Cavitating MP40

[BestMomEver]

I cleaned my MP40 last week and put it back in. This morning it started vibrating. I can hear it from across the room. Any suggestions?

 

[redfishbluefish]

What do you use to clean it?

How old is it? Old style wetside versus new style.

I've got a hunch your magnet on the wetside is starting to swell. That is, the plastic casing has lost integrity and started to cause the magnet to rust and swell.

 

[redfishbluefish]

To show you the difference between old versus new wetsides, here they are....

NEW

OLD

You can also see the difference in the cages...old style had a "blocked" portion.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Another thing hit me in posting the above.....if you have old style wetsides. If the ceramic bushing....the white thing in the picture above....isn't seated properly, it will cause the shaft to be at a slight angle causing vibration.

 

[redfishbluefish]

And the simplest solution.....is the wetside perfectly aligned with the dryside? Try moving the dryside around oh-so-slightly to see if fine tuning the alignment quiets done the vibration.

 

[BestMomEver]

The pump is less than 8 months old. I cleaned it with vinegar/water and rinsed it well. Should I have lubed it!

Edit... I have the new one.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Please, don't use vinegar to clean plastic encased magnets. I learned the hard way....lost 3 MP40 wetsides and 3 MP10 wetsides. It's able to penetrate the plastic and get to the magnet causing it to rust/swell.

Either use citric acid or muriatic acid. Citric acid can be found on eBay or Amazon cheap...and you'll want one cup to a gallon of water. Muriatic acid can be found at HD (please be careful with this acid...it's hydrochloric acid). You'll want to dilute this 1 to 10 for cleaning purposes.

Anyway, did you try aligning the wetside/dryside? Eight months old you shouldn't be seeing swelling problems yet. I'd also take it apart again and make sure it went back together correctly.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

What’s the deal with vinegar being problematic compared to the other acids?

Fwiw, I use diluted vinegar to clean my wetsides. Never had a problem.

 

[Water Dog]

If your pump is less than 8 months old, ge5 on the horn with Ecotech and get a new wetside under warranty.

 

[Jeremy Chatham]

I had the same problem on my 120gallon. It is just less than 1/2" thick.
Mine would fall from time to time even with the little sticker on the side of tank above the dry side.
I had to switch to the thin rubber spacer instead of the one that was supposedly for it.
I will be contacting Eco tech to see if this is normal before my warranty is up.
It would come off in transition period or in pulse mode with 0.792 second pulses.
I found that putting the thin rubber on it made it stick really well to the tank and it doesn't come off anymore. Although Im not sure I should be doing that.
SO you may not want to take my advice. lol

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/calcium-reactor-avg-ph-at-different-rates-investigation.615512/

I have KAMOER FX STP PUMPS for sale. All the major retailers are out of them. let me know if you have any interest in one and tell your friends.

 

[MTBake]

If your pump is less than 8 months old, ge5 on the horn with Ecotech and get a new wetside under warranty.

I would do this. They should replace it if trouble shooting doesn't resolve the issue. They have pretty good customer service.

 

[rkpetersen]

I cleaned my MP40 last week and put it back in. This morning it started vibrating. I can hear it from across the room. Any suggestions?

Make sure there is no tiny snail, hard-shelled foram, flake of coralline algae, etc stuck in the mechanism anywhere.
When I get a bit of rattle after a cleaning, I remove it, disassemble, rinse well, and reassemble.Typically fixes the issue.
Also make sure that, with the cage removed, the propeller spins freely in the base.

 

[redfishbluefish]

What’s the deal with vinegar being problematic compared to the other acids?

Fwiw, I use diluted vinegar to clean my wetsides. Never had a problem.

It doesn't happen overnight...or within months...but it eventually gets through the plastic. I'm now up to six wetsides that are trash. I'll repost what I've said about vinegar.....

OK, my vinegar spiel again. Vinegar (acetic acid) is great for tanks, and any parts that are not metals covered with plastic (magnets on pumps come to mind). The reason is that acetic acid does not dissociate very well....actually very poorly dissociates....that is, forms free ions in solution. So what you have is a small "neutral" acid that now has the ability to penetrate plastics. Doesn't happen overnight, but repeated cleaning with vinegar will eventually penetrate the plastic, getting to the metal parts within. And now they rust and swell and eventually crack open the plastic cover. I have five Vortech wetsides that I can show you, so I know first hand. I no longer clean pumps/magnets with vinegar.

Now muriatic acid (HCl) or citric acid dissociate completely or are too large to get through the plastic. So if you wish to acid soak your wetsides (or any plastic coated metal equipment, such as pump bodies or impellers), I'd highly recommend other acids that are less likely to penetrate plastic. Two acids I'd recommend that are inexpensive and readily available are citric acid (3/4 - 1 cup made up to one gallon), or diluted muriatic acid (diluted 1 to 10). Muriatic acid is available at HD and a five pound bag of Citric acid (a life time supply) is available from Amazon or eBay for 12 - 15 bucks.

And FYI, a 1:10 dilution of muriatic acid will work faster than straight vinegar. You'll actually see the carbonate fizzy away.

 

[robbyg]

To show you the difference between old versus new wetsides, here they are....

NEW

OLD

You can also see the difference in the cages...old style had a "blocked" portion.

Thanks for this post.
I had the same vibration issue with my new MP40 wQD after I poured in some Calc near the pump. About 24 hours later the Motor just jumped off the tank when the impeller seized. I pulled it apart for the first time and soaked it in citric acid and cleaned it up until it looked new. I then put it back on and it just had a nagging vibration that it did not have before. Then I searched and found this post and the picture you posted just jumped out at me. My white Ceramic rod was stuck in the impeller and I just assumed that was normal and that it spun on the metal shaft;Meh I did not realize there was another inner black ceramic bearing.
Both pumps that I had before were the older MP40s so I was not familiar with the assembly of wQD wetside.

I had to actually tap the Ceramic Rod out as it was welded in with precipitation.
After another quick soak I got out all the white gunk on both the shaft and bearing and now the pump works like new again. Thanks @redfishreef96 for the picture.

 

[redfishreef96]

Thanks for this post.
I had the same vibration issue with my new MP40 wQD after I poured in some Calc near the pump. About 24 hours later the Motor just jumped off the tank when the impeller seized. I pulled it apart for the first time and soaked it in citric acid and cleaned it up until it looked new. I then put it back on and it just had a nagging vibration that it did not have before. Then I searched and found this post and the picture you posted just jumped out at me. My white Ceramic rod was stuck in the impeller and I just assumed that was normal and that it spun on the metal shaft;Meh I did not realize there was another inner black ceramic bearing.
Both pumps that I had before were the older MP40s so I was not familiar with the assembly of wQD wetside.

I had to actually tap the Ceramic Rod out as it was welded in with precipitation.
After another quick soak I got out all the white gunk on both the shaft and bearing and now the pump works like new again. Thanks @redfishreef96 for the picture.

Credit for that photo goes to @redfishbluefish not me.

 

[robbyg]

Credit for that photo goes to @redfishbluefish not me.

oops my mistake, anyway thank you @redfishbluefish.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Since this thread has been resurrected, I did a write-up on the dangers of vinegar (and other cleaning acids), HERE. It's worth the read.

 

[robbyg]

Since this thread has been resurrected, I did a write-up on the dangers of vinegar (and other cleaning acids), HERE. It's worth the read.

I did read that thread, I did not realize it was you who had done both posts. I use Citric Acid because of your thread. So thanks again.