# Damn you filter!



## neven (May 15, 2010)

Seems that my xp1 is having issues sealing properly. Last night after giving it a nice clean, it started to leak out of the cord hole in the motor encasing, a slow drip that i noticed before sleeping. After reseating the gaskets (as they look in decent condition) it still had air leaking in it. Almost seems to be coming in from the intake so, but i could be wrong. I disconnected my co2 to see if it was building up large bubbles but it didn't fix the issue.

Right now im thinking i might need to replace the hoses as they are a couple years old atleast


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

It's a known issue. Have a read here:

Leak on Rena Filstar Xp-3 [Archive] - Aquaria Central


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

yea i've already read that, it seems the air is coming in through the intake line somewhere. The cap seems pretty tight, so im hoping it's not a crack in the intake plastic fittings. The hose i bought to replace sucks on the intake side, it collapses so im using cut up chunks of my old one to brace it till i replace it tomorrow. For now though im replacing the cap so i can decide whether i buy plastic fittings for the intake side tomorrow.


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## jay (Apr 21, 2010)

i dont know if it would help, maybe try lubing the gasket?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Lubing gaskets, reseating, etc. won't help. Been there done that with all my canisters. If you suspect it's leaking from the gaskets, it's time to get a new one. Nothing will fix it. Essentially the gasket is out of the range of normal tolerance and will no longer seal properly. Some say you can restore it by boiling them (to expand them), but I just get new ones, and carry spares.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

the leak was a bad seating issue it seemed, no more water, the air leak stopped when i replaced the cap on the siphon tube with a cap from an old bottle of flourish trace i had from when i first entered the hobby


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## malibu aka justinking (Apr 26, 2010)

neven said:


> Seems that my xp1 is having issues sealing properly. Last night after giving it a nice clean, it started to leak out of the cord hole in the motor encasing, a slow drip that i noticed before sleeping. After reseating the gaskets (as they look in decent condition) it still had air leaking in it. Almost seems to be coming in from the intake so, but i could be wrong. I disconnected my co2 to see if it was building up large bubbles but it didn't fix the issue.
> 
> Right now im thinking i might need to replace the hoses as they are a couple years old atleast


thats why i prefer fluval filters never had a prob!


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

malibu aka justinking said:


> thats why i prefer fluval filters never had a prob!


i have 4 fluvals f - up on me. all the # seiries. hate them... you wait, it will happen. thus all my syestems are going to sumps.


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## redsnapper (May 12, 2010)

Nanokid said:


> i have 4 fluvals f - up on me. all the # seiries. hate them... you wait, it will happen. thus all my syestems are going to sumps.


Can't stand fluval.. I have had or seen the problem thats up for topic.. can't remember how , but its some thing simple, I have 13 XP's,, some are known to be more than five years old and they are a good filter... I know its something simple and common , and was resolved wiith out spending money. maybe some one else can help


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

malibu aka justinking said:


> thats why i prefer fluval filters never had a prob!


my thread had nothing to do with a fluval filter. brand allegiances are pointless arguments because its too heavily based on bias rather than any hard facts. The simple fact is, all canister filters can run into gasket issues AND all brands are capable of manufactured defects making it through their quality assurance testing. Please don't turn my thread into a fluval vs rena vs eheim mud slinging match that happen on other forums. I've had this filter since before my first son was born (almost 3), and this was the first issue i encountered, despite not following the directions and filling the filter before reconnecting it. That's pretty good results in my books for the price it cost.

I got my filter on sale at king eds, i did my research and it fit my needs (exceeded actually). It could have easily been a fluval or an eheim on sale that i picked up, they all do the same thing, filter my water with customizable media.

and btw, the cap probably got stripped from my grip, my size plus being an electrician means i easily overtighten things.


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

we are not trying to turn this into a war- i (and redsnapper ) are simply sharing our personal experiences with a certain brand. over all my experience is better with xps as well. (and yours are too)

i hate all canister filters equally.... thus sumps FTW


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## malibu aka justinking (Apr 26, 2010)

neven said:


> my thread had nothing to do with a fluval filter. brand allegiances are pointless arguments because its too heavily based on bias rather than any hard facts. The simple fact is, all canister filters can run into gasket issues AND all brands are capable of manufactured defects making it through their quality assurance testing. Please don't turn my thread into a fluval vs rena vs eheim mud slinging match that happen on other forums. I've had this filter since before my first son was born (almost 3), and this was the first issue i encountered, despite not following the directions and filling the filter before reconnecting it. That's pretty good results in my books for the price it cost.
> 
> I got my filter on sale at king eds, i did my research and it fit my needs (exceeded actually). It could have easily been a fluval or an eheim on sale that i picked up, they all do the same thing, filter my water with customizable media.
> 
> and btw, the cap probably got stripped from my grip, my size plus being an electrician means i easily overtighten things.


dam someones in a bitchy mood lol sounds like the g body forum im on lol


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## malibu aka justinking (Apr 26, 2010)

Nanokid said:


> i have 4 fluvals f - up on me. all the # seiries. hate them... you wait, it will happen. thus all my syestems are going to sumps.


hate sumps loos to much water and oh pump maintance is key too


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

malibu aka justinking said:


> hate sumps loos to much water and oh pump maintance is key too


well it depends what your doing.

for tangs, oxygenation is key, sumps give much more disolved O2 and im on well water, so waters free, and since it comes out of the tap at 8.1-8.6 no problem there. no ph adjustments. so lossing water isnt a big deal, and you can get lids on them too.

canisters are much better for planted tanks, but are harder to clean. if you have 9 tanks running... canisters are not convenient.

pump maintenance is key on any filter, however i find canister filters much harder to fix.


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## malibu aka justinking (Apr 26, 2010)

Nanokid said:


> well it depends what your doing.
> 
> for tangs, oxygenation is key, sumps give much more disolved O2 and im on well water, so waters free, and since it comes out of the tap at 8.1-8.6 no problem there. no ph adjustments. so lossing water isnt a big deal, and you can get lids on them too.
> 
> ...


oh iv been fixing them for people for years and customizing mine


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

malibu aka justinking said:


> dam someones in a bitchy mood lol sounds like the g body forum im on lol


its not that i am bitchy, it doesn't take much for these topics to turn into those wars and researching the problem before posting here was quite tiring as almost every thread resorted to people listing brand preferences rather than staying on topic. From there they all escalated into the typical which filter is better arguement.

My problem has been solved, most people constructively helped, just trying to nip something in the butt before it gets out of hand


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## jkam (Apr 21, 2010)

how did you fix it? Just wondering for future reference


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

the water leak was me seating it badly because i was in a rush and not having the siphon refill the canister after cleaning. Thats solved via the instructions 2wheels linked. If that didn't solve the water leak, it would need new gaskets (i believe king ed sells em if you don't know the sizes).

The air leak was caused bby a stripped cap where you fill up the intake to prime the siphon. I fixed it by replacing the cap with a similar sized cap, my flourish trace bottle had the exact same size cap  Also lined the threads with vaseline. made sure not to tighten it too much (hand tight + 1/4 turn)


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