# Almost Rena canister disaster



## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

So a day or so ago, i could hear air coming out of one of my rena xp3 on my 90 gal. not all the time,just occasionally. peeked under the cabinet and kinda shook it about a little , thought some air was trapped somehow. checked the fill cap to see if it was tight. all seemed good.Had noticed the water level had dropped a bit,but 1 of the outputs was really creating some water splash. Its been kinda warm. so i had turned down the heat on my inline twice in 3 days, hope there isnt a problem there.

so anyway, waent to add a bit of water today,and opened up the cabinet to get my 2 gal pitcher,a low and behold.WATER. yep, WATER. on the bottom of the cabinet. Hadnt made it to any of the edges yet.. WHEW.thank god!!This tank in in my family room, all carpet. so after inspection, i see water coming out of the motor,where the power cord goes in.
So disconnect the filter, get it outside. Might as well and clean it now..
So. off to google i go to try and find some very quick answers, ond found one that said it was the quick connect o-rings. To relcace them. Well this filter is only 2 yrs old so i really didnt think they needed replacing yet. Now i have to be honest. I dont lube the o-rings or the motor gasget everytime. so i lubed up the moter one and the quick connect with some vaseline, put it all back together and all seems well so far. Will keep an eye on it, i heard someone say theirs started leaking again after an hour or so.. 
I sure hope not. Any way just wanted to share this for anyone that has a rena.. :roll:


----------



## OllieNZ (Apr 18, 2014)

Can't say I ever had any issues with mine when I had it and it was second hand, the friend I sold it to still has it and not had any issues must be 4yrs + now. It may be the o rings don't get on with vaseline (which is petroleum based) try using a silicone based grease like dow corning dc4


----------



## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

thanks, i heard that before. some say they never had a problem with vaseline, But im gonna get some SAFE lube for gaskets and o-rings for tanks,plumbers grease i heard works ok. just to be safe.
btw, i have 3 of em, 2 on my 90. 1 with a eheim 2217 on my 75. never had a problem ever before now. 
just info though, i cannot, repeat, cannot hear my eheim running. My xp's i have on mats/filter floss etc, to muffle the noise down a bit. But both these big tanks are sitting 10 ft from me in my family room/ man cave where the big screen and where we live 97% of our time so the noise is noticable.
Down the road, when the xp's start having other issues, i think i will go eheim all the way..


----------



## anthraxx4200 (Aug 16, 2012)

i have my canister filters in little plastic tubs, they barely fit and came from the previous owner but it saves from getting water everywhere. just throwing an idea out there.


----------



## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

OK. So. Another question? Should I put ALL my canisters in pails? Do you all do that? I don't want to have to put anyting under my canister filters in or anything and my fish tanks if I don't believe they're going to fail so that's where I'm at, well I guess I should start looking at the idea. Idk


----------



## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

I had my 2 Eheim 2217's in flexible rubber tubs for the first month. I've since removed them for use in other fish related tasks, mostly because they would only hold about a gallon or so at best, and would only really come in handy for slow leaks. The inside of my stand is pretty well sealed. They did come in handy for catching the little water I might lose in disconnecting the filter when maintaining it, but now I just wrap a rag around the quick connect while I'm undoing it, and that catches the few drops. I could see going either way, but if your filter lets go for real, no pail is really going to help for long. BUT, if it helps you sleep better, it's a small price to pay. YMMV.


----------



## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

If canisters are going to leak, it is usually just after you perform maintenance. That's why I keep them in tubs. After maintenance, I check the tubs later in the day to make sure there are no slow leaks.


----------



## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

thats a worthy idea. thannx,.. anyway deaailing with a small, not hot heat here in portland,upper 80s to 90's my heaters have been unplugged for 3 days now. both my tanks hit at least 92,at one point. It was time foe a wc anyway, so cooled to 78. my family room is ac'd but over night the temps ran up a degree or a little more. its about 75 in my family room. so my guess a little heat exchange from the filters just enough to warm the tanks slightly?? any way, i have glass lids, and leaving the lights off, and did buy a clip on small fan ,and a big block of ice to break up and do float bags. 
i opened the lids for a while and seemed to help a bit. 
any other sugestions for me ? and I really thank you. how do you guys do it in texas and those HOT states? jus curious... all relplies welcome


----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

I use flood alarms near all of my tanks.


