Vortech owners: Don't Try This at Home!

[Kristy]

So last night doing the weekly water change we soaked the wet sides of our Vortech powerheads as they were getting really gunky and funky with coralline algae and various other slime. Mike threw them in a bucket to soak them while we did other chores.

When I grabbed one in each hand to pull them out and give them a little scrub, I managed to get the powerheads too close to one another and they SLAMMED together with a snap of their powerful magnets that could not be separated. This was especially a problem because the end of my ring finger was sandwiched right between them and I could NOT get it out. I started screaming, laughing and crying all at the same time and Mike was in the other room not sure what had happened. An eternity later, Mike rushed in and helped me get my finger free. But then the two magnets were REALLY stuck together. It took quite a bit of effort and several minutes to get those magnets apart... not an easy task!

Today my finger is pretty sore and has this new ridge right in the middle of the fingernail as my battle scar. Those of you who own Vortechs, please learn from my mistake and DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE MAGNETS! Those things mean business!

[RayAllen]

LOL, Kristy if I were Mike I would have been laughing so hard!

Glad you are ok and got them apart.

[Scream311]

Wow ! Ouch I'm glad your ok. I've caught my fingers in glass cleaning magnets and that's no fun either

[Europhyllia]

I learned about that when I got a Hammerhead algae cleaner. Ouch. (I'm back to wimpy Mag floats)

[Big_Pun]

i did that with my finger yesterday but my finger was between the vortech and my kitchen sink. this hobby is so dangerous!!

[Scream311]

I learned about that when I got a Hammerhead algae cleaner. Ouch. (I'm back to wimpy Mag floats)

Lol I'm just a bit more cautious now

[roscozman]

I just cleaned our MP40's this weekend and this also happened to me (without the crushed finger). One side kept shutting off and we noticed the driver was flashing red. I thought it needed cleaning, but it actually had to be recalibrated.

[Kristy]

this hobby is so dangerous!!

Exactly!!!

So, since Gabe gave us that sample to soak our powerheads in, he's actually partly to blame for our bruised and banged up fingers. They should put a warning label on those things. ;)

[roscozman]

What do you soak them in Kristy? I just use vinegar and water.

[Europhyllia]

It's so painful though it's the kind of thing you do only once. Even when I pack stuff away now I package the magnetic stuff in separate boxes, etc. (obviously I will never find the matching sets of things again later but better unsmashed than sorry...)

So what were you trying out :)

[Kristy]

We have always just used vinegar and water until this time. Gabe had a sample of a new solution to soak powerheads in and let us try it. (I'llprobably just stick to the vinegar and water in the future. It didn't seem any better to me... but thanks Gabe for letting us try out something new!)

[Big_Pun]

What do you soak them in Kristy? I just use vinegar and water.

hydor came out with this new acid safer than muriatic acid, i got some also and i like it. start buggin gabe to get it i need more lol

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/08/03/magiklean-pump-cleaning-solution-coming-hydor/
http://reefbuilders.com/2010/09/27/hydor-magiklean-proves-worth-removing-calcium-buildup-tubeworms-coralline-algae/

[roscozman]

Wow... That's pretty cool.

[tebstan]

I saw the ad for this in reef hobbyist magazine. Does it work faster than vinegar? Did you dilute it?