ViaAqua 902 Internal Filter Questions

I recently purchased this filter to supplement the other internal filer for the 250L main tank. So far it has worked just fine and I am very pleased with the performance, though one problem has arisen.

The filter has a maximum and minimum water level indication, though when operating with the water between these points, the filter makes an excessive amount of noise owing to air being sucked into the filter. The only way to stop this from occurring is to run the filter with the water above the entire filter.

Has anyone else with this filter encountered a similar problem, and if so, how did you rectify it? Personally I don't mind running the filter like this, but it seems weird that the filter being designed around this "air in contact with filter media" concept can't actually operate satisfactorily in this intended configuration.

 

Hi Nirv

I recently got one of these filters for my new tank. I also had the same problem. The way i fixed it was to remove the thin pieces of filter floss in between the layers of filter material. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong and i realized that the filter floss was restricting the flow of water too much and the pump just ends up sucking air from the top.

It is not advisable to lower the filter below the max mark as this would mean that the water will bypass the filter media through the top and you will just have a very fancy and big power head.

Hope that helps. It is a great filter and i'm also looking for ways to optimize it, so if you have anything to share, let me know.

 

Also have one of those (h20 brand) .. removed the thin filter floss, was getting clogged way to often. Made a nice slab of batting and placed it onto of the big filter sponge (i.e. first thing that the water hits) - Nice thing about this is that I seldom do media cleaning just replace the batting when it starts to suck air.

Water flow was a bit much so I added a T-connector to the outlet.

Later Ferdie

 

I got one of these recently when my powerhead for my built-in filter failed, and I simply cannot get the thing to shut up.

Even when it's 1cm deeper than the Maximum mark it's still sucking air, magically from somewhere.

The problem I have is that I can't really lift it any higher, as the ridge of the tank doesn't allow for it to go any further. So I'll almost be almost exactly on the Max mark.

I've removed the packing filter materials as recommended above, as I figured those were for shipping purposes anyway.


I think the biggest problem with this device, is that it came with absolutely no manual. It does a bloody fantastic job of cleaning the water, at the expense of sounding like a popcorn machine.

---------- Post added at 22:01 ---------- Previous post was at 22:01 ----------

I got one of these recently when my powerhead for my built-in filter failed, and I simply cannot get the thing to shut up.

Even when it's 1cm deeper than the Maximum mark it's still sucking air, magically from somewhere.

The problem I have is that I can't really lift it any higher, as the ridge of the tank doesn't allow for it to go any further. So I'll almost be almost exactly on the Max mark.

I've removed the packing filter materials as recommended above, as I figured those were for shipping purposes anyway.


I think the biggest problem with this device, is that it came with absolutely no manual. It does a bloody fantastic job of cleaning the water, at the expense of sounding like a popcorn machine.

 

Did you check your impeller for any damage? Also check that the magnet shaft if it has any chips on it. And sometimes some of the models come with a little fitment rubber on the top and the bottom of the impeller sometimes they aren't fitted on properly making it vibrate making it very noisy.

If all else fails try a trick I learned while helping a couple of people with noisy powerheads. Take a small amount (very little) of Vaseline and put it on the impeller shaft and on the magnet itself, worked in 90% of my cases dont know why but if it works it works.

 

Hi SauRon

Been having a similar problem. When the filter starts sucking air it usually helps to give the filter a good clean. I have to clean mine out every week or two to get it to stop making noise. Real pain, but worth it.

I also tried to put it under water and it still sucked air, that's because if you look at the top of the filter where the powerhead is situated you will notice a small vortex that creates a funnel with the water that then draws the air in if the filter is not very deep under water.

Also, i removed the charcoal to let the water flow better, as too little water to the pump is what causes the filter to choke so to speak.

Try to always keep the top of the filter above water otherwise it won't really do its job even if the water is higher than the max mark.

 

I presume you are referring to the one that died?

The motor is dead, I checked the impeller and such as part of the usual maintenance.

