# Tom's Rapids mini Canister filter clog fix



## Chris.

Hey guys-n-gals. I was reading through some old threads about the rapids canister filter that said they had problems with theirs getting clogged etc. etc. Well today I moved one of the filters off of my 10 gallon to my 2.5gallon to help it cycle quicker. the 10g had a aqua-tech 5-15 and a rapids canister on it. Well, after removing the A-T filter, I noticed that the water was VERY still looking. I pulled the output of the canister filter above the water and it was just BARELY trickling out of it. So I knew I needed to clean it or try some of the things the other guys did. One guy removed the flow meter and changed the type of hoses. I have some Eheim hoses on the way just for that purpose, but here is what I did along with a few pictures.








Ignore the algae on the 20 gallon. I'm letting it bloom for a little while to help it cycle and the ottos are loving it anyways. lol









FIRST I noticed the black piece on the output of the filter had a cross inside it so the little rod that holds the flow meter in place would stay in there. I tried to clean this out with a lot of water, but to no avail. So, I drilled it out with a 5/16" drill bit. this seems to be the perfect size, because there is n o-ring that sits on a lip in there that I did not notice, but luckily the bit wasn't too big. LOL, oops. I lost the o-ring to the depths of the sink, but luckily I have a multi-pack of them for just such occasions.

I removed the red flow meter and the little rod. The rod takes a little persuasion to remove, but it does come out. It's just tucked into a little grove. Then I thought, what the heck? I might as well drill out that same part of the clear plastic part. It does just screw off from the top. Mine came off by accident when trying to remove the black plastic from it with no o-ring. Yea, I forgot to put an o-ring back in and was taking it off to do that. That also reminded me to do the clear piece. I started to drill it and felt a little unsure of it because it was hard plastic instead of that soft crap on the other piece. So I got a philips head screwdriver and put it on the grove in the cross part and hammered through it. Got all the little plastic bits out of there and it was amazing how much more room there was for the water to flow! When I was replacing media, I removed their floss/carbon bag and put a bag of Purigen in there along with some poly-fil to wrap around the input tube to keep debris from blocking the purigen bag. No pics of that. should be pretty straight forward.









So, replace the o-ring on the black piece and put everything back together and you should have some water flow similar to THIS:


















I am very impressed with the output of this thing now! It easily reaches to the opposite side of the 10 gallon now. I'm going to do the same thing to the one I have on the 20 gallon when I get home since it doesn't move much water either. Luckily I have an eheim 2213 on the way for it though. Next week, when everything gets here, I'm gonna see if the new hoses increase flow as well. they should since the normal ones are the flexible tubing crap. Good luck with modding your filter!

Chris.


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## BenBOMB

Seems like it's working way better now. Thanks for sharing, could help a lot of people.


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## BenBOMB

I'm actually now planning on buying this filter, but unsure if I want to do this with mine since it's going to be on my 5G planted tank and I am purchasing the filter to create less top water disturbence for my floating plants, my HOB powerfilter just moves them around to move then they get stuck underneath.


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## Chris.

Well, if you don't do this, yours will clog and the water flow will be extremely minimal. Try it out for a few months and see what i'm talking about before you mod it. At first the canister seems to work great, then over time it gets buildup in those key spots and it just barely moves water. Good luck with yours!


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## BenBOMB

Well I honestly don't want the water to move that much so my floating plants aren't disturbed, but yeah I guess i'll just have to see.


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## mellowvision

I've been saying I'm going to do this for ever. I took the "flow indicators" out a long time ago, and run different media etc, but haven't drilled it. I should.

it's not a bad filter really, it's just too bad they set it up the way they do. 2 normal barbed fittings would be great.


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## Chris.

I keep the spray bar under the surface of the water, so the it isn't moved around too much. It will move them around on the surface but it's not going to thrash them. the pics were above the surface just to give an idea of increased flow.


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## goldfishes

This is great! I am just about to purchase one of these. Thanks a lot!


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## Chris.

Good luck! It's a great filter. It just tends to need a cleaning more frequently then most because of it's size.


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## Chris.

well, I finally got around to changing the hoses on it. It also made a noticeable improvement in flow. The key things with these filters is to keep the polyfil clean on the inside. It gets clogged quick with decaying plant matter and stops flow. After putting the eheim hose on the rapids canister, it is actually flowing better than my 2213. It probably has something to do with the length of the spray bar and amount of holes in each, but still. It's impressive. Ignore the GDA. I'm trying to let it live out it's life cycle before I clean it off again. Trying to be rid of this crap.


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## miles

hi chris,

did you use hose clamps to secure the eheim tubing onto the canister side connections? if you did, i can't see them in your photo. i have the same tubing, and the id is too wide and the od is too thick to fit securely on the nipples. how did you adapt the eheim 12/16 tubing on the tom's rapid canister?


