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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Skimmer maintenance

First off, let me share this picture with you. They are 2 pocilloporas (pink and green) that grew together from spawnings.



Last week, my skimmer pump started to make some rattling noise. So I decided to take it apart and clean it, to see what was going on inside the pump.

At first I didn't notice anything, as I didn't know what to look for anyway. So I put the pump back together, back in the sump and fire it up. Oh my! It was louder then before!

That's when I decided that I need a new pump and that my impeller assembly was still OK. I went to one of our LFS's and picked up a new Sedra 5000 pump. They didn't have the impellers but I didn't think I needed one anyway. So I get home and take the old pump apart again to move the impeller to the new pump and that 's when it finally clicked. It was the shaft that was broken I started to pull the pieces out to confirm that I don't need a pump but a new impeller assembly or a new shaft.

The LFS (Salt Water Paradise) took the pump back and sold me a ceramic shaft. Of course my check book was happy about this.
I took some pictures of the sequence of operation to replace the shaft.

1) Take the pump out of the sump.

2) Disassemble, notice on how a piece of the shaft is stuck in the impeller housing.


3) all the pieces of the shaft are removed


4) Insert new shaft and re assemble



Now that summer is almost over, it will be easier to provide updates.

Regards,
Waffleman

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