Emperor 400 Owners/Past Owners

BMueller777 · 10-15-2007, 06:12 PM

I'm so convinced that my Emperor 400 is a lemon or something.... When I see the water comming back into the tank it looks nothing like 400 GPH!

To top it off when the water is about 1-2'' away from the top of the return it the flow out of it is cut in half from the already poor flow quality.

I've heard nothing but good things about this filter so I got it and it does not look like 400 GPH, My AquaClear 50 (200 GPH) has a fast flow....

I've looked inside the best I could to see if anything is cloging it but it's sealed/covered pertty well and I can't get in there to really examine the impeller and other various parts.

Has anyone had this problem before?

One last weird request: Can anyone who owns this filter get a video of it working and/or a pic of the water comming out?

kmies · 10-15-2007, 07:42 PM

Sounds like it may be a impeller problem. You should be able to view and clean the impeller.... see link for diagram.
http://www.marineland.com/products/d.../n_emp_400.asp

If all is well and still no adequate water flow, take it back, it may be faulty.....I run 2 Emperor 400's and never had a problem.

Good Luck

RubberFrog · 10-15-2007, 10:17 PM

Other than being noisy, the two I ran for a year worked fine. I got sick of the noise and they've been in my basement ever since.

kmies · 10-15-2007, 10:36 PM

One question, and dont take offense, Did you prime it, or fill it at least half way before pugging it in. Again, I dont want to insult... just find your problem. I didnt prime mine when I got them, and it seemed to spit and sputter at me.

I will work on a video for you.

BMueller777 · 10-17-2007, 09:17 PM

I fill it up with a pitcher untill the water flows over the overflow thing and then I plug it in while I keep putting more pitchers of water into it till it starts overflowing on its own.

That's the correct way to do it, right?

JediAnt · 11-01-2007, 12:17 PM

I've been running this filter for a few months now and haven't seen any problems like this.
It sounds like maybe something isn't connected right. Maybe the intake tube isn't inserted all the way into the housing.
Although a little troublesome, it is possible to take everything apart and check the impeller. Believe me it looks complicated at first but once you take it apart it's pretty easy.

BMueller777 · 11-01-2007, 03:37 PM

I'm going to get a Rena XP3 pretty soon anyway. It's keeping my water clear but there is no way there's enough suction for a 45g.

After I get the XP3 and seed it with the Emperor 400 I'll disassemble it and if it runs better then before I just might get another tank

Thanks