Nobby's S-650

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
Depends on how it's wired. Each circuit has its own breaker in the service box. I know for certain I've killed pumps in the past having a dehumidifier on the same circuit as my mixing station pump. Every time the dehumidifier kicked on I heard the pump skip a beat, as it were. Eventually, it skipped a beat and I could not resuscitate. :)

Note to self: It's not good to have something with a large start-up amperage on the same circuit as my aquarium pumps...
 
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SPR

Well-Known Member
Well, aquariums eh. They run nicely 24/7 365 days a year, or so...........

In Germany, the traditional Xmas meal takes place on the evening of Xmas Eve. So, just as we were sitting down and the food was being placed on the table, everything went dark. There was a power outage. Checked the fuse box, and the Ground Floor of the house had tripped out. Some electrical device in there didn't want to play. So I quickly went around unplugging things with my son attempting to throw the switch back on to see if I could isolate the offending electrical device. Lo and behold, everything came back on when the aquarium was unplugged. So, I had a problem in there somewhere. At this point we decided to just carry on with the meal and I'd look at the tank afterwards.

So, time to find the offending electrical device in the tank. On the control panel I switched everything off, and then attempted to start things one-by-one and see which device was causing the system to trip. First off I tried to start the Vectra L2 main return pump. It didn't want to start, and if you have any of these Vectra devices you'll understand how maddening it is to have various coloured lights blinking on the Quiet Drive unit with no real explanation of what they mean. Oh, at this point I have to mention the Backup Battery unit didn't work. I'll have to check out why at a later time. So, I decided to get a couple of the rear pumps working and two of them started up nicely. I got the spare main return pump from the garage and as a last desperate attempt I tried to restart the Vectra, and it did ! Main return pump working and two of the rear pumps working so far. I then started up the Skimmer and the doser, and it was all working.
It was around this point my wife said that there was something wrong with the fridge/freezer. It was making a bleeping noise with numbers flashing on the display. Aha, methinks, it was the fridge/freezer all along that caused the trip, and not anything in the tank. The fact the Vectra didn't want to start was just because, well, it's a Vectra. The fridge/freezer was indeed kaputt, and we had to transfer all the frozen food to an old freezer we had in the cellar. The stuff in the fridge had to go outside the back door ! Remember, this was Friday 24th Xmas Eve, so we had no chance of getting anyone in until the 27th, which is a normal working day in Germany. OK, I restart all the rear pumps and the tank is running normally.

Until Monday morning the 27th.......the fridge/freezer is unplugged, and there was another power outage. The circuit breaker had tripped again ! My suspicion returned straight away to the tank. I switched off the four rear pumps and we were able to restart the power on the floor of the house again. I did say just last week on Shaun's thread that I needed to clean the pumps ! However, the Vectra once again would not start, and I now had a time problem as I had to be in work at 2pm, so I swapped out the Vectra for the old Red Sea return pump and fired that up. I also removed two of the rear pumps and cleaned them both. I then returned one of those pumps to the tank and installed my spare rear pump, and went to work. Main return working, two rear circulation pumps running and the skimmer running. That is enough to keep everything alive for now.

Those rear pumps were full of gunk. Could it be one of them was overheating therefore causing the trip? My experience is that when these pumps get too mucky they just stop working. My suspicion therefore is still being directed at the Vectra. It has caused me problems before and I now rate it as one of my worst puchases for the tank. I had to have the motor replaced before it was a year old and I have no idea why the battery backup didn't kick-in when the power failed, after all that is what the battery backup is there to do ! If the Vectra does have an issue then I don't expect it to trip the whole floor of the house either as it also caused the problem with the fridge/freezer! With the Vectra L2 I've always had problems re-starting it if I ever had to switch it off, say for maintenance reasons. I only ever used the 'feed mode' switch which would give me ten minutes to do what ever I wanted to do in the tank. This seemed to be the only way I could guarantee that the pump would not stop. For a so say quality product (with a quality price tag) I am not impressed with it at all.

Tomorrow I will clean and re-install the remaining rear circulation pumps and I will clean the Vectra. I think the only way I can test the Vectra is to run it (on it's side) in the bath ! If it's not in water it will not start. Most pumps you can plug in when on a work surface and hear them start and then unplug, but the Vectra will not do that.

