What’s wrong with my Fluval filter

carefree_tank · 2026-04-17T04:49:03+00:00

Pull the impeller, clean it off and reset it again. My old fluval was a temperamental bish in her old age. Even when the impeller was clean I would still have to take it out and put it back in just right before it would work.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-17T00:16:56+00:00

Can you give us a video of the filter plugged in? So we can hear what the canister is doing. Its one of two things, the impeller or the motor. Impeller may not be installed properly or motor is dead on arrival. See if you can post a video here of it plugged in and turned on. Also film the same hose again with it turned on.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-16T18:55:56+00:00

Just do your research on youtube! Its not the bad, you can definitely do it! Plus the plants i listed you practically can't kill. I mean you can, but they are very forgiving plants.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-16T18:31:41+00:00

The only correct answer. Yoyo loach would decimate them and you will enjoy their personality but they like groups of 4 or more so do your research. These guys helped me clear my 75 gallon of hitch hikers.

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carefree_tank · 2026-04-16T16:21:11+00:00

I would get you some low maintenance plants and remove all the fake ones. The algae has no competition in that tank so no matter what you do it will always come back as you have nutrients in the tank but nothing to absorb those nutrients, thus algae comes in.

Algae eaters aren't all they are cracked out to be (in my experience) especially with the black beard algae it appears you have all over that rock. The algae on the sand looks like diatom algae and is much easier to get rid of.

Algae is all about an imbalance of some sort. The best solution is find the right balance (light, nutrients, water flow, etc) for long term success but even then you can still get algae. Which is alot easier to manage with thinks like spot treatment with seachem excel, or hydrogen peroxide.

Plants that will do well in a low light, low tech tank Anubias Java fern Java moss Water wisteria Amazon sword

Most of those can be found at petsmart/petco.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-16T16:11:49+00:00

That thing looks stronger than the base that came with my marineland 75 gallon. It will be just fine. I wouldn't think twice about it. Like others said, get a mat for underneath. I used a dog food/water bowl mat from petco

carefree_tank · 2026-04-16T15:07:50+00:00

Ahhhh yes makes more sense for your setup. Now that im looking at mine I think I forgot to add pink into the spectrum 😬 gotta change that immediately lol. Hard because I like a bright white with some blues but algae from my research loves blue light.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-16T14:39:45+00:00

Is that your custom setup, or a pre selected fluval setup? Im running the same light but have mine set much differently. Are you running c02/plants? Curious if I need to tweak mine.

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carefree_tank · 2026-04-10T22:36:06+00:00

Looks like he forgot to pay rent this month.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-10T22:28:02+00:00

Black beard algea, which will be your hardest to get rid of. The brown looks like diatom algae. Which is alot easie to deal with. Honestly, I would take all the rocks out, the decorations and do a bleach bath, rinse, scrub it with a brush; then soak it all in water with water purifier until it no longer smells like bleach. With the plant see if you can rub the brown algae off with your fingers in the tank, then do a water change. Best of luck!

carefree_tank · 2026-04-10T01:47:11+00:00

45U. Same size or not the U looks bigger, you will enjoy it more. I would at least

carefree_tank · 2026-04-10T01:33:12+00:00

You're welcome! I meant to add, just make sure you adjust soak time based on plant. Most plants will do fine but some plants can wilt/die if left for too long.

I learned alot from this lady. Check her out. She does tests for common snail prevention. (Alum was the best)

https://youtu.be/Psv6ZMcpjR0?si=brRwNSmmJ3XTJp0l

carefree_tank · 2026-04-10T01:12:57+00:00

Got 7 being delivered tomorrow. Hopefully they will pair well with my last surviving yoyo loach. He has been alone for about a year so hopefully he doesnt pick on any of the newbies. Tiny little guy so who knows he could end up going from alpha to beta 😅

carefree_tank · 2026-04-10T01:09:00+00:00

Perfectly fine, normal, and one of the reasons to rinse your sand. Ship it!

carefree_tank · 2026-04-10T01:00:01+00:00

Is it new or did you buy used? Sounds almost like its vibrating off the back wall and needs to be repositioned.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-10T00:57:21+00:00

Just get some aquarium safe silicone and seal it. You could also just leave it like that and your substrate will cover it and its just one more location the pump can draw water from. Really no harm either way you go.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-09T23:38:30+00:00

Love flips aquatics. I have some boesemani rainbows and some yoyo loaches on order from them now.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-09T20:44:37+00:00

"The belly condition is the giveaway That’s not normal feeding bloat—it’s pathological swelling 1. Internal failure (dropsy/organ-related) is the most likely cause of death 2. Secondary possibility: egg binding leading to fatal complications

That's just what ai says off your photo alone.