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## Chris.

everything fit very snugly on mine. I even had to use a bit of persuasion to get the hoses on. I couldn't pull them off. Had to cut a slit in the hose just to remove the hose the other day. All I did was sit the canister on the front side of the tank in about the position I wanted it on the back side, and measured/cut my hose the length I wanted from there. Pushed the clear in and output tubes into the hose and it was done. I think the fit was looser on the canister end of the hose, but that's why they have those nuts on the connections...To tighten the hose down and keep it from coming off. I doubt this thing puts out enough pressure to pop them off anyways.


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## miles

Chris. said:


> everything fit very snugly on mine. I even had to use a bit of persuasion to get the hoses on. I couldn't pull them off. Had to cut a slit in the hose just to remove the hose the other day. All I did was sit the canister on the front side of the tank in about the position I wanted it on the back side, and measured/cut my hose the length I wanted from there. Pushed the clear in and output tubes into the hose and it was done. I think the fit was looser on the canister end of the hose, but that's why they have those nuts on the connections...To tighten the hose down and keep it from coming off. I doubt this thing puts out enough pressure to pop them off anyways.


i must have some weird tubing. it's from my 2213, with 4004940 and 12mm/16mm stamped on it.

mine just slips on and off with ease--certainly enough to pop off despite the low output. i can't use those locking nuts, as the tubing is too thick. i need thin wall tubing for this application. unfortunately, thin wall tubing collapses easily. i guess i'll stick to the stock tubes. :|


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## Nexxorcist

i was looking at this filter for my 14 gallon, and looking at this mod has me thinking twice, tho i'm leaning more towards buying it. lol. 

if i do get it, i'd plan on getting the 1/2" tubing as well (partly because it looks cool), however i was wondering if the output is below the water line, and say a black out occurs, wouldn't the water siphon back into the filter?

also, i was wondering, what does "poly-fil to wrap around the input tube" mean? is it like some foam inside the input tube to prevent dead plant debris from comin in it? i'm a bit of a noob with that. 

oh, and thanks for the detailed mod! i plan on doing this soon, esp since the thing is on sale at drsfostersmith!


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## Chris.

Hi
the poly-fil comment...you'll see what I mean when u get your filter. On the lid is a tube with holes in it that sticks into the container. Just make sure to put that tube in the center of your poly-fil and you'll be fine. Poly-fil I just a super cheap filter media for canister filters so I don't have to use anything with carbon in it. These filters are self priming once u fill it up the first time so if the power fails it starts right up with no problems.


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## Nexxorcist

awesome, thank you for the quick response! now this feels like much less of an impulse buy to me. muwahaha. 

seriously though, this will be much better than my lil aqueon 10 gallon hob filter. the purigen bag sounds pretty awesome too!


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## Chris.

miles said:


> i must have some weird tubing. it's from my 2213, with 4004940 and 12mm/16mm stamped on it.
> 
> mine just slips on and off with ease--certainly enough to pop off despite the low output. i can't use those locking nuts, as the tubing is too thick. i need thin wall tubing for this application. unfortunately, thin wall tubing collapses easily. i guess i'll stick to the stock tubes. :|


I must have missed this post. Yea the ehiem tubing is too thick to properly use the lock nuts. But I've been using the tubing for a few months and it hasn't popped off yet. It does come off relatively easily though. Using a hose clamp with just a little pressure wouldn't hurt anything. Just make sure not to overtighten so you don't crack the plastic or cut into the tubing.


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## miles

Chris. said:


> I must have missed this post. Yea the ehiem tubing is too thick to properly use the lock nuts. But I've been using the tubing for a few months and it hasn't popped off yet. It does come off relatively easily though. Using a hose clamp with just a little pressure wouldn't hurt anything. Just make sure not to overtighten so you don't crack the plastic or cut into the tubing.


i'm actually getting great flow, even with the stock tubing. wanted to make sure it was a good mod before posting.

i'm using an aquaclear 300(?) sponge instead of the poly filter stuff. seems to clog less, although i still need to rinse it out with my weekly wc.

i have the spraybar on the right side of my 20h tank, and the flow to the other side is more than sufficient. i am using the spraybar from toms dive clean mini internal filter, which has 10 to 12 holes; it is slightly shorter than the stock bar. the end plug of the spray bar that came with my canister has a big hole in it (looks like by design) so i emailed toms and they sent me the the dive clean mini spraybar by mistake, but as it turns out, may be helping the flow.

i would say, though, that the ac sponge mod is helping with the flow the most.

Chris, i guess my eheim tubing is weird, cuz there is no way that it would stay on either the intake or output on the canister. it just flops off. oh well, the flex tubing is good for the tight bends i've got.

