Possibly found the root cause of all my sps stn

[bobssecrtsn]

I just recieved my triton test and it came back with some high level Tin, some say pvc but I doubt this is the cause.


Over the past months I would see all my sps perish, first no p.e then rtn from the tips then a white sps.


So I tested my water at triton, and the results came back with


Sn 14 ug/l
Ba 124 ug/l


All other elements seem fine, looks like I'll have to find the root of it.. any input ?

[farfromsea]

Any clamps in your tank or sump?


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[Mortie31]

Are you using iron based phosphate remover? some of these can lead to high barium levels

[aromano]

what kind of sealants are you using on fittings plumbing. Some silicones and urethanes use tin catalyst to cure them. Barium could come from fillers in PVC Barium sulfate is white and a lot cheaper than titanium dioxide which is primary white pigment used today. Barium is used to lower cost as a partial substitute

[Mr.Fishtank]

What salt are you using?

[bobssecrtsn]

Hello everyone, Sorry for the late response. I found the culprit of high tin.

Im using aquaforest probiotic salt,

the pvc sealant is unknown, I used the piping that came with the tank its the purple and clear stuff, (regular i guess )

But I would have never guess my new QD wet sides were the culprit, There only a few months old! (4-5) I hope i still have warranty for them.
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss288/imrbobby/35FF92AB-80A1-438E-986B-4F9E69D9908C_zpsk3mu18i2.jpg (http://s584.photobucket.com/user/imrbobby/media/35FF92AB-80A1-438E-986B-4F9E69D9908C_zpsk3mu18i2.jpg.html)

[mav3rick478]

Interesting, a fellow reefer in my area had found his Ecotech powerheads to be the culprit to his tank crashing except his powerheads were much older with the unsealed magnets. He only checked them because Battlecorals advised him to look.

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[Potatohead]

Wow that's lame. MP10's or 40's?

[organism]

I had the same thing happen when 2 MP10's in my tank had corroded impellers. They'll replace them for you if it's still under warranty... I figured they would've fixed this well-known problem in the new QD wetsides, not cool.

[Rakie]

I had the same thing happen when 2 MP10's in my tank had corroded impellers. They'll replace them for you if it's still under warranty... I figured they would've fixed this well-known problem in the new QD wetsides, not cool.

There's no money making something last forever!

[Potatohead]

There's no money making something last forever!

Tell that to Eheim.

I hate to admit that there is not much stuff I have faith in anymore. You can spend more money on what should be better products and you still have issues a lot of the time... It's really lame and frustrating.

[crawlerman]

Wow, that is disappointing. You would think for that price they would not continue to put out a product with a known problem. Especially when it could crash your tank. I have 2 older MP40's, guess I'll have to keep a close eye on them.

[jduck]

Ya I've had several in the last year with issues. Just like some of the original ones did.

[gdemos]

Guess I'm not seeing the impeller corrosion in the pic...? How did you open that part of the wetside? Is there some type of grease in there? Is it food grade silicone?


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[bobssecrtsn]

Guess I'm not seeing the impeller corrosion in the pic...? How did you open that part of the wetside? Is there some type of grease in there? Is it food grade silicone?


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There tabs on the side of the covers after you remove the snail guards, just pop them out and you should be able to slide out the impeller

Wow that's lame. MP10's or 40's?

Their mp40..


So I contacted them and they're sending me 2 replacements, free of charge. Glad there still good costumer service!


Anyone know if the rock absorbed any of the heavy metals?

[gdemos]

How bad is the corrosion?? and you said you've only run these pumps for a few months?

There tabs on the side of the covers after you remove the snail guards, just pop them out and you should be able to slide out the impeller



Their mp40..


So I contacted them and they're sending me 2 replacements, free of charge. Glad there still good costumer service!


Anyone know if the rock absorbed any of the heavy metals?

[dson78]

Same exact thing happened to me last month, i removed them and sent pictures to Ecotech and their amazing tech support replaced both of my wet sides for free. After replacing the wet sides with new ones and a 50% water change, my corals started to look a lot better after a week.

[organism]

There's no money making something last forever!

At the same time it's hard to have faith in a product when it messes up people's tanks...

