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I just set up my 10gallon today, and got a used Whisper filter, it was a 5-10, I believe,from my sister. As I started cycling the tank, periodically i noticed that the filter had stopped running.In order to get it to start again, I had to unplug it then plug it in again, etc. While my sister was using it, it was working fine, and never shut off. Is it just too old or somthing? I have no idea what is wrong. Any suggestion is a good one.

-Sabrina

It's probably the impellor sticking. Get a bowl of vinegar out (the regular kind...not wine vinegar or anything), pull the impellor out of the filter (the long thing with the plastic fins on it), and throw it into the bowl...leave it for a few hours, rinse it off a bit, and reassemble the filter.

The vinegar should break up any mineral buildup from the water, or any crap that's gotten stuck around the impellor shaft. If any vinegar does get in the water from not rinsing it enough, it shouldn't cause any problems....if it does anything, it'll just lower the pH by like 0.00000001, so you don't need to be paranoid and rinse it for hours on end or anything

I usually do this to most of my filters every year or so, or if one of them starts giving me problems... they run like new right afterward

HTH

You can try cleaning the filter & clean the impellor aswell. Give it a good clean & see if it works.


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Thanks!

Don't forget to clean the impeller well, the hole that the impeller goes into. The surface will have a build of dirt and algae that will diminish the effectiveness of the impeller.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

The same happened to me on my AquaClear 70 the other day. I unplugged it to clean the sponges and after plugging it back in nothing happened.

I already had primed it at this point and had to take the water back out, “unscrew” the motor, clean impeller and well, and put it all back together again. Sooooo much work (10 min).

It’s working now like a charm again.

Hope it worked for you as well,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

[font color="#800080"]Impellers do need fairly regular maintence.
Mine have the horrible habit of not restarting after a power outage.
Not so much fun if you're not home to take care of it!



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