So that was my Xmas weekend !
My sons actually in Germany for a year working, Mannheim I think and he said that about celebrating on Christmas eve rather than day

The tanks are fine while there working, and it’s often just the rubbish equipment, the more complicated they are the more likely they will fail. I’ve gone/going back to keeping everything simple from now on.

And those rear circulation pumps…….
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
My sons actually in Germany for a year working, Mannheim I think and he said that about celebrating on Christmas eve rather than day

The tanks are fine while there working, and it’s often just the rubbish equipment, the more complicated they are the more likely they will fail. I’ve gone/going back to keeping everything simple from now on.

And those rear circulation pumps…….
Mannheim is not that far from me! About 15 years or so ago I saw Coldplay there in concert. At that time they were rubbish. I mean, really bad. All I know about the place is that there is a huge chemical plant there, BASF I think.

We always do the German Xmas dinner on Xmas Eve, and on Xmas Day I cook the full British dinner with Turkey etc ! Can't have Xmas Day without turkey can you. It's the way we do things in the civilized world.

Not much simpler than a rear circulation pump is there?
 
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SPR

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Mannheim is not that far from me! About 15 years or so ago I saw Coldplay there in concert. At that time they were rubbish. I mean, really bad. All I know about the place is that there is a huge chemical plant there, BASF I think.

We always do the German Xmas dinner on Xmas Eve, and on Xmas Day I cook the full British dinner with Turkey etc ! Can't have Xmas Day without turkey can you. It's the way we do things in the civilized world.

Not much simpler than a rear circulation pump is there?
Small world, I’ll get him to call and pick up some frags then! Lol

I don’t much like Turkey or maybe Im just getting miserable….. don’t mind a stuffed Turkey crown though.

As yes there is MUCH simpler than a stupid rear circulation pump!
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
FFS......not even the end of Jan and the Vectra L2 has stopped again. So it has been removed to be sent back yet again. It only had a new motor in Jan 2021. My old, original Red Sea suppljed Sicce pump is back. I think there is a lesson to be learn't here.
 
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SPR

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On the S650 I have the original and an identical RS replacement pump and ‘so far’ neither have failed

I alternate them ever 6-12 months

Kevin at RS said to me once they had never had a failure in the UK so……

I know, it’s drives you insane!
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
On the S650 I have the original and an identical RS replacement pump and ‘so far’ neither have failed

I alternate them ever 6-12 months

Kevin at RS said to me once they had never had a failure in the UK so……

I know, it’s drives you insane!
The reason I went for the Vectra L2 was to reduce the noise......Well, it's the noise from She Who Casts No Shadow. With the original pump the tank was producing around 30 Decibels. With the Vectra it's was down to around 22 Decibels. Not a great deal but enough to reduce the moaning which also stopped my ear ache.
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
The reason I went for the Vectra L2 was to reduce the noise......Well, it's the noise from She Who Casts No Shadow. With the original pump the tank was producing around 30 Decibels. With the Vectra it's was down to around 22 Decibels. Not a great deal but enough to reduce the moaning which also stopped my ear ache.
If it’s noise reduction save your pennies and get an Abyzz a100. These pumps are absolutely silent.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Update: I now have the Vectra L2 back. They couldn't find anything wrong with the actual pump but they replaced the Driver as they suspected (but didn't know) there was a problem there. However, I still haven't put it back into the system. I know I will at some point but I have lost trust in it.
 

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
My vectras have run good since I bought them abs I carry a spare. Losing confidence is tough and I might be have tempted to swap in the spare and turn the questionable one into a backup
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
The Vectra is now back in the system. I had to put it in. The decibel level drops from an average of 35 to 24, with the result I no longer get twatted around the head with my Big Bertha Driver, by my wife !
 

Pancho75

Well-Known Member
The Vectra is now back in the system. I had to put it in. The decibel level drops from an average of 35 to 24, with the result I no longer get twatted around the head with my Big Bertha Driver, by my wife !
Good the L2 is working again.
 