I could understand a company wanting people to replace stuff, but knowing a product can corrode and not doing anything about it on future upgrades is not cool. Rusting impellers isn't news to Ecotech, so my guess is their cost/benefit ratio on fixing it didn't go in our favor if it's cheaper for them to replace the wetsides that corrode in our tanks than give us a redesigned dependable product. They only have to cover it for a year and after that you pay them to replace it. Pretty easy decision if you like money more than happy customers and ethics.

Here's how both of mine looked and what some of you with MP's get to look forward to one day. If you're past warranty like I was then you get to give them even more money for the privilege of having their pump rust in your tank.

http://i.imgur.com/XLMnE9y.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2EIyFMp.jpg

[gdemos]

Wow that is Bogus. Shame on ecotech if this is to be expected it is unacceptable. Have you guys posted this on their sponsor page? I'd like to see their response to your inquiry to inform consumers of their service handling practices. Even if customer service is stellar, an inferior product at that price point is like I said, Bogus. Please share your interactions and correspondence for the benefit of others.


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[jccaclimber]

I like to point fingers at manufacturers, but I'm not sure how much better they could handle this.
From what I've read elsewhere on this page they will replace the magnets for free, even if they are out of warranty by several years.
I do wish they'd use something better for that rod in the center, but other than plastic coating the magnets (which they already do) I'm not really sure what you can do there. I don't know of any salt water resistant materials that are nearly magnetic enough.

[biggles]

That sucks big time Bob and pretty disappointing when you support a good but expensive brand name. It's all well and good to have free replacements of gear but what makes up for the misery and coral losses many suffer over an extended period prior to checking equipment that should not require checking for design fault failures.

My maxspect gyre better not do that............

[steallife904]

That sucks big time Bob and pretty disappointing when you support a good but expensive brand name. It's all well and good to have free replacements of gear but what makes up for the misery and coral losses many suffer over an extended period prior to checking equipment that should not require checking for design fault failures.

My maxspect gyre better not do that............

was just thinking the same thing about my gyre's....

[Myka]

Just an FYI for the Barium. My tank, run using AF Probiotic Reef Salt has super high Barium, 264 mg/L IIRC. So I did a bunch of research. It turns out that Barium isn't soluble in saltwater past 60 mg/L. What's happening is that Barium is binding with other elements and precipitating in the tank. Though these compounds won't unbind in typical reef aquarium conditions, the ICP-OES testing breaks the compounds into ions, and then counts all the ions.

Think of it like this...you take vial of saltwater and add some super fine aragonite sand to the bottom of the vial. You test the vial for calcium with your hobbyist test kits, and it reads let's say 400 ppm (the sand doesn't add calcium to the water column). You send this same vial for ICP-OES testing and calcium is going to be off the charts because it's breaking the sand up into its ions.

[TNT32D]

No!!!! I have ecotech!

[lynchmob3000]

Have the wet sides been cleaned in say vinegar or acid before?


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[surferarnie]

Wow , you made me freak out and tear apart my 2 mp40 wes. They look nothing like that they have a black zinc oxide nut and bolt holding the impeller together. No rust.
Oh well they need a vinegar dip anyway.


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[Breadman03]

Have the wet sides been cleaned in say vinegar or acid before?


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I'd given my 4-5 year old 40 WES multiple soaks in vinegar with no indication of rusting or swelling of the magnet. The new QD wetsides have only been brushed with a nail brush and soaked in peroxide.

[jccaclimber]

Wow , you made me freak out and tear apart my 2 mp40 wes. They look nothing like that they have a black zinc oxide nut and bolt holding the impeller together. No rust.
Oh well they need a vinegar dip anyway.


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I'm pretty sure that nut is plastic.

[bobssecrtsn]

Wow. I think this needs to either be stickied for awhile and we need to have ecotech go warranty everyone's QD wet side. I'll write and photograph what I found and you all will not like this. But short story, I removed my mp60 QD (as a matter of fact it's literally NEW 1-2 months, not even 50% power) and I can already see a hairline fracture. I will post pictures shortly. Currently doing 30% wc daily.

