# thats it... i have had it with aquaclear..



## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

i have been using aquaclear filters for a good while now and i have finally had it with them. They are so unreliable it isnt even funny. I am not just saying this based on 1 filter i have a total of 4 aquaclear70's, 2 aquaclear50's, and 1 aquaclear 20. I cannot count the number of times i have woke up to my filters being dry, not running, and the engine is very hot to the touch.

this morning was the last time i will ever use these filters. I woke up to both of my aquaclear70's on the same tank not running. i do regular maintance on these filters and they are continuing to let me down. Now i am worried that they have been off for 12 hours and my media was dry so i hope i didnt lose all my benefical bateria. Earlier in the week I had to move all my fish to a 46g bowfront while i am putting a new canister on my 55g and re painting the background. I thought the two aquaclears would keep me going for atleast a few days but that didnt happen.

I will never count on these filters again. Everytime i unplug them it seems like they will not start on the first try. Dont waste your money and if you have just an Aquaclear on your tank you might want to get something to back these things up.

Yeah i am sure there are people that are 100% satisfied with their aquaclear but i have bought and used enough to know they are unreliable. i was stupid for buying as many as i did. I liked them at first but know not so much. anyway i am done venting.

i might have to back up my canister filter with a canister filter for now on.


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## Aura (Oct 29, 2005)

I thought I was the only one who didn't like my AquaClears. I've had mine (four AC 110s) for a few years now and they've been so frustrating to deal with almost from the very beginning. Two were cracked right out of the box. Three periodically shut down with the smallest grain of sand getting into them. The one that does work well is unbelievably noisy.

I think we are a minority from all of the good things I read about these filters. :?


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## MSUDawgs56 (Feb 1, 2005)

I'm with you. I have 25 Aquaclear filters running on my 20 tanks. I have the same problems with some of mine. Seems the newer models are the ones with the most problems.

the 110's are the worst. I have to replace motors and propellers often on this model.

I am slowly growing fond of the Emperor 280 and 400. I'm trying a few out on a few tanks. So far so good.

I am just gonna miss the variety of media that i can fit in the Aquaclears. The plastic on the housing is so thin now compared to years past. They are a bit fragile. I 've had to send 4 back b/c they were cracked when I opened the new boxes.


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

I am curious, why is the power going off to the filters? Power failures?

I have one that balks sometimes when restarting but once running I have never had it or any of the other aquaclears I use just stop for no reason.


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## kingmidas (Jan 30, 2009)

i have been wanting to buy 2 of this filter aquaclear70' for my 10 or 30 gallon tank, i guess i will just buy a different kind if thats how bad they are.never had a powerfilter before.only use rena xp's.Thank you guys for the tips.


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## lilredwuck (Jul 30, 2008)

hmmm that sucks as I just picked up a ton of stuff cheap and most of the filters are aquaclears. Oh well didn't need them anyway, just gonna sell them to someone else


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

fox said:


> I am curious, why is the power going off to the filters? Power failures?
> 
> I have one that balks sometimes when restarting but once running I have never had it or any of the other aquaclears I use just stop for no reason.


mine have been seizing up. The impeller will not turn and the motor continues to run so it gets super hot.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

maybe you justt need alot of spare impellers with these aquaclears. Even though one of my 50's i had wouldnt work even when i replaced the impeller in it.

Also my substrate is sand on the tanks with the messed up aquaclears. I have had more luck with the aquaclears over gravel.

sand and hOB are a problem anyway. the design is kind of flawed for sand tanks. with the HOB the water goes through the impeller than through the filter ??? wtf??? the canisters are so good because the water is filtered before it send it throught the impeller.


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> >snip<
> Also my substrate is sand on the tanks with the messed up aquaclears. I have had more luck with the aquaclears over gravel.


That might be the cause. All my AC's are on tanks with bare bottoms or gravel.


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## mncherie1 (Mar 27, 2009)

I have never had any problems with mine...keeping my fingers crossed. Got a 110 and a 70 and just bought 3 110's for my 125gal tank in conjunction with an eheim 2217. I guess the good thing is, that all my tanks have another brand on them in case one of them decides to act like yours.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

yeah when i first posted this i was in a really bad mood. The truth is my bad luck and the few others that have had bad luck are the minority. I have heard many people that love these filters and they work great. i think if you have very fine sand like i do and fish that make a mess and stir the sand up alot then you might want to have a case of back up impellers to go along with it. I was serious when i said i would never buy one of these again though.


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## mncherie1 (Mar 27, 2009)

using pool filter sand and so far the critters behave. Now I am wondering if I should move them to my gravel tank? Hmmm.....something to ponder about


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I have been using Aqua Clear 110s as my primary source of filtration for 5 Years or soâ€¦ I have over a dozen of themâ€¦

I use large grained Pool Filter sand and rarely use prefilters on my ACâ€™sâ€¦

I couldnâ€™t tell you how long it has been since Iâ€™ve had an Aqua Clear filter stop working that I couldnâ€™t directly diagnose the cause to be something I did wrongâ€¦

I canâ€™t speak from personal experience on the smaller models, the only other one I have is an AC 70 that has given me no problems in many years of use, but thatâ€™s just one filterâ€¦

Iâ€™m a huge fan of the AC filters and will continue using them and suggesting them to othersâ€¦

I think if you use fine sand and are having filter problemsâ€¦ you need to accept this as user error and not poor quality of the filterâ€¦ fine sand causes problemsâ€¦

I highly suggest Pool Filter Sand when looking for tan sand and paying the extra few bucks for 3M color quartz when wanting colored sandâ€¦


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## css virginia (Jan 29, 2007)

I am glad to learn of the troubles people have had with Aqua Clear Filters. I know-not-to buy those filters. Thanks for the warning.!!.I almost bought one...whew... 8)


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## newbiechick (Apr 2, 2009)

I had my AC50 stop on the first day because of fine grain sand, plus I used the extesion to get the intake near the bottom. Hasn't worked right since...

