FISHHEAD Posted February 8, 2004 Share Posted February 8, 2004 AQUACLEAR I have been reading about the mod's on the aquaclear filters for a refugium i see that everybody or some of you are going with the aquaclear 300 but are using the impeller from the ( mini , 150 ) to lower the flow rate. and are doing the plastic glue in a divider thing. I understand that the motors are the same for the aquaclear (mini,150,200,300) so i can see just change the impeller for flow rate maybe about $4.00 to $9.00 from your local fish store the motor's for all the models are the same ( a-16000 ) but not for the aquaclear 500 the impeller from the mini's and 150 have 4 impeller blades and the 200 and 300 have 6 impeller blades, the aquaclear 500 has the most room for mods and holds the most water and has room for (heaters and junk l/s and l/r micro) but i understand that the 500 model is way to much flow for lets just say a 5.5 , 10 gal . or maybe a15 to 20 and the impellers from all the lower models will not work on the aquaclear 500 due to a bigger motor ( a-16400 ) my question is does anybody know if the whole motor with the impeller from any of the lower models will just slap into the aquaclear 500 model ??? if it does then i will go with the aquaclear 500 for my choice as a refugium on a 10 gallon tank. If anybody out there has maybe done this please let me know if it worked ..... thanks everybody and sorry for the long post !!!!!! Link to comment
Isaka Posted February 8, 2004 Share Posted February 8, 2004 If you were to do this, you would have to probably buy another model and take out the motor and impeller. I guess it would be possible but if you had to cut the actual HoB to get the motor in/out, you better make sure that the new motor is glued in there tight and with no leaks. If you take on this task , keep us posted. Link to comment
FISHHEAD Posted February 9, 2004 Author Share Posted February 9, 2004 the motor just unscrews to remove so to install a motor from a lower model might work!!!!! Link to comment
fuentes925 Posted February 11, 2004 Share Posted February 11, 2004 Hi, I have a 500 on a 7gal. minibow. All you need to do is not use the filter's pump, instead buy a power head rated for around 200gph. I put the 200gph power head in my 7gallon tank all the way at the bottom then I piped it into the aquaclear 500. Then I stacked in my LR over the power head and the only thing you see in my tank is a pipe coming out of the LR and into the filter. Seems to be enough flow in the tank with this setup for me. Just remember you have to add baffles in the Aquaclear so that the sand doesnt get stirred up. Link to comment
MillerLite Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Great idea fuentes. I just found out that bigalsonline has the aquaclear 500's for $29, by far the cheapest I have seen them thus far. I have an old ph lying around with that rating and might try to rig this up myself. Thanks for the idea.... Link to comment
FISHHEAD Posted February 24, 2004 Author Share Posted February 24, 2004 i went to petsmart last night and opened up a ac 500 filter box and the motor on the ac 500 will not fit on the lower models !?!?!?! Link to comment
MillerLite Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 Why were you trying to move the motor from a 500 to a lower model? Did you mean that the motor from the lower model would not fit into the 500 to decrease the flow? I had heard that the mount for the 500 is different and that the 300 and 200 should be able to receive a motor from a lower model. Hope this helps. Link to comment
Dutch Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 I am currently running a AC500 for flow....with the mods i did it runs much slower. I added a baffle, took off the black plastic peice thats on the end of the intake, added a sandbed, and left the adjustment on lowflow. I can get the filter to just drip water out. My only prob is that is a 2yr old unit and is getting loud. I think i may have sand in my impeller. Link to comment
ODOG Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 For those of you that use a refugium, do you light it? If so with what? Link to comment
imsuperjp Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 fuentes925. Wat did u use for the piping? Link to comment
FISHHEAD Posted February 25, 2004 Author Share Posted February 25, 2004 OOOOOOOPS , YOUR RIGHT MILLER "MAN" I AM SORRY MY BAD THE LOWER MOTOR WILL NOT FIT THE AC 500 I WANTED TO USE THE AC500 FOR MY FUG I LIKE THE SIZE BUT USE THE AC 200 OR 150 MOTOR. THE AC 500 WILL HAVE 2 MUCH WATER FLOW ITS FOR A 10 GALLON TANK.... Link to comment
MillerLite Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 Hey Fishhead, No prob, no need to apologize. Just trying to figure out what you wish to do. I have heard on many other threads that this appears to be a problem. I think someone had an idea on how to fix this so I think it would be worth a search. Sorry not more of a help. I have also heard that you could clip a couple of the "paddles for lack of a better term" from the head so that there is less of a flow. There was definitely a thread on this and included advice on opposite "paddles" or something like that to make sure it ran smoothly. I would search before you cut just to make sure. ALso, I read that fuentes is planning on going without use of the motor at all, and is instead using a powerhead to push water into the AC500. Sounds like a good idea to me. Fuentes recommended about a 200 gph up above. I think I might do this after I buy the AC500. Good luck! Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.