Powerehead Explosion

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Man i tell you, people just don't learn, and probably never will. How many times have people said that rio's are no good? I still can't believe that there are reefers using rio's in their tank.

A rio almost crashed my friends tank the other day too. I told him that's what you get for being cheap. Now he lost 10 times more than what the POS powerhead is worth!

How is your tank?

Thanks for your sincere concern, I will be replacing all rio's then. I got those from the purchase in the "first water tank" and not knowing the Rio is so bad-actually never even hear anyone has talked about it. Well I guess, I am too inexperience in selecting EQ.

In happens in one of the holding tanks which I traded stuff with other people.

Unfortunately, The rio's are in three other tanks as well. Looks a lot of replacement to do these two days.

 

[kimoyo]

I bet all rocks are dead.

This really depends on what happened with the tank. You really need to narrow down what happened. If its a rust issue, electrocution or one death lead to the next.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Just hope there was no copper released or anything like that! Run polyfilters asap!

I would not even risk to just run polyfilters or such after I saw so many rust in the hole and the plastic film on the surface of the water. I would drain all water, clean the tank completely and restart it.

 

[Pedro]

Well being that it's just a holding tank i totally agree. Empty it and start fresh. But you still need to run the poly's once you restart to catch any residue trapped in the seams, etc!

 

[bad coffee]

Wingo and all,

There's been lots of stories like this where people went throught the same thing.

Long story short:
The epoxy casing that 'waterproofs' the motor is too thin on the LARGER rios. when the pump gets hot, the epoxy melts and water gets in, frying the motor.

On the smaller rios the epoxy is thick enough and they don't produce as much heat. So they don't melt. However I have seen a bunch where the inslulation around the power wire breaks down and you can see the brown and blue wires inside.

So the one line answer is don't use rios. Even if you get one with a piece of equipment, trade it out.

B

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

This really depends on what happened with the tank. You really need to narrow down what happened. If its a rust issue, electrocution or one death lead to the next.

Agreed.

I think electrocution is the main cause, or else the powerhead would not have exploded and by examinating the one fish that's dead, it's looks like there is no suffocation issues. So the plastic thing on the surface does not seems to have block the air flow. One death leads to other seems not likely as the water pars for ammonia and nitrite are both zeros after the incident. But unfortunately, I do not have testers for so many other posions possibly exist in our inhabitants and EQ. Therefore, if there is other posion released by the EQ, I cannot tell. May be I should send a request to Rio for them to check their EQ out.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Wingo and all,

There's been lots of stories like this where people went throught the same thing.

Long story short:
The epoxy casing that 'waterproofs' the motor is too thin on the LARGER rios. when the pump gets hot, the epoxy melts and water gets in, frying the motor.

On the smaller rios the epoxy is thick enough and they don't produce as much heat. So they don't melt. However I have seen a bunch where the inslulation around the power wire breaks down and you can see the brown and blue wires inside.

So the one line answer is don't use rios. Even if you get one with a piece of equipment, trade it out.

B

Thanks for your insight. I would just dumped them-after knowing they are so poorly made-don't wanna transfer the bad luck to other ppl or live stock.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Well being that it's just a holding tank i totally agree. Empty it and start fresh. But you still need to run the poly's once you restart to catch any residue trapped in the seams, etc!

OK, will do.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

i have a rio 1400 running my remora urchin pro. after hearing this story, i will change my pump.

sorry to hear wing. that cactus was nice.

btw do you still have the black sun polyps?

 

[DRZL]

im not sure how well polyfilters work with copper and such but cuprizorb made by seachem is a great product to remove many toxic metals in our aquariums, ive used it and recommend it.

Good luck cleaning up, I know it sucks

Next time buy a red dragon playa

 

[kimoyo]

Wingo,

Since there is also a possible rust issue with the rios exploding (others have had this same issue), you might want to test the copper in the tank before you drain it. If a lot of copper was released it would be soaked up by the rocks and possibly the silicone if its a glass tank. Goodluck.

 

[aaron23]

Hey wingo, I had the same exact situation but except i was just 100x more lucky. During the time I had recently purchased the rio 600 or 800 power head this was like a year ago and what happend was the same thing, i kept feeling stray currents while putting my hands near the tank. One day while i was away same thing happend. Didnt catch it till the next day just went to bed. Mostly everything died, brand new 50 lbs of rock all dead sand all crusted with burnt plastic and cruddy water. I purchased this recently from Dr foster smith at the time and they refunded me for the rock sand and pump. Very nice company. Anyhow they did the research i shipped it back and was told there is NO oil or any type of copper or metal particles that would be released. Besides the burnt plastic that was melted through. Good luck in the future.

 

[Quang]

Oh shiet... I have a rio in my tank.
Thx for posting this Wingo.
Are we talking about all Rio models or just a tendency towards larger models messing up?
Also, a side question..are there any powerheads out there as small as the rio 180 and are dependable?

 

[bad coffee]

rios are generally not that great. But I had a rio 50 that rocked to feed a fuge. Used it 2 years and then sent it off with the fuge when I sold it. No problems whatsoever.

 

[Quang]

Hmm, thx for the info Brett
I've used the smaller model Rio's my entire reefing experience. I have a 180 model that still works after 2 years. The suction cups are what failed. I just recently bought a newer RIO 180, with a thicker, insulated wire/plug and haven't experience any stray current.
Wingo, when did you purchase this RIO and can you take a pic/measurement of the thickness of the cords? I think the new model RIOs hace a thicker cord to better addres the stray current issue.
I'm kinda concern about my tanks since I have small RIOs churning water in both of them. Thx

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

The suction cups are what failed.
...
Wingo, when did you purchase this RIO and can you take a pic/measurement of the thickness of the cords? I think the new model RIOs hace a thicker cord to better addres the stray current issue.
I'm kinda concern about my tanks since I have small RIOs churning water in both of them. Thx

All the ones I have, have all the suction cups failed.

I will check the thickness but I think the stray current issue is from the epoxy not the plastic cord insulation.
I believe I have Rio 800-will verifiy that when I get back there.

I don't know the age of the RIO since it's used EQ from a whole setup when I purchased my first SW tank but in my possession is 6 months.

 

[cali_reef]

Have you ever taken the impeller out and cleaned it?

 

[jhale]

sorry to hear this.

I have one rio 2100 left i use it for mixing water now.

I would recommend maxi-jet's to replace the old rios

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Have you ever taken the impeller out and cleaned it?

Yes I did.


Updates: -Nothing has gone inside the impeller chamber.
-Did not get to the electrical part yet-will check if it rots from the inside or is it leaking from the exproxy joint.

 

[heuerfan]

Did you contact Rio? You should definitely let them know.

I've used a couple of Rios from Rio600-Rio2100 and lucky for me never had a problem. Now i have to go change my Rio600........