Do Powerheads weaken overtime?

[roypersson]

I have two Koralia Powerheads. A 1050GPH and another that is 750GPH.

They are both a bit over a year old.

I noticed that the flow of the tank look "slower" a few weeks back. I pulled out the 1050 GPH and noticed that the fan stopped. I messed around with it and got it working again. Just this morning I noticed that the flow seemed non existent. The fan was spinning but water just didnt seem to be flowing around it anymore.

I replaced it with a spare 750 GPH that I bought for redundancy purposes so my tank is back to looking "alive" again in terms of waterflow.

Which brings me to my two questions....

1) Do powerheads weaken overtime?
2) If I am going out to buy new powerheads what do you recommend? I have my Koralia heads which I liked but one year seems a bit quick to replacement for me. I have mostly a coral tank with just a few fish (just for something else to look at). My corals range from zoo's, to plate, to mushrooms, to birdsnet, etc (generally easy care corals with a couple moderate skill corals). So accurate water flow and water quality are drivers of keeping a happy tank for me.

 

[OOtzie]

Cheaper power heads are made to be replaced in a short period of time say 1-3 years, if that much. In a hobby that involves much investment monetarily and emotionally it only makes sense to buy the best right out of the gate to prevent anything from dying/suffering, anyone will tell you that their vortech (mp?0) has never failed them.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Cheaper power heads are made to be replaced in a short period of time say 1-3 years, if that much. In a hobby that involves much investment monetarily and emotionally it only makes sense to buy the best right out of the gate to prevent anything from dying/suffering, anyone will tell you that their vortech (mp?0) has never failed them.

Actually, I have had a wet side fail on me on one of my old MP20's. Also a thread that was started recently you'll see more than a few have had problems with them.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/122376-vortech-issues-day-1-a.html

I will say that ecotech will IMMEDIATELY take care of any issue and get you back up and going in a matter of a couple of days.


I only say this because YES to the original poster they will weaken, you have to do your maintenance and clean them every so often in a bucket of water and vinegar OR magi-clean.

Although OOtzie is dead on with saying that the higher end you buy, the less problems you will most likely have, just NOTHING that is mass produced is perfect.

 

[rambler67]

have you taken it apart and cleaned it. you have to take the impeller out take it apart and soak it in vinegar. Plus if the power head gets gloged with coraline it will start losing flow.

 

[Coralreefer1]

As rambler67 nicely put it, definitely clean them periodically as they tend to get encrusted with detritus, algae and calcium deposits causing them to notwork as efficiently. Take them apart and soak them in vinegar and clean the impeller and casing for best results.

 

[jgraz]

While cleaning is there a good way to do this without killing off all the corriline?
My korailias are nice and covered and actually look partially hidden in the tank. I have been avoiding cleaning for that purpose.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Clean the powerhead in a container that has water from your tank in it. Similiarly if you are rinsing out bioballs, sponges and media.

 

[howze01]

I would think that the coralline algae would eventually start impeding flow. You can always pop the front grate off of the Koralias (as long as they aren't the smallest ones) and clean the internals off.

As far as Vortechs go, I'm on my 3rd wetside on an MP10 that is about a month old now. I will say they keep sending me new wetsides, for some reason they just keep breaking. Overall though, terrific powerheads.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Take them out and run them in a bucket with water and white vinegar for a day or two. Then rinse them well. They should be fine after that.

 

[Imbarrie]

Seeing a lot of problems with vortech powerheads. Their customer service might be OK but that doesnt help if the lifecycle of their product keeps depending on it.
I wanted to get into Vortech but I think I will be going with Tunze.

 

[budddman]

I own 3 vortechs, and have only had a problem 1 time with one powerhead over the last year. all 3 run constantly and have done well for me. I couldnt be happier with them. Also if you want to minimize the space that your powerheads take up, vortech is the way to go.

Also there was a study done on the actual gph that each powerhead puts out overall and they compared most powerheads on the market. The study concluded that vortechs actually put out more flow then they are rated at. They are the only powerhead that outperforms their own rating.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Reefs

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Seeing a lot of problems with vortech powerheads. Their customer service might be OK but that doesnt help if the lifecycle of their product keeps depending on it.
I wanted to get into Vortech but I think I will be going with Tunze.

I have in all 2 Mp10's(had 3 gave one to a frind) and 1 MP20. All have been 100% problem free except for the wet side of the 20 that I messed up and they replaced it for me anyway. Like anything else Barrie I think as the number of people that use them, the more you'll here of acceptable levels of problems occuring.

 

[bizzarro]

I know what you're talking about hwne you say there's no flow, if you put in it a shallow water you can see that water is being pushed out of the sides so that's why you don't feel any water movement where it should be. I have 2 of them, one of them, the cover broke at one of the clips very easily and so far the other hasn't requirement much maintenance yet but the coralline is just starting to grow on the cover.

I don't think these pumps aren very good other than being cheap.