cleaning rusted powerheads

[antionetteblum]

hello all my name is ber
i have aquired a couple power heads from a girlfriend who had salt set up for couple years problem is they were not cleaned before being stored and now the impeller seems rusted i could be wrong but doesnt the impeller motor come out of the power head like a HOB filter does?
i have tried soaking in Hot water, lime away for most cleaning, and now vinegar but so far nothing
any one know how to get off rust so i can eventually use them in my fresh tank?
anything will be of great help thank you again.
ber

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by AntionetteBlum
http:///forum/post/3223884
hello all my name is ber
i have aquired a couple power heads from a girlfriend who had salt set up for couple years problem is they were not cleaned before being stored and now the impeller seems rusted i could be wrong but doesnt the impeller motor come out of the power head like a HOB filter does?
i have tried soaking in Hot water, lime away for most cleaning, and now vinegar but so far nothing
any one know how to get off rust so i can eventually use them in my fresh tank?
anything will be of great help thank you again.
ber

Yeah, PH and HOB motors are about the same thing. Most impeller blades are plastic and you probably have a lot of build-up. I'd just replace the impellers, they aren't too expensive. IF the PH still works, you should be able to use it in FW.

 

[kraylen]

I would just replace them. The chemicals you may need to use to remove the rust might render the powerhead 100% garbage.

 

[robertmathern]

If you already soaked it in clr I would not put them in you tank. Yes you could have taken them aprt and with some elbow grease could have cleaned them up. But since you alrady put chemicals on them it will do more harm than good.