Tank Crash Question - Rio Pump?

[CraigLampe]

I had a Rio 2100 hooked up to my protein skimmer (a turbofloater) and one night it blew and tripped my GFCI killing all power to the tank, heaters, powerheads, for an unknown amount of time and then in the morning the temp was 70F

I was able to figure out the problem and get the temp back to 78F-80F but about 4 days later all of the corals were bleached out and continue to be that way about 10 days after...

tank params are all zero, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate

but everything still mad...

Wondering if the 70F temp stress is the only problem, or did my Rio release something TOXIC into the water!?!?! like copper, corrosion, etc. while I was cleaning the pump some greasy black stuff came out... Wondering if this would have gotten into the tank water, and what would be the solution!?!? (besides MUCHO WATER CHANGES)

HELP!!

 

[smokin reefer]

First off sorry to here about your tank. It was the rio. When they blow they release a oil substance. I and others have WARNED everyone on this board about them. Anyone else let this be another warning to you. I know that other pumps fail, maybe even more often than a rio. But I have never read about any of them leaking any kind of oil. DO YOU WANT TO GAMBLE. I had the same experince with a rio. I was lucky and caught it fast. Did a 30% water change, hooked up my mag 350 and cranked up my skimmer. I have heard of others with the temp dropping down that low without any ill effects. Again, sorry to hear about your lose. I hope you rebuild your reef one day without any rio pumps. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

1. Go get a polyfilter. It will help to remove any heavy metals or other toxins that the RIO leached into your system. Also run some high-grade carbon in a high waterflow area.

2. As you already suggested, do several water changes over a couple week span.

3. Tell LFS and everyone you know that RIOs are junk. I lost a $500 golden guinea fowl puffer, a $300 show size queen trigger, and a $130 french angel when a RIO blew a few years ago; it gave me the double-whammy--electrocuted the tank AND released chemicals into the system. Haven't put one in a tank since. They truly are the pumps of death. It's interesting how it's virtually impossible to find a phone number for TAAM industries (RIO's parent company) and they don't answer their emails, snail-mails, or faxes. I finally did find a phone number and got ahold of the owner of TAAM. Explained my situation to him, and he was a real prick. Accused me of misusing the pump, told me there was no way it could ever explode like I claimed, etc. Grrr. What a jackhole.

-John

 

[bradsark]

I had a problem with GFCI circuits triping and knocking everything out. I decided right away to connect various pieces of equipment to different circuits to avoid everything shutting down. I wired more GFCI outlets to 3 diffferent slots in the circuit breaker. I now have 2 heaters on 2 different circuits and pumps on different circuits. I think it is well worth the minor electrical adjustments (as long as you have relatively easy access)

 

[LA-Lawman]

hey sharky.

I live 1/2 mile from TAAM. the Owner owns two LFS in the area and has polluted our county with his pruducts...he also made that Realux lighting crap. the ballasts and reflectors are OK and cheap, but the bulbs suck (u can retro with hamilton or CSL). u can only use them for growing Macros..

he is a slap-d*ck. i cant stand him....

i know your pain...

he also makes those ViaAqua pumps/canisters/and tanks...... the pumps are ok. they are not designed like the RIOS but i stilldont trust them....

 

[Anonymous]

hey sharky.

I live 1/2 mile from TAAM. the Owner owns two LFS in the area and has polluted our county with his pruducts...he also made that Realux lighting crap. the ballasts and reflectors are OK and cheap, but the bulbs suck (u can retro with hamilton or CSL). u can only use them for growing Macros..

he is a slap-d*ck. i cant stand him....

i know your pain...

he also makes those ViaAqua pumps/canisters/and tanks...... the pumps are ok. they are not designed like the RIOS but i stilldont trust them....

That's really interesting, and just jibes with what little I already knew. At the time I had the blowout I was running a tank setup/maintenance business, and I could not believe how incredibly rude the jerk was to me, even knowing that my decisions affected hundreds of pumps and held a decent amount of sway with several LFSs. He still threatened to sue me. :roll:

 

[wizardgus]

he also makes those ViaAqua pumps/canisters/and tanks...... the pumps are ok. they are not designed like the RIOS but i stilldont trust them....

I don't think the tanks. Commodity Axis is stateside distributor, they are made in China. I have one of the pumps and it looks identical to the Rio. I also have one of the big ViaAqua tanks and to get info from their old site you had to download a Chinese character set. FWIW