old equipment

thehammer1985 · Mar 27, 2015

I have some equipment from my 110 that I tore down a year ago. It's been sitting in the garage and has salt and cobwebs on it . I need a pump for my salt mix. If I soak these in vinegar can I reuse them or should I buy new

reefjunkie53 · Mar 27, 2015

I would just rinse really good with RO water and I don't c it being a problem maybe even throw it in a bucket of RO and let it run for a a while

AZDesertRat · Mar 27, 2015

Soak it in straight distilled white vinegar and it will come out good as new. A rinse isn't even necessary since vinegar is safe.

reefjunkie53 · Mar 27, 2015

I wouldn't recommend using vinegar on pumps it is known to destroy them yes everything else it works great on but pumps it can mess up the motor they have a special kind of stuff called Magic clean for pumps I would recommend using that if you want to go that route

reefjunkie53 · Mar 27, 2015

Mr. saltwater tank destroyed a hydor pump with vinegar and that's who showed me the magic clean product

MRRBW · Mar 27, 2015

just my 2cents, but I've cleaned a couple of aquaclear powerheads that had been sitting for a few years with 50/50 mix of vinegar and rodi water. Let it sit 24 hrs, rinsed it with rodi and the thing is like new. No issues with the motor, runs amazing and shines like it's fresh out of the box.

reefjunkie53 · Mar 27, 2015

They say if you are going to risk it make sure to not overuse of vinegar because it can make the metalflake on the pump motor

reefjunkie53 · Mar 27, 2015

reefjunkie53 · Mar 27, 2015

This stuff works amazing and I feel safe using it on my vortech mp 40s they are just too pricey for me to risk using vinegar but I do use vinegar on everything else does work great[emoji2]

reefjunkie53 · Mar 27, 2015

http://youtu.be/yKOBbyzP9qI

reefjunkie53 · Mar 27, 2015

This video shows you his experience when vinegar trashed his pump and he never used it again once I watched that I never used it again either lol

MRRBW · Mar 27, 2015

Im not sold on vinegar being the cause of the failing pump. Often wear on the impeller directly will cause noise, not a descalling agent. I tried to find any references to interactions between molybdenum coating and acetic acid and can't find anything. Acetic or citric acid are weak acids just as phophonic acid (the acid used in Magi-Klear). They will do the same thing in the end. Concentrations used will directly affect time it takes to be effective, which may be why in his video vinegar was not as effective. Food for thought, but any of the three will do the job.

Rob Top1 · Mar 27, 2015

Interesting.
I seem to use vinegar by the gallon here. Home school science project showed vinegar to kill more bacteria than any other cleaners including bleach. As for using it on pumps, a few times I have put powerheads in straight vinegar and forgotten about them. Several days later they come out and work just fine.

reefjunkie53 · Mar 28, 2015

I'm just saying my vortechs are way to pricey for something to happen to them so I will not use vinegar on them maybe if it was a cheap point of sale than I wouldn't worry at all either when u have over 600 in pumps I will be more cautious[emoji2]

reefjunkie53 · Mar 28, 2015

Plus it can also ruin your suction cup if u have one on your pumps

thehammer1985 · Mar 29, 2015

Hey guys sorry it took so long to get back to you all. Sorry we had an emergency at work. I appreciate all the info . Due to the age of the pump I will just soak it in vinegar and of it wrecks I'll buy a new one. Would in be a good idea to let it run in a 5 gallon bucket with carbon just incase any chemicals from the garage well on it?

AZDesertRat · Mar 29, 2015

I have used distilled white vinegar for about 35 years now on all my pumps and equipment and never had an issue, in fact I probably still have some of those original powerheads and pumps around.
The ONLY issue with vinegar or any cleaner is rubber gaskets, O rings and rubber shaft cups. Make sure you remove any rubber parts after an hour or two so it does not harden them. Vinegar is a safe, weak acid solution that works great.