Maxi-Jet 1200 Impeller damage and BRS reactor cleaning...

[Quartapound]

Hello everyone,

A few months ago (before I moved in sept) I noticed my BRS dual media reactor had stopped working... because of the Maxi-Jet 1200 I had been using ceased functioning, and I recall had became a bit noisy before it finally quit.

I chalked it up to needing a replacement impeller, as the magnet had become fused to the shaft on the impeller when I took it apart... Knowing I was tearing everything down for a move I didn't investigate further at the time.

Well, I finally got around to looking at it properly today, pulled the magnet off the shaft and found a great deal of calcium accumulated there which was responsible for seizing up the maxijet.

Once I cleaned this off and reassembling the Maxi-jet works like brand new again... However I have noticed some damage to the coating on the magnet (caused from running it improperly a few months ago)

here's a picture of the Impeller in its current state.



It seems to function properly, and doesn't have any excess noise or vibration... However I'm curious if the coating was to prevent rusting, I don't want it to introduce anything negative to my tank.

Does anyone think this impeller would be dangerous to put back into service?

I definitely need the media reactor running again... I want to get carbon and rowaphos running in the reactor as I'm starting to notice undesirable algae growth.

Does anyone think the potential drawbacks would outweigh the benefit? I don't really have the money for a new powerhead or impeller at the moment.

.... I also did something very foolish when I noticed the powerhead had stopped working... I just let the water sit inside it (until I disassembled it in september to move it).

It looks as though the rowaphos had begun to rust sitting in stagnant water. I cleaned it out the best I could at the time, however the sponges still look somewhat orange... here's a picture of them



I did some reading and am considering soaking them in a mild bleach solution to try and remove anything that shouldn't be there...

I am also considering running the powerhead and brs reactor for a night with a bleach solution. (this would force a lot more water through the sponges and allow to clean properly).

afterwards I would soak everything possibly in a water conditioner (to remove bleach), possibly vinegar solution, let everything dry, then running RODI water in it for a decent interval before filling up the reactor with media and putting it back into service in my sump.


so.... #1 --do you think the impeller is safe to use?
#2 -- is the method I described to clean out/prepare the reactor acceptable?


would anyone else do anything different!?

The tank doesnt look bad right now, but it could definitely use the rowaphos/carbon.... I just don't want to risk harming anything to do so!

Thanks in advance for all your input....

[Quartapound]

upon inspecting many other pictures of impellers, it seems like my impeller has the same plastic 'lip' that all of them do... and there might not be anything wrong with it at all!

still hoping for some advice on safely cleaning the BRS reactor

[Quartapound]

double post

[JAustin]

Everything looks and sounds fine. Clean with water and get it back online. I don't see any issues.