Aquaclear Question

[Rob S]

I bought a used tank recently and it came with two nice Aquaclear HOB filters. They were quiet and in good repair when I picked them up at the sellers home. Two weeks later, I've attempted to get them going and they fired up but they are really loud, have that sound like sand got in the impellers. I took one of them apart, cleaned off the magnet and casing but still has that sound. The tank had gravel so it isn't sand.

Any ideas how to quiet these guys down? Again they were quiet and humming along nicely when I picked up the tank. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Ron]

I'm more of an Emp400 guy, but I have had an AC before. Some general suggestion based on my experience with HOBs, if the impeller is held in place with rubber bumpers, if that rubber gets hard it doesn't stay in place as well and it might be hard to keep quiet. IIRC, the AC is like this.

People also tend to fully clean their filter to quiet it down, but in reality, the impellers are a bit more quiet once a layer of slime builds up on the impeller. If I clean a filter, I never clean the impeller (unless it gets sand in the chamber or dries with a layer of crust upon itself).

[Regalblue]

You sure it's not just air in the assembly?

[linuxrulesusa]

If they've been sitting dry the slime Ron referred to has probably dried up and so you will need to clean them off with a rag/soft brush (water helps too) but make sure you don't scratch up the magnet as that will make it noisier.   That would be my first guess.

Also check the metal shaft that the impeller rides on (metal pin that sticks out of the motor) - it will come off if you pull firmly with a pair of pliers and see if it looks like a cylinder or an hourglass.  If it is not straight up and down, or very close to that, you'll have to replace it to fix the noise, which is the impeller rattling on the shaft because it's too loose.  You might also have to replace the impeller.

This is the only major drawback that I've found with the Aquaclears - those impellers/shafts can wear down fairly quickly, and even faster if you use sand or they get other grit in them (e.g. snails or something).

[four_by_ken]

When I stop mine (8 of them) and then start them, they are a little noisy.  But, they quiet down after a day or so.

[cranialdisturbance]

Make sure the intake is seated firmly on the plastic base above the impeller. 

[four_by_ken]

Also make sure the cover is not vibrating.