Pumps vibrate/hum? Time to clean.

Just going to state the obvious and say it may be time to clean your pumps/impellers if they start getting a lot louder.

It was about the 4th month mark for me and my pumps were really getting loud. Yesterday I cleaned build up off my sump pump and skimmer pump and impellers.

Today I have to strain to hear them! It was a pain, but worth it.

Do you go by noise too?

matt

 

usually when I am able to notice that they have less output or slower flow.

I think it's time to clean my return pump ....

 

noise & flow def can be a tip when it's time to "clean the pipes". My snails always seems to get stuck behind my skimmer & reactor pumps and make a huge racket and it always scares me for a second .

 

Wow, cleaning those sounds like a huge pain. I'm probably about due.

 

i made myself a punch list when i started my reef. once a month i do the following:

- disconnect each powerhead
- disassemble
- clean in vinegar solution if necessary
- verify no leaking voltage (added this line item after last weeks fiasco of a MJ1200 deciding it wanted to zap the hell out of me when i put my hand into the salt-mix bucket to get a water sample to test it)
- rinse rinse rinse
- re-deploy powerhead/pump into tank

i do stagger them so theres never a time where theres 0 flow in the display tank. when im done with the two powerheads in the display i shut down the sump and clean its pumps.

this has kept things quiet, clean, and i figure if i keep up on it should increase the longevity of my investment on my pumps.

in contrast, when i bought the eco-mod for the mj1200 it was making all sorts of noise the first week till it built up a slime coat. more on this in another post soon to come "BJE's Review of the EcoMod". still taking pics and documenting. i just got the thing a week and a half ago.

 

it doesnt take me more than 30-40 minutes to clean 2 koralias, 2 maxijet 1200s, the skimmer pump, and the sump pump.

i have a routine set up though with a punchlist with dates/times to keep things organized. it actually made it easier, i stopped having to worry about things, because i knew they were done or not needed for x amount of time.

so on 1 day a month i do about 2 hours of work between all four of my tanks. and everything stays running and humming along fine.

 

I clean my return pumps once a month if they need it or not. I nearly had a disaster with a neglected return pump a few months back so it was added to the end of the month maintenance list. Powerheads get disassembled and cleaned every other month.

 

Good point on staggering schedules bje.

 

About every 6 months or so I pull all my pumps out, place them in the kitchen sink filled with hot water and vinegar, plug them in and let them run for 10 minutes or so. Scrub them if needed, rinse them out really well and put them back in the tank.

I usually don't really notice any of them getting loud over time, but I sure do notice how quiet they are after I'm done cleaning them .

 

I just did all my Koralia's yesterday and am due for the pumps very very soon.

What do you guys do to clean them....just give them a good scrub or do you soak them in vinegar?