New XP3 and Very Cloudy Water

[poconogal]

About 2 weeks ago I moved my Discus from my 45g tank to my new 75g tank. I also began using my new Filstar XP3 instead of the AC500 I had on my 45. I moved the Discus over into the new tank at night. By the next morning my water was a cloudy, horrid mess, with 0.5 ppm ammonia, but in my 45, I had crystal clear water, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 5-10 ppm nitrate. I used most of the AC500 filter media in the XP3, after rinsing in tank water as I normally do when cleaning the AC500. Now, 2 weeks later, I'm still having a very slight amount, between 0 and .25 ppm, of ammonia and my water is still cloudy. I believe it has something to do with the XP3's filtration, but what? It is a brand new filter, but it wouldn't start initially, since the impeller was jammed. It's been making a vibrating noise since setup. I've done WCs, am using Prime, I've reduced feeding, but there's been little to no improvement. Any ideas on what could be wrong? The tank is not overstocked either, with only five 4.5" Discus, 12 Cardinals, one 2.5" BN and one Cory cat.

[pcsb23]

Connie, first off the impeller should not have been jammed, secondly it sounds like the impeller is either not seated properly or the shaft is bent or the housing is squint. The impeller is easy to get too in an XP3 and its difficult to get it wrong imo, so its probably a faulty impeller/shaft. There could also be something trapped in the impeller housing.

I would take the lid off, remover the impeller, check to see if its straight and all the blaeds are there. Then check the housing that its clear of debris etc, there is a little black rubber cap that goes on one end of the impeller shaft from memory, its used to align the impeller up, check its there. If its not that could be the vibration problem.

If the impeller is vibrating then the flow through the cannister may be impaired. If you have used seeded material in the filter it should perform staright out of the box. If the water is not flowing through the media then the media may now be anaerobic so check it (with your nose...).

Also in the XP3 there is a lid that goes on the top of the upper tray, that has to be in place to deflect the water down the sides of the cannister, otherwise it will take the path of least resistance.

I won't mention eheim ;)

hth,

[poconogal]

Connie, first off the impeller should not have been jammed, secondly it sounds like the impeller is either not seated properly or the shaft is bent or the housing is squint. The impeller is easy to get too in an XP3 and its difficult to get it wrong imo, so its probably a faulty impeller/shaft. There could also be something trapped in the impeller housing.

I would take the lid off, remover the impeller, check to see if its straight and all the blaeds are there. Then check the housing that its clear of debris etc, there is a little black rubber cap that goes on one end of the impeller shaft from memory, its used to align the impeller up, check its there. If its not that could be the vibration problem.

If the impeller is vibrating then the flow through the cannister may be impaired. If you have used seeded material in the filter it should perform staright out of the box. If the water is not flowing through the media then the media may now be anaerobic so check it (with your nose...).

Also in the XP3 there is a lid that goes on the top of the upper tray, that has to be in place to deflect the water down the sides of the cannister, otherwise it will take the path of least resistance.

I won't mention eheim ;)

hth,

Thanks, Paul. I'll check all you mentioned. Except for Ehiem, which you didn't mention. LOL. BTW, I wanted the Eheim but with all the good posts about the XP3... and the expense of the Eheim... You're right, though, I've wondered myself about why that impeller was jammed, brand new out of the box. Water does have a slight odor, not bad, not like rotten eggs or anything, yet. Pair is still spawning, too...

Uh... what do you mean by "the housing is squint?" What's squint??????? :D

I must say that at this point I'm not impressed by this canister filter and miss my 13 year old AC500, which I decided to stop using to save the space behind the tank <sob>

[pcsb23]

squint, well sort of not right, out of line or erm well squint!

btw in the UK the XP3 costs around £115, the eheim classic 2217+ (includes media) costs £70 which is why I don't understand people buying the XP3. In real terms the 2217 outperforms the XP3 too imo.

If the impeller is busted I would send the XP3 back and get the eheim 2217+ in its place. Hopefully it will just be a bit of debris or simialr, or the end cap not in place properly. As you can probably tell from my 1st post I have an XP3 and these are the challenges I have with it everytime :) Once working though its ok.

[poconogal]

Ahhhhhh, squint! Why didn't you say so... :D Now its perfectly clear ;) Not square, as we say here!

I have an Eheim 2213 Classic which was used on my saltwater tank years ago and I hate it! (But I understand that the 2213 is actually different than the other Classics somehow). The Eheim I wanted was the 2228, I believe, which was almost triple the cost of the XP3. I also have a Fluval that was used along with the Ehiem on the SW tank. Wasn't thrilled with that either, but not due to the performance of either filter, just that they were difficult disconnecting and reconnecting -- I ended up with water all over the place, even after installing quick disconnect valves. The XP3 is really easy in that respect.

[pcsb23]

The little classic has small dia pipes and is fiddly for sure. Never used the bigger fluvals only the smaller in tank jobs. I fit inline taps to the ones that dont have quick releases, works ok for me. Also lets me throttle them back if needed.

The 2228 has been replaced by the 2028 in the UK but even one of these with media is only £140. I guess eheims are dear in the USA.

But you are right the quick disconnect is a neat feature on the XP3, provided the O rings are kept lubed there is no probs with it. You have to lube the O rings on all quick connects anyways.