Nexxorcist, it'll start up as long as your intake tubing is under water and there will be no backsiphoning; it's a closed loop.


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## Chris.

yea the flex tubing is great! It's just not long enough IMO. I have one of these on my 10g and my 20H. I like to have the intake opposite of the spray bar, but I can't do it on either tank with the felxi tubing. Changing tubing may have helped a little, but it's probably negligible. If you are worried about leaks, just stick with the original stuff. The best thing for flow is getting rid of that stupid flow meter they built into it.

My pol-fil doesnt clog anything. but it does get clogged about once a month or two by plant detritus and such.


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## miles

i've got it set up pretty much as illustrated on the box, so the length of tubing doesn't matter much to me. it's been running fine for about 1 month now and im satisfied although i think it would be better on a 10gal tank.


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## Nexxorcist

well, i get it on monday. ordered the poly fil, and the tubing. if anything, im gonna try tighting up the ends of the tube with some zip ties. slightly worried about the plant detrius, but it's not hard to clean, right?


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## Chris.

no. it's super easy! Every filter will get clogged eventually. Why did you order poly-fil? It's like $2 at wal mart.


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## Nexxorcist

cause i didn't really know. i dont frequent walmart too often in general. i don't think there even is one in nyc. haha


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## miles

Nexxorcist said:


> cause i didn't really know. i dont frequent walmart too often in general. i don't think there even is one in nyc. haha


try using an ac sponge. i believe it was for the 300. it's pretty much a perfect fit vertically (but the whole chamber doesn't need to be totally filled up, the stock carbon infused poly doesn't either). will last for years, provides added biofiltration, doesn't clog as fast as poly.


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## Nexxorcist

hey, are you guys still using the original stuff in your filters, like those little chunks? because i was just going to use the purigen bag and polyfil


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## Chris.

I have some of the stuff they send with the filters because I bought extra when I got the filter. I have since learned that you shouldn't use carbon media in a planted tank. Now I just use poly fil and a bag of purigen.


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## Nexxorcist

hey guys, my canister leaked! i turned it on, and for a few seconds it was goin ok and then bam, it started leakin from all over the place. where the lid connects to the cup, out of the O ring part where you pour in the water before hand, even out of the electric cord outlet. i put the poly fil in the slot where the water comes IN, and the purigen back in the output, shut it, and let it rip. any ideas?

EDIT: I think I put too much Poly-fil in. I originally had 3 pieces, cut to 3 inches by 1 1/2 inches and I think that might of caused the thing to over flow. I lowered the amount down to one of those pieces and it seems to be goin good without any leaks. im gonna let it run over night in a bucket, next to the sink to see if its still goin.

EDIT #2: It still had a very tiny trickle, so I just took the polyfil out completely for now and it didn't leak over night. Now how to figure out how to get some kind of polyfil back into that chamber.


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## Nexxorcist

i give up. the mod itself is a good one, but my rapid mini canister filter would not stop leaking out the sides. i'm returnin this bad boy and stickin with my old hob for now.


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## Chris.

Man, that's weird. One of mine leaked also, but only from one spot and I looked closely at it, and it looked like a manufacturing defect in the channel for the o-ring. part of the channel was cut and pushed toward the o-ring. I bent it back straight and it's not leaking anymore. As to you polyfil problems...You cut it? Mine is just a big bad full of the stuff. It's used to stuffing pillows and such. I just pull off a fist sized clump and stick it in there, and put the purigen outside the polyfil, next to the divider.

Sounds to me like if yours is leaking from the power cord and all over, that there is something else wrong with it completely. You can send it back and have them send a replacement, or you can get the to refund your money and go look at the Zoo Med version. I have heard good things about it.


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## Nexxorcist

i might look into the zoo meds, but I think if I ever decide to invest in a canister filter again, I'll just save up for an Eheim Classic. lol. the Polyfil I bought was from drs fostersmith and it came in the form of a big ass sponge with a hardened backing. i figure i'll at least just toss the purigen bag into my HOB for now.


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## miles

Nexxorcist said:


> hey guys, my canister leaked! i turned it on, and for a few seconds it was goin ok and then bam, it started leakin from all over the place. where the lid connects to the cup, out of the O ring part where you pour in the water before hand, even out of the electric cord outlet. i put the poly fil in the slot where the water comes IN, and the purigen back in the output, shut it, and let it rip. any ideas?
> 
> EDIT: I think I put too much Poly-fil in. I originally had 3 pieces, cut to 3 inches by 1 1/2 inches and I think that might of caused the thing to over flow. I lowered the amount down to one of those pieces and it seems to be goin good without any leaks. im gonna let it run over night in a bucket, next to the sink to see if its still goin.
> 
> EDIT #2: It still had a very tiny trickle, so I just took the polyfil out completely for now and it didn't leak over night. Now how to figure out how to get some kind of polyfil back into that chamber.


you say it does not leak if you take out the polyfil. does it leak with the filter medium that was included with the filter? if it does not leak with the original medium, then nothing's wrong with it.

try using an aquaclear foam insert. i think 300 was the old size name, not sure what the new series size you would need. i think it was the second smallest sponge. you need to ream out a hole in the sponge and insert that tube in there. get much better flow and you get additional biofiltration. i've kept the ceramic noodles in there; my water's very clear so i don't need the purigen or carbon.

btw, chris, can you cite your reference about carbon and planted tanks? thanks.


