Versa maintenance/tubing replacement schedule??

[JHSteepat]

I have one Ecotech Versa continuously dosing Kalkwasser and two more as part of an auto water change (AWC) system running from my basement. So far great pumps. Periodic checks show all look good. A month or so ago I took apart the Kalk pump and made sure the tubing looked good and felt resilient and reapplied a little Molykote.

The Kalk pump has been running continuously for about a year (~1.5 mL/minute).

The AWC pumps have been running about 9 months now, and look good (~2 g per day over 4 hours).

I realize that peri pump tubing "looking fine" only works until the tubing doesn't (cracks). How often should I be changing out the tubing in the pumps?

I also am going to link to reefchi's thread (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/versa-pump-diy-replacement-with-oetiker-clamps.1103308/) , asking what clamps would fit for DIY replacement tubing for the Versa pumps. I already have the tubing.

 

[Dan_P]

I have one Ecotech Versa continuously dosing Kalkwasser and two more as part of an auto water change (AWC) system running from my basement. So far great pumps. Periodic checks show all look good. A month or so ago I took apart the Kalk pump and made sure the tubing looked good and felt resilient and reapplied a little Molykote.

The Kalk pump has been running continuously for about a year (~1.5 mL/minute).

The AWC pumps have been running about 9 months now, and look good (~2 g per day over 4 hours).

I realize that peri pump tubing "looking fine" only works until the tubing doesn't (cracks). How often should I be changing out the tubing in the pumps?

I also am going to link to reefchi's thread (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/versa-pump-diy-replacement-with-oetiker-clamps.1103308/) , asking what clamps would fit for DIY replacement tubing for the Versa pumps. I already have the tubing.

Did you ever decide on the frequency of hose changes? I was wonder if it was possible to perform a visual inspection, looking for deterioration, such as stretching the tubing and looking for micro cracks on the surfaces from drying out our hardening?

 

[JHSteepat]

No, no responses to this post and your suggestions are good. I did this a month or so ago on the kalk pump. The water change pumps are in my basement and are easy to check for leaking. I think I’ll start the kalk pump on a 6 month plan.

 

[JHSteepat]

Has anyone sourced or st least ID’d the exact clamps for the Tygon tubes?

 

[JHSteepat]

My water change pump, the one I use to remove water from the tank was not working well. The tube in the pump was a bit crushed looking. Here’s what I did, step by step:
- Pulled the tubing and quick-connect assembly out of the pump
- pull old tubing off quick-connect assembly
- save the crimped metal clamps
-wipe off as much molykote using tissue or paper towel
- cut some new tubing to the same length (179mm, Tygon E-1000 3-16 ID, 5/16 OD, 1/16wall, US plastics part number 057604, 10 feet cost about $30 USD last year, so replacement is less than $2 per pump, a significant savings from uying a new assembly)
- slide the metal clamps over the ends of the new tube and placed about 1/8” from each end of the tubes, and
- push ends of new tubing onto barb of quick-connect portion, making sure the crimps face toards the front (window) of the unit.

Add new molykote and re-assemble pump per standard replacement instructions.

I also replaced the kalk doser and awc tubes. It took five minutes each once I figured out what I did with the small molykote pack. The pumps work great!

 

[JHSteepat]

The crimped metal clamp has the designation 87 OET, but I can’t find this on-line.

 

[draj]

- cut some new tubing to the same length (179mm, Tygon E-1000 3-16 ID, 5/16 OD, 1/16wall, US plastics part number 057604, 10 feet cost about $30 USD last year, so replacement is less than $2 per pump, a significant savings from uying a new assembly)

thank you