[Dudester]

I'm getting a little tired of dealing with pump seizures. Last night, after the feed mode had completed, the Mag5 sump return pump seized (again). I had a long day and the last thing I wanted to do at 10:30 was remove the pump to clean it, but that's what I had to do. There were minimal visible calcium deposits on the impeller and on the housing where the impeller resides, and I didn't want to take the time to clean the unit in vinegar or muriatic acid, so I cleaned out the pump the best I could and just replaced the impeller with a spare that I had. The malfunctioning impeller shaft was essentially glued into place and wouldn't move up and down like the new impeller shaft is able to do, so there must be some precipitates inside the black impeller housing that I can't see. I'm going to soak this impeller in muriatic acid and see if I can loosen it up a bit, but if I can't then I'm just going to get rid of it.

I tried to put myself on a schedule to clean my Mag pumps and avoid these problems, but this has not been successful. The closed loop pump is on all of the time, even while feeding, so it only stops working after 4-5 months. On an every 3-month schedule I'm pretty sure I can keep this one (a Mag12) going well. The sump return pump, on the other hand, turns off daily with feedings, and it's more susceptible to problems. I looked back on my aquarium log and my sump pump seizes about every 1-2 months. Since setting up the sump 14 months ago, I've had 3 return pump impellers break, and I've cleaned unbroken impellers another 3 times. Does this seem excessive? I'm going to do one of the following:
1. Buy another Mag5 so that if/when a seizure occurs, I can simply replace the entire pump and clean the other one at a convenient time.
2. Clean the pump monthly.
3. Change to a different pump.
Any votes or advice out there? I think a combination of #s 1 and 2 is probably the best option.