Gah. Fluval 306. I'm Toast.

I've had my fluval 306 for several months. I clean my tank with my python once a week, and once a month, I take the fluval out, and rinse everything with dechlorinated water. Tonight was a fluval rinse night, and when I hooked everything back up.. it just clacks and knocks, and there is no water suction. I've spent hours and hours on youtube, troubleshooting, and nothing has worked. I can't afford to replace it right now.. so now I get to try and decide what to do. My tank won't make it without filtration.. obviously.. so I'm totally sunk.

 

Do water changes daily and try to siphon out the poop and uneaten food. Also, are you still giving away your glofish danios?

 

did you check the impeler?

 

I have the same filter. You may have already tried this. The impeller makes some loud clacking noises if there is air in the top causing cavitation. Cavitation - Wikipedia To repair this issue fill the canister fully before using the primer pump slider(shown as white below,) to remove air from the canister. The other issue I've had is placement of the impeller cover. You should be able to move the impeller with the impeller cover on using a pin through the opening through which the water flows up. The impeller should be over the three baskets. Also you might remover the upper section of the canister and plug the power cord in for a couple seconds to see if it makes the clacking sound while it is off. Hope this helps.
Brian

 

Take the head off and check all the parts,
that's everything there is in there, place them back after checking nothings broke or bent. Fill the can to the brI'm put the head back on ensuring the inlet pipe and outlet pipe are correct. Next switch back on and pump the primer for a minute or two doing full up down strokes. Next I suck the outlet taking big inhales on it and the filter starts instantly. This works every time first time but it takes practice to get servicing these canisters right, I'm good with stuff like this and it took me awhile to master, these filters are just hard to start from time to time.