Biowheel filter problem

Question
I bought the Marineland Emperor 280. It was
working great until I cleaned it today (first time)...now it doesn't work!
What did I do?  The situation...

The intake tube is not sucking up water.  What's strange is if I POUR
water directly into the flow manifold everything appears to work
fine...the water is sucked down by the propeller, water squirts out of the
spray bars, and so forth but once I hook up the intake tube no water is
sucked up to keep the system going.  Yes, I've filled the filter box 1/2
full of water before I plug it in to prime it. What am I doing
wrong?  Everything looks fine except no water is being sucked up the intake
tube...that is (yes) properly seated. Everything looks fine and is
fitting snug, I don't get it.  

HELP!  Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  

I've done all the trouble shooting in the manual to no avail...I don't
understand why its not working.  

Aron Belveal


Answer
Dear Aron,
Hi. That's the "built in" model, right? I had that happen to me at first. There's a funny little trick to it. I think it was something to do with the water level in the tank. Something about the tank had to be full before you start it, or the way you put the pipes in, something like that. It has been several years since I had mine. I've gone mostly to Bettas lately.
My advice is to go to an aquarium store and ask them to show you how to start it up.
If the aquarium store cannot help you, write back.
I remember the main problem I had with that set up was overfeeding. I clogged the thing up in a week. Finally I quit doing that, but had to learn the hard way.
I hope this helps,
Sincerely,
Nori