Octo Varios 4 Skimmer Lifespan

[LeftFootedJedi]

I’ve had my skimmer for about 2.5 years now & up until about 5-6 months ago had decent skim which would fill a little less than 1/4 of my collection cup every 2 wks.

Recently the skim only goes 1/2 way up the neck & almost never reaches the cup. I’ve cleaned it thoroughly 3x w/o any significant changes. Long story short I accidentally broke the impeller shaft & found a replacement but thought has my pump’s lifespan ran?

My question is how long do most skimmer pumps last? Should I bite the bullet & replace that vs just the impeller? Or have I found the sweet spot in terms of my tanks maturity?

Tank is a 90G waterbox, parameters are stable with no livestock changes in over a year. I also do bi-weekly water changes.

 

[FUNGI]

99% of the time, replacing the impeller is all you need (its the only moving part in a pump).

 

[LeftFootedJedi]

99% of the time, replacing the impeller is all you need (its the only moving part in a pump).

Absent it breaking (which I just did yesterday) are they only good for 2-3 yrs?

 

[FUNGI]

Absent it breaking (which I just did yesterday) are they only good for 2-3 yrs?

Depends.....I have a pump going on 10 years no issues....and I have one that lasted 2 years (Sicce skimmer pump)....albeit, I think some dirt got into it and ruined the impeller......

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

VarioS 4/RODC Pinwheel Impeller for Skimmer Pumps - Reef Octopus

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Buy two impellers.

 

[KrisReef]

what are your parameters?

Hard to know what is wrong with the system without knowing more information, but since it was working before you broke the impeller a new one is the simplest solution.

Old systems get in a groove where the skimmer isn’t busy like it was at first.