One more for the RIO club

aquaworld75

Member
Well the other day I come home about 7pm and I smell something burning. I follow the smell and I noticed it was coming from my 20 gallon tank upstairs and the tank is couple inches low in the main part and the sump is full. But everything is working except the return pump. Rio 2100. GFCI did not trip, temp is down to 72 from 78, and float switch auto top off is working fine so I know it did not run dry.
My only fish-percula clown that I have had for 3.5 yrs-is fine. I put the heater in the main tank and put a HOB filter on top with no media or bio wheel. I then add some water from the sump back to the top so it has enough water to run and then leave. Everything looks fine.
RIO has 2 puncture looking spots on the area around the impeller casing. Did not notice any oil in the water but the pump smells really bad like it burned. I threw it outside.
Does anyone know what happened to the pump???
Also second part after couple of hours my clown is on the ground barely moving. The room smells really bad and the water stinks also. My mom takes the clown and moves him into my 75 downstairs, where he drops to the bottom like a submarine and lies there the rest of the night.
Maroon clown then starts to harrass my clown and I put an egg crate divider in the tank to give him some stress relief. He is just breathing hard at the bottom staying up right and swims around for 1 second and then goes back down
The 75 and 20 have almost identical water chemistry so I dont think the move stressed him too much. Nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia 0, ph 8.0, salinity 1.025. Both have been running for more than a year.
Did the burning of the pump do something to the water to intoxicate the fish??
He seems like he just got posioned or something....
Any help would be appreciated on the pump mystery or the clown intoxication..
Thanks in advance
 

aquaworld75

Member
Well I looked at the RIO 2100 again and I popped off the back panel and the pump is cracked open and smells even worse...
So I know that something happened internally to the pump is this a defect or just an old pump.
I had it for 4 years and I bought it used...never any problems before.
 

aquaworld75

Member
yeah while I was posting I was reading a lot of those threads....I never had problems till now....Never buy one again.
Has anyone ever contacted Rio about it?? waranty? or maybe only 1yr...
 

murray bmf

Member
I had a Rio as a return pump from my sump tank, it lasted 7 days. I now have a MAG 7, 3 years and counting (knock on wood).
:)
 

robchuck

Active Member
Welcome to the club!
Personally, I'm a member twice over, with both a 1700 and 2500 blowing up on me.
 

aquaworld75

Member
well I have seen a lot of close calls with livestock but this time was the worse... my clown was pretty much dead that night on the ground not breathing...
and now 5 days later in my 75 he is swimming around and eating just liek he used to...
I will post some pics of him in a few days to make sure he makes it :)
 

pyro

Active Member
eep - I purchased a 2100 for the return on a 30 w/ 10g sump :nervous: . I gotta make sure I save the receipt and warranty information (good friends with the LFS guy, so $ back shouldn't be a problem). If I ever have to leave for a couple days I'm going to make sure to move my heater to the display tank.
Thanks for the warning!
 

elvictre

Member
OK I need to chime in here, but I have a rio 2100 for about a year now and you guys are scaring the $#!+ out of me, what do you guys recommend I replace it with? I wanted to get more GPH anyway so I was going to go with a bigger rio but now I will go with something else.
Thanks
Vic
 

aquaworld75

Member
Here is my little guy...he made it and now he is going to stay in my 75 divided from my maroon clown by a piece of egg crate
 

goinballde

Member
I have 2 maxi-jet 1,200's on my tank...Had them since I got my tank back in 99. Never had 1 bit of problems with them....ever..
 

007

Active Member

Originally posted by elvictre
OK I need to chime in here, but I have a rio 2100 for about a year now and you guys are scaring the $#!+ out of me, what do you guys recommend I replace it with? I wanted to get more GPH anyway so I was going to go with a bigger rio but now I will go with something else.
Thanks
Vic

one suggestion was Maxi Jet and this would be correct if it were a powerhead, but (correct me if I am wrong here) the 2100 is a return style pump and I don't think maxi's get that big.
Try a Mag series . . . have heard relatively decent things about them.
 
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