External Canister Filter busted - 40g leaked onto floor. Suggestions going forward appreciated

crimson_lotus

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Earlier this week, I came home from work to find that my Fluval 306 canister filter had leaked all of the water from my 40g turtle tank onto my carpeted basement floor. The cleaning, drying, and mold preventing process is not fun, and is still in process. The mat under my carpet is what refuses to dry, which may need to be replaced.

It seems that one of the sides of the top clamps (locked in place) popped open slightly. I suspect the seal was worn and ultimately broke causing the weird gap between the top and the bottom of the canister. I was due to perform the routine monthly cleaning and replacement of filter media, so it was operating for a month without any indication of this happening.

Anyway, short version, I would like to ask for advice on how to proceed from here. Is there any way I can prevent this from happening again? Should I get an internal canister filter for my 40g tank with a 5 inch mature male map turtle instead of the external canister filter? Should I get an external canister filter again but maybe place it in a large bucket?

Planning on getting a leak/water detector. Any other tips appreciated.
 

Moozillion

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Earlier this week, I came home from work to find that my Fluval 306 canister filter had leaked all of the water from my 40g turtle tank onto my carpeted basement floor. The cleaning, drying, and mold preventing process is not fun, and is still in process. The mat under my carpet is what refuses to dry, which may need to be replaced.

It seems that one of the sides of the top clamps (locked in place) popped open slightly. I suspect the seal was worn and ultimately broke causing the weird gap between the top and the bottom of the canister. I was due to perform the routine monthly cleaning and replacement of filter media, so it was operating for a month without any indication of this happening.

Anyway, short version, I would like to ask for advice on how to proceed from here. Is there any way I can prevent this from happening again? Should I get an internal canister filter for my 40g tank with a 5 inch mature male map turtle instead of the external canister filter? Should I get an external canister filter again but maybe place it in a large bucket?

Planning on getting a leak/water detector. Any other tips appreciated.

WOW!!! What a mess!!! [emoji33]
I have no ideas to offer due to my own limited experience, but will be following this thread for sure!
 

KarenSoCal

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I don't use a canister filter, but the folks on the fish forums do. This sort of thing happens occasionally. Most of them seem to go with the leak/water detector. If you have space you could put the canister in a pan, but it would have to be big to catch 40 g.
 

Alex Z

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Earlier this week, I came home from work to find that my Fluval 306 canister filter had leaked all of the water from my 40g turtle tank onto my carpeted basement floor. The cleaning, drying, and mold preventing process is not fun, and is still in process. The mat under my carpet is what refuses to dry, which may need to be replaced.

It seems that one of the sides of the top clamps (locked in place) popped open slightly. I suspect the seal was worn and ultimately broke causing the weird gap between the top and the bottom of the canister. I was due to perform the routine monthly cleaning and replacement of filter media, so it was operating for a month without any indication of this happening.

Anyway, short version, I would like to ask for advice on how to proceed from here. Is there any way I can prevent this from happening again? Should I get an internal canister filter for my 40g tank with a 5 inch mature male map turtle instead of the external canister filter? Should I get an external canister filter again but maybe place it in a large bucket?

Planning on getting a leak/water detector. Any other tips appreciated.


I put away fx6 and fx4. I use the zilla internal filters with weekly 20% water changes. I find this method easier. I also use aqueon ones too rated up to 40g.
 

crimson_lotus

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Thank you all for your responses. The basement is pretty small to fit another tub as big as the tank, but I'm still looking at all of the options
 

vladimir

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Wow, how quickly did it empty the tank?

I have a 75g that was running a fairly new filstar XP3 (maybe 2 years old) that started slowly leaking water. I didn't notice it at first but I was lucky I caught it pretty early. I replaced the gasket and put the whole filter inside a clear storage tote to make it easy to tell if a leak was happening.

The gasket didn't fix the problem and I ended up upgrading to a fluval 406, but I'm still running it inside the clear plastic tote for peace of mind.
 

vladimir

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Do you have any pics of your setup? We may be able to come up with some creative ideas
 

crimson_lotus

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Do you have any pics of your setup? We may be able to come up with some creative ideas

Here is my setup. The bottom cabinet is where the filter is, so I couldn't see if it was leaking or not. When I left for work at 7 the tank was full, and when I came back at 6 it was completely empty.

I think I will have to go with the bucket idea just for the power the internal filters lack.
 

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