Faster and more convenient way to clean my streams

[Large Polyp Dave]

hey roger

i have 2 6100 streampumps mounted in streamrocks. When I clean them, I have to take the streamrocks right off of the rockwork to access the pumps. Because of this, I can't really mount any corals onto the streamrocks because they get moved every couple of months.

So...

I was wondering if i could cut off the thin plastic grill at the front of stream pump.

that way i could access the impeller through the FRONT of the streamrock and just pull it out every once in a while to clean..

is that a bad idea? would the impellor somehow spin the wrong way and launch out of the hole? =)

 

[rvitko]

Grow polyps, xenia, mushrooms or digitata on the rock. They grow so fast it will grow in place between cleanings. I don't recommend cutting the screen the risk of breaking the drive shaft or killing a fish would be very high.

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

hmm okay. i only keep lps in that tank so i'm not sure what i could put on it.... oh well i'll figure it out.

Just out of curiosity though.. why would the drive shaft break? it never touches the screen in the first place right? or am missing something

in regards to the fish. why would it risk killing them? the pumps are never off so they always have current blowing outwards..


thanks for your speedy replys roger. i love the customer support you guys have

 

[rvitko]

Even with the pump at full power some fish can swim faster than the pumps velocity of flow and many hide in rocks when spooked. Over a year ago i got a letter from a customer who had a fairy wrasse get spooked and he was small and he darted at high speed straight into the cuisinart. Dr Thaler reviewed this and her conclusion was that when scared wrasses normally accelerate into a cave at high speed, the stream rock opening looks like such a cave and the wrasse can swim faster than the flow of the pump. Her conclusion was this was an unusual incident and an unfortunate combination of circumstance- a startling event, a wrasse that had the swimming power to do this, and one small enough to fit in. So, the risk exists and would be greater without the grid.

The shaft would be broken if the prop were to impact a snail or hermit crab that entered the pump.

Since you only keep LPS, I could suggest still a nice colored polyp, I use pink polyps, they grow slow enough to not be a plague. You could also epoxy a small colony of Acanthastrea, these things are tough as nails. I fragged one of mine to give to a friend and a few splinters came off that had a bit of tissue, I threw these in my tank just to see and unbelieveably that 2mm sliver of tissue has become two polyps in about as many months.

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

alrighty =) thanks for the heads up!

one last question. is it important to use vinegar inside the pump itself? i mean once you take out the impellor. the cavity that it used to be in... should we be cleaning that area as well? or does calcium tend not to build up there?


thanks again for your help!

 

[rvitko]

I would at least clean that well every other time. The main thing you can do to extend life between cleanings is when you clean clean thouroughly. It tends to be a vicious cycle where some lime reduces efficiency and cause more to accumulate. Also, running a mode like Pulse or Interval II where the pumps do not turn off helps.