String in MAG Pump - Doh!!!

redfishbluefish

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Yet another Doh! moment for me.





Awhile back I used a piece of nylon string to pull back the wire for the Cobalt 1200 used on the reactor. I cleaned that pump about a week ago, and untied the string and just left it dangling. The pump went back into the sump and I totally forgot about the string.

Today I wake up and go into the fish room and say to myself, "Wow, it smells like ocean in here today." I also don't hear the trickle of water I usually hear as well. I quickly discover the MAG return pump isn't running, and find that that string was sucked into the MAG. DOH!




Disaster isn't over yet, because I pull out the MAG and go to unscrew the cover. Two of the screws literally fall off as I touch the screwdriver to them.




I have a spare MAG somewhere, but wanting to get this back up and running ASAP, I pull out the string, give the pump a quick cleaning, reassemble, and put it back into the sump with only four of the six screws. Amazingly it still worked.

The DT temperature had dropped down to 72F, and once the sump cleared, I could see the ATO hadn't run in some time. I'm guessing this happened early evening, yesterday. Lights are still out, and fish still sleeping/hiding, so I can't tell if there was any impact to the tank.

I'm off searching for that spare MAG. Does anyone know if some place just sells the screws? They are not a standard screw I'd find at HD. (And I really can't complain....This MAG ran a Bowfront prior to this tank being set up in 2008....running non-stop.)
 

TheEngineer

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Son of a monkey! What a pain in the neck. I've done similar things. Like forgetting a paper towel somewhere only to have it become tank confetti shortly thereafter.
 

hybridazn

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Yea I've been down this road too. Never been able to find replacement screws. My 9.5 I use for my water changes it has 2 screws holding the cover on lol.

I wouldn't run the stainless screws from home depot, while stainless I don't believe they are 316 stainless. Which is what is normally used in marine applications
 
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redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

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Moonlights just came on. Sad day! Longnose Yellow Butterfly that I've had since 2008 didn't make it. Darn. Lost a good friend today. :(



I can see the yellow tang, the two clowns in the DT and two clowns in the sump. Still MIA are two Pajamas, Coral Beauty, Melanurus Wrasse (guessing still buried) and Scopas Tang.

Two acros are totally white and the large teal milli has some white areas.
 

hybridazn

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Moonlights just came on. Sad day! Longnose Yellow Butterfly that I've had since 2008 didn't make it. Darn. Lost a good friend today. :(



I can see the yellow tang, the two clowns in the DT and two clowns in the sump. Still MIA are two Pajamas, Coral Beauty, Melanurus Wrasse (guessing still buried) and Scopas Tang.

Two acros are totally white and the large teal milli has some white areas.

That stinks, sorry bud :(
 

Lionfish Lair

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I need screws too! I pulled mine out of my water change bucket and was totally surprised to find rust. I had another so I just swapped out the screws and impeller, but need to find parts The ceramic on the impeller had worn away.

Sorry about your fish, Red. That can be a stab in the gut for sure. :-(
 

aaron23

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i remember i purchased replacement nylon screws and washers for my mag back in the day. the screws tend to rust
 

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