Two Sicce Syncra Advanced Pump Failures on the Same Day

[BlueFynn_Ian]

Title says the day I've been having, not horrible, just has required lots of liquid encouragement to get through.

Dad has a 400gal Fish Only and there are 3 Sicce Syncra Advanced 5.5 pumps running on it, 2 for the returns and one as a waste pump for water changes.

While doing routine water change on the tank today I noticed some rust colored sludge on the intake of one of the pumps, lifted it up to give it a check and a scrub and found the entire inside of the unit rusted with a cracked magnet on the impeller. Weird, but life happens, take the pump out, replace it with the waste pump, snap some pictures of the rusted pump and send them to the vendor.

Then roughly 4 hours later dad goes to feed the tank and checks the sump room, goes to change some of the filter floss and gets a painful shock. Calls me and after numerous finger poking and small shocks I figured out the other return pump that I did not touch earlier in the day was suddenly leaking significant amounts of current. Just started opening it up to see if there is anything instantly visible without really tearing into it. Just a couple possible penetrations in the back epoxy. All three pumps have weird wear/melting on the product stickers as well.

Has anyone else had issues with these pumps? It is the first time I have ever worked with them and they are only about a year old give or take.
Can't say anything as to their customer service yet because I am just starting to go through that process.

 

[KrisReef]

Do you soak them in vinegar to clean them? I have heard that vinegar is not good for descaling these kinds of impellers because it causes them to crack and fail, just like yours have done. I used to use vinegar but now I’m using pool acid, the chemical activity is different as vinegar will penetrate these impellers where other acids (hcl or acidic acid) don’t attack the impeller material. It’s a chemistry thing and vinegar has killed a lot of impellers. Same issue with powerheads and wave maker impellers, vinegar is not good for them.

If you don’t use vinegar, or if you don’t ever descale these then they can wear out when calcium deposits build up and cause the impellers to rub, heating them up and also causing cracks and failures. I’m not sure that is the case, you may have purchased a defective bunch and have gotten the same outcome. Many people replace these things every year because they are often short lived.

I have gotten used to using reef octopus pumps because they have been amazingly reliable and long lived in my experience. Some other brands (usually less expensive) I still use but keep extras around because of the typical failure rate, often about 1 year and they start failing. I also try to keep a grounding probe in my tanks to prevent serious electrical shock when a heater or pump cracks and starts electrifying the water. It’s a serious risk for fire or heart stopping electrical shock.
Sorry for your situation, but glad you were not seriously zapped from the pump housing crack in your pump. Sell it on eBay or give it to someone you don’t like.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Many people replace these things every year because they are often short lived.

Not normally the case with Sicce products.

 

[KrisReef]

Not normally the case with Sicce products.

Someone in another post was suspicious that the Sicce pumps they have seen at Walmart might be “counterfeit” (their term!). I don’t know what to think about that claim but it could be that they have changed their business model to enter the mass markets? I have used them in the past and was also pleased with their skimmer/ pump. I never had a problem with it and it was extremely quiet and long running without any issues. I sold the skimmer to another Reefer locally and he wasn’t someone I was trying to dump on or unloading a bad item too. I had one recently that failed quickly and I replaced it with a RO that is still working.
I hope they are still making good pumps but the op’s situation has me wondering?

 

[BlueFynn_Ian]

Do you soak them in vinegar to clean them? I have heard that vinegar is not good for descaling these kinds of impellers because it causes them to crack and fail, just like yours have done. I used to use vinegar but now I’m using pool acid, the chemical activity is different as vinegar will penetrate these impellers where other acids (hcl or acidic acid) don’t attack the impeller material. It’s a chemistry thing and vinegar has killed a lot of impellers. Same issue with powerheads and wave maker impellers, vinegar is not good for them.

If you don’t use vinegar, or if you don’t ever descale these then they can wear out when calcium deposits build up and cause the impellers to rub, heating them up and also causing cracks and failures. I’m not sure that is the case, you may have purchased a defective bunch and have gotten the same outcome. Many people replace these things every year because they are often short lived.

I have gotten used to using reef octopus pumps because they have been amazingly reliable and long lived in my experience. Some other brands (usually less expensive) I still use but keep extras around because of the typical failure rate, often about 1 year and they start failing. I also try to keep a grounding probe in my tanks to prevent serious electrical shock when a heater or pump cracks and starts electrifying the water. It’s a serious risk for fire or heart stopping electrical shock.
Sorry for your situation, but glad you were not seriously zapped from the pump housing crack in your pump. Sell it on eBay or give it to someone you don’t like.

I actually never knew that about vinegar so thank you for the heads up!

However, I use citric acid to descale my powerheads and pumps and have had no issues with that affecting any of my other equipment thus far. Hopefully that does not have the same ill effects.

The pump that caused the electrical shocked was descaled once in its 11 months as this is a fish only tank and it had little to no build up on it. Just did it for routine 6 months full sweep of equipment.

The waste pump was in use for approximately 6ish months and had not been deep cleaned yet. That is the one that was a rusted mass when i opened it up.

Not sure if it was just a bad batch or something but so far Sicce has been very responsive so I will give them credit for trying to help but am already switching to a different brand of pumps.

I love the Reef Octopus pumps as well and use numerous of them, but this 400g is my dad's pride and joy (even more so than myself I believe). He is looking at the Abyzz pumps to replace the Sicces.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Someone in another post was suspicious that the Sicce pumps they have seen at Walmart might be “counterfeit” (their term!). I don’t know what to think about that claim but it could be that they have changed their business model to enter the mass markets? I have used them in the past and was also pleased with their skimmer/ pump. I never had a problem with it and it was extremely quiet and long running without any issues. I sold the skimmer to another Reefer locally and he wasn’t someone I was trying to dump on or unloading a bad item too. I had one recently that failed quickly and I replaced it with a RO that is still working.
I hope they are still making good pumps but the op’s situation has me wondering?

I doubt they'd continue with a 5 year warranty if this was the case.
And I'd recommend never buying a piece of specialty aquarium equipment from Walmart!

 

[BlueFynn_Ian]

Just wanted to update, I still do not know why the two pumps I had failed, and am weary to use them in other vital applications. I have a few of their other pumps on cleaning and water change equipment and those have never let me down.

However, Sicce customer service is fantastic! A few emails with some photos shared back and forth and descriptions of what happened and they replaced the pumps no problem. Great company to work with in that regard.

 

[Snoopy 67]

The pump used for water changes understandably was the 1st to go.
Let's face it unless cleaned after each use there had to be salt left after drying out.
So- wet- dry, repeat again and again

 

[BlueFynn_Ian]

The pump used for water changes understandably was the 1st to go.
Let's face it unless cleaned after each use there had to be salt left after drying out.
So- wet- dry, repeat again and again

It stays in a section of the sump at all times, just gets run for about an hour each week.

 

[KrisReef]

I like to fresh water rinse stuff after use when it is going to sit for awhile, but I don’t always if it’s “installed” in place.

 

[Snoopy 67]

In that case "perhaps" any little bit of heat could cause calcification that slowly builds up?