Marineland 350 filter question?

Question

I just bought the marineland 350 canister filter yesterday with some gift cards I got for xmas to my LFS.

The darn thing was $110 and I can't even take the top off! I tried to put the polishing filter on last night and I could NOT get the lid off withough getting water ALL OVER the place!

I do not have the 'deluxe' one. Just the regular one.

How are you supposed to change your filter media every could weeks if it just spews water everwhere when you take the lid off? I looked in the instructions and it doesn't give any advice on this subject. This is my first canister filter, HELP!

Answer 1

Check out the link below. I think that is the owner's manual for your canister filter. Page 10 of the PDF discusses maintenance, just be sure to unplug the filter and close the quick disconnect valves (if installed) before you open it. Before I installed a sump/refugium, I used a Rena FilStar XP3 canister, and never had any problems with flooding. The quick disconnect valves worked great. I hope you get your problem figured out soon.

Answer 2

Keep trying,you will improve the way you change media. I have resorted to using large sponges as pre-filters so the canister becomes a giant bio-filter. I clean the sponges every time I do a water change,(in a bucket of water out of the tank) and I rarely open the canister.
I put the sponges over the intake strainers. I use a sponge filter called Hydro-sponge for the pre-filter,because they are available in several larger sizes. They also sell some plastic tubing "hardware" that works pretty well as an adapter between the filter intake and the sponge.
Also a careful reading of the the instructions will improve the water spewing thing. Good luck.

Answer 3

this is exactly what i fear will happen if i use canister filters, and have yet to find a soulution to it, as such i have never had a canister before.
there should be some way of shutting of circulation, at least temporarily.