[bobssecrtsn]

So For weeks I've been hitting my head figuring out why they sps would die within a month, from dipping, QTing process, waiting weeks for a sps free tank etc. I then tried Triton test.


a week past by and I get the results, High Tin in my system, 14 UG/l.

Found checked all my pumps, Magnets are GOOD. I then suck out the sand, and say " just for shits lets check my 4-5month old mp40 QD wetsides"

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss288/imrbobby/35FF92AB-80A1-438E-986B-4F9E69D9908C_zpsk3mu18i2.jpg (http://s584.photobucket.com/user/imrbobby/media/35FF92AB-80A1-438E-986B-4F9E69D9908C_zpsk3mu18i2.jpg.html)

Triton test does not lie, Found my cuprit. Call up ecotech and ask for a new wetside. no questions asked. They will send me 2 new ones.

A few days past and doing 10% WC daily, with only 1 mp60QD in my tank, I remove it, and behold, a hairline crack? What do you guys think? this mp60 is 1-2 months old I should add.

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss288/imrbobby/IMG_5508_zpswzlg2jok.jpg (http://s584.photobucket.com/user/imrbobby/media/IMG_5508_zpswzlg2jok.jpg.html)

Same place where the rust was coming out of..
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss288/imrbobby/IMG_5510_zpsh1ko8nim.jpg (http://s584.photobucket.com/user/imrbobby/media/IMG_5510_zpsh1ko8nim.jpg.html)


http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss288/imrbobby/IMG_5509_zpsksphsfsd.jpg (http://s584.photobucket.com/user/imrbobby/media/IMG_5509_zpsksphsfsd.jpg.html)

I believe it has to due to where both joints meet, It seems as if its to weak and causes it to crack like this.

I say Ecotech needs to warranty all wetsides, and have a solution for this.

As a result all my sps has perished leaving me only just 4-5 thats hanging on.

I wish I would have checked sooner..

My symptoms would include

excellent p.e for the first week, Encrust, then slowly no p.e, sps starts to fade and then rtn/stn from base or tips, in a matter of 2-3 weeks.

Please leave your input and I would recommend EVERYONE check their wetsides.

as well sorry for the bad grammer, P.OED about this hobby and all the money i spent on good equipment to have it fail so early and kill everything.

and YES, Its properly maintained and cleaned.

[Magem]

Thanks for sharing...


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[organism]

I like to point fingers at manufacturers, but I'm not sure how much better they could handle this.

They could use ceramic impellers instead of making the active decision to use cheaper metal core ones.

From what I've read elsewhere on this page they will replace the magnets for free, even if they are out of warranty by several years.

I can tell you from personal experience that is not true. You might not be paying full price, but after warranty they aren't free.

After seeing some replies in this thread where people did have them replaced for free after warranty I'm going to take it up with ecotech.

[organism]

Just so I can get an idea, how many people had their wetsides replaced for free when they were out of warranty?

[africangrey]

sorry this is not the wetside, but my MP40QD dry site was recently making grinding noise, after taking a video with sound, they replaced it free of charge. And the pump was manufactured Mar 2015 when it first came out. For customer service they are outstanding, but how good is that if they don't replace your perished SPS. and what the consequence would be if this is your full grown SPS garden and all of them just perish because of the so called trustworthy Ecotech Marine pump.

[adtravels]

On my second tank, I went for vortechs and had magnet issues, wets side falling off and noise. I loved the idea of them and still do.
Been using tunze 6095 on my last tank and new one, although not perfect they are much more hassle free.

It seems a really reliable sealed magnet would be worth it weight in r and d.

[duberz]

My triton test also showed my tin was through the roof. I've been going nuts trying to figure out the culprit. I'm tearing apart my two mp10's and pray I see rust. At least I will be able to sleep at night. Been beating myself up over loosing so many corals.

[duberz]

If it is the mp10's and I get a replacement,I'm not sure if I would put it in. Won't the same thing happen again?

[Rakie]

If it is the mp10's and I get a replacement,I'm not sure if I would put it in. Won't the same thing happen again?

The odds aren't necessarily high. This sucks, and it sucks especially badly considering the high end cost. Every time you get in your car, there is a small percentile chance you will die horribly. Will you never use a car again?

