Quick Impeller Cleaning on Whisper Filters

Mine gets noisy.  I think there is some sand lodged in the small impeller hole.  Any suggestions, I'm guessing pipe cleaner.

make sure the impeller didn't get chipped from the sand throwing it off balance also, has a tendancy to grind a bit off the magnet also

I just started with the prefilter.  It's a great idea, and I recommend it to anyone that has a sand substrate.

Mine gets noisy.  I think there is some sand lodged in the small impeller hole.  Any suggestions, I'm guessing pipe cleaner.

Pipe cleaner would work and give it a good flush with water. Do you use a prefilter? That may help save your impeller later down the road.

Mine gets noisy.  I think there is some sand lodged in the small impeller hole.  Any suggestions, I'm guessing pipe cleaner.

I have been using a toothbrush, it works better for me then the store bought filter brushes, just hard to get around corners of the AC Intake pipe!

;D

Toothbrush, any kind of pipe cleaner (clean of course), finger with paper towl, paper towl wrapped around a stick. There are many opions for cleaning the impeller cavity. As for cleaning the impeller itself. Solution of 1/4 white vinegar and 3/4 water and soak for a hour or so. Then wipe off. Vinegar should disolve any soft sand particles and loosen anything else. I have even gone as high as to use white vinegar straight out of the bottle (if you can handle the stench)  :-X

For those of us without a "filter brush" what would you recommend using?  I like mine, but they suck up sand and get pretty noisy.

Maybe its just mine, but my emperor is a giant piece of crap. I bought it used from a guy who used it for saltwater. The gph is minimal and the bio-wheel hardly turns, and thats after many baths in a water-vinegar solution.

Will stick with the ACs.

I agree I love the AquaClears for not only their gph but also media capacity.  The large sponge provided works well with about anything, i.e. media bags full of carbon, zeolite, nitra-zorb, or ceramic bio-media for some serious biological filtration.  But based soley on durability the Emperors can't be beat in my opinion. 

Whispers aren't bad. I have a few old ones that are still running strong. But I have to say the for polishing jobs the line of Aqua Clears are just a little bit better because of their higher gph.