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Muso1981

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Hi everyone,

I've got a Fluval Roma 200l tank which is quite heavily planted and also quite a lot of shrimp and fish in there. The current filter is the U4 which it came with and I've been looking at getting an external filter as I'm not a fan of the black box in the tank and I'm thinking I will get better filtration from an external filter. So far I've had a look at the Fluval 7 series and also the oase biomaster 350 which really appeals as it has a heater in it too.

My main concerns are noise and having too much flow blasting all the plants and fish around. The U4 is practically silent but I think it's not enough as my tank is fairly heavily stocked. I notice with external filters they can have spray bars which look quite nice.

Any recommendations and advice would be great, thanks in advance.
 
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Hi John,

My fridge freezer is silent in comparison, the 407 is humming and I can hear the impeller spinning. It's been running overnight now and still quite a lot of noise. I did as you suggested, turned it off and primed it, it does still sound like there's air in the system but how on earth are you supposed to get the air out?
I will try and record the noise today.
I've read people out vaseline on the impeller but that shouldn't be required
 
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I just wanted to add, I've literally turned it on its side whilst lifting it to get the air out and a bit of water leaks as I do this. Surely the unit should completely water tight? Should I be able to turn it on its side and it not leak water? It's not a lot of water mind.
 
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Muso1981 said:
I just wanted to add, I've literally turned it on its side whilst lifting it to get the air out and a bit of water leaks as I do this. Surely the unit should completely water tight? Should I be able to turn it on its side and it not leak water? It's not a lot of water mind.
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It shouldn't leak any water. I think you should take it apart again and check where you think the water is coming out and how that area looks. You might need to take out the silicon o-ring (which should be sealing the filter and stopping air/water escaping), give it a clean and then spray it with some silicon spray before putting it back to help keep it airtight.

I had a second hand Eheim Pro that was super loud as it was letting air in the side where the head attached to the body so was never fully purging. I took out the big silicon ring that was in the filter head, cleaned it and sprayed it with a little silicon spray and that fixed that.
 
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Muso1981 said:
I just wanted to add, I've literally turned it on its side whilst lifting it to get the air out and a bit of water leaks as I do this. Surely the unit should completely water tight? Should I be able to turn it on its side and it not leak water? It's not a lot of water mind.
Click to expand...

Can you check that you installed the rubber O-ring correctly? (you did install the o-ring right?)
 
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Hi,

I've taken it apart again, removed the o ring and readded it pushing it firmly on. I also took the impeller out and pushed it back in firmly. I took a photo of it as it didn't look right to me. I've marked where it doesn't look right.
Something else I did was when putting the lid back on I put significant pressure into it to try and seal it as best as possible. I'm not sure of any of this has made a difference though. But my main concern is this unit isn't perfect with the water being in the filter brand new out the box, it leaked, the lid clips don't feel very tight and that the impeller casing looks wrong.
 

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It's quietened down a bit but is by no means silent. I'm considering sound proofing the cabinet, has anyone done this?

On a positive note my water has never been clearer, the filtration is working really well. The spray bad does a really high pitched whistle so I'm considering making the holes larger as that should fix it.
 
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I had a similar experience to you when I added a Fluval 306 to my Roma 200 a few years back. It was my first experience with an external filter and I was dissappinted by the noise, however this definitely improved over time.

I also had the leaking issue you mentioned when tilting the filter to clear air bubbles. I found that applying silicone grease liberally to the outer o ring where the head meets the filter body, and pushing down firmly when reinstalling, solved this.

Same problem with the spray bar whistling too!

Overall though its been reliable over a good few years and its much quieter than the biomaster 850 I also have.
 
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Hi @Axlnewts that's good to hear about it quieting down. I actually drilled an extra 2 holes in the spray bar and drilled the existing holes a bit bigger, the spray is less aggressive now.
How did you fit the pipes to the tank? I've literally just managed to squeeze the fittings onto the back as that too bracket really isn't designed for external pipes to be attached. The lid is also balancing in the pipes, so it isn't ideal. I need to either cut the lid or the back but not sure which yet.

Cheers
 
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I actually leave the lid off, partly to allow me to raise the light about 3 inches for better spread, but also because I couldnt be bothered to cut it to fit the pipes. I just hang the inlet and outlet over the side.

I think cutting the lid is the more common and easier method of making space.

20210724_193949.jpg
 
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Thanks that's how I have my pipes setup, I think I might cut the lid once I figure out the best place to have the pipes. I drilled out the holes in the spray bar to make them a bit bigger last night and and that's had an positive impact on the vortex I was getting before. Your tank look good, mines a low tech and I'm still trying to get the balance right. Before I didn't have enough light now possibly I have too much, I'm only changing things on a fortnightly basis though.

What light are you using?

Cheers
 
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Muso1981 said:
Thanks that's how I have my pipes setup, I think I might cut the lid once I figure out the best place to have the pipes. I drilled out the holes in the spray bar to make them a bit bigger last night and and that's had an positive impact on the vortex I was getting before. Your tank look good, mines a low tech and I'm still trying to get the balance right. Before I didn't have enough light now possibly I have too much, I'm only changing things on a fortnightly basis though.

What light are you using?

Cheers
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Cheers, its a Fluval plant 2.0. The best part about it is the ability to dim the output which helps you get the balance right. I think your approach of limiting changes to fortnightly is a good approach. What light(s) are you using?

I'd say mine is medium tech. I inject CO2 through an in-tank diffuser straight under the intake of my fluval 306 to avoid microbubbles all over the tank.
 
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I've got the Fluval plant 3.0, I have no ideas about light settings so I'm running in on the planted setting 8 hours a day with one hour either side within that of sunrise sunset, plants are growing but they're also dieing off. I don't want to go down the co2 route so it's all a bit of a mess but I'm having fun and the fish seem happy enough 😀.
 
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Hi everyone, I'm convinced that air is somehow still getting into the filter as when I tilt it to the left it makes that air purging sound and some bubbles come out. I've been checking this every day. Is this normal? Should minimal air get in our should it be completely air tight?
 
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