Truthfully, the fact that something that is this high quality causing a mass outbreak of STN in your tank isn't okay. Personally? I don't think it's good enough that you get a replacement pump.

If your tank had been more mature, they'd have killed thousands of dollars worth of Livestock. Oops! Here's another mp10, our bad.

They should send you a gift certificate to WWC / Unique Corals or something. If they *really* stand behind their product, they should be held accountable for the loss of livestock.

[jccaclimber]

The odds aren't necessarily high. This sucks, and it sucks especially badly considering the high end cost. Every time you get in your car, there is a small percentile chance you will die horribly. Will you never use a car again?

Truthfully, the fact that something that is this high quality causing a mass outbreak of STN in your tank isn't okay. Personally? I don't think it's good enough that you get a replacement pump.

If your tank had been more mature, they'd have killed thousands of dollars worth of Livestock. Oops! Here's another mp10, our bad.

They should send you a gift certificate to WWC / Unique Corals or something. If they *really* stand behind their product, they should be held accountable for the loss of livestock.

I'm not sure I agree with this one. On one hand, when a heater explodes as they were a couple years ago, tank and living room carpet replacement is in order. On the other hand, if you buy a chromis that gives your tank ich do you expect the LFS to replace your breeding pair of gem tangs (just making up an example)?

Edit: I want to agree with this. Perfect customer service is a 110% reparation of damages done. On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to pay for that sort of liability coverage.

[rtparty]

Someone with a faulty wetside needs to put one in a bucket of water and send that sample to Triton. Only then could you prove the Vortechs introduced the issues. One thing I've learned in this hobby is that no matter how careful we are, things can be introduced from anywhere.

Rusty magnets aren't new to the hobby. That possibility is always present

[bobssecrtsn]

So here's one of my sps that was crashing and going downhill ever since adding it to the tank, but it looks like it's recovering! Hopefully it will continue to show p.e and start to color up.

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss288/imrbobby/046779F0-047D-4284-BAA0-FA18720F4402_zpsn185zc3b.jpg (http://s584.photobucket.com/user/imrbobby/media/046779F0-047D-4284-BAA0-FA18720F4402_zpsn185zc3b.jpg.html)

[Dapg8gt]

That sucks, I remember a bout of these on the original ones years ago..

I could be wrong but Are you sure that's not an mp10 wetside? My mp40's look nothing like it's a plastic nut holding it onto the shaft and a screw to the magnet.. .. My mp10's do though..

The mp40QD must have gotten a redesigned wetside that I don't know about cause it looks just like the older mp10's Wes ( that I've had no issues with in the 7 years on some original wetsides).. Looks like they should have stuck with the old design/manufacturer if that's what we can expect now on the 40's..

Hope the tank gets back on track quickly and good luck..

[atp0726]

[/QUOTE]My symptoms would include

excellent p.e for the first week, Encrust, then slowly no p.e, sps starts to fade and then rtn/stn from base or tips, in a matter of 2-3 weeks.

Please leave your input and I would recommend EVERYONE check their wetsides.

as well sorry for the bad grammer, P.OED about this hobby and all the money i spent on good equipment to have it fail so early and kill everything.

and YES, Its properly maintained and cleaned.[/QUOTE]

So glad I found this thread! My SPS corals have experienced the same symptoms. Been racking my brain trying to figure out why they were dying when parameters were perfect. Some of my Acropora displayed almost constant sliming like something was bothering them. I was ready to make some drastic changes to my system and a friend advised me to check my MP 10s wetside. Sure enough the plastic casing was cracked in a few places and rust colored as well as the shaft had a crack and some rusting.

Added some Polyfill and will be doing some big water changes. Hopefully, things start turning around!

[organism]

So glad I found this thread! My SPS corals have experienced the same symptoms. Been racking my brain trying to figure out why they were dying when parameters were perfect. Some of my Acropora displayed almost constant sliming like something was bothering them. I was ready to make some drastic changes to my system and a friend advised me to check my MP 10s wetside. Sure enough the plastic casing was cracked in a few places and rust colored as well as the shaft had a crack and some rusting.

Added some Polyfill and will be doing some big water changes. Hopefully, things start turning around!

