Reefs.org Forums

[loonz]

I really liked the idea of holding the powerhead up with a glued magnet. However, I was advised by some LFS that we should not leave magnets in the water for extensive periods of time because of corrosion of the metal parts. Does that have any relevance?

[ April 22, 2002: Message edited by: loonz ]</p>

[jamesw]

If the magnet is encased in plastic or some other waterproof substance, and that seal is not breached, then corrosion will NOT be a problem.

Hope that helps,
James Wiseman

[erasmu]

I think having magnets on powerheads will cause problems. The motors contain powerful electromagnets. Have you not heard the powerheads become noisy whenever you bring a cleaning magnet up close to them? I use a cleaning magnet to try to restart stalled powerheads. I stroke the powerhead with the magnet trying to get the motor to shift and start. It frequently works. You can feel the strong magnetic fields interacting. I would think mounting the powerheads with magnets would at least cause rapid wear on their motors. I hope someone with more knowledge of that motor operation can explain to me why it should cause no problems.

[loonz]

Thanks for clearing some doubts on the corrosion part. Now it seems like there are other doubts regarding the motor operation of the powerhead while in contact with the magnets, anybody?

[Saltykirk]

I only tried it once & it worked extremly well. These things are not car starters guys. I glued a maxi jet powerhead to an aquarium systems magnet w/ Supermend. The Supermend looks like melted white PVC when it dries. It is tough as nails too, it can be drilled and tapped. The whole thing lasted about 4-5 years. I finally threw it away because the seal on the magnet breached. This whole setup was "engineered"(he he) to make a suitable pump for a reef tank & was then modified to work as an "RVT" pump for a CPR overflow box. The magnet was strong enough to hold the pump, but wouldn't rip your arms off. It was the medium one I think. One of the new hoss-daddy magnets which will crush the heads of small humans might not be a good idea though. The pump worked when I threw the whole shabang away too. I just wouldn't try this with a Rio p/h cause they don't seem to last long.