External Filter And Water Changes

Remember i'm a newbie and please don't laugh at question  lol This is my first experience of external filter, when i started it up, it said "prime the canister" and i had to suck on the pipe to get the flow started (pump button stuck) i'm now wondering, when i turn everything off for water changes, will have to go through the same procedure every time 

Hi Chris, it's a Aqua One Aquis 1250, it does give the two options of "pumping primer button" or "sucking pipe" for set up, the pump button was too stiff to pump, (it's second hand set up) so i did the suck pipe method, which was no problem as it was just water at that stage lol. All running fine, just wondered if i have to do that every time i change water, or if the water level is not to low do i need to turn it off at all?

sue is right as long as your pipe stays well below the water surface level you will be ok to leave it running during a water change.
i have the same filter but in the smaller 750 version there actualy a fairly nice filter and one of the more easier i have found for self priming , odd that yours is so stiff althow its normally only the first little bit of the push that is stiffer then once the button is moveing it feels easier to push if yours isnt moving at all it maybe jammed with something i will take a look at mine the weekend and see if i can see anything obvious that could be at fault.
A little trick i do with one of my eheim filters (which is a pain to prime ) is after a clean to siphon water out of the tank and into the filter attach the lid and start it up but there is two problems with this
1 is you have to fill the filter right up so always end up squirting some water out when putting the top on
and second is if the water has flowed slightly out of the pipes then it can draw the air in from them.

It will vary on what fish how much food etc but I would say aproxmeatly 4 to 6 weeks.
I like external filters and even run a external on my 60 liter tank .
one thing I would advise is to always keep a spare impeller especially as these arent the most easiest to get spares for quickly.

Right, well i better get one ordered then : )