When I turn the filter on (after filling it to the top with water) it just seems to dump the water in the tank and that's it...it won't suck back any water.

Is it bust??? Anyway to fix it?

have you checked the pipes are on the right fittings? have you got em turned up equally,is there a blockage???....put ya hand over the inlet pipe you should feel a sucking

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I just re-did it all- the intake tube was not sucking the water up and I couldn't feel anything at the bottom.

when it shut down for 2 mins (or whatever) to expel air, as it does, water came out of the filter and flooded the floor- I tightened all of the fittings as much as I could.

how are you filling the filter? i dont know the fx filter but is it filling through the inlet pipe from the tank? it sounds to me like a airlock/break in the syphoning .

does it have a ball in the outlet strainer in the fish tank ( i know the 304's do and if they were not clean then they alowed water to run back into the tank breaking the syphon!)

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right check the seal is not dammaged

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i would take all the canister apart check the seal ! if it has media trays remove them and replace making sure they are sitting corectly sometimes if they are over filled they hold the lid off,not making the compleat seal!

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fx5s dont have a seal like most canisters you just have to tighten the knobs on the top really well.
when you are refilling before turning on you should only fill it half way.

I've completely taken it apart and cleaned it and put it back together- even ran it without filter media...yet it's still doing the same thing.

Last time I only filled it half way up like suggested and when it switched itself off to expel air it did exactly that- air was coming out of the Intake pipe and water was being sucked up into the filter...however then it all came out of the filter and flooded the floor again.

I tightened the lid on as much as it could be (I used a spanner to do it).

Any other suggestions??? I'm going away tomorrow and If I can't get it fixed tonight then I'll just sell it on.

dya know you have the 3 trays where you have sponges + ceramic tubes,are they all lined up correctly? if so have you got the 2 bars the right way round[the bars that hold the 3 trays together]...make sure the 2 taps on the bottom are closed...you have 2 tubes in the fx5, ones long + goes to the bottom, that lines up with a hole in the top lid the 2nd is shorter, on that there should be a sort of rubber seal that clips into place sometimes that comes outta whack? if these are all correct i fill mine almost to the top...replace lid + tighten the hand nuts clockwise to almost as tight as you can get em, work ya way round then start again making sure they are as tight as you can get em using hand only otherwise youll damage the thread on the nuts...switch on filter and shake the whole thing for a few mins, this helps clear any trapped air...have you checked for blockages in the pipes?

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I don't want to speak too soon but I think that I may have it working- it's a bit noisy (I can hear air loudly) but at least the filter is working again!

It's restarted itself without any problems.