Would like to purchase a pump

R

rolfkern

Member
Pretty much what the title says, I'd like to buy a Red Dragon 3 Mini Speedy 50 watt DC pump for my 70 gallon system. The website makes it sound like these are shipped from Germany, but I thought there were centers here in the US that might have these in stock? The list price is $699, what would the total cost and lead time be for one of these shipped to me in San Francisco?

Thanks!
 
rolfkern said:
Pretty much what the title says, I'd like to buy a Red Dragon 3 Mini Speedy 50 watt DC pump for my 70 gallon system. The website makes it sound like these are shipped from Germany, but I thought there were centers here in the US that might have these in stock? The list price is $699, what would the total cost and lead time be for one of these shipped to me in San Francisco?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hello,

We have plenty of stock in the US Warehouse of all return pumps. Orders are shipped from Florida. :)

LINK: Red Dragon® 3 Mini Speedy 50 Watt / 1.321 gph
 
So I placed the order (looking forward to getting this!), I received a UPS tracking number, but for some reason it's being shipped to my home address and not my work address as I requested when I placed the order. I emailed a request through the contact link on the website to change the ship to address, with no response. UPS will not allow me to change the ship to location. What's the best way to get this changed?

Thanks!
 
rolfkern said:
So I placed the order (looking forward to getting this!), I received a UPS tracking number, but for some reason it's being shipped to my home address and not my work address as I requested when I placed the order. I emailed a request through the contact link on the website to change the ship to address, with no response. UPS will not allow me to change the ship to location. What's the best way to get this changed?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Rolf - Sure looks like I selected the incorrect address to ship your order to - my apologies. I've submitted a reroute request with UPS to your SSF address.

Thanks,
Marco
 
Received my RD pump last week, it looks and feels great, and I'm looking forward to setting it up - but, there's a problem with it that I didn't consider until I was thinking about routing the cord. There is no way to disconnect the pump from the controller, so I have to somehow shove either the pump or the controller through the space behind my stand to install it. This also means anytime it needs to come out for cleaning, the exercise needs to be reversed, and the controller unmounted. My older pump, which I'm hoping to replace, has a coupling between the pump and controller that can be unscrewed so the controller can stay where it is during maintenance. What do people do with their RD pumps? Cut the cord and install some sort of plug? I imagine that voids the warrantee, which does not work for me with a pricey piece of equipment.

I know this may sound like a small issue, but for me it's a show-stopper. Looking forward to hearing how people deal with this.

Thanks!
 
Yea, I feel your pain. The cord is attached to controller like that to prevent people from hot plugging the pumps and killing to controller. It was done that way for safety reasons. The RD3 230 and the new RD3 150 have removable pump cables but they also use a different controller that is a bit smarter. I've run the RD3 80 on my tank and have an RD3 50 on my skimmer. I usually just bring some hot vinegar over to the tank and clean the pumps right there. Granted I have tile floors. The hot vinegar reduces the cleaning time substantially. I take the pump apart and place it in hot vinegar for about 15 minutes. That is enough to dissolve any coraline or buildup. I then take a soft dish brush and scrub it and then rinse it in a pad of tap water. Then put it back together and they come out looking like new. Every now and then, I will remove my controller from the wall and clean it by the sink but of late I've been doing next to my sump. I do however have my controller mounted to the inside of the door below my tank and only use two screws to hold it in place. As such, removing the controller and the pump for cleaning elsewhere is a simple task for me. Having said that, you will love the pump and I think the end result will be that the quality and silent nature of the pump will far outweigh the inconvenience of the tethered motor.
 
Thanks for the quick response slief, much appreciated. At least I understand why it's put together like that. I was trying to envision the cleaning scenario you mention, I'll continue to consider it before moving forward, but I just can't see it working for me.

Right now, I feel like I have 2 options. First, sell it, unused, at a loss, and go to one of my backup choices (probably Vectra). Second, cut the cable and install a connector. I run my pump through my Apex; there's basically no chance of disconnecting the pump from the controller while its running. Leaning toward option 2 because I really want to use this pump. Any words of advice for what the wiring looks like inside the cable? I imagine just 2 wires?

Thanks!
 
rolfkern said:
Thanks for the quick response slief, much appreciated. At least I understand why it's put together like that. I was trying to envision the cleaning scenario you mention, I'll continue to consider it before moving forward, but I just can't see it working for me.

Right now, I feel like I have 2 options. First, sell it, unused, at a loss, and go to one of my backup choices (probably Vectra). Second, cut the cable and install a connector. I run my pump through my Apex; there's basically no chance of disconnecting the pump from the controller while its running. Leaning toward option 2 because I really want to use this pump. Any words of advice for what the wiring looks like inside the cable? I imagine just 2 wires?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

There are several wires in that cable. I think 4. I wouldn't suggest doing that. It would void the warranty. Why not mount the controller to your door using two screws for easy removal?

This is how I have mine mounted. If I want to remove the controller and clean the pump in the sink, it takes just a few seconds to remove one screw and loosen the second. Then the controller pops off and away I go. It's not like you need to clean that thing every week anyway. Clean it every 4 months or so and your golden.
image_zpsp0w4gvhm.jpg
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Marc (sp?) actually gave me a call the other day to discuss - awesome customer support by the way - made similar a suggestion, and warned not to cut the cable. I may be able to mount the controller to my door, as much as I prefer to have any controller outside of the stand. I will need an extension cord though (another thing I'd rather avoid) because the cord is only 30" from the controller to the plug. Like I mentioned to Marc, I'm not complaining, seems like a great piece of hardware, and I'm looking forward to using it. But in this hobby everyone does things differently, runs into different issues and needs to figure how to get them sorted.

Thanks again for the advice.
 
rolfkern said:
Thanks for the suggestion. Marc (sp?) actually gave me a call the other day to discuss - awesome customer support by the way - made similar a suggestion, and warned not to cut the cable. I may be able to mount the controller to my door, as much as I prefer to have any controller outside of the stand. I will need an extension cord though (another thing I'd rather avoid) because the cord is only 30" from the controller to the plug. Like I mentioned to Marc, I'm not complaining, seems like a great piece of hardware, and I'm looking forward to using it. But in this hobby everyone does things differently, runs into different issues and needs to figure how to get them sorted.

Thanks again for the advice.
Click to expand...

You spoke with Marco.. I thought the power cord was longer than that.. I just measured the power cord on an RD3 50 I have here for a friend and it measured 36 from controller to the tip of the plug which is shorter than I remembered it being. The length between the pump and controller is obviously much longer. If you decide to use an extension cord, an appliance cord would do the trick. It's perfectly safe but perhaps not ideal. I had actually thought about cutting a hole in my door to mount my controllers from behind so the face was flush with the front of the door. My doors above and below the tank are standard solid coore doors used for your home. We cut them down to fit the door frames. My tank is built in so this approach for doors was logica. I opted not to do that and just mounted the skimmer pump controller to the door and my pair of RD3 controllers to the FRP covered wall below my tank.

image_zpszmp0h2qu.jpg


image_zpsolv9zpk3.jpeg
 
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