Cascade 700 help

I purchased a cascade 700 filtration system about a month ago. When I first plugged it in the flow rate was unreal. About a month has passed and the flow rate has dropped significantly. Also one of my angle fish was starting to float sideways and sticking to my filter inlet. It was very obvious it was struggling. I moved it to my quarantine tank ( 10 gallon with hang on filter). Within minutes it was swimming around normally. I have cleaned out my canister and rinsed out the floss and sponges it came with. The filter is still pumping out water just not nearly as hard as it did 4 weeks ago. I also only have the stock set up it came with. 2 trays one has floss and bio sponge. The other tray has carbon pack and another bio sponge . This is my first canister filter.

Also my tank is 30 gallons and this filtration system is supposed to handle up to 65 gallons.

 

You could try cleaning the hoses too, I've heard of gunk getting built up. (haven't needed to do this myself)

If your hoses are too long and make a loop, this will affect it. (did this one)

If one of your shut off valves isn't open all the way. (did this one)

If your spray bar came apart. (did this-though on purpose)

If your trays aren't stacked perfectly or if the top one isn't in the right place. (didn't yet do this-I'm sure I will at some point)

That is all I can think of for the moment I'm sure I'll come up with something later.

Things to help with the suction and too much flow.

Put a sponge for a sponge filter over the intake (did this)

Separate the spray bar (did this)

Drill more holes in the spray bar. (maybe doing this soon-undecided)

Drill the holes bigger in the spray bar.

Drill a hole in the end of the spray bar.

Get more links of the spray bar to make it longer.

Point the spray bar down and toward the tank wall.

Also all I can think of for that.

I have the Cascade 1200 and so far the fast flow is my only issue.

 

It is very normal for a filter to loose some flow over time as the filter media does its job. Mabey change out the filter floss for the cut to fit kind, I have found the filter floss can be one of the biggest restrictions in a filter. Your angel sounds like it may have something wrong that may have nothing to do with the filter??? Hope it's OK.

 

I took the floss out today and it seems to be working a lot better. I have 2 trays. How should inset them up. Right now I have carbon on bottom then I have floss and sponge on top. 2 trays. Is there a better more effective way?

 

I'm not familiar with the Cascade 700, but in my Fluval I have sponge in the bottom tray, ceramic media in the middle tray & carbon in the top tray. So if it were me I would set up your filter with sponge on bottom, ceramic bio rings in the middle and carbon on top. (I like the carbon on top because that way I don't have to pull out baskets just for a carbon change.

So if you choose to do this set up you'll probably need to have both floss and ceramic media in the same basket for a few weeks to the bacteria seeds itself onto the ceramic media. I personally would not use floss since as you have seen, tends to clog and slow the flow rate down.

 

Hey, as a beginner, I get to answer a question! I have the same filter as you - cascade 700 with a 36 gallon. I need to also resolve the problem with too much flow (it seems). I'm not sure I understand where the fish are getting their oxygen. As for your questions:

The flow was probably reduced by the heavy build up on the white material that catches debris like old food. As for what's in mine: top basket has the white material on top of the black mesh, bottom basket has the carbon or carbon/ceramic or ceramic bag.

Hope this helps.