Clean away Calcium with 0 - 100%?

[ddevlin]

My 6205's have been on my system a little over a month now and I noticed that on was not running. After troubleshooting calcium buildup on the impeller was the culprit. Tore it down, cleaned it, re-installed it and back to new.

Without soaking the pump, I wasn't able to get the buildup out of the impeller housing. I changed my stom program on the Apex from 30 - 100% to 0 - 100% Oscilating 1 second for 1 minute every hour and noticed pieces of calcium breaking up and blowing out during the storm.

Does the rapid on - off (with the impeller slamming back) cause a self cleaning?

 

[rvitko]

Actually the opposite, the pump runs hotter this way and precipitates more calcium. It is possible the movement broke up some scale but in general this causes more calcium build up.

 

[ddevlin]

Wishful thinking I guess. I top off with Kalk and my CA reactor barely drips. my CA and ALK run on the high side so I figured I would be cleaning them often, just not that often. If the pump stays siezed for an extended time does it damage it?

 

[rvitko]

Yes, it can kill the pumps. From personal experience I can say they will go 6 months between cleanings at a calcium level of 400-420 and 10-12 KH, the higher you go the more often they have to be cleaned. I know that people claim corals grow faster at higher levels and this may be, but it also very hard on the technical equipment and NSW is typically 380 and 8.