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Nobbygas

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Over the last two years I've pretty much avoided regular trips to any LFS due to the virus. In this time I've had a few fish 'disappear', so I thought it was about time to re-stock and get the fish levels back to where they were.
In the last two weeks I've visited four LFS and been mightily disappointed. They were all lacking any real numbers of fish for sale, and the selection was really poor. Just the usual fish we all know about, and many of those fish lacking in any colour! I've seen tank bred Yellow tangs that were nearly white ! You really had to use your imagination to make them Yellow ! And these were on offer for 350 quid ! Not only is the selection poor, the fish don't look healthy and the prices are getting crazy ! 45 Euro (47 US Dollars, 38 English Pounds) for a bog standard Lyretail Anthia !

I did get another 12 turbo snails. Not really exciting though.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
My old cheap Doser is coming to the end. I'm finding that it is not dosing reliabily. I think it's time to get a new doser, and at the moment I am looking at the Red Sea doser. The one bit I am really interested in is the feature that notifies me if the dosing container is empty. Quite often I forget to check the containers and I find them empty.
 
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Nobbygas

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And.......the Vectra L2 stops again. Just three months after it's latest 'repair'. A nice flashing red light on the controller. So you have to look at a seven year old video from Echotech to fix it.......but the fix doesn't work. Totally totally useless piece of kit. Terrible customer support. What I have now is a highly priced brick. Having had a good look around the internet I can now see that many others have been fooled by this company. My personal recommendation is never to buy Echotech, especially if you are not in the US. Four times I have returned this pump. The first time they found nothing wrong! The second time was a Thermister Error for which they replaced the pump motor. The third time unknown error but they said they replaced the pump motor again. The fourth time they replaced the Quiet Drive Controller with a note saying this would be the last 'free' repair. Each time I send it back it usually takes three weeks before I see it again. The pump is just running as a normal return, no special programmes and it runs at about 65%, so it is not being flogged. When taken apart it is clear the pump is not dirty or clogged up. The Mobius App is useless. It cannot tell you what is wrong as it cannot connect to the pump when the pump has failed!!!
 
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Nobbygas

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Well, as regular readers will know (hello Mum) my wife is not the greatest fan of the aquarium.
However, she has just surprised me! She suggested that we sell the S-650 and buy a Pennisula tank as it would look good as a small 'room divider' in what is our large living room. This would involve a change of location for the tank. It would also allow me to have access to an outside wall so I could vent the warm air from the chiller directly out. This has certainly got my senses tingling, as I know you are all thinking the same as me..........Could I go bigger? Maybe up to 900l?
 
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SPR

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Well, as regular readers will know (hello Mum) my wife is not the greatest fan of the aquarium.
However, she has just surprised me! She suggested that we sell the S-650 and buy a Pennisula tank as it would look good as a small 'room divider' in what is our large living room. This would involve a change of location for the tank. It would also allow me to have access to an outside wall so I could vent the warm air from the chiller directly out. This has certainly got my senses tingling, as I know you are all thinking the same as me..........Could I go bigger? Maybe up to 900l?
You could go as big as you can fit it, but I would also look at getting one custom built, you might be surprised at the cost and quality compared to RS, and you get exactly what you want. And building it all up is very rewarding as you know how every part works.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
You could go as big as you can fit it, but I would also look at getting one custom built, you might be surprised at the cost and quality compared to RS, and you get exactly what you want. And building it all up is very rewarding as you know how every part works.
There is a guy I know who runs an independent LFS. He also builds custom tanks so I'm going to get him in for a quote. The RS Peninsula tanks only go to 650l I think. As it will be a sort of room divider it will need to be a Peninsula. Maybe I get the tank to be made a little wider if I am restricted by the length. This may give a better depth perspective......or of course I could just be imaging things :) I'd imagine a tank that is long and thin would make rock placement difficult. It may be easier if it were shorter and fatter (if you get my drift).
I will also inquire about some sort of hood to restrict the light leakage. However, I'm still a big fan of RS.

In the meantime I have binned the Vectra. It was thrown into the bin with gusto and an elegant flourish! I also have the Ecotech Battery Backup unit for the Vectra. That will go on eBay. So will the power units and various coupling bits. Might as well try to salvage something from the bloody thing.

I will get a Sicce Syncra SDC 9.0 as a Return Pump. It comes with a five-year warranty. That will at least give me peace of mind. It can pump up to 9,000lph so will also be good for the future tank.

Building it up....hhmmmm. You are aware that I find building a Lego Set a challenge !
 
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