Murray- One of my maxi-mods seized up on me and I had no idea? I guess you could say I slacked off a bit for not checking up but frankly it appeared as though all was well to me
The next thing I know I started smelling this electrical burning smell in the living room where the tank was. I hunted hi and low for the source and found nothing??? I checked all the power cords, outlets... EVERYTHING, that you would think to check that is, and found nothing.
Then one fateful morning in October the problem revealed itself in a way that was unmistakable... ALL of my corals were bone white
My skimmer was going NUTS overflowing like mad, it was just awful! At this point I still didn't realize what it was, I still smelled the electrical smell but hadn't tracked it down, yet.
At this point I'm in shock and awe wondering what the *BLEEP* just happened.... Well, I turned off the skimmer and was taking a closer look at the tank at this point. I rechecked all the wiring underneath, nothing??? I started looking at my neptune for stats and my orp was just way out of whack?
At this point the electrical smell thing is really getting to me... Being right up over the top of the tank I notice that the smell is stronger than anywhere in the living room? Hmm, so, I start to investigate. It can't be the "powerheads" I thought? They're "underwater", NO WAY, but I decided to check it out. The one on the right was ok... wait a minute, hmm, the one on the left, it's not moving at all and should be, what the heck?
So, I grabbed a hold of the left one and it was hotter than the blazes!!! :eek1: I proceeded to unplug it and found the source of my problem, much to my dismay of course! I wish I had taken a picture to warn everyone but frankly I was too ticked off and frustrated to think straight.
Upon closer inspection the powerhead was definitely the problem. It must have been frozen for QUITE some time, and I didn't even know(BAD AQUARIST, BAD... BOY). When I removed the shroud and went to pull the impeller out I had quite a time. It was "stuck" and hard to remove. Finally I got it out and saw the horror... (don't you love how dramatic I'm being???):lol:
Anyway, the impeller was just fried and the inside of pump where the impeller slides in was WARPED and burnt! Must have been trying real hard to get that impeller to move and got super hot in the process??? Hot enough to cause it to warp, and I'm not kidding, CHAR the inside of the pump where the impeller slides in. It was a mess
Well, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. The whole thing killed off my stonies, LPS, and only left me with surprisingly some zoa's and my fish, thank goodness! I have a Royal Gramma that I've had for over 8 years now, he's a champ!
So, let this be a warning to you all! Don't get lazy or assuming in thinking that "all is well" with your equipment. I have sworn off maxi's for the most part as I was going batty with their chatter and such any way and sucked it up and got some Tunze's that I had been wanting for so long anyway. This disaster was just the excuse I needed to upgrade. The charred remains of the maxi were grate to show my wife and convince her we needed to spend the extra money
Sorry, but I think it was justified personally!
I had a lot of time and money invested to this tank in it's previous incarnation. I'll try to find some old pics to post maybe? I had some very nice stuff, if I do say so myself!
