Maxi-Jet Impellor Modifcation

yellowfins from the catawba are greenheads the two are closely related I happen to have both and believe it or not mine never get greenheads

I've never seen greenheads get green heads the ones I've seen actually turn white.

That ain't the colors of the fish you see in the Pee Dee (the fish in my tank), and boy, it looks an awful lot like a yellowfin shiner. I think this was the confusion.

So there. Now that's solved. I might be crazy, but I'm not insane.

Todd

I've had red lip shiners that looked like what you have in your tank and when they got fired up they looked like the natureserve photo. The yellowfins I've had when fired up though similar didn't have any or very little yellow in the body. Like this photo from the NANFA fish in focus http://www.nanfa.org...utipinnis.shtml

Mike, did you keep any of the fish from Wards Creek? Did they fire up for you? I guess that's my last curiosity in this tangled mess of my mind. Those had an awful lot of yellow in them, if I remember right. I wish I would have gotten a photo. It was too danged hot to do that with fish that were gonna try and make it home.

Todd

Mike, did you keep any of the fish from Wards Creek? Did they fire up for you? I guess that's my last curiosity in this tangled mess of my mind. Those had an awful lot of yellow in them, if I remember right. I wish I would have gotten a photo. It was too danged hot to do that with fish that were gonna try and make it home.

Todd

I'm afraid I don't remember Wards Creek off the top of my head. I'd like to blame it on piscatorial overload but I'm just getting old. I had some nice Greenheads they got really blazing but literally burned themselves out. Only one or two faded out and live today. I've had that happen another time as well with greenheads I think I need to catch them out of spawning season or cool down their temps or darken the tanks or find some other way to give them a fishy cold shower. Let me ponder on that Wards Creek maybe it'll come to me.

Problem: the little stop that keep the prop from spinning backwards will only work most of the time. It can be running forwards and pushing great current, then you have a power failure. Only to find that it has restarted in the reverse direction, and sucked in your darters.

I no longer run them. They would be fine with larger fish, but if they reverse directions with smaller fish, they are so powerful that you are left with chowder.

Hey Matt, I wonder what happened here. The one I have "reverses" continually. In fact you can see it "burp" in the video. Last night I tried turning it off and on to see if I could get it to go backwards. It didn't in at least the 10-15 times I unplugged it and plugged it back in. Maybe they changed something with the part, or maybe the power failure killed the fish? I'm trying to get to the bottom of this

Todd

I've answered my own question, fortunately without tragedy. I'm not sure what changed, but there was a piece on the shaft that must have broken off. It fails by popping forward and disengaging from the impellor, and also gets caught on a stop in the housing. So I put a piece of rigid 1/4" hose the exact length to make the gap adn keep the impellor engaged. Except this time it's different when it bangs into something... It can begin running backwards (remember that late 70's Disney Movie "The Black Hole"? Yeah.)

Fortunately (perhaps unfortunately in his mind), I think Matt did exactly the same thing, excepting I had his warning, so I kept an eye on it. The minners were all precariously swimming right in front of becoming chop suey.

Now I'm curious what the piece was that held it in place, and why and how it failed. With all the rocks and plants and gravel (not to mention 45 degree water) it's a little difficult to find.

Maybe these just don't work well in planted tanks. Which sucks. Because these things are awesome for flow.

Todd

I've answered my own question, fortunately without tragedy. I'm not sure what changed, but there was a piece on the shaft that must have broken off. It fails by popping forward and disengaging from the impellor, and also gets caught on a stop in the housing. So I put a piece of rigid 1/4" hose the exact length to make the gap adn keep the impellor engaged. Except this time it's different when it bangs into something... It can begin running backwards (remember that late 70's Disney Movie "The Black Hole"? Yeah.)

Fortunately (perhaps unfortunately in his mind), I think Matt did exactly the same thing, excepting I had his warning, so I kept an eye on it. The minners were all precariously swimming right in front of becoming chop suey.

Now I'm curious what the piece was that held it in place, and why and how it failed. With all the rocks and plants and gravel (not to mention 45 degree water) it's a little difficult to find.

Maybe these just don't work well in planted tanks. Which sucks. Because these things are awesome for flow.

Todd

Sorry I din't see this thread earlier but figured I would add my two cents! I have three of these mods on my 75g SW reef tank. They work great for me and they really have some kick to them! I haven't had any problems with the impeller spinning the wrong way and I don't even have any clicking. Just letting you know, Algae-free is offering a free upgrade kit, all you have to do is send in the UPC off the box and they send you a new impeller that puts out 2100gph. It also comes with a stronger mounting bracket. heres the link http://www.algaefree...ureflowfaq.html . Thought I would just let everyone know about this. P.S. my mods never have a problem when there is a power failure. They always work fine.

Yeah, I think in Matt's and my case, the problem was plant material floating into it that busted some kind of fail-safe that disengages the impellor. I think its designed well (it did exactly what it was supposed to). It just isn't going to work out in planted tanks, else you'll be replacing this piece every couple weeks.

In an unplanted tank, this is the REAL deal, and I highly suggest getting them. When I set up my "Niche-Izer" system for my project, I'll be using these extensively.

Todd

Yeah, I think in Matt's and my case, the problem was plant material floating into it that busted some kind of fail-safe that disengages the impellor. I think its designed well (it did exactly what it was supposed to). It just isn't going to work out in planted tanks, else you'll be replacing this piece every couple weeks.

In an unplanted tank, this is the REAL deal, and I highly suggest getting them. When I set up my "Niche-Izer" system for my project, I'll be using these extensively.

Todd

I can see what you are talking about even though I've never used these in fresahwater or a planted tank, they pull water into them from a large area and I could see someone having trouble with stuff damaging the impeller.