I think there is definately a design flaw in the fact that unfiltered water tends to flow straight back out. After the water is sucked through the intake pipe and pushed back up by the motor it kind of overflows from that compartment on the left(motor side) through openings in the middle, BUT a lot of it also just flows out from the top straight onto the waterfall...am I the only one who thinks this is stupid/strange? :-?  :?


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## adam92 (Jul 7, 2009)

They are a great filter in filtering the water and the cartridge can house alot of filter media for their size however the only problems i have had is when i turn it off to clean the media then try plug it in again it wont work but when i change sockets it usually works and im not sure why that happens but it does.


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## kewlkatdady (May 15, 2007)

any of yall who want to get rid of AC filters...I'll take them...

I've been using them since late 80s...

i wouldn't own a emp...

Let me know.


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Well, Up until recently (just switched over to EHEIM canister), one of 2, or sometimes 3 HOB's was an AquaClear 300 (old name) that I had since I was in my early teens. Mind you i fell out of the hobby here and there over the past 15 years, but never for too long. It lasted longer then any piece of aquarium equipment (other then gravel) I owned.

BUT....... I'm pretty sure that when I bought it, it was still made in Germany. Nowadays, as we know with pretty much anything else you own, they've found ways and places to make them for a fraction of the cost to make more profit. I'm not surprised then, to hear the quality has fallen considerably. I heard rumours here, and on different sites, that the "cracked case" syndrome is a "pandemic" with these boxes. One site had this customer who had to go through FIVE boxes, before he found one that wasn't broken... Sad.. very sad for Rolf C Hagen.. :wink:


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

You can stuff more of your own stuff in the emperors anyway! I have heard a lot of bad things about filter bodies cracking in the AC stuff. Never had an emperor or a marineland (HOT/Magnum) fail but I'm mostly on sumps now anyway because I got tired of fussing with HOB's and topping off aquariums.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

i'm all about cansiters now.


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

newbiechick said:


> I had my AC50 stop on the first day because of fine grain sand, plus I used the extesion to get the intake near the bottom. Hasn't worked right since...
> 
> I think there is definately a design flaw in the fact that unfiltered water tends to flow straight back out. After the water is sucked through the intake pipe and pushed back up by the motor it kind of overflows from that compartment on the left(motor side) through openings in the middle, BUT a lot of it also just flows out from the top straight onto the waterfall...am I the only one who thinks this is stupid/strange? :-?  :?


Have you replace the impeller or impeller shaft? If they're worn from the sand, that might help.

If you're getting that much bypass, something is wrong. Either your media is not put in correctly or the media is plugged and needs rinsed. I've never had a problem with most of the water bypassing the filter.

I will say, however, that my older AC 70 seems to do a much better job of filtering than the newer 110 that's on the same aquarium...


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I really do hate to see the reputation of quality products diminished because users make mistakes and blame it in the filter...

If you get sand in your filter and your filter messes up... it's your fault, not the filters...

That would be like me saying Ford Mustangs are cheap cars because when I put sugar in my gas tank the engine seized up on me...

When a properly set up AC filter starts having bypassâ€¦ this means itâ€™s time to clean your filterâ€¦ filters need to be cleaned once in a while and this is not a defect in the filterâ€¦

Sure the plastic housing isnâ€™t bullet proofâ€¦ if you drop it it may breakâ€¦ Note to self, dropping stuff might break itâ€¦ checkâ€¦

It is the strongest HOB on the market by 20%â€¦ Their design minimizes reduction in flow rates when filter is kept cleanâ€¦ they allow for a wider range of media than any other HOB Iâ€™m familiar with (including Emperor & Penguin), they do not ask users to make or buy replacement cartridges (just simply rinse the sponge)â€¦

I own over a dozen of them and have been using them for 5+ yearsâ€¦ There isnâ€™t another HOB on the market I would spend money on instead of an Aqua Clearâ€¦


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Toby_H said:


> There isnâ€™t another HOB on the market I would spend money on instead of an Aqua Clearâ€¦


thats why i have switched to canisters. if aquaclear are the best and mine screw up then it tells me to try a new filter type.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I canâ€™t criticize that decisionâ€¦ but it is worth pointing out that there are pros and cons to every type of filtrationâ€¦ as well as every brand within that typeâ€¦ If one form or brand was faultless it would quickly put all of itâ€™s competition out of businessâ€¦

Canisters have their faults tooâ€¦ but as that is not the topic of this thread I wonâ€™t elaborateâ€¦

Yet at the same time canisters have their assets as wellâ€¦ and I do not want to appear to be putting them downâ€¦


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

i appreciate your comments toby because even though i am bashing aquaclear i totally understand how you and others feel. it isnt right for me to bash a product (that millions of people successful use with no problems) if some of the problem may be user error, but they have let me down enough that i am done with them.. I took care of the aquaclears..replacing impellers when need be and cleaning the filters when need be, but they stopped taking care of me.. so it had to be bye bye..


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