Great to hear you caught it in time! Can you post photos?

[organism]

Someone with a faulty wetside needs to put one in a bucket of water and send that sample to Triton. Only then could you prove the Vortechs introduced the issues.

I'm going to do that as soon as I have a spare $50...

[atp0726]

Great to hear you caught it in time! Can you post photos?



https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170305/78a0981419c489ccedfcecec79df9a03.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170305/8dfa048e8202e2490ec73c391910ab96.jpg

I can try and get some better ones later. These I took right after I found it. The plastic casing is obviously cracked in a few places and on the shaft of impeller. To early to tell but hopefully things start perking up.



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[Mr.Fishtank]

Starting to have some of the same issues with my sps. Tip recession and lack of pe. I took my 1 1/2yr old mp40 apart and everything looks ok. Didn't see any cracks or rust. I guess I should pull out my vectra pump and check that just to make sure it is ok. I'm also going to put a poly filter in to pull out anything that might be causing this. The lab test last month showed high Molybdenum. I know it is some kind of metal but what equipment has this type?

[btb72]

Are all of these the new qd?

[Mr.Fishtank]

My MP40 is the old style.

[bobssecrtsn]

Starting to have some of the same issues with my sps. Tip recession and lack of pe. I took my 1 1/2yr old mp40 apart and everything looks ok. Didn't see any cracks or rust. I guess I should pull out my vectra pump and check that just to make sure it is ok. I'm also going to put a poly filter in to pull out anything that might be causing this. The lab test last month showed high Molybdenum. I know it is some kind of metal but what equipment has this type?

You will have to inspect the magnet very very carefully you may not see rust coming out yet, it can even be a hairline crack as well.

Are all of these the new qd?

Mine were the new QD models

[bobssecrtsn]

I will honestly say this is a real disappointment for ecotech. This thing is barely used, and it also has grease around the base area? I hope it was reef safe. Will be contacting ecotech tomorrow.

This thing has 3 weeks of use, mounted properly with the correct spacer,

What the heck is going on? I didn't drop it or anything. But what I didn't check is when it arrived.
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss288/imrbobby/24098B95-34D1-4CA3-910E-E45C238E23B2_zpsyvh6tseg.jpg (http://s584.photobucket.com/user/imrbobby/media/24098B95-34D1-4CA3-910E-E45C238E23B2_zpsyvh6tseg.jpg.html)


I don't think I'll be using ecotech anymore. Their support is excellent but if they can't use good material for their product, I can't see myself using it.

[Livinlocal619]

Yikes, now I'm going to have to check mine. I have 2 qd's and 2 wes'

[Mache62]

I have been experiencing the same sps tissue loss issues....Guess I'll be checking the QDs when I get home! Thanks for the heads up guys!

[africangrey]

checked my both QD's and they are both fine, both are made in March 2015 when they were first introduced.

[jccaclimber]

I asked Ecotech about the grease a while ago. They said it is a medical grade silicone grease, so it should be reef safe. I usually find some grease on o-ring seals for internal pumps as well, although I've never asked about it.

[saveafish]

I found it. I knew this was in here somewhere. Jebao looks better and better every day.

[Mr. Brooks]

I’ve tried them all. A tunze stream on a sea sweep is by leaps and bounds better than any other Powerhead I’ve owned.

I still use MP40’s for a specific purpose. But I perform frequent maintenance on these pumps, like once every other month. This is opposed to my tunze pumps that I almost never touch. The wet sides are perishable and should be treated as such. Replace every two to three years at a minimum to be safe, and toss at the first sign of cracks in the magnet coating.

It’s funny, I had an MP40 in a frag tank that was hard to get to, so I slacked on the maintenance. I left it in place due to its battery backup. I heard a clicking noise earlier this week. Wouldn’t you know it, another wet side opened up on me. SMH.

[biecacka]

Yeah, I had one bust and rust on me too. Sent it in and now I have one screaming at me when I turn it on. It’s headed in this week.
But I have had them for awhile so I will say I work them hard!

Corey

[BruceWayne]

I would also like to know what you cleaned with? This seems very unusual never had that experience Ecotech lasted for years.