Eheim compacton 300 pump for D&D COMPLETE 20W UV sterilizer?

Louisethenewbie · Sep 16, 2022

Good morning. At the suggestion of my lfs I set up my D-D complete 20W UV steriliser a few weeks ago in an attempt to defeat the dino problem identified in my small Red sea Max Nano, which has been running for 8 months now. My lfs looked through the microscope & identified ostreopsis . They recommended an Eheim compacton 300 pump to use with the unit. All had been running okay until the last few days, when I have realised the pump has stopped working. I had it apart yesterday & a small bristle worm came out & it started working again. I have noticed again this morning the pump has stopped… I can’t see anything inside the impeller housing so not sure what the problem is. Could it be the pump is not powerful enough ? The UV Sterilizer is set up by the side of the tank as I don’t have a cabinet underneath housing sump etc. I will attach a photo of setup… I appreciate it’s not the most attractive but I have got it to do the job required. i would appreciate any thoughts/ideas/help. Thanks

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Dan_P · Sep 16, 2022

Louisethenewbie said:
Good morning. At the suggestion of my lfs I set up my D-D complete 20W UV steriliser a few weeks ago in an attempt to defeat the dino problem identified in my small Red sea Max Nano, which has been running for 8 months now. My lfs looked through the microscope & identified ostreopsis . They recommended an Eheim compacton 300 pump to use with the unit. All had been running okay until the last few days, when I have realised the pump has stopped working. I had it apart yesterday & a small bristle worm came out & it started working again. I have noticed again this morning the pump has stopped… I can’t see anything inside the impeller housing so not sure what the problem is. Could it be the pump is not powerful enough ? The UV Sterilizer is set up by the side of the tank as I don’t have a cabinet underneath housing sump etc. I will attach a photo of setup… I appreciate it’s not the most attractive but I have got it to do the job required. i would appreciate any thoughts/ideas/help. Thanks

56

Where is the pump inlet tubing end? I wonder if it is sucking up sand. The pump might need a thorough clean to remove tramped sand particles. Just a guess though.

Louisethenewbie · Sep 16, 2022

Dan_P said:
Where is the pump inlet tubing end? I wonder if it is sucking up sand. The pump might need a thorough clean to remove tramped sand particles. Just a guess though.

The pump inlet pipe is lying a bit above the sand bed. i’ve cleaned everything out & there wasn’t much sand/debris & the impeller is spinning again. Because of the limited space in the Red Sea Max Nano it was always going to be a challenge for enough space to set this up but I think it’s working okay so long as the pump doesn’t keep stopping. I’ll be keeping a close eye on it now & hope the dino’s are gradually suppressed.

Dan_P · Sep 16, 2022

Louisethenewbie said:
The pump inlet pipe is lying a bit above the sand bed. i’ve cleaned everything out & there wasn’t much sand/debris & the impeller is spinning again. Because of the limited space in the Red Sea Max Nano it was always going to be a challenge for enough space to set this up but I think it’s working okay so long as the pump doesn’t keep stopping. I’ll be keeping a close eye on it now & hope the dino’s are gradually suppressed.

That is pretty close to the sand. Would not take much of a disturbance to get sand up to the intake. Also, sometimes when a pump stalls it won’t restart. This I have seen on what might be classified as cheap powerheads. It is just the nature of the pump.