Trouble getting Aquaclear 30 filter working

Hello all, am new to these forums and aquariums in general so hopefully I'm posting in the most pertinent sub-forum and not a more help specific place to help my not so mechanically inclined self. So, I just got a (what I believe to be) brand new Aquaclear 30 filter from Amazon yesterday and am trying to get it going but I've been having various issues with it throughout quite a few attempts the past day. Firstly I believe I have confirmed that the motor/impeller is working as water does get pulled up into the intake tube as well the noise made upon starting. With my all attempts I have found that I've needed to push the u-tube side to side to get the water pulled up into the intake enough to cross through inside but it does at least get that far, however once it does that's when I run into problems. The main one being that except for the couple times I successfully got a full force flow going out the spillway/outflow into the tank like how it's supposed to look from what seemed like the water wrongly spilling over from the intake area over the divider partition between the intake and media basket (thereby bypassing media it would appear and why I didn't leave it like that)...every other attempt has resulted in the water getting stuck in the basket at a certain point, usually just below where the outflow begins and at most I can get a trickle going. This is despite me even trying it with nothing in the basket at all to rule out the sponge/bioballs being the cause of blockage. It seems to me that the culprit is perhaps the intake tube somehow because when I have the u-tube in its default neutral position water will churn around above the impeller area but it'll stay churning like that and nothing more happens. The only two times I've been able to successfully get enough water to flow during the aforementioned tests where the water was spilling over into the basket was when I had the u-tube in the supposed reduce flow setting which does the opposite for me apparently. It's almost like it's too flush against it or something but if it anything from the threads in forums I've looked through and how common a problem it is it sounds more likely the u-tube would be too loose and not all the way in like it should be. I'm pretty sure it is though but I haven't pushed it super hard in there, just enough that I can smoothly switch the u-tube setting. So it seems secure enough. I'm just at a loss and it's really frustrating. Any ideas? If need be I can maybe try to post a video trying to start it up if I didn't explain it well enough. Btw I am priming the filter every time.

 

Welcome to the forum . So, did you ever start the filter and put on the lid? Because sometimes I put the u-tube in there, put the lid on the filter and the lid doesn't fit because the u-tube wasn't in the right position. Is your filter up straight? I'm not 100% sure if I understood your problem but that might be the answer to why the water goes over some of the filter media

 

Took some video which should help everyone reading get a better idea. Thank you for the welcome btw! Am in the process of getting my 36 bowfront ready for fish and just added multiple plants the other day so pay no mind to how the water looks. Lol. But yeah until I figure this out I'm kinda SOL cause my only other filter on this tank is my wimpy 5-15 hob brought over from my last tank, a 20 gallon I was cycling and transferred everything over. As you can see though it just keeps churning above the impeller. I actually have it running now fully flowing but again with the problem that the water is flowing over into the basket bypassing the top of the partition, so even if I had media in there I reckon it'd be largely wasted but I could be wrong. I got a pre filter intake sponge on it now though so it's at least some kind of extra detritus filtering. Also, yes I tried with the lid and it seemed like a proper fit. Sits flat and no rattling from me trying to lightly shake it with my finger. Filter looks to be up straight btw.

 

I could be totally wrong, but there might be a small hole in the intake. Meaning that there won't be enough of a suction happening. If you tape shut both sides of the u-tube, put it underwater, and turn it around in all directions, you might see some bubbles coming out of a part of the u-tube. I'm not a 100% sure, but I think that there's something letting the water through the bottom of the filter where the filter media would be, meaning it won't skip any parts of the media.

 

I don't know if the test I already did is comparable enough because it would probably take a larger crack for water to escape versus air but I have taken the u-tube and intake and while they were connected ran water through and tipped it side to side to test for any leaking and there was nothing like that going on that I could tell. Maybe I should do so again to be sure along with the test you gave trying with tape to be sure nothing's off. Kinda reluctant to unplug the filter now having got it going but it's just a pre filter sponge temporarily off so it's not like I'm losing much turning it off, just hope I can turn it back on what with the wonkiness of this thing. Also yeah that does sound right about the media not being outright skipped as water does fill the entire thing even with it flowing over top like it is, I just wonder the extent the media will actually be filtered through. Especially since I watched the media during one test when it was all in and there seemed to be quite a few bubbles that were unmoving like the water wasn't flowing through at all. Maybe I can alleviate my fear by just putting another sponge on top since I did buy some spare aquaclear sponges I can cut to size.

 

Gotcha. I have had the same issue with a Aquaclear 20, which wasn't as much air but still a little bit of it stuck in the u-tube. I wiggled left and right, didnt work. I wiggled it up and down, and the air went out of the tube. When would you add the filter media?

 

Did you use the attachment on the bottom to level the filter? If it's hanging at a backwards angle I could see that causing an issue with flow, as the pump just isn't that strong. It's hard to tell from the video, but it looks like it might not be level. If you don't have that piece, you could get a piece of foam or rubber sheet to put between the body of the filter and the tank until the sides of the filter are level.

 

Tank level is too low to properly start.

 

Tank level is too low to properly start.

Why is the water level in the tank so low? I think King Oscar is right.

 

I've since gotten it working fellas, within a couple days after this post actually! appreciate it. Forgot to update this. I don't remember how I got working tbh since it was a month ago (memory sucks) and all I remember was fiddling with it some more but it very well might've been that unbeknownst to me it was the water being a bit too low and the suction required being beyond what the filter could muster. I had it that low because I have another smaller tetra HOB filter on the other side that hangs down and suction cups inside the tank with a metal bracket I use for the top of the filter to hang from to keep it hooked on since the border of the tank has an inner lip that prevents the filter just hanging it over the side normally. A few weeks ago I actually bent the bracket hooks upward to put the filter higher so I could get the water level higher, lol. But yeah I'm thinking you're right Oscar. I probably added a bit more water during a subsequent water change not noticing and it was just enough that it worked right.

 

Yeah, I noticed right after I posted that your original post was a month ago and figured you must have gotten it running shortly. Thanks for stopping back though!