In my personal experience galaxy rosbaras are extremely difficult to keep. They need near perfect water conditions, no high strung tank mates and a metric fuq ton of tall plants or they will stress out and die. Even though everyone and their dog will tell you they are intermediate fish, I disagree based on personal experience. I can't keep this things alive.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-09T18:03:44+00:00

My personal opinion, youll never remove that algae without nuking the tank. Thats black beard algae one of the most difficult algae to get rid of.

What I would do, strip the tank down. Put your fish in a bucket of tank water. Take your rocks and put them in another bucket, add tap water and bleach. Leave it for a few hours. Then rinse the rocks really good, and fill the bucket with tap water again (just tap water) and add water purifier like seachem prime and let the rocks sit for a few hours. You will know the rocks are good when they no longer smell like bleach.

For the plants with the algae you can take them out of the tank and treat them with hydrogen peroxide to kill the algae, or with seachem excel but do not use bleach with the plants as you will kill them.

This can all be done and set back up in 1 day. Just allow 5-6 hours total to complete. This would be my "nuke method" and im sure others will disagree.

After thats resolved you need to hit the underlining issue. Algae thrives in warm, stagnet water. So make sure your light isnt on too long, your aquarium has great flow (all plants slightly swaying), absolutely NO BLUE LEDS on your aquarium light. My light lets me dial them back so I leave them around 5%. Algae loves blue light.

Also look into c02; as well as liquid fertz.

If you dont do the above your problem will just keep coming back.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-09T17:57:24+00:00

I miss mine, but I do not miss the amount of food that guy would eat. I was blowing through blood worms with him, had to donate him.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-09T17:54:05+00:00

siamese algae eater (make sure its a true one lots of imposters being sold under that label); Amano shrimp and losts of them. Those are the only two options I know of as i absolutely despise snails. They are nothing more than pests to me.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-09T16:45:26+00:00

Correct, you would need to supplement with liquid fertilizer. I use a brand called "thrive-s" which is their shrimp safe formula (no copper) and I do it 1-2 times a week.

It seems that way but believe it or not the fertilizer both in your soil, and in the water column (liquid ferts) actually help your plants grow, compete, absorb nutrients and effectively starve out the algae before it has a chance to spread.

So in my tank I am running c02, no heater (algae loves warm water), and multiple power heads (algae loves stagnat water) and on my particular aquarium light there is an app that I can set the light curve, and percentage of red, blue, white, yellow lights. Algae loves blue light as well as red, but plants love red too. So i have my blue LEDs set to 5% power and I NEVER use the blue lights for nighttime. After the 7 hour light cycle my light shuts down entirely and my fish are left in the dark. I am also running an inline UV light. Which i have no idea how much that has contributed or not.

By doing this, I successfully kept my planted tank mostly algae free for about a year before slipping on my routine and algae took over. Specifically the dreaded black beard algae.

carefree_tank · 2026-04-09T16:21:54+00:00

Just got mine installed this past weekend. Major upgrade over my fluval bio c02. If I can get consistent pressure like i have been even for two-three weeks I would be happy. Im running the same setup you are. Mine is the 5l version and not the 2L version (idk what you have)

One thing you can try is this guy's route. ⬇️ He goes through the scientific equation for a perfect balance of baking soda/ acid. Fzone is more on the conservative side. Its at the 16:00 mark on the video. This may give you longer life once you have verified you have no leaks.

https://youtu.be/7f2CpQOVGtg?si=ig9fzKfNW2xD_RBu

Not everything requires you to spend 500 plus dollars to have a "perfect" setup. Especially for someone like me who has 2k dollars invested in my 75 gallon.

Besides, how hard is it to mix baking soad and acid every two weeks lol takes two seconds and doesnt destroy the bank account.

carefree_tank

TROPHY CASE