back and you will be fine.


Really? I've never pulled mine out before. I had just assumed it's an actual O ring and not an open gasket. I'll have to have a look.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Really?


Really  100% sure almost only because I do not have one any more - at one point have 3 or 4 of them.

I think the function of that particular O-ring is seat on the top basket lid. It keeps the flow down the side and through the bottom of the baskets to the impeller. If missing the water will got suck in from the top and bypassing them the media basket - at least some of it any way.

So, I would stretch it a little bit and complete the ring.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Gordon is actually right Gary. Going by the pic on the parts list the o-ring is split
841632-00 - Rena Filstar XP Impeller Cover Seal/O-Ring 
Rotor-Impellers | Planet Rena Factory Direct
never had mine off either lol


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

As suggested earlier, you need a way (valve) to control the outflow (not the inlet) so your canister does not such in air from the tank overflow just like your bath tub forming a vortex when draining.[/QUOTE]

Any ideas about how to set up a valve, should i cut into the hose and fnd a valve to attach?. Also i dont have a overflow tank, just a direct set up.

Thanks for the help....all of you


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## fkshiu (Apr 22, 2010)

I don't think this will work. An overflow like what you've got your canister hooked up to is designed to do just that: overflow. Every time power gets shut to the canister the water level in the tank will drop so that it is no longer overflowing leaving your canister intake empty. The result is that when the power is turned back on there will necessarily be a lot of air sucked into the canister filter causing a whole lot of gurgling at best or cavitation. A canister filter is designed to work as a closed-loop system - no air ever enters the canister. In contrast, an overflow/sump setup is an open system. You are mixing two types of systems which were never designed to worked with each other.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

Thanks for the input, i know that this is how the tank was run previously so i am not sure how they did it, mind you all they had in the tank at the time was one Arrowana and nothing else, still i will give it a try and see what happens, if worse comes to worse i will buy the tubing for the XP3. one questin though, what if i never turn off the power?. I am aware i cold get a power outage may occur, i will put the canister in a bucket in case that happens.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Not the prefer way as noted by others and earlier. If you shall insist, cut the output hose and splice in a good ball valve which is easier to adjust - the blue handle type from Corix works great rather than cheap junk from HomeDepot with the red handle. Get the threaded end one and thread in two bard adapter to suit the hose and gear clamps. 

May be you can full blast as well but hard to tell.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

WOW!!, lol this is getting outof hand and a bit past my expertise!!, now thinking of just buying the original XP3 tubing and blocking up those out/in holes!!


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I have more or less the exact same overflow to canister setup as you. My tank had two built in overflows which I decided to hook up some FX5's to at least take advantage of the overflows since they were already there. I had originally planned to use a sump. The intake to the canister is hooked up to the hole at the bottom of the overflow chamber. The return is elsewhere in the tank (I drilled a hole and installed a bulkhead). There's no problem with this setup at all as long as the overflow can supply enough water to the canister. Two ways you can achieve this, with a ball valve so that you can regulate the return which in turn will regulate how much water the canister will take, or you can just fill the tank high enough over the overflow teeth so that there's always enough water no matter what flow you have. Doing it this way of course defeats some of the purpose of the overflow (the surface skimming). For me, my biggest concern of running this setup is that if you forget about evaporation and the water level falls below the teeth of the overflow, you will cause your canister to run dry. A simple fix to that, but which would again defeat the skimming aspect, would be just to drill a hole through the overflow box allowing water in at a lower level.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

tony1928 said:


> A simple fix to that, but which would again defeat the skimming aspect, would be just to drill a hole through the overflow box allowing water in at a lower level.


I think you can still make this work if the hole was drill such that it was small enough not to allow all the water to go through it. Kind of like one of the multi-level intakes of some filters.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Actually, I could be wrong but I swear I've seen some Marineland overflows that have a little trap door on the overflow that allowed you to vary the flow of the hole.



2wheelsx2 said:


> I think you can still make this work if the hole was drill such that it was small enough not to allow all the water to go through it. Kind of like one of the multi-level intakes of some filters.


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

Really?, where would i drill the hole?


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> I think you can still make this work if the hole was drill such that it was small enough not to allow all the water to go through it. Kind of like one of the multi-level intakes of some filters.


I dont have a overflow box, just the built in out/inlets then hooked to the canister


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

roshan said:


> I dont have a overflow box, just the built in out/inlets then hooked to the canister


Ah...sorry. Then you got nothing to worry about. It's a very common way to use that in planted tanks. My 100 gallon cube is drilled that way, but on the side. The system is closed loop in your case. You're good to go.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Hmmm, maybe I'm missing something then as the thread has a picture of what appears to be teeth from an overflow? Did I misread the thread?



2wheelsx2 said:


> Ah...sorry. Then you got nothing to worry about. It's a very common way to use that in planted tanks. My 100 gallon cube is drilled that way, but on the side. The system is closed loop in your case. You're good to go.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

tony1928 said:


> Hmmm, maybe I'm missing something then as the thread has a picture of what appears to be teeth from an overflow? Did I misread the thread?





roshan said:


> View attachment 8193
> This is my inlet


That's what I thought from that picture. Isn't post #9 an overflow?


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## roshan (Jul 19, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> That's what I thought from that picture. Isn't post #9 an overflow?


LOL i think i am waaay to confused!!!, what i meant is that i dont have a overflow tank attached to my original tank, i just went and hooked up the xp3 to the in/outlet holes driectly to the tank and yes the inflow portion does teeth, i was under the mistaken impression that the water in my tank would get sucked up into th the XP3 then come out the out portion in my tank, i am still ahving trouble with figuring out why i need an extra overflow tank. This is basic sceince i am sure, just cant figure it out.

Roshan


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

tony1928 said:


> Hmmm, maybe I'm missing something then as the thread has a picture of what appears to be teeth from an overflow? Did I misread the thread?





roshan said:


> LOL i think i am waaay to confused!!!, what i meant is that i dont have a overflow tank attached to my original tank, i just went and hooked up the xp3 to the in/outlet holes driectly to the tank and yes the inflow portion does teeth, i was under the mistaken impression that the water in my tank would get sucked up into th the XP3 then come out the out portion in my tank, i am still ahving trouble with figuring out why i need an extra overflow tank. This is basic sceince i am sure, just cant figure it out.
> 
> Roshan


You don't need an overflow that. That weir thing with teeth is called an overflow and you have holes drilled in the bottom of it for the inlet and outlet, I assume. So what everyone is saying is that if the water level drops below the teeth and your filter continues to pump the water back into the tank, at some point, the overflow box will run drip.

I think where you are getting confused is that you think overflow means external overflow. That's only for people without drilled tanks, to get around having to drill the tank. Since your tank is drilled, you have an internal overflow box.


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