CLEAN YOUR PUMPS
 

Just a friendly reminder =)

Went to crank and kill flow on my gfo reactor a few times since I like to agitate the whole mixture every day. When I killed flow to the unit entirely for a second my return pump (which also feeds the reactor) ceased and would not restart.

It's a speedwave 2640 and has only been running 6 months. Seems a bit soon for that to happen but I'm reminding everyone all the same. After only 5 min in a vinegar soak it was restarting every time. I hope to have it back on the system in an hour.

Monthly routine here to clean all my pumps regardless, a little TLC goes a long way.

Was it the actual pump or controller? Two of my three controllers have been replaced within the same time period.

You clean all your pumps once a month? Now thats dedication !!!

never mind, read your post better to see you got it working again :redface:

Yeah thankfully it just needed a cleaning. So far so good!

It's surprising other pump manufacturers haven't adopted the cooling bypass idea. Such a simple idea to keep the motor block cooler preventing calcium-carbonate build up.

Recently my magnesium dropped to 1200 so I'm wondering if this caused more precipitation inside the block? I was upping my 2-part dosing assuming my mag was ok.

Speaking of cleaning equipment, how often do you do a thorough clean of your skimmer?

yikes.. I haven't cleaned my return pump in two years :surprise:

Should probably clean my skimmer too.. :neutral:

... hey look, here's a squirrel in my back yard! BRB.

Not quite, Jan 2012. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Phew!! That was a close one! Still got 6 months left then.

And apparently the last time I cleaned it, it had been going for over two years, yikes!! Wish canreef could remind me to CLEAN MY PUMP more freque- hey the squirrel is back!! BRB!

Gonna clean mine this month. First time cleaning any equipment since I set the tank up three years ago. lol

With my work schedule I have to make sure nothing can go wrong as the wife would have no clue what to do. I also clean my skimmer at the same time, wash out the cup & clean the skimmer neck.

Good reminder. I've only properly cleaned my skimmer once since I got it, and now the bottom of it has more life on it than some of my live rock! I'm sure that can't be good for the pump.

We have a jug of 'cleaning strength' vinegar that I use on my MP10 wet sides, and it works great. I use it @ about 20-30 %, but don't really measure it

I'm sure it's twice the cost, and only use half as much :lol:

FWIW, it doesn't work any faster

Where do you even get cleaning strength vinegar? When I do my powerheads I end up going through an insane amount of vinegar because I don't like to dilute it, but I need enough to fill a bowl high enough to cover all parts of the disassembled power heads

Sorry, guess it's a wife thing
She brought it home for me :wink:

My wife bought Allen's double strength cleaning vinegar for me from either Price Smart or Save-On - she doesn't recall

One of the advantages of having an external overflow....I can always tell if my pump is workin or not :mrgreen: