Skimmer down, now what?

[Andyf30]

Came home from dinner last night to find my Reef Dynamics skimmer not running. Im going to take off the pump today and check it and the impeller, however my hopes aren't high since there wasn't even a light hum. It just sounded dead. Any suggestions as to what I should do while running skimmerless? I'm worried since this coming friday I'm going out of town for a full 6 days.

 

[wildman926]

Do a good water change, and if you don't get it going, just do a good water change before you leave. Worry about it when you get back.

 

[Jeremy B.]

Agreed, I can't tell you how many times I've been skimmerless for 4-6 months on a system for one reason or another. Your tank will be just fine over the course of the next week or two without even a water change in my opinion.

 

[HippieSmell]

My skimmer kept getting shut down for weeks at a time for one reason or another until I just decided to sell it. You'll be fine.

 

[Reeferz412]

What a skimmer does can equally be done with water changes and proper flow. I ran my tank skimmerless for 2 months before I found a new skimmer.

 

[Andyf30]

Thanks guys. this calmed my mind a lot about running skimmerless. Also read the manual for the skimmer and realized I'd been doing maintenance on it waayyy less than instructed. Looks like its getting a diluted vinegar bath tonight. Its an odd situation. When I unplug it, and plug it back in it will start, but about 20 minutes later shut off. Then if I leave it plugged in, it will start again. It seems like either an electrical issue that would require a new pump, or a bunch of something in the impeller that intermittently jams it.

 

[Reeferz412]

it could be the magnet of the impeller. Take off the housing that covers the impeller and play around with it. plug it in and see if it starts and watch it. I had a pump that would skim for a few weeks then it would just randomly stop.

 

[Andyf30]

I just took it apart and looked at everything, cleaned everything in a vinegar bath, and then put it back together making sure it was all in place, and still nothing. Not even a hum lol. Starting to think I may have to drop the 130 bucks for a new pump

 

[kissman]

try soaking in vingear and taking the impellar out and clean everything

 

[stancfii]

What kind of rd skimmer do you have, and what kind of replacement pump are you looking into?

 

[Andyf30]

I have the ins80, and probably just the pump that came with it. I'm not sure I'f i need a new pump thats already modded, or if I need a new motor housing, and I can just use the Venturi and the impeller from the old one, since they honestly look fine to my (albeit very inexperienced) eyes.

and I did soak everything for 6 hours in a vinegar/RO bath, and cleaned all gunk off the parts two days ago. Still no dice. Still not even a hum :/

 

[atmercure]

Call Jeff at reef dynamics. I hear they have excellent customer service. One of his YouTube videos talks about the pumps shutting down if they don't get the right maintenance. His website even has a link to cleaning the pumps. http://www.reefdynamics.com/Articles.asp?ID=144

 

[Andyf30]

Thanks for that article. I certainly need to service this more (if I can get it working) or service the next one i get. I never really thought about it honestly, and I'm kicking myself now.