Jebao DC pump and its maintenance

ReefBeta · Aug 26, 2016

Couple months ago, I switched main pump of 2 tanks to Jebao's DC pump. Then last week, both pump stopped working. After some troubleshooting, I found that the problem was the build up on the propeller. In one of the pump, I couldn't even turn the propeller by hand. The bearing and the shaft was completely stuck together that I was wondering if that's one piece ... I had to use plier to take them apart. But after a good vinegar bath, both are working fine now. These are my first try of dc pumps. I had been running normal AC pumps for over a year and never got to situation like this, without much cleaning. When I did clean them, it was more about intake clogging than propeller go stuck.

Is it normal for DC pumps? Or is it the "feature" from Jebao because of the lower price and/or build quality? Does high end DC pumps, like Ecotech M1, require similar frequent cleaning?

Ontheway · Aug 26, 2016

zsxking said:
Couple months ago, I switched main pump of 2 tanks to Jebao's DC pump. Then last week, both pump stopped working. After some troubleshooting, I found that the problem was the build up on the propeller. In one of the pump, I couldn't even turn the propeller by hand. The bearing and the shaft was completely stuck together that I was wondering if that's one piece ... I had to use plier to take them apart. But after a good vinegar bath, both are working fine now. These are my first try of dc pumps. I had been running normal AC pumps for over a year and never got to situation like this, without much cleaning. When I did clean them, it was more about intake clogging than propeller go stuck.

Is it normal for DC pumps? Or is it the "feature" from Jebao because of the lower price and/or build quality? Does high end DC pumps, like Ecotech M1, require similar frequent cleaning?

Lack of Magnesium promotes buildup in some certain conditions. How is your mid-short term Mg levels?

airmotive · Aug 26, 2016

It's not unique to Jebao.
Every six months all moving parts get a vinegar bath. This includes skimmer pump, reactor pump and ATO float/optics.
The nice thing about Jebaos is you really don't have an excuse to not simply have a spare pump (or two!). That's the glory of being cheap.
When it's cleaning time, I simply swap pumps and clean the dirty one at my leisure. I've gotten good enough at swapping pumps that it's probably the easiest and fastest to-do item on my routine maintenance list.

ReefBeta · Aug 26, 2016

Ontheway said:
Lack of Magnesium promotes buildup in some certain conditions. How is your mid-short term Mg levels?

Didn't test it regularly. What's the level that would be considered too low to cause buildup problem?

airmotive said:
It's not unique to Jebao.
Every six months all moving parts get a vinegar bath. This includes skimmer pump, reactor pump and ATO float/optics.
The nice thing about Jebaos is you really don't have an excuse to not simply have a spare pump (or two!). That's the glory of being cheap.
When it's cleaning time, I simply swap pumps and clean the dirty one at my leisure. I've gotten good enough at swapping pumps that it's probably the easiest and fastest to-do item on my routine maintenance list.

That's a brilliant idea. I should probably do it. I will need to redo some of the pump though ... taking the main pump offline is not a easy thing for me so far.