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Anyone ever have a RIO pump pollute their tank

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Anonymous

Guest
Somone told me that they had a Rio pump and he feels the seals failed and the pump poisoned the water with copper or something. Has this ever happened to anyone before?? I have a turbflotor and I don't want this problem.

Scott
 
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Anonymous

Guest
After about two years of use some RIO's lock up and their impellers kind of dincentigrate into the water... It looks like an oil spill hit your reef... It's nothing to worry about, just replace and maintain your powerheads periodically.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Hi,

The destruction of Rio's - taking tanks with them - seems to happen with distressing frequency, where the pumps short out underwater and load the tanks with copper; followed by significant animal mortality. Check around and contact Brad Ward or Minh Nguyen for some recent examples. Might check the archives here and on Reef Central.

Cheers, Ron
 
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Anonymous

Guest
This happened to me a few months ago. The pump shorted in the tank, water got into the motor and released a bunch of copper into the tank (from the coil of the motor). Kill a bunch of my animals, and bleached all of the coral that did not get kill.
It took a while for the tank sort of recovered. I still have several SPS and anemone still bleached from the event.
This happened to multiple other people before. I knew this but did not pay much attention to it until it happened to me. Please be aware of this. If you decided to continue using Rio's pumps because it is cheap and powerful, you are taking chance with your tank. It can fail and will nearly wipeout your tank. I will never pot another Rio pump into my tank. I don't mind if the pump fail and stop working, but catastrophic failure like this is unacceptable.

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Minh Nguyen
Visit my reef at:
http://sites.netscape.net/austinnguyen/homepage
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Minh is who told me about this. Anyone else? I am trying to see how common this is and with which Rios. Minh's was a 2500. I have the 2100. I may have a new project which would involve making a needlewheel for another powerhead.

Thnaks, Scott
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Rio...Somebody mention Rio! We don't need no stinkin Rio's!!!!!!!!!

I bought my first Rio pump a couple of years ago. I checked my invoices and found I have bought 8 pumps. Out of those 8, 5 were 2500 models and the other 3 were 3100's. 3 out of five 2500's crapped out electrically, w/one's epoxy seal cracking and releasing copper into a 175 reef tank that I take care of. Copper/reef tank = disaster. The other two had the wire going into the motor housing burn up under water, and all I got was a nasty shock out of one of them. One of the 3100's was being used as a circ pump in a make up water vat that started to have that (by now) familiar burnt electrical smell. I wrote the company via snail mail and e mail, a decent letter of disatisfaction and never recieved even a response.

Minh and I are not the only ones who have had problems with these pumps. The various boards and groups over the last few years that I have been on the net are full of horror stories about these pumps. If you or anyone else wants to use these pumps, fine, it's your tank. You have been warned!

I would go with a different pump if I were you.

Brad
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Is there a suitable submersible pump out there to run things like HO skimmers? I'm looking at the turbo floater hang on skimmer.

Troy
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Green Lantern, a small MAG should do the job,what is the GPH recommended for your Turbo flotor? a MAG 5 does 500 GPH and a MAG 7 do 700 GPH .
I keep posting about the stinking Rio,I have 1 that's brand new and I get shock from it!!!! again, do not trust any eletrical equipment with 2 prong especially when it comes to salt water application.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
What happends to the fish when thies short out? ... I though that stray electricity would kill fish ...



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-==- The wife said no .. so now I hide the money ..-==-
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Hehe , I wouldn't worry about the fish, I worry about my life more when there is a short.
With stray voltage they can cause laterial line disease in fish.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I had a tank disaster in an established 140G about six weeks ago, and I think it was caused by a Rio. The problem started when the overflow clogged with a big snail, and the sump went virtually dry. A Rio 2500 driving the skimmer continued. I discovered it later, and the tank didn't look too bad. Corals were a little droopy, but basically fine. Unclogged the overflow, refilled the sump, and started up again. That's when the problem started. Over the next several hours, disaster set in. I lost several corals, all other corals were gravely injured, all snails died, BUT the fish were NOT affected whatsoever. I tested the water for copper (Salifert) a couple days later and it was OK. I suspect the Rio, but the seal wasn't broken. Things are much better now, and almost all corals are 90% back to pre-disaster state.

If Rio's suck, what else does anyone recommend? After reliability, reliability, reliability, there's noise (Rio's are LOUD), heat transfer and price. What's best around 700 GPH?

------------------
Dennis
http://www.quikstor.com/reef
 
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Anonymous

Guest
DennisL, I have both the MAG and SEN,both very good pump, the SEN is pressure rated and a little more expensive then the MAG, both have models that will do 700 GPH.
Example# MAG 7 will do 700 GPH and cost only aroung $46 bucks mail order.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
DennisL, both pump are very quiet, I prefer the SEN more because it is pressure rated, like all sumersible pump, both give out heat according to the power it consume, but I wouldn't worry about the heat it gives off, it's does not really amounts to anything, with 5 pumps in my tank and 1 large external pump I still have to run two 300 watts heaters when the room tempeture is at 74F or lower.I keep my tank at 82-84 F .
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Several years ago I had a Rio 2500 attached to a Turboflotor. I was sitting in the room and noticed a smoke smell. It took a while but I finally opened the doors to expose the sump. Smoke was bubbling up from the Rio. I quickly unpluged it. Good thing I was home and in the same room. I replaced the pump with a new one and sold the skimmer. Since then, I have never used a Rio for anything but mixing new saltwater.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
So...what would people recommend for replacing the RIO 600 VRT pump on my BakPak II?

liquid
 
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Anonymous

Guest
UGHHHHHHHH!!!! Horror stories. These responses are TERRIBLE regarding the RIO pumps. I knew they were nothing to brag about, but this is beyond that. On top of it, the reefers that have responded here are the very experienced and knowledgable ones. I don't doubt what they have said. The turboflotor skimmer is coming out of my sump soon, only because of the darn RIO.

I am going to look at my SEN 900 impellar to see if I can make a modified needlewheel on a SEN 700 to power my turboflotor.

Thanks, Scott

Any other ideas on how to replace the RIO on a turboflotor? The price of the turboflotot has just gone up.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Wow,After reading all the posts regarding Rio pumps, I'm going donate my 2500 to the bird fountain. If you all turn out to be right it, I should have less bird crap to hose down this weekend.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Does anyone know the minimum amount of water needed in the sump to run either a Mag or Sen? In other words where does it suck in the water. I have a constant ~5" of H2O in the sump.
 
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