I HATE assembling canister aquarium filters!!!

[Ginevive]

AGGGGH! I hd to step away from the thing, or I swear, it was about to go flying through my living room window.
I have never cleaned nor dealt with Mark's canister filter on the 125g tank. Well, Mark has been so busy lately that his tank was starting to look filthy. I figured, how hard could cleaning out the canister be? First thing's first, I went to dismantle the thing as the tank was draining.. water SPURTED all over me!! I literally had to change every item of clothing I was wearing, I was that drenched; not to mention the floor!
Well, taking apart and replacing the charcoal/floss was a piece of cake. So I replace everything.. got the lid on fine, first try. I filled it about halfway full of water, thinking, that should be enough to get her going.. Plugged in, switched it on.. nope. There was not enough water force to get the filter going enough to, well, filter. So I removed the lid and filled it to the brim.. BUT I can NOT get the danged lid back on!!!! I tried for a half hour to just attach the hoses to the lid alone. I got them awesomely secured finally did.. so my work area is a tiny, dark area under the tank.. I can't see my hand in front of my face! And the nearest light is 10 feet away.. I guess I can somehow rig one of the tank lights so it is shining on me. See, the lid has to be aligned just right, so that the hose connects with the other hose thingie; and 4 clips have to be lined up just so to seal it..
So go ahead, laugh at my expense. I sure am!

[Ginevive]

Sorry.. what is BP.net without pics?

My arch nemesis:


Tank; complete with still-wet floor full of pieces of now-moist catnip that were all over the floor.. it worked great for absorbing the water though!

[syclone]

I have 2 or 3 of those laying around, hate them. I found the easiest for me was to assemble the filter "dry", put the lid on out where you can make sure the "standpipe" is aligned with the hole in the lid, then fill slowly through one of the holes in the lids, attach the hoses and turn on. Make sure you remove the hoses after you take them out of the tank or they will siphon the water out of the tank. I don't know if it will help but that is what I found to work for me.

[recycling goddess]

the filters are my hubby's job and for good reason.

[Ginevive]

Heh; Mark walked right in and got it on within seconds. But he had to disconnect the hoses to do it.. I could have done that, but I was so happy about how good I had them on.. lol.
Then he goes "oh, these things shut off the water (meaning the white valves on the lines.) I said oh, maybe if I knew that, I would not have gotten drenched, lol!
I love the filter itself and how it works; they make a tank clearer than drinking water. My friend uses one on her 225g tank, and I am always in wonder as to how clear ir stays with the messy, piggy Oscars in that tank. Ours are pigs also, but this thing kicks! But my "hang-on-backs" are so much easier to deal with.. then again they are a pup to get going after a power outage.

[python.princess]

we have two tanks and have managed to stay away from canisters!

[wolfy-hound]

I've done both canisters and HOBs.
The HOBs failed more often, but were dead easy to start back up. The canister I had set up so I could pull it out and easily clean/re-assemble it. Extra long hoses are a god-send, and yeah.. if they 'decide' not to go together, then they just WON'T. I call it the filter-ju-ju. If you don't have no ju-ju right then, you might as well give up, and come back later on. Sort of sneak up on it and get it assembled before it realizes you're there.
The lengths we'll go for our fishies. I miss having fishie tanks.

[fishmommy]

I have a couple of those Magnums...they work awesome

but yeah, I've drenched myself more than once

I have shut-off valves on both hoses right above the filter....that helps a lot

what's worse is Eheim pro cannisters...I have a half dozen of them and love them, but it is possible to fill the can and turn on the pump when you've forgotten to connect the hoses....they shoot water about 4 feet in the air when you do that

[dalvers63]

I'm a HOT Magnum girl. It's all I use on my two tanks and I always run the Micron filters in them.

One of those, along with a couple of sponge filters and you're set. Just as good as the big canisters but MUCH easier to deal with when it comes to changing filters.

Of course, almost all of my tanks now have snakes in them. I only have a set of stacked 75G tanks and those will go soon so that I can get a couple more racks for the "kids".

[panthercz]

I am a big fan of the Rena Filstar XP series canister filters. Very easy to use and I've never gotten wet. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...2&N=2004+22777