Filter fixable or junk?

Hi guys,

I apologize if I put this in the wrong spot, but I'm not totally sure where else to put it.

So I just picked up an acrylic 5-ish gallon hex (used). It came with a filter, heater, and a little hood/light thingamabob. Everything seems to work perfectly except for the filter. I will admit I've never dealt with this type of filter before, as it seems to be some sort of specialized filter manufactured and sold with the tank. It fits along the side/back of the tank, and there is literally no way to get inside of it to access the impeller. (I just spent a half an hour prying at it and inadvertently breaking various small chips out of it trying to get inside of it....) When plugged in, the impeller spins just fine, no grating/grinding/etc.. I filled up the tank and put the filter on, filled it with water, and plugged it in...the pump starts up like you'd expect it to, gurgles like you'd expect it to, and then at the point where you'd expect it to stop gurgling and start pumping water, it...does nothing. It sounds almost as if it is pushing out the water that is already IN it, but drawing no more in. (I continuously poured water into it to see what would happen, it just kept on with the chugging and gurgling until I stopped, at which point it stops the gurgling and then does nothing. The impeller, I believe, is still spinning at this point, as you can hear the whirr of it in there, just the same as when it was out of the water.

So...what gives? I mean, clearly this is a poorly designed filter to begin with, since the impeller is totally unserviceable, but is there anything anyone might suggest trying? Is it likely there is gunk packed up there that is interfering with the pump's ability to create suction? It doesn't seem that there is anything wrong with the motor itself, as it still spins the impeller normally, whether in water or out. There's just no water moving through.

Ideas?

You could try running it with vinegar water for an hour or or so. Fill a bucket with 25%or so white distilled vinegar and 75%, run the water from the bucket into the filter, then out of the filter back to the bucket...you may have to help it for the first while with repetative 'priming' like you did before. Just make sure once your done to run many mny gallons of clean water through it to clear out the vinegar.

It's worth a shot :/

it is also possoble that the shaft has come slightly loose from the impeller and is no longer in the proper position to get a suction going.this of course would be unfixable if it is the issue.you have already run your water hose through it right?basicaly if its not blockage in the out and or intake then its the impeller.sorry not much help as it sounds like you have tried most of these things.wish i could see it.

pic maybe? not trying to be an a$$...

Oh man, do I ever feel like a dork! After tinkering around with the filter for awhile this morning, I was able to get the cover off to get to the impeller etc., and was surprised to see it perfectly clean. Put it back together and it still did the same thing. Wasn't until this evening that I realized the water level might be too low, as I hadn't bothered to fill the tank up all the way since I was just testing it out... Apparently that inch or so made all the difference, because it fired right up and started pumping instantly once I put another half of a gallon or so in. Duh!

Thanks for your speedy replies anyway, though! I really appreciate it!

Hmm...on a related note: now what to use the tank for?

shrimps are all the rave now.and i must agree that a little enviroment with interesting creatures is awesome.there are a number of colors available now and when they get to prolific they make great foods for larger fishes...or trade stock.

I am definitely considering a shrimp tank! Do you know offhand if the filter has any effect on the survival of their offspring? I read once that the newly hatched baby shrimp tend to get sucked into the filter and thus die. True? Myth?

i have several shrimp tanks and i would say that the one with sponge filters have a higher shrimp population.the tank that i have and the tanks i have seen with power filters are still rather prolific.i presume if you go shrimp you will go plants as well wich will give them breeding grounds.a piece of wood and some moss is all you need to insure some shrimp will have a ancor.and if you would like i have much aquarium pump foam you can use for a prefilter. i can give you a piece to mess with.

Hmmm... Is the aquarium foam stuff similar to this? http://www.petworldshop.com/pictures/pond-care-polyester-pre-filter-pads-ponds.jpg
I've got a bunch of that lying around.

Or is it more like this? http://img1.topfreebiz.com/o2010-8/cache/Aquarium-Filter-Foam-GH001--615657291.jpg

Or would it not matter?

Definitely considering the shrimp thing. I would, however, also be open to using it for a non-aquatic animal of some sort, despite the coolness of the filter actually working. Since I'd assumed I wasn't going to get it working, I had more or less resigned myself to something non-aquatic, so that's always an option as well.

I've also read about people keeping "nano-reef" tanks about this size. Are those typically much more difficult to maintain due to the small size, as compared to a larger tanks? That is another thing I'd be pretty interested in experimenting with, since the smaller size seems like it would be less of a risk monetarily to set up, in the event that it is a catastrophic failure. Or I could be totally wrong!

Bard now's a lot more than me, but I think you could do it as a nano reef.in fact, I may be offering up a little watchman goby/pistol shrimp pair that just moved from a 10 gallon to my 55. I think some things would be easier...you could do 20% water changes with an old milk jug, easy to reach all the glass, a couple led diodes or a 100w equivalent cfl would provide plenty of light...I think that'd be a really cool idea!

Right on. I'll look further into it! I do indeed have a bunch of unmounted LEDs that I could use for this. They were originally intended for my 55g but things keep coming up and I still haven't gotten the new hood built to install them, not to mention I'm not sure I want them in there anymore anyway. The little hood it came with has a working screw-in fixture, so I could definitely supplement the LEDs with a CFL too. Exciting!

i am a fan of the nano-reefs, but then comes the fact of what do you put in them? and when something goes wrong its gonna go wrong FAST, i mean with that low water volume. im am currently cycling a 2.5 gallon salt tank im gonna use for isolation of a few injured inverts i got, but thats my real concern.
i have a shrimp tank here at my place, but its just freshwater glass shrimp (i want a cleaner shrimp tank), but they have to be on par with guppies for ease of keeping, but as bad said a sponge filter does best with shrimp, but if you pre filter it with some such screen or whatever its not a problem to use a powerfilter.