Problem Pump

Yesterday I noticed my Kenya Tree was not looking good, but dismissed it as it sometimes salk's and it was only the one that was uphappy. As I was going to do a water change today I did not investigate further. Today all my corals and the clam were not happy.










So I did some investigations, when I put my hand in the sump I got a nice little tingle and then knew it must be a pump or a heater. I found the culprit.



My pump for my carbon had cracked its seal.

Done the water change and replaced the pump now only time will tell. Busy making more RO water so I can do another 100l water change tomorrow.

SO the morel of the story do regular pump maintenance.

 

Wow, so is that pump 220VAC ?

Is your tanked earthed ?

Reason i ask is I have had 220VAC running through my tank, for an entire weekend, till I got zapped when feeding on my return. But none of my inmates looked upset like this, only noticed anything when I earthed the tank and the fish started darting around wildly.

 

yes 220V AC
No only some things.

Will run a earth when I set up a separate DB for the tanks.

 

It's more likely rust had upset the corals, i've seen it before, rather than electrickery, the tank is isolated/earthed so nothing inside the tank would have been shocked, you on the otherhand were earthed and therefore game for a jolt.

 

Spot on Mike, it was the rust. You can see it on the pic.

 

yeah. if the tank was at a high potential there would not be a problem until you complete the circuit so earthin a tank isn't the best idea imho. glad you figured it out though shaun, that would have been lethal to your corals soon

 

So, how are the corals doing? Reason I'm asking, is that if the crack allowed water to get into the pump's electrical windings, the chances are good that you could actually have a copper problem (from the copper wire electrical windings), and not a "rust" problem. Have you checked for copper (low level test...) ?

Hennie

 

Thanks Hennie, forgot about copper. Some are now Ok other not. Will try get a copper test in the morning. The crack was to the coil. My boxer Shrimp is Ok, or can they handle copper?

 

Maybe just use some water conditioner, like Tetra, neutralises / removes heavy metal.

 

3 x 100l

 

mmmmmmm - pumps can be a serious issue - my koipond 1kw pump just ate its own insides

 

It must have been hungry.

 

yea - but now i have to find like R2000 on the 23rd of the month for a pump....

 

Sorry guys but the rust (oxidised iron would have very little effecton everything) the possibility is that most pumps have copper wire entwined around them and that started to dissolve. That is a more seroius problem, so Thalion do investigate further as to the culprit, and take appropiate action.

George
Tunze SA