how often do you guys clean pumps?

[new2scrub]

my one month old pump has lost about 40% of its flow and it does not even have a sponge filter on it. how often do you clean? and how does that little slime layer reduce flow that much?

[Floyd R Turbo]

what size pump and what return plumbing?

[SantaMonica]

6 months.

[new2scrub]

750 gph pump almost no plumbing just a 1" in dia hose going to scrubber....

[Ace25]

Is it clear tubing? Any stray algae strands getting stuck in the impeller? I know the little bit of brown algae that grows in clear tubing does actually reduce flow quite a bit over time. In an ATS setup I would imagine it happening much quicker since there is a strong light source near it. With macro algae, something as simple as a single strand of cheato getting stuck in the impeller can also reduce flow quite a bit. One other thing is the algae that grows in the slot/screen inside the pipe can make it appear that flow is reduced but usually it just spreads the flow out more evenly when a little algae builds up there. I know on my latest scrubber when it is all clean the first 1" of the screen gets zero flow over it and the water shoots out the end of the screen (stronger pump than recommended) but after a few days the flow evens out as algae grows in the slot and the flow covers the entire screen. It seems like less flow because it isn't shooting out the end anymore, but when putting a bucket under it and timing it, it still comes out the same. Just tossing out some ideas to see if any of them may be what your experiencing.