Newbie - help!

[opie]

We are fairly new to this (about 7 months) and everything has been going great. However, we have cyanobacteria. So, we went to the Saltwater store today and we did a water change. I cleaned the LR. When we got everything back in and turned on - our filter system isn't working right. We have an Emperor 280 (45 gal tank). It doesn't seem to be pulling the water up into the system.
Obviously there isn't anywhere to go right now to get one - so what do we do? How long can the fish go without this working properly. It stirred up all the gunk and I can't even see to put the LR back into the tank. It's sitting in a container in water right now.

 

[redman1221]

Try taking the filter apart and cleaning the inside of the where the impler is I don't know if I spell that right. But try that, if that don't work try running your power heads if you have them and you shoud be alright until you can go to the LFS tomorrow.

 

[lexluethar]

Agreed, take the filter apart and clean it. There is a small perpellar inside the unit, that needs to be cleaned and all the gumk needs to be taken off of it.
Reduce your feedings to once a day.
What are your water parameters? When was your last water change? Are you using RO/DI water or tap water (my guess is tap)?

 

[opie]

We are using RO/DI water. Feed once a day and lights on about 6 hrs. It's been a couple weeks since I've done a water change - did the one today. We've topped off the tank, but not a water change.
Took the filter all apart and cleaned everything. When I manually dump water into it - it runs fine. Just not getting sucked up into the tube in the tank and it's all clear too.

 

[lexluethar]

I'm not totally familiar with Emperor, I have a Penguin myself. Double check to make sure you've clean ALL the gunk out of the tube. Stuff likes to build up near the part where the tube bends and you can't see through it. Make sure to clean really good in there and get out any chunks. Make sure to turn the filter on when the resivor is full - press down on the top of the tube that attaches to the resivor if necessary to help get the initial suction going. Make sure that your tank is full and not low on water - if the water line isn't high enough the pump won't work.

 

[snakeblitz33]

congrats. Regards to the Cyano, don't freak out. Doing some regular water changes and with the addition of a protein skimmer, everything will be fine.

 

[opie]

Thanks for all the help. We got the wheel running like it should now. Should be able to get things back on track now. If we have anymore questions we will be back on. Thanks again.