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View Full Version : Lesson Learned, have backup main pump


TheReeferer
01/20/2017, 07:05 PM
Experienced refers always say have a spare pump at the ready ... well my return failed while I was away during the holidays, luckily all fish and coral survived but everything in the sump died due to lack of circulation there.

Sending back the pump for repair would have taken 5 business days at best if courier cost didn't matter. But I think to most spending close to 150 round trip on next day delivery is a lot of money to make dissappear.

I got lucky and was able to replace the pump locally and had the tank back up the third day.

The pump I have is a Vectra L1 so it's too expensive to have a spare back up of the same pump. So what I did immediately following was to order a mag drive pump and all need plumbing so that it can be hooked up on the spot. The plan would be to run the back up while the main pump goes in for repair.

I suggest anyone without a backup pump and plumbing to get that setup right away.

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Jayreefer
01/20/2017, 08:05 PM
Good tip. When I went to my Jabeo 12000, I kept my 10 year old Eheim 1262 for my back up.

Now it mixes my salt and brings temp to 79* all on its own.

ca1ore
01/20/2017, 09:18 PM
Yeah, you just need to have something you can 'drop in' that will maintain at least some flow between the display and the sump. Probably worthwhile to have a spare heater on hand. Pretty much anything else can wait for 2-day prime.

TigeBell
01/20/2017, 10:26 PM
I had a hard lesson with a return pump also. My Reeflo shaft seal busted and I didn't have a back up pump. Went out a bought another pump that would work for a little time and while working on that pump, I broke that one. So, even though you have a back up, make sure that you have the backup pump and make sure that it is already configured so it becomes a plug and play. :)

So, my current tank has a Vectra M1 and my backup pump is a Jebao DCS-8500. I definitely learned and won't be caught off guard with hardware again.