First piece of equipment to go.

[KQuillan]

What is the one piece of equipment that seems to fail or quit the fastest in your tank?

 

[DanyL]

That would be power supplies, valves, and than pumps (either the power cord gets exposed due to vibration/cleaning or the impeller snaps).

 

[Useful_Idiot]

Maxspect gyres. I’ve bought 4 at different times hoping I just got a bad one the last time but nope.

 

[dakoop]

Trident

 

[JoJosReef]

Maxspect gyres... Moved to MP40 and think I'll stay there, but we'll see what happens with them...

 

[Idech]

Ai Nero pumps. All 3 dead within a year.

 

[Reef-Mart]

Maxspect gyres... Moved to MP40 and think I'll stay there, but we'll see what happens with them...

I have one set of Maxspect gyres that have been workhorses but I’m scared to open the other set lol they do seem to need cleaned more frequently though.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Powerheads. Especially MP 40’s.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Heater went first, followed by another heater. Six years later Jebao wave maker. This year, MightJet return pump, which coincidentally is six years old, too.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Powerheads. Especially MP 40’s.

I don't count the MP10s I have that lasted less than two years. Wet sides were the issue. Sure, I probably should have gotten longer time from them given they were set to 50% and cleaned with citric acid only.

 

[Pod_01]

Powerheads. Especially MP 40’s.

Can you elaborate please.

I agree with power heads, especially Gyres only lasted 5 months.

But my MP 40 are going for 4 years now.
What happened???

 

[SliceGolfer]

I have one set of Maxspect gyres that have been workhorses but I’m scared to open the other set lol they do seem to need cleaned more frequently though.

I have found my Maxspect gyres need to be cleaned once a month. Full disassembly and soak in citric acid, then scrubbed well with my offical @Battlecorals BattleBrush!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Mine was the ATO magnet that was inside the sump. Apparently they were notorious for rusting out. Company replaced them twice for me at no charge. On the third one I took some aquarium grade silicone and put it around the crease where the two halves pressed together. Never had an issue again after that.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Can you elaborate please.

I agree with power heads, especially Gyres only lasted 5 months.

But my MP 40 are going for 4 years now.
What happened???

Your lucky. One of mine, the bearing became so loud I couldn’t take it anymore. I looked at you tube videos on how to change them but felt it was above my ability.

The second one, the dry side just stopped working. They were both bought at the same time.

I have a Red Sea wave maker that’s going strong. The other one just stopped working one day.

I’m going to try AI and see how they are.

In general, given how much these equipment cost, I feel they should be better made.

 

[rtparty]

Vortech wetsides. Doesn't matter how to treat them these days. I had 4 MP60 wetsides warrantied by them. I also had one of the drysides warrantied. I cleaned them routinely in only citric acid and scrubbed them off with just water and a toothbrush almost weekly.

Today's Vortechs are NOT built like they were 10 years ago.

 

[blecki]

Cheap powerheads. It's always powerheads first - I keep three gyres going two at a time, with the third being cleaned; I just assume they will need replaced every two years. Even then, replacing the cheap ones every couple years is cheaper than the super high end ones. They just eventually seize up. Size seems to matter; I have a couple of tiny ones that are still going after 13 years.

Titanium heaters do not fail. But, external thermostats do.

I just had a brown-out last night take out the return pump. But again... $100 for the cheap jaebo (guess they changed their name now?) vs $500 for the 'good' one. Will the good one actually last the ten years it'd take to make up the cost? Doubt it.

I had an AI prime melt but that was my fault. Otherwise - only lights that I've had fail were cheap black box lights in the first place. They have all failed the same way - wires coming detached from the main board. A more tech savy fellow could probably fix them.

First is always pumps. Be it a powerhead or an actual pump, in the tank, on a skimmer, whatever. Pumps fail and you should have backups on hand.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My lights power supply, but that was because water fell on it and shorted it out

 

[Pod_01]

In general, given how much these equipment cost, I feel they should be better made.

Definitely,

So the MP 40, did you run them on random profiles?

I am contemplating to set them on constant flow, just to move water in the tank… I do only run them at 50-60% so that may be helping.

 

[Reef-Mart]

I have found my Maxspect gyres need to be cleaned once a month. Full disassembly and soak in citric acid, then scrubbed well with my offical @Battlecorals BattleBrush!

I let mine go for a few months and they lost a lot of flow, a good soak in sicce pump clean and they were brand new.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Definitely,

So the MP 40, did you run them on random profiles?

I am contemplating to set them on constant flow, just to move water in the tank… I do only run them at 50-60% so that may be helping.

Yes. Random.