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## Chris.

You can just do some searches here or on plantedtank.net and find several different threads that say not to use carbon in a planted tank. At least if you are using fertilizers. The carbon removes the ferts from the water column. With any new filter, I would use the carbon for a couple weeks, but remove it afterwards.


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## Chris.

Nexxorcist said:


> i might look into the zoo meds, but I think if I ever decide to invest in a canister filter again, I'll just save up for an Eheim Classic. lol. the Polyfil I bought was from drs fostersmith and it came in the form of a big ass sponge with a hardened backing. i figure i'll at least just toss the purigen bag into my HOB for now.


that's interesting. It may be the problem. The stuff I'm talking about, you get in the craft section of wal-mart for under $3. It's just pillow stuffing.


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## Nexxorcist

miles said:


> you say it does not leak if you take out the polyfil. does it leak with the filter medium that was included with the filter? if it does not leak with the original medium, then nothing's wrong with it.


Hey Miles, I think the reason was I had it underneath the tank, sitting on a shelf. when i placed the filter side by side, next to a bucket, it worked just fine with/without polyfil.

chris-the purigen back won't filter out my fertz or excel, right?


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## Chris.

That's what I've been told...


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## Chris.

I finally put a bag of purigen in my second filter(the one on my 20) and removed the eheim tubing from it. I put the original stuff back on just for a little peace of mind. I could have just put some worm clamps on them to make sure they don't come off, but I didn't feel like the hassle. It still flows really well with the flexible tubing. On my 10g, I haven't had to clean/replace the poly-fil in at least 2 months and it still flows great. It gets clogged in a month on the 20g. There are a lot of plants in the 20 that have high requirements though, so there are always some leaves floating around or getting stuck on the pre-intake strainer. Would you guys like for me to post up a picture of the poly-fil I was talking about so you don't buy that block stuff online?


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## jcali10

I just want to say that when cleaning my Tom's Mini Filter yesterday I removed the flow indicator, metal rod, drilled out the plastic cross members inside the outflow line and that small clear plastic piece with a 1/4" bit, and was totally amazed at the amount of flow I am getting now, with the original tubing. It was a great improvement. I would have done it sooner but I was afraid I would break it somehow. But all is well, I even managed to save the little rubber washer in the outflow tube. Great recommendation and not very difficult at all.


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## kenlai32

Any one have problem with this filter sucking in air and blowing out tiny bubbles?

It is not leaking but it has water noise plus it is very annoying as it keep on blowing air bubbles.


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## Chris.

I have never had that problem.


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## Laura77

Hi guys I'm new here, and sorry for opening up an old thread, but getting almost 0 output from my mini rapid, and I need someone to do a step by step for me that will point me to the flow metre so I can fix it I'm slightly confused haha

Cheers in advance


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## Chris.

its the red thing that spins inside the plastic part where the output tube connects. Take it out and open up the piping the way I said and you will get remarkable flow from it.


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## Laura77

Ok so I cleaned it out still no where near the flow I used to get, ...I'm going to have to do do some reno's hmmmmmmm

Well I'm going to have to get a guy to do the changes so I don't destroy my filter


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## miles

Laura77 said:


> Ok so I cleaned it out still no where near the flow I used to get, ...I'm going to have to do do some reno's hmmmmmmm
> 
> Well I'm going to have to get a guy to do the changes so I don't destroy my filter


laura, check out these links: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equipment/55184-flow-problems-solutions-toms-mini-canister.html
and 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equipment/86619-toms-rapids-mini-canister-filter-clog.html


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## Chris.

kenlai32 said:


> Any one have problem with this filter sucking in air and blowing out tiny bubbles?
> 
> It is not leaking but it has water noise plus it is very annoying as it keep on blowing air bubbles.


I just came back and read through the comments again and yeah, mine have been doing this for the last couple of years occasionally. It only happens if I let the water level of the tank get to/below the top of the canister. If I top off the water level and let the canister hang to straighten out the tubes and slowly tilt the canister from one side to the other (while running) to work out the air that developed it's fine again. I don't know how its getting the air into it though since the inlet is always submerged and there aren't any bubbles around it.


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