Well, not quite. I mostly killed them due to the pump not running for 8 hours, though I did wonder why my AC/DC backup air pump did not save my stuff up.
After cleaning the air stones I was still not getting much air through them, and on further inspection discovered a whole colony of tiny ants had setup shop inside the air pump. A few of them had got through the filter material and into the air pump bellows itself and had gummed up the 1 way valves stopping it working.
Attachment:
File comment: Air Pump infested with ants
air pump fail 2013-07-14-188 (Custom).jpg [ 55.25 KiB | Viewed 4267 times ]
air pump fail 2013-07-14-188 (Custom).jpg [ 55.25 KiB | Viewed 4267 times ]
I stripped it down, gave it a good clean and put it back together again and it works a treat. Lessons learnt:
1. Locate airstones where they can be easily inspected and cleaned regularly
2. Check plenty of air is coming out of the airstones daily
3. Take steps to avoid pests moving into your air pump. I smeared peppermint oil on the insides of the air pump, so hopefully that will put them off. Long term I'm not sure what to do.
Has anyone else had this problem?
I also noticed that the ID of the two air line connections pipes was not equal - Wondering if this is deliberate or the pump had been made up of mixed parts? It was noticebaly easier to blow through one side than the other even after cleaning.
Attachment:
File comment: Different size IDs in resun air pump
air pump fail 2013-07-14-189 (Custom).jpg [ 48.95 KiB | Viewed 4267 times ]
air pump fail 2013-07-14-189 (Custom).jpg [ 48.95 KiB | Viewed 4267 times ]
