Hey everyone!! I bought a Bubble Magus NAC 7 13 months ago and my Atman ph2500 pump has what i think is a short in it. Of course the company i got it from and bubble magus cant do anything with it cause its one month passed the warranty. So does anyone have any ideas how to get it working again.
What happens is when i plug it in and the pump kicks on and works for 1:30sec and then trips the circuit breaker and stops working. It does it every time. My circuit breaker that has all the fish tanks stuff on it would trip and now i know why. This pump draws 35 watts. So If anyone has a way to fix this let me know or should I just cut my losses and buy a new skimmer or try my luck again and get a new Atman ph2500 pump? Thanks for the help
Anytime I have an electrical appliance that goes IN TO WATER and trips a circuit breaker - I replace it. My house, my stuff, my life are just too important and valuable to me to take my chances trying fix instead of spending a little bit of money to replace.
I’d disconnect and replace as soon as possible, I wouldn’t even give it another 1:30 to trip the circuit breaker again.
If it had a short inside the pump, it should trip right away and not run at all. I’ve had a mag drive do something similar. Most if not all aquarium pumps have an internal temperature gauge that shuts off the pump if it gets too hot. After years of working, my mag drive would shut off after about 5 minutes one day and this is the only cause I could come up with. Since the pump electronics are potted (encased in epoxy), you can’t repair them. I don’t know why your breaker is tripping, but you probably have a bad temp sensor. It’s a rare failure, but it happens.
Thanks for the info… so would you guys keep the skimmer and just replace the pump or just go with a different skimmer all together? Im a little gun shy to stick with the bubble magus now, and not sure if i should just cut my losses and go with an all new skimmer.
I also have a bubble magus skimmer with the ph 2500 pump. I dont have the same problem but found out there is a pump upgrade to the rock series pump (sp2000). I do not know if the NAC 7 uses the same base plate, as I believe there is a different mount. The kit comes with base plate & pump. Sea Side Aquatics seasideaquatics.com is the US distributor for Bubble magus & has replacement pumps. I do not recommend the mesh mod impeller, I have exploded 2 of them! You can also find the atman ph2500 on ebay with free shipping. I would not use this skimmer at all until you replace the pump. I am happy with the skimmate production of mine but the ph2500 is loud and has issues. Rumors circulate of a recall for the pump but a statement released denied this. I would look into upgrading to the rock sp2000 if possible. you may have to drill & tap the base for new mounting holes though.
If its not connected to a Gfci then it’s very possible it’s shorted and sending current to the water for that 1:30 until enough amps and heat cause the breaker to trip. I bet if you had a Gfci it would trip as soon as its plugged in. I would weigh the cost of a new pump and new skimmer out and decide that way. A skimmer should last forever the pumps the only thing that shoul break unless you drop the skimmer.
Yeah @Dunk thats exactly what its doing. GFCI and it trips right away and then after the minute 30 or so it trips a regular circuit breaker. @scottman thats what im afraid of is getting the same pump and it doing the same thing and im not surprised at all about a rumor to a recall on the pump. I did talk to the guy at sea side and he said its not recommended to do the modification but that he would sell it to me with that sp2000. I checked out that pump and it seems like a good pump. Now im no carpenter or engineer but i do a bit of tinkering and stuff around the house and if all it is is drilling 4 new mount holes for a new base to do the modification that doesnt seem to hard. Does anyone have any experience with this modification?
It seems pretty straight forward, but you should ask sea side if the venturi is different and if the retainer for the bubble plate is different too. Other than that it is just 4 holes, be suer to line up the venturi first. They sell all the stuff. If you go this route please keep me updated on it as I would like to switch to the sp2000 for my NAC6. I just dont like the noise and had a bunch of problems with the mesh mod impeller. I replaced it with the standard needle wheel impeller and think the skimmer actually performs better overall with it. You should put all your aquatic stuff on a GFCI outlet if it is not. Many of us have horror stories of things that could have been avoided with a GFCI. They do sell “plug in” styles if you do not feel comfortable replacing the electrical outlet yourself. If anyone has interest I can post a instructional thread for installing one, LMK.
Yeah I could only find the 6 upgrade on the seasideaquatics web site but when I talked to the guy there he said that there were two different upgrade kits for the NAC 7 one you could use the PSK 600 pump or the other was the Rock sp2000. Im really leaning toward trying the upgrade. If its true and i can do whichever pump which would you guys choose? Thinking the sp2000 is the best option. Im gonna call the guy back on monday and get more details! If I this route I will post the upgrade on here for everyone.
Do you have the room in your sump to do this mod? It would let you choose almost any pump. A DC controllable pump would be a beast. (like reef octopus diablo 3500s) The only draw back when putting a monster pump is adjusting with that silly twist pipe. You could also put a gate valve on it to avoid that. I don’t have room for the external pump but it seems neat. I am not a fan of the mesh enkamat impellers like what the link has. I exploded too many. Now there is so much for you to decide! ???
[quote=“Newphish26, post:11, topic:6634”]
Yeah I could only find the 6 upgrade on the seasideaquatics web site but when I talked to the guy there he said that there were two different upgrade kits for the NAC 7 one you could use the PSK 600 pump or the other was the Rock sp2000. Im really leaning toward trying the upgrade. If its true and i can do whichever pump which would you guys choose? Thinking the sp2000 is the best option. Im gonna call the guy back on monday and get more details! If I this route I will post the upgrade on here for everyone. [/quote]
The Sicce is a known to be reliable pump. The Rock it the replacement for the Atman they were using, and there’s very little history on it, although I think it may have a little more power that the PSK 600.
The few reviews I read on the rock sp2000 upgrade most said it is much quieter, uses less power and slightly better skimmate production. Sicce is a reliable pump. Just be sure to match the air intake volume as this is more crucial than water flow in a skimmer.
I keep checking on all these pumps the watts output. Was the atman pump I had just a coincidence that it kept tripping the circuit breaker or does it have to do with the high wattage output or just bc the pump was bad. Reason I ask is cause I don’t want to end up with another pump pulling that kinda watt if that was the problem.
Yes I have room in my sump for that type of modification just not sure how I feel about it. By the way when the pump did work I liked that skimmer and the pin wheel style pump. Seems like alot of people have problems with the mesh screen type
What else do you have running on that circuit? Is it possible that you’re near max load, and the pump is just the straw that’s breaking the Camel’s back? Have you tried turning other high load things off to see if it still happens?
Are there other things on the circuit in the house, other than your aquarium devices?
Oh yeah I have the TV and all that other crap on the same circuit but it ran fine for 11 months but towards the 9 month mark It started slowly happening then got to the point where the pump wouldn’t come on at all. So having so much stuff on it might be the problem which is why I’m concerned about the power output.
Didn’t you say that it tripped the Gfci immediately when plugged in? If so the pumps bad. What wattage does the pump pull? 400 watts is about 3.2a at average voltage. Your breaker should be 15a maybe 20 but unlikely. It sounds like a bad pump but running close to 15a will make the breaker trip after a while. Pumps don’t pull that many amps usually. A mag 12 isn’t too efficient and they pull like 120 watts which is about an amp.
Ok then i dont need to worry to much about the next pump and how much power it pulls cause my pump is for sure bad. I actually took it in a bucket of water around my house trying different outlets GFCI and non GFCI. And i also did it to get it off the circuit that all the fish/ TV stuff is on.