Hi,

have upgraded to a fluval 404 external; filter...was hoping to make cleaning easier but actuall doing it is more difficult...is there a simple wat to get the top off the filter without disconnecting all the hoses and having water pouring everywhere..

any advice would be great..

thanks

I haven't got that model as I have the Rena xp3 and find it brilliant, but to clean it you will have to disconnect the tubes first, how do you do this hopefully you turn the filter off first, yes anyway my husband normally does mine for me because it is so heavy and he lifts it onto a towel to catch any water that may spill

It has a "stop the water" thing on it..cant remember the real name..i thought that with this it would be simply a case of stopping the flow and lifting the lid off..but infortunately not..its still better than the Juwel filter that came with the tank tho..

Any more help would be appreciated..

thanks

Fishyfeet maybe able to shed light on how to do the fluval external as she has at least one model but you will still need to switch it off briefly when cleaning.

I have two such items and i disconnect the hoses and rinse out the media without spilling a drop, di

You do have to switch it off first though don't you Di

oh yes always unplug it, di

Hi,

I've used Fluval 404's since they first came out, and love them! The Aquastop valve sometimes gets a bit of gravel inside it, which means it doesn't shut off the water flow as it should, which I suspect might be the case with yours. When it's working properly, you should be able to flip up the hinged plastic flange thingy and shut the water off completely (make sure you push the thing all the way up). If this doesn't work, and there's no gravel in it, then there might be a fault with it and I'd take it back to the shop where you bought it.

Marc