[orion25]

I learned the importance of cleaning your powerheads tthis week as well as the importance of using MJ Powerheads. I have had 2 MJ 1200's in my 55g on a Red Sea wavemaker for about 3 years. I may have cleaned them 3 times in this time. Well, last weekend I decided to clean them and one of them was dead! It had locked up and the magnet on the impeller had shattered. The casing was hot to the touch so it had been trying to run. No telling how it had been like this.

Anyway, I have suffered no adverse effects so I promptly ordered 2 more MJ 1200's. Now I have 3! I will never use another brand.

Also, I cleaned my Mag 7 for the first time in 7 months. The increase in flow is amazing! I need to change my vote in the pump cleaning poll!!

Moral of the story - Even though it is a PITA, CLEAN THOSE PUMPS AND POWERHEADS. You may not be glad you did, but you will not be sorry you did not.

[Elmo18]

I do not use powerheads anymore in my main tank (26 gal), but I do use them in the other 20 Gal high; reason being that there is no overflow or closed loops, just a container.

I do, however, trust MaxiJets to run continuously without problems, just like I trust my bank with my safe deposit box.

I probably cleaned a MJ900 about 2 years after it is running. Still going strong. I think yearly maintenance is even ok with these pumps, but to be safe, i'd check every 6 months or sooner.

- Elmo

[Samper]

I clean mine once every month or two.

[Spick]

by cleaning your MJ's you mean what? rising the intake? how would we go about cleaning them "properly" without killing the coraline already on them?

[Samper]

I mean I take them out of the system, take them apart, scrub them with an old toothbrush but only the inside, rinse in Ro water, put them back together and put em back. I'm not worried about the corraline at all and would actually prefer to not have it on the powerheads.. Once you get it started in the main it's hard to stop it from growing so don't worry about that.

[golfish]

Have you tried cutting the barrel off on those MJ's...Its really a neat and easy mod that turns two pumps into four pumps (kind of)

[Samper]

I don't use the nozzles that come with them, I imagine it's about the same as cutting that small outlet off.

[Reefland]

I think that's what he is talking about, cutting the small outlet off nearly flush with the powerhead housing.