----------



## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

Really GTZ? I used to install them 17 years ago when I did alarm systems. So do you really ? Like the
IllIllustrations have em on yur kitchen sink, bathtubs ,pool? Washing machine? Bathroom sinks? 
I can see the big fish tanks.

Jus kidding. But I get the point. 
Wish my gf who is home 24/7 would notice a water drop. She does every Sunday when the hose is running through the family room. lol


----------



## FlyHigh (Nov 15, 2009)

I know this is a bit late for the OP but it may help others searching for a solution. I have three Rena XPs for around 4 or 5 years. In all that time with three of them only once have I had any issue and it was similar to yours. I did have water leaking from where the cord goes into the filter. Here is what I have determined:

-It was a few hours after cleaning the filter
-I was getting an unuasual amount of micro air bubbles in the return stream into the tank. That will be a big clue from then on that something is amiss
-I purchased new o-rings but will keep them on hand as a spare. The rings I have were not likely the issue.
-I do use a non-petrolium, drinking water safe lubricant on the rings when I clean them.

-After inspecting the filter, it appears that the media trays must not have sat snugly in each other in the cannister. The trays must have looked right, but were slightly off. This was apparently enough to disrupt the seal when the top of the cannister clamps down.

-After reseating the trays (and a lot of mopping up :x ) the filter has never given me issues since. This was about 1-2 years ago and I'm still on the same original o-rings.

Judging from the OP's and my experience, it seems like it takes up to two hours for enough of the trapped air to be evacuated out of the filter and for the cannister to leak. It doesn't happen right away after maintanence. I now make sure to check for those air bubbles in the outflow and check back after 2 hours.

I don't know of a cannister brand that you find where no one ever has not had a leak. I am extremely happy with my Rena's. I hope they continue to serve me well.


----------



## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

Had one of my XP3s have a massive leak but it was entirely MY FAULT. I never put silicone on the gaskets and three of the four clamps had a broken plastic tab but the clamps for the top SEEMED tight anyway.

Thank goodness I was home when it happened. Still had to wet vac about twenty gallons out of my home office (tile)and put all the furniture up on bricks. The adjoining bedroom, well, had to rip out all the Berber carpet/padding. So glad it didn't get to our wood flooring.

Have enough faith in the brand that I bought two new XP3s to replace. Was sickened when I noted how deteriorated the five year old filter gaskets were compared to new gaskets. Lesson learned. Bought silicone gasket lube, both canisters are in a plastic box under my tank and I have water alarms under the tank in the canister container box and behind the tank.

Live and learn...


----------



## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

Oh! we're supposed to put silicone on the gaskets...  
...I love this forum... I make enough mistakes on my own, that I am really grateful to pick up nuggets like this...


----------



## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

hisplaceresort1 said:


> Oh! we're supposed to put silicone on the gaskets...
> ...I love this forum... I make enough mistakes on my own, that I am really grateful to pick up nuggets like this...


Yeah, I know that feeling!

Nowhere in the canister instructions did I ever read anything about using it!


----------



## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

biglove said:


> hisplaceresort1 said:
> 
> 
> > Oh! we're supposed to put silicone on the gaskets...
> ...


Yup,, me either! Thats why I wanted to share my experience.. This forum is sooooo very helpful from members and experts in the fish keeping world.. :fish:


----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Silicone? I can see using plumbers grease (which I use) but not silicone. Unless you're referring to something else that doesn't harden.


----------



## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

Eheim canisters come with little tubs of vaseline. I've switched to scuba silicone grease and haven't had any problems.

I've always had leak-a-phobia with my canister filters and never wanted to mess with the gaskets. Over the years, I replaced many gaskets because of slow leaks. Ever since I became super diligent about greasing the gaskets whenever I clean my filters, I haven't had to replace a gasket or had a leak.


----------



## biglove (Jan 4, 2010)

GTZ said:


> Silicone? I can see using plumbers grease (which I use) but not silicone. Unless you're referring to something else that doesn't harden.


Plumbers grease=silicone!


----------



## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

Google silicone grease scuba.


----------