[poconogal]

The little classic has small dia pipes and is fiddly for sure. Never used the bigger fluvals only the smaller in tank jobs. I fit inline taps to the ones that dont have quick releases, works ok for me. Also lets me throttle them back if needed.

The 2228 has been replaced by the 2028 in the UK but even one of these with media is only £140. I guess eheims are dear in the USA.

But you are right the quick disconnect is a neat feature on the XP3, provided the O rings are kept lubed there is no probs with it. You have to lube the O rings on all quick connects anyways.
ooops, yes, I meant 2028! And yes, Eheims are very dear here in the USA.

[Sue50]

Gosh Connie, I bet something is wrong with your new XP3. As you probably remember, I got one for my 110 and loved it so much I put a second one on the other side to even out the flow. My water is very clear.

Yesterday I removed all 4 Marineland HOB's on my 120 and installed 2 XP3's using all the bio media out of the old filters. This morning 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and clear as a bell. The fish love the change in water movement. It changed it from water flowing forward from back to front.....water flowing from both ends to the center, and with no uptake tubing, they have a 5 foot open run in the back of the tank, just like in the front. It was like a circus watching 10 Discus doing constant laps last night. It was so amuzing. I sure hope you can get it replaced. I'm sure if it was working properly, you'd love it.
Sue:)

[poconogal]

Gosh Connie, I bet something is wrong with your new XP3. As you probably remember, I got one for my 110 and loved it so much I put a second one on the other side to even out the flow. My water is very clear.

Yesterday I removed all 4 Marineland HOB's on my 120 and installed 2 XP3's using all the bio media out of the old filters. This morning 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and clear as a bell. The fish love the change in water movement. It changed it from water flowing forward from back to front.....water flowing from both ends to the center, and with no uptake tubing, they have a 5 foot open run in the back of the tank, just like in the front. It was like a circus watching 10 Discus doing constant laps last night. It was so amuzing. I sure hope you can get it replaced. I'm sure if it was working properly, you'd love it.
Sue:)
Sue, yep, I'm sure its not working properly. I know I shouldn't be having these problems. Having used cycled media from my AC500 I shouldn't have any ammonia and there's no way that tank should have gotten cloudy overnight like it did - that just signified to me that my bio filter had died, which it shouldn't have, if the XP3 was filtering properly! I can't begin to tell you how annoyed I am with the whole thing right now, and I have my Stendker ready to come out of QT, but can't put her in the main tank because of this! grrrrrrrrrr! Luckily I have several extra filters that I can pop on the tank while I figure out what's up with the XP3.

[poconogal]

It was like a circus watching 10 Discus doing constant laps last night. It was so amuzing. I sure hope you can get it replaced. I'm sure if it was working properly, you'd love it.
Sue:)
Take a video, Sue! I'd love to see it - I could use some amusement right about now! LOL

[Sue50]

Where did you get it Connie?? Can you take it back and exchange it?

I didn't cut/shorten the tubing and got a kink in one tube overnight which decreased the flow, but still all was well with the levels. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_10_2.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSYYYYYYJJUS) Knock on wood!





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[poconogal]

Sue, store where I bought it is about a 2 1/2 hr. drive away - same place I bought the new tank, in Lancaster, PA. BTW, I just got off the phone with Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. The guy tried to tell me that the cloudiness and ammonia is normal when you change over to a new tank. That adding new water would cause cloudiness. I told him no way, I used cycled media from my old filter and there's no way that water should have clouded like that, and here it is, almost 2 weeks later and I still have ammonia and cloudy water. Also, that I do large WCs for Discus and NEVER have cloudy water. Told him the filter is malfunctioning. He shut up long enough to listen to this, then asked if it was making noise, so I told him yes, like a vibration, and that impeller was jammed and it wouldn't start when it was first plugged in. Now he says it needs to be returned, that there's probably nothing I can troubleshoot it for, it sounds like a malfunction, then goes on to say again that there's no guarantee when changing over to a new tank that you won't lose bio filter. I said its never happened to me in 15 years, he says yes, its happened now. I said yes, because filter is malfunctioning! So the upshot of the conversation is that I need to send it back to them or drive back to the store to return it. I am definitely not happy with this.
I should have bought an Eheim. LOL

[Sue50]

I just hate when things like this happens. It's such a pain in the http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/10/10_1_9.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSYYYYYYJJUS)!! LOL I expect things to work when I buy them too.





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[poconogal]

So do I! So now I'm going to bring the XP3 back to the store Saturday, but that still leaves me with a tank with no heater for at least 5 hours since I'm using the Hydor ETH inline heater with it! I can do a WC and then put my Fluval 4 internal, 260 gph filter in the tank, that will be fine temporarily, but I don't have another heater that I trust, and my other two with the Otto controllers are in my QT tanks. That's the real issue. Hmmmmm.... what a PITA!

[pcsb23]

Connie, sorry to hear its terminal with the XP3, real bummer.

Don't worry about the water temp for 4 hours, a couple of hours before you go out, up the temp by a couple of degrees. By the time you get back it will only have dropped 5 or 6 degrees, won't be an issue at all.

and yes you should have bought an eheim

[poconogal]

Well here's an update - the XP3 is filtering beautifully now, my water is clear, my bio filter has built back up, and all is well! I never exchanged the original XP3, its been working fine.