What is wrong with my pump?

[pondguy]

Recently I have noticed a change in my extenal return pump for my sump on my 220 gallon reef. I am running a Little Giant 4MDQX-SC and it has been running for since May of last year. It has worked great up until a week ago or so. Now it has reduced out put. I noticed this because the fill line in the main tank is not as high as is usually is. Also, the return water is saturated in air bubbles, very tiny bubbles. Bubbles every where! I took the pump a part this morning thinking that there might be something stuck in it, but this was not the case. I cleaned all the internal pipes and magnets that I could get at and then put it back together. It worked great for about a half hour or so and now it is right back to where it was this morning. All these bubbles and less output. Any help would be appreciated. Might the pump be going bad? A pump should last longer than 8 months, shouldn't it? Pondguy

 

[mojoreef]

Pumps do go bad or wear out, but 8 months is pretty short. The bubble thing might be something to look into. I would check all the joints to both the input and out of the pump and make sure thier are no leaks, either air or water. They both could hurt the pumps performance.


Mike

 

[Oscapus]

I had the same thing a few years ago, the source of the bubbles drove me crazy. I finally torn down the plumbing and found a cracked bulkhead coming out of the sump that was sucking air. Replaced it, and no problem since. Watch how much you tighten stuff!

 

[spooda420]

try cleaning it, I had a similar problem with one of my Iwakis take it apart and soak the 'wet' parts in pure vinegar for a day or so. Obviously if its a external dont saok the whole thing, only the wet parts. if its and internal saok the whole thing.

then rinse the deposits of with tap water.

HIH

 

[o2manyfish]

Is the water level in your sump lower than usual for some reason and it's pulling air bubbles ?

Dave B

 

[hebes6]

i had the same problem so i changed the rubber gaskets in mine and everything worked fine.

Scottie