Return pump quit

Came home from work and noticed the water in the tank had quite a bit of stuff floating in it. A little investigation and I found my return pump had quit today. T-4 velocity Blue line pump. Can I make it till noon tomorrow without a return pump. I have 2 koralia #3s in there.

90 gal
6 fish
about 25 corals
3-4 sand bed
170 lbs live rock

 

I don't see why not. You might want to put a ph in the sump.

 

Good lesson from Tangster...Always keep a spare, as they always quit at worst possible time...

If your pump (anyone) has a lot of age on it, replace it with a new one and keep the old for backup.

That is what I just did.

I would not feel comfortable waiting till noon next day esp if you do not know time of failure today.

You gotta get some O2 in the tank...got an airpump of some kind?

Good Luck.

 

I ran with out a sump for over a week.

you should be OK.

J

 

Thanks everyone.

I took the steaming hot pump apart and cleaned it like Ive been saying I was going to for the past month and it started running like a champ. There is a fish God afterall. There is no place for procrastination in this hobby!

I used to have a spare...until last week. I take care of another tank that belongs to some one else and their pump went last week so I put my still in the box mag 12 on it and figured I would just order another one in the meantime. Well tonight it all hit home. Everything seems fine and I can honestly say I had the biggest mushrooms I have ever seen today. Id say 4" across!

 

I have 3 T4 and an Iwaki in reserve the feeling of having your main pump down is the worst feeling I have ever had jim if you get in a jam give me buzz you have the number! Glad to hear you got it working the T4 is easy to work on.

 

Hey Jim, if it makes you feel any better, I burnt our return pump out on my own this morning - was trying to lower our phosphate problem with two bags of phosphate reducer, and let one of the bag cords get sucked into the pump. Presto - dead pump. This was after running out early on a Saturday morning to get phosphate reducer and 800-micron bags when I should have been sleeping and preparing for a lazy football Sunday.

The only good part about having to run out a second time on a Saturday morning? Got a Rio 26HF which seems to be as powerful and lower power usage than the pump I had. And half the price of the one I burned out.

Plus, looking at it from a lazy perspective, it saved me having to clean my pump. I suppose I could take this to an extreme and just replace the pump every two months and never have to clean one....

 

I will pm you my address so you can send the pumps you replace to me every 2 mos. I will pay postage;D

 

Works for me, but the first one will still be dead when it gets there.... I was going to give it a decent burial in the garbage can, but a permanent resting place in Georgia is certainly more deserving, considering I killed it - it didn't die a natural death.