Hey Brent, I checked the skimmer pump and it's definitely a bad motor block. It will run for a couple minutes then shutoff. It has internal protection to shutoff if it over heats (it's hot to the touch). I noticed the power cord can twist where it meets the epoxy seal to the back of the motor so it's possible that over time water has made its way through. Regardless, the motor is toast. Good news is it looks like it's a common motor block
LF replacement pump for vertex alpha 200. Does anyone know where i can find this? Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
www.gtaaquaria.com
You can either get the pond pump here and pull out the motor block:
or just the motor block here (not sure if they have it in stock)
The Laguna (Askoll) Max Flo 1350 is a high flow pump. This pump is actually a pond pump, but has become very popular as a pump to power protein skimmers
www.marinesolutionsinc.com
either way the fun doesn't stop there. Your pump has a custom mounting bracket that's seam welded to the old motor block. That will need to be removed then re-glued to the new motor block. From what I've read the original needle wheel impeller and volute will bolt right on.
LMK if this is something you want to pursue and I'll continue to help as much as I can.
BTW the other Fluval return pump is working fine. I noticed the impeller cover wasn't seated properly so pulled everything, cleaned and put it back together and it ran fine.