Things You'll Need
- Marineland Emperor 400 Power Filter
- Rite Size "E" replacement filters
Instructions
Rinse the Rite Size "E" filter cartridges under cold water. The water should turn gray for a few seconds. The filter is clean when the water turns clear. The gray coloring is the excess carbon dust. Each Emperor 400 holds two filter cartridges.
Place one media container, which comes with the filter, in the filter boxes on each side of the uptake tube. The media containers look similar to the filter cartridges, except that they use grates that catch any particles that the filter cartridge didn't. There will be a slot for the media containers in each filter box.
Slip a rinsed filter cartridge behind each media container in the filter boxes. There is a slit for them. The blue, fiber-covered side of the cartridge should be facing toward the back of the filter box.
Place the bio-wheels in the slots atop each spillway, which are the ramps leading out of the filter boxes. There are little slots to place the bio-wheels.
Attach the intake strainer to the bottom of the intake tube extension, then connect the intake tube extension to the primary intake tube. The strainer is where the water is sucked up. It is grated to prevent sucking up fish. The primary intake tube is the part that attaches to the filter pump.
Place the magnet part of the impeller in the small chamber between the two filter boxes. This chamber is connected to a motor that will spin the impeller, making the intake tube suck up water. Connect the open end of the primary intake tube to the top of the impeller. There is a slot for it.
Hang the completed filter on the back of the aquarium using the spillways as "hooks." It should fit snugly over your aquarium's plastic trimming.
Fill the two filter boxes with water from your aquarium. This is called "priming" the filter.
Plug the filter into a power source. The impeller should start spinning, which will bring water up the intake tube for filtration and then back into the tank via the spillways.