Aquaclear 50 won't restart

[bizaliz3]

I will start by saying...I realize these aquaclears are considered one of the best HOB filters out there....so I don't quite understand why I have had issues with them.

The biggest downfall of these filters is that they do not self prime. And when they are shut off they lose their water pretty quick (the water needed to keep them primed). My marineland filters also need to be primed with water to get them started...BUT they don't lose their water very quickly. So they can be unplugged for quite a long time and still be able to restart on its own.

In my house I have many many marineland bio-wheel filters. MANY. but I have 3 filters that are aquaclears. I have a 70 and two 50s. I had a 20 in the past that broke down on me the same way one broke down on me last night.

So last night my power was shut off for 3 hours. I had 17 filters to worry about during this time. So every 15-20 minutes, I was running around from filter to filter dumping cups of tank water into the filter to keep them wet.

When the power came back on EVERY SINGLE marineland filter went right back to working right away (I have the bio-wheels of all sizes...75, 100, 150, 200 and 300). But the aquaclears did not restart. I was able to get two of them running pretty quickly by adding some water.....(technically the marinelands should have needed water added too, but like I said, they keep their water much longer than the aquaclears...so they remained "primed") but the 3rd aquaclear will just not restart to save my life. (one of the 50s)

I have always been paranoid about unplugging aquaclears, because I have historically had problems getting them to start up again. It was annoying because with baby angels for instance.... I like to turn off the filter when giving them BBS...but turning it off to feed them became an issue because they didn't always want to restart. As a result, with my aquaclears...I don't dare turn them off for anything! And that is annoying!! I turn off my marineland ones a lot for feeding BBS...I have left them off occasionally for up to a half hour (because I forgot to plug them back it) but even after a half hour, they had enough water in them to self prime. The aquaclear will be empty in within seconds of turning it off.

So history repeated itself last night. I can't get the aquaclear 50 started again. You can't say that it burned out because the power was off, so it wasn't running! And I was right there to re-prime it the second the power came back on. So it never ran dry.....

Sorry for the novel....but does anyone have any suggestions about this? It isn't just power outages that concern me (I rarely have outages ***knock on wood***) it is the fact that I am paranoid to even shut off these aquaclear filters to feed the fish, or shut it off to remove it and clean it!!! I do not have this problem with my marineland filters. And if I do, a little up-tug of the filter intake and it gets going again. I can't find a way to get these aquaclears easily running again...and occasionally I can't get them running at all! This...along with the higher price...is the main reason why I have chosen to avoid aquaclears.

I also have my first aqueon filter which came with a craigslist tank I bought a little while back. Now those ones are truly self priming! And that is really nice! I have never had any need to add water to get that one going. So that is cool. But I am not a huge fan of the filter overall. It is pretty bulky and I don't like the cartiridges they use.

Ok I am done. Sorry. Any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

 

[DanB80TTS]

I know what you are talking about, my AC 50 does it too. The AC is designed so that a little water remains in the chamber above the motor and recycles in an attempt to stop it from burning out but as you probably know the AC motors get very hot very fast if there is a power outage and most of the water back siphons out.

Anyway on to your actual issue and what I believe is the problem (or at least it is usually the problem for me)
Move the filter pipe to the low setting so the impeller is partially exposed, add whatever water will stay in the filter, plug it in and use a pen, pencil, something long and skinny to push down on the impeller. If its the same issue my filter has then it should engage the impeller and start back up. Put the filter on its highest setting to pull any air trapped in the intake and it should be good.

 

[TikiBird]

+1 on the pen/pencil that DanB80TTS suggests. My dad does this every time with his AquaClear. Fwiw, I'm pretty frustrated with AC too and I've been slowly replacing mine with the Aqueon QuietFlows. The self priming is so nice. I just stuff extra media in there to hopefully not impact the cycle too much when I change a cartridge....

 

[jmarks]

My fluval C4 struggles to restart sometimes as well...all I typically do is take this time to do a cleaning of the impellar and just stick the motor into a bucket of water and retest, it typically kicks right on, but when it doesn't I just tap the impellar to kickstart it and boom, it goes....bypass all this with the above pen/pencil method

 

[bizaliz3]

Thanks for the advice guys!
I am heading home on my lunch break and look forward to giving it a try!!

The 46 gallon this filter is on also has a Marineland bio-wheel 200 as it's second filter. So....it has NOT been without a filter overnight. But this aquaclear is all dried up now. So I lost all the BB in THAT filter. So hopefully I don't have a mini-cycle or something!!! There is plenty of BB in the other filter...but this tank was used to having twice as much BB. So I am nervous about that!!

 

[jmarks]

Quick clarification, a 2nd filter does not "double" your BB. The combined filters will reach an equilibrium and each share a % of the required BB in order to handle your tanks bioload. No extra BB will ever exist, it only grows to the extent needed, however, having a 2nd seeded filter will help minimize any "minI cycle" bc new BB will quickly grow on this filter as needed once the other filter is taken out of service. So I wouldnt worry about any serious problems as long as you get the other filter up and running in order to get the needed "turnover rate". Hope that makes since.

 

[bizaliz3]

Awesome thanks guys! I got it working I stuck a paperclip into the propeller and got it going! I should have asked you guys last night! But the power didn't come on till almost 2 a.m. and I was just too tired to deal with it

 

[Junne]

I'm sorry, I don't have any advice for you.
I've had the same problem with 2 AC's and truly I can't stand AC's because of the NON PRIMING issue................. My AQUEONS have been faithful ( I've had 2 of them running now for 6 years )

Glad you got it started............

 

[escapay]

I am glad you were able to get it started! My usual issue with the AquaClears is that it is time to clean the impeller area. I think I usually do that every 3 months and I may need to do it more frequently then that - I just don't think about it when I should be.

 

[Al913]

My AquaClear filters have always self primed! Some people here also have had their filter self prime.But as for the filter I suggest you have to sacrifice it by unplugging it and then dump any water that is in it and wash the motor/impeller. Then put everything back (make sure you soak the bio max in aquarium water or have it in your aquarium). That is what I did with my AquaTech filters when they didn't run. Sometimes you just got to unplug it and let the motor wait for a day or 2 sometimes.

 

[tyguy7760]

That's why I decided to go with the Aqueon 30 for my upcoming 20 long tank. I used my 20 long as a hospital tank for about a week and in that week it failed to self prime twice. So I got on amazon and ordered an aqueon. I had them both running and tested the self priming and within seconds the aqueon kicked back into full gear while the AC struggled for nearly 15 minutes before I primed it myself.

I am keeping it around for an emergency filter but this drawback is really limiting for me.

 

[Tanks and Plants]

I have an AQ 20 and I have never had a problem with restarting my filter.
Let me make it clear.......

Everytime I feed my fishes in my 15 gallon planted community tank I turn off my AQ 20 filter.
After feeding is done I restart it without needing to add more water to the chamber to prime it.
I have always done it like this and I have never had s problem with restarting the filter.
The only time I need to prime the chamber is when I do water changes. Once the water goes below a certain point in the tank the water in the intake tube loses its pressure and the water in the chamber empties.
I am not sure how high your water is in your tank, maybe try to add more water so that the water is maybe 1/2 - 3/4 inches below the return "waterfall". I have mines closer than that because I am running CO2 and I don't want to have too much surface agitation.

Good luck!