It came right for a few hours, and then starts grinding and switches itself off continuously.

As I couldn't find another powerhead compatible with the fitting, I opted for this ViaAqua 902 instead, which although a massive thing does an excellent job of clearing the water.

I don't recall seeing any carbon in the thing when I installed it, but maybe I confused plastic balls for carbon balls, will have to open her up and check.

Did you remove the carbon parts all together or replace with something?

I wonder if sealing the area above the powerhead off somewhat would resolve the problem, since I understand that it will be quite rubbish if it's not drawing the water through the filter, but from the top instead. I figure as long as the top edge of the casing is above water it should be good to go.

Really not keen to clean this thing once a week, as it's already terribly inaccessible once a month.

 

Theres 2 compartments, the big one and the one underneath the motor. The carbon is under the motor in a container, unless your filter came with different contents.

I removed all the carbon as it was too tightly packed, you can remove it if you want or if you have it.

The power head is just way to strong for the filter, blocking the top could work, but the main problem is that theres not enough water reaching the motor. So i have to try i out to let you know if it will work or not or if you try it let me know how it goes.

I am not an expert on this filter or any filter for that matter but imho I think if you can get a motor with less lph, maybe a 700-800 lph, it might make the filter work better.

I know what you mean, cleaning it is a pain in the butt. My fish tank is out in the passage outside my parents bedroom, so when it starts making noise I have to shut it up or my fish tank and I will get thrown out of the house.

Cleaning it doesn't always do the trick though. Once or twice it never made a difference, hence me removing all the unessential stuff from the filter.

If you figure it out let me know.

Regards
Mozie

 

Well now it has gone magically quiet (enough) by itself, without my doing anything.

My problem is the fact that because it's MASSIVE I try to hide it as much in the corner as I can. Problem is that this being a Jebo corner thank, the standard filtration basket is actually the canopy, which means the tank isn't exactly "open" above where the filter sits, so I need to move it to the side and then only get into it and so on.

If it wasn't for the fact that it did an absolutely magical job of cleaning my water in day one, I would have taken it back purely because of it's size.

Will see how it goes, and post here again if I do make a plan with it.

 

Okay, this thing has been driving me nuts.

Now I'm wondering if I should just make a "double-filter" of it.

If I take out all filter media on the left side underneath the pump, then seal the pump in with marine silicone, and run some silicone tubing from it's outlet up into my original Jebo filter media container and spray bar, then it will trickle out via the usual system.

And I'll basically have double filtration.

Is there any reason not to do this? Would the pump burn out for some reason?

 

Just replace mine with a canister - the motor seems to have had some really bad wear and tear over the last few years.

So what is the new problem driving you nuts ? Still the noise? Check the impeller see if the shaft has not snapped - pump still works with a snapped shaft.

Later Ferdie

 

No no, there's no actual motor noise.

It's just that this thing starts drawing air magically from nowhere.

I've even pushed it deep down into the water, with absolutely no surface contact whatsoever, and even then still at odd times every couple of minutes it just pumps bubbles through.

Doubt there is anything wrong with the pump, it's still virtually brand new, and when the bubbles aren't in the mix the thing is dead quiet.

 

Ok - well I ignored the water level indicators on the thing - so I always dropped the unit all the way down till the water with movements; did not flow over the wall. The only time that I had bubbles was when it was time to clean the media - I greatly simplified that part by putting a peace of batting on top of the filter foam ... this trapped most gunk meaning bubbles indicated that only the batting needed to be replaced. The rest of the media got a clean maybe every 6 months.

Later Ferdie

 

Ferdie I think that sounds like the best plan, since there is quite a bit of space on top of the foam filter.

I think I'll give that a try tonight.

Did you leave the small bags/bits of media in the left side (under the pump)?

 

Yeah - clean those once a year .. in the end I removed the plastic bio-balls and added two more bags of ceramic media .. in the middle compartment ... on top of that the big chunk of filter foam and on top of that the batting.

Later Ferdie