Lost 2 out of 3 pumps. :( ?

[Davidl919]

I am curing some rock in Rubbermaid Brute 30 gallon bucket. Yesterday I turned off the electrical strip feeding the skimmer, a Hydor koralia, a Maxijet 1200, and a heater so I can do a complete water change and add a host rock for the next month. I had it running since Nov 21st.

So I fill it back up with water and I notice the skimmer wont turn back on, I check the strip and it's got power, I check the skimmer on a different power source and no power still, and then I notice the same thing on my Koralia. No stray voltage in the water, and the maxijet is working. Check the wires on both, no cuts. I can understand one pump failing, bad luck, but two I need an explanation. I checked the Koralia for build-up nothing and will check the sedra pump for the skimmer.

Anybody know what might have caused 2 pumps to just die after working and the only thing I did was turn them off for a few hours.

 

[jrobbins]

try shaking them underwater. there can be a lot of gunk that builds up when curing rock.

 

[Davidl919]

This was weird I found the issues with both pumps apparently Bad luck is the reason but the circumstances are unusual I've never heard of this I inspected both pumps closer. I noticed the shaft holder on the koralia was bent on the side you can remove to clean. It was plastic and easy to bend back into shape. So that was an easy fix.

The skimmers sedra pump has a ceramic shaft with rubber on both ends I removed the needle wheel cover and proceeded to remove the impeller without much force one of the rubber heads came off and I noticed the shaft was broken the other end required removal with a needle nose after the magnet was already removed it was stuck that hard and I thought it was build-up that stuck the bottom end of the shaft and cracked it. When I removed it no build up. The rubber seems to have expanded or the plastic inside the pump lost shape. Bad luck or something happen to make plastic or rubber lose it's shape inside that bucket... Bad luck is what I will tell myself so I can feel better about it. Now time to find a replacement shaft for a sedra 5000.