Rusted out impeller screw on my Vortech!

[fritz]

Heads up Vortech users:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1073023

I found a nasty surprise cleaning my pump tonight.

 

[Pedro]

Damn, you guys can't catch a break. As long as i don't see a Regular Stream thread, i'm all good!

 

[jhale]

i wondered about that screw :scratchch

 

[fritz]

So did I but I figured it would be ok.

 

[DevIouS]

I'm going to check mine now!!!!!:bunny:

 

[DEEPWATER]

The shafts are
stainless steel, you can prove this because stainless steel cannot be
picked up with a magnet. Stainless steel will develop a surface
oxidation, it is not really rust because it will never procede beyond
the surface. You will see the same thing on stainless steel forks
and knives when taken from the dishwasher, if you look close they
have small spots of oxidation. You can scratch it off with your
fingernail or even a cloth. The shafts should not come out. All
stainless steel shafts in pumps show this, if you remove the end
pieces from a maxi jet shaft you will see the same thing. The
problem is that the shafts have come out but any pump I send you will
form small spots of surface oxidation and this will not harm the
reef, if it did they would not sell iron as a reef supplement

this is what i was told when talking about my recent rust issue ,,(NOTE THIS IS NOT WITH VORTECT THIS WAS WITH MY TUNZE NANO )

 

[cali_reef]

Did you take the screw out? Is the number stamped on the head of screw says "316"?

 

[PalmTree]

Man that sucks! I'm glad you caught it now!

 

[fritz]

Yes it does say 316 but I haven't tried taking it out yet.

 

[cali_reef]

316 is high grade SS, should not rust this quick unless it is screwed into a piece of dissimilar metal.

 

[ReeferGoneMad]

It could be iron oxide hydroxide ...um.. What the person in ronens email was trying to explain
.

 

[tomzpc]

Even if it was rust, which I'm not sure that it is because I get the same deposit on the titanium impellar of my velocity pump, I would just vinegar soak it, clean it off and not worry about it. We put cups of phosban or rowaphos into our system and those are basically rust.

 

[Dace]

So whats the verdict. do i have to take out pumps and check them. This really $ucks

 

[prattreef]

I am not concerned in the least.

 

[fritz]

Because it's not your vortech! Just kidding. Perhaps it is indeed 100% harmless.

I should have pulled the screw last night to check it out. What bothers me is that the few times I've pulled the pump out to clean it I've always wiped off a brownish orange film from the magnet. I figured it was just algae/film from being in the tank. Seeing how easily the dust wipes off when dry kind of freaks me out. Whatever it is it accumulates fairly quickly and I'd imagine it has put an unknown amount of this into the water.

 

[prattreef]

I would be curious how the Vortech boys comment on this. I don't know if you run phosban or not, but I always wondered if the fines that get into the water are attracted to the magnets in out pumps. My Tunze's etc, also seem to have a rusty coating on the impeller when I clean them.

 

[fritz]

Hmmm VERY interesting. I run phosban/rowa religiously.
Anyone have some nearby and a magnet? See if it sticks or if the dust is attracted to the magnet. I'm going to try it when I get home.

 

[Deanos]

I never see Phosban dust on my MagFloats.

 

[nyumpa]

$350.00 for a pump that rusts
where can i get nylon screw for Mag3, Mag7

 

[fritz]

You likely wouldn't see any except on the cleaning surface where it would be attracted. The cleaning surface is usually very scratchy and dark so you wouldn't notice it if it were there.