You've got me there, no, I havn't cleaned the thing. I thought I read
somewhere that all the good gook inside was beneficial bacteria. If it
got too bad, though, I would usually rince some of the stuff off when
changing the filter. But in my experience, when something electrical
is not broken but has the rotor mechanisms siezed, I hear a "buzz". I
might be wrong in this case, so I will try and revive it. But another
thing I didn't like about the Top Fin 29 gallon pump/filter was that
it would not start pumping on it's own without being primed. This
could be disasterous over a weekend if I'm gone and the power goes off
for a few minutes and comes back on. This is known to happen where I
live. The 10 would fire back up and start pumping on it's own. The new
Penguin pump will continue on it's own also if power is lost and
restored.

Thanks,

Moo