This is a warning on the MP40QD wetside assemblies. I am not sure if this is a known issue or not. I am a huge ecotech fan and own 4 radion pro gen 3's, a reeflink, the vectra L1 and 3 MP40QDs so I am not trying to hate on ecotech at all. Let me start at the beginning.
I purchased 3 brand new MP40QD pumps for my 200 gallon display (left side, right side and back side) shortly after they were introduced to market. MP40QDs worked great until about 6-7 months ago when I seemingly randomly lost an orchid dottyback, lineatus wrasse and 2 flame wrasses along with a yellow tang and a naso tang within a short time frame. I thought is was very odd as nothing had changed on the tank that I could tell.
Fast forward a few weeks while I am still reeling from the loss of my fish, my acropora and LPS begin struggling. Bleaching at first until finally it was completely dead. I went from many corals to only 2 survivors, half a rainbow monti and a montipora setosa in about 3 weeks time. I was dumbfounded. Literally nothing had changed on the tank that I could tell. I run a full apex system and everything is automated. I ripped everything I could think of apart and cleaned it, removed rock and cured it, did massive water changes and tried to find a cause. I never found anything I could definitively say had caused the problem.
I was dejected. I nearly gave up on my tank and contemplated taking it down. I think the only thing that kept my tank up and going were the few surviving corals and fish. Well just the other day I noticed a sound coming from one of the MP40QD pumps that I had not heard before. It was loud and sounded like the pump was struggling. The wetside had become disconnected. I put my hand on the dryside and it was almost hot enough to burn my skin. I tried to re-attach the wetside only to have it fling off immediately upon restarting the pump. I immediately turned the pump off and tried to troubleshoot what was happening and noticed that the propeller was very difficult to spin on the wetside. I had routinely cleaned the wetsides of the MP40QDs and tried to keep coraline algae at bay to avoid seizing up , but until now did not realize that you can remove the magnet from the housing. Maybe I am dense, but no manual I had seen explained that this was possible. Well I opened the housing and this is what I saw.
It looks like the magnet has exploded and nearly completely rusted out. The expansion eventually caused the wetside to seize up and cause the dryside to malfunction.
I immediately grabbed the wetside off of the 2 other pumps I have and tore them apart. This is what I saw:
Pump 2 looked okay, but pump 3 did not!
Pump 3 has a linear crack in the black housing that extends to the central cap and there is the slightest raised surface under the crack.
I was again left speechless and dumbfounded. Could this have been the cause of my tank crash? It is certainly the only abnormal thing I have found since my loss. I was furious. It has taken me several hours to calm down enough to even put together this post. 2 out of 3 of my pumps seem to be affected and one has progressed to the point of taking down the dryside so now I suspect the pump is worthless. This seems like a flaw that may affect more people than just myself.
I caution you to check the magnets on your wetside assemblies as soon as you can. I have no idea what it is going to require to get my tank back to normal at this point.
David
I purchased 3 brand new MP40QD pumps for my 200 gallon display (left side, right side and back side) shortly after they were introduced to market. MP40QDs worked great until about 6-7 months ago when I seemingly randomly lost an orchid dottyback, lineatus wrasse and 2 flame wrasses along with a yellow tang and a naso tang within a short time frame. I thought is was very odd as nothing had changed on the tank that I could tell.
Fast forward a few weeks while I am still reeling from the loss of my fish, my acropora and LPS begin struggling. Bleaching at first until finally it was completely dead. I went from many corals to only 2 survivors, half a rainbow monti and a montipora setosa in about 3 weeks time. I was dumbfounded. Literally nothing had changed on the tank that I could tell. I run a full apex system and everything is automated. I ripped everything I could think of apart and cleaned it, removed rock and cured it, did massive water changes and tried to find a cause. I never found anything I could definitively say had caused the problem.
I was dejected. I nearly gave up on my tank and contemplated taking it down. I think the only thing that kept my tank up and going were the few surviving corals and fish. Well just the other day I noticed a sound coming from one of the MP40QD pumps that I had not heard before. It was loud and sounded like the pump was struggling. The wetside had become disconnected. I put my hand on the dryside and it was almost hot enough to burn my skin. I tried to re-attach the wetside only to have it fling off immediately upon restarting the pump. I immediately turned the pump off and tried to troubleshoot what was happening and noticed that the propeller was very difficult to spin on the wetside. I had routinely cleaned the wetsides of the MP40QDs and tried to keep coraline algae at bay to avoid seizing up , but until now did not realize that you can remove the magnet from the housing. Maybe I am dense, but no manual I had seen explained that this was possible. Well I opened the housing and this is what I saw.
It looks like the magnet has exploded and nearly completely rusted out. The expansion eventually caused the wetside to seize up and cause the dryside to malfunction.
I immediately grabbed the wetside off of the 2 other pumps I have and tore them apart. This is what I saw:
Pump 2 looked okay, but pump 3 did not!
Pump 3 has a linear crack in the black housing that extends to the central cap and there is the slightest raised surface under the crack.
I was again left speechless and dumbfounded. Could this have been the cause of my tank crash? It is certainly the only abnormal thing I have found since my loss. I was furious. It has taken me several hours to calm down enough to even put together this post. 2 out of 3 of my pumps seem to be affected and one has progressed to the point of taking down the dryside so now I suspect the pump is worthless. This seems like a flaw that may affect more people than just myself.
I caution you to check the magnets on your wetside assemblies as soon as you can. I have no idea what it is going to require to get my tank back to normal at this point.
David
