feehan

hey everyone

ive only had my tank set up for a couple of weeks and i have got a knocking noise going on. i have a stingray 15 elite and i took it apart and it seems the impeller is trying to escape (for lack of a better term) i dont know if it has lost its magnatisity (i dont know if that is a real word).

i was wondering if this is a common fault or has anyone experienced the same

feehan

Nutter

I have never heard of it happening but that doesn't mean it can't.

Have a look for wear marks on the impellor. If there are grooves on it, it may simply need replacing. Check to make sure that both of the rubber seats for the impellor shaft are not damaged & in the correct position. Lastly check the impellor retainer. On some filters these can crack & allow movement of the impellor shaft. If there are cracks in the retainer or impellor housing you may need to exchange the filter for another assuming it is close to new. I'm not aware of any way to repair cracks in the housing.

If the rubber seats are in place & you can find no other damage to the impellor housing then replace the impellor anyway as that will probably be the problem.

feehan

thanks for the advice. if it is a crack in the housing and i need to exhange my filter what effect will this have on my tank bacteria/cycling way

Nutter

It will deplete the bacteria population considerably. I assume the tank is fully cycled now so it isn't really as bad as it sounds. A new filter on an already cycled tank will get a good bacteria population fairly quickly. Especially if you seed the new filter with media from the old one. If it will only take a few hours to take the old filter back & then get the new one hooked up, just pull a bit of used media out of the old one & put it in a bucket with some of the aquarium water. If it is going to take a full day or more, spend a couple of dollars on a air driven box filter & just stuff the media in that, leaving it running in the tank. When you get the new filter home simply take the media from the box filter & stick it in the new filter.An extra water change or two for the first couple of weeks will help keep toxin levels under control to. Get ammonia, nitrite & nitrate test kits if you are really worried about it. Then you will know if things are getting bad for the fish & know when the filter is cycled fully again.
Be sure that it is a cracked housing or retainer before you take it back to the shop though. That is a fairly rare problem & I have only experienced it once myself & haven't heard of anyone else having that problem. More likely the impellor is just worn. How old is the filter & how often do you clean the impellor housing out?

feehan

thanks for the reponse, i dont remeber seeing any cracks when i examined it a few days ago. i have only had the tanks set up for about 3 weeks which is why i was abit suprised to find this sort of problem with the filter already. the knocking noise has been happening for about a week i orginally took the filter apart to see if some gravel or something had got caught up in it which was knocking against the imprellor but there was none.

i contacted hagen and they said to put the filter upside down to see if there is an air pocket in the imprellor housing.

Red1313

Good Luck
I've got a stingray 5 and have never had much trouble with it, they're a good little filter.

feehan

i have turned the filter upside down as recommended by hagen's help people and the noise has stoped, will it be ok if i have my filter upside down as a permanent placing

Nutter

I'm not familiar with that exact filter but if it is a canister, then no. If it is internal you can have it facing anyway you like so long as it is completely submerged. If the noise has stopped now, try turning it back over the right way. If you see a heap of air bubbles come from the outlet then the problem is just trapped air. If it's quiet after you turn it over the right way you won't have to do anything else. If it is still making some noise though, give the unit a gentle shake in the normal upright position. If more air comes from the outlet, keep giving it a gentle shake until no more air escapes.

feehan

i spoke to hagen and after a couple of back and forth emails they are sending me a new impeller for free

Nutter

Good score. Even if it's not the problem & it is just an airlock at least you will have a spare. Put the new one in & keep the old on as the spare.

feehan

i got my new impeller in the mail and it works great, no more knocking noise yay!!!. thanks for all your help