Kashim

Good advice. When I turn off the power, all the water drains from the power filter. But after that, if I pour some water back into the area where the bio filter sits, the water doesn't drain again and keeps the filter submersed.

I have another question about my power filter. Should I be rinsing or cleaning the basin from where the water is being pushed through the filter (the area where the motor spins) at all? Today, after I was doing a water change, I poured some water into that basin a little too fast while getting the filter motor started again and it sent some debris into my tank. I guess some gunk builds up in there and I'm wondering if I should worry about it.

Jess

Every once in a while I take it all apart, impeller and everything that comes apart. I reserve all filtering media in a bucket of tank water. Then I scrub impeller and uptake tubes to get rid of the gunk. Sometimes the impeller can slow down with algae stuff wrapped around it. Once I found one of my long hairs wrapped around the impeller, must have dropped into the water, oops. So I want to make sure everything is functioning as it should. This is very time consuming so I only do this every few months.
I think some gunk is ok, but if its really messing up your water change, then its time to look a little closer at all the moving parts.