HELP!!! Water pump stopped working!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

stresco

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Apr 19, 2003
Messages
1,386
Location
Beacon, New York
I was doing a water change this evening and my Rio 1700 Pump wouldnt turn back on. I dont have a backup pump, i need advice. Will the tank be ok till tomorrow when i get home from work, about 8:00PM. I removed 10gal of water during then cleaning of the tank, and i havnt replaced it yet. Should i hold off on replacing it, until i have the new pump? Help!
 
Take the strainer off the pump. Unscrew the little piece that holds the impeller housing, and clean the impeller area. When you put it back together, it should fire up, unless it burnt up. If it doesn't start again, bang it up a little, works for mine all the time. This is one of the reasons Rios are not recommended, they have a habit of this. When the store opens tomorrow buy a Magdrive to replace it with. If it does start up, you can probably wait for one to be shipped and get it cheaper online. If it doesn't start up, make sure you got powerheads in the tank and good flow and you should be OK til tomorrow.
 
Well...its dead. I cleaned it out, and plugged it back in.. Heard a little Bzzz, then nothing. Im heading out to walmart now to get a powerhead, and i'll get a magdrive in the morning. I will not be able to hook it up till tomorrow night. Will my fish be ok? oh yeah, i added the 10 gal of water back to the tank.
 
You sould also soak the pump in vinegar water solution. This will help disolve any hard water buildups that might be on the impeller housing area.

Yes rios have a bad rep for doing exactly this.
 
next thing to do is when it is apart, plug it in, the impeller should start spinning, then keep it turned on while you put it back together. then put it back in, you'll have to do this with it still attatched to the plumbing, so you can put it back in the sump without spraying water, cause once you get it going you don't want to unplug it.
 
Oh yeah, if it doesn't start spinning while it is apart....give the impeller a little nudge and it should fire up, can you tell I've had plenty of rios in my day?
 
ok, i got it running in my bathroom. But I noticed a small hole on the housing cover. I'm heading out ti WalMart to get a powerhead any, so I am gonna get a small tube of cilicone to plug up that hole. I'll see if i can get it running, and replace it tomorrow.
 
fishfreek said:
Yes rios have a bad rep for doing exactly this.

My Mag7 struggles to "re-start" it'll grunt and shake a bit .... sometimes
for as long as 4 minutes before it'll fire back up. But it's never failed
totaly :lol: (it's my second one...the first one did the same thing)
 
that hole might be there by design ... some sort of drain or air escape?

I know the motor housing on both my maxijet's fill with water during their operation ... air bubbles out the same hole the cord goes in, but I think the "motor" itself is sealed in epoxy, so it's immune to the water circulating around it
 
No, this hole looked like damage (Innocent smile :) ). I bought 2 170gal Aquateq power heads from WalMart. On of them is not working right so i will take it back tomorrow. The other is installed in the corner of the tank. As fot the Rio, i couldnt find any epoxy or silicone that would set in under 24 hours so i used a plasic knife and melted it down into the hole to seal it. I put it back into the sump and had to bang it a few times to get it started, but its running for now. I looking into a Magdrive pump, by then end of the week at the latest.
 
I've had a few Magdrives that didn't want to start (old ones). They usually needed new bushings on the ends of the impeller shaft. I've had one Mag 5 that the magnet came loose from the shaft. Here's the parts line for Magdrives.
E G Danner Parts
160 Oval Drive
Islandia, NY 11749
(631) 234-5261
FAX (631) 234-4778
www.dannermfg.com
I've had very good service from Magdrives and would recommend them to anyone.
 
Back
Top Bottom