# Arg! Help?



## BossRoss (Jun 17, 2010)

had a mini power outage, during which both HOB filters on my tank drained. when power was turned back on, presumably the filters turned back on as well, but did not suck up enough water to run properly. 

Now both filters appear to be non-responsive... i'm going to pull them off an try plugging into another outlet. 

One is an Aqua-Tech, and the other is a AC20. 

This happened once before to the AC20, but it was okay again after fiddling with it a bit. Any advice?


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## Kitsune (Jul 17, 2010)

Oh oh... I can help!
I run into this problem sometimes. More often than not its not that they are broken, but the impeller in the motor can't start spinning because its clogged (it doesn't have enough momentum to start spinning). 

Take the motor off the HOB, take the impeller out (its magnetic you might need to pull a bit), and clean it. Then take Q-tips and clean out the junk inside the impeller housing. Then try again. It should start up.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

agree with Kitsune....dunno bout the AC, tho Im sure it the same , but on the AquaTech when you pull the suction tube out , pull out the bracket that the tube slides into & the impeller should come out with it to give you access to the impeller housing


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## VinnyD (Apr 21, 2010)

yah maybe the impeller is clogged..just clean it..also, i kinda semi fill the filter with tank water before i turn it on to max flow..then turn it back to the flow rate u like


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## eternity302 (Apr 22, 2010)

Kitsune said:


> Oh oh... I can help!
> I run into this problem sometimes. More often than not its not that they are broken, but the impeller in the motor can't start spinning because its clogged (it doesn't have enough momentum to start spinning).
> 
> Take the motor off the HOB, take the impeller out (its magnetic you might need to pull a bit), and clean it. Then take Q-tips and clean out the junk inside the impeller housing. Then try again. It should start up.


Exactly what i do! =) Why Qtips? Because you always have some in the washroom!


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## Kitsune (Jul 17, 2010)

Diztrbd1 said:


> agree with Kitsune....dunno bout the AC, tho Im sure it the same , but on the AquaTech when you pull the suction tube out , pull out the bracket that the tube slides into & the impeller should come out with it to give you access to the impeller housing


I assume AC is AquaClear. You twist the motor counter clock wise, and that'll take the motor off. You'll see the white impeller blades. Just pull on that out.


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## BossRoss (Jun 17, 2010)

hehe yup a good clean fixed both filters. phew. I was overdue for a WC anyways, so glad to have it done, even tho its friday nite :/ 

I have AC20 and an AquaTech 10-20 on a 33g tank. I'm worried that i'm under filtering. Should i take them off and put on an AC70 (that i'm saving for a 55g i'm setting up) instead?

for water flow i also have a maxijet900 that's run through a UV sterilizer.


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## Kitsune (Jul 17, 2010)

I think its fine, but depends on a lot of factors (frequency and volume of water change, number of fish, amount of plants etc).
The easiest thing to do is do a water test (nitrate, nitrite, ammonia). If they are all ok then you are good, but if they are high, you need to either start doing more water changes, or get a bigger filter...


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## taureandragon76 (Apr 21, 2010)

With a couple of my AC's what I have to do at times is kickstart the impeller with a pen or something.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I have some spare HOB filters if you're interested. Let me know.

Some HOBs need to have their impellers "spun" a little bit with a pen or finger tiip, as suggested by Aaron, after an outage. 

Anthony


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## Kitsune (Jul 17, 2010)

taureandragon76 said:


> With a couple of my AC's what I have to do at times is kickstart the impeller with a pen or something.


Huh... I guess that works too. Do you remove the motor and do it dry, or when there is water in the filter?

I clean it anyway, since its a good time to do it. And more often than not there's actually something stuck in there anyway, like moss, my hair, etc.


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## BigFatLyre (Apr 22, 2010)

Apparently they've addressed some of these startup issues and the new AquaClears appear to be replacing a lot of product lines in all the stores. I also find that the AC box must be very vertical when hanging on the back and that seems to help a lot, especially with the older small micro and mini filters.

My Millienium 2000's however just keep going and going and going


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