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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank

jimroth

jimroth

Thanks guys, I just got done with the shop-vac in the garage, adjusted it just a little too high after I started getting skimmate. Greedy I guess. !
I think the tank is looking much better already. Thinking about a few pounds of fresh live rock to get the microfauna cranked up.
The wife is more work than the tank, but not high-maintenance as those things go. Plus she didn't break down during Superstorm Sandy!
Paul: I think a new 5-iron and a box of chocolate would suit me just fine , I'll shoot you my address.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Added a Kole tang from AO to work on algae. He was initially hassled by the purple tang in there (slight chasing, not the world-class abuse a PBT can dish out) but the old mirror trick distracted the purple for a while and now they are mostly getting along. Kole is doing his Kole thing, kissing the rocks and glass. It was hard to choose between the Kole and the Tomini, Fenner told me the Tomini is his favorite for algae control but the Kole just is a little more attractive. Also added a half-dozen trochus snails, my favorite.
Continuing the fish-buying frenzy, another store of my acquaintance had a large juvie emperor angel which had been unsold and healthy for more than a month. I was able to negotiate a discount due to a bit of lymphocystis on the fins, and I am back in the Emperor angel business. He's been chowing down on algae too and I hope takes an interest in the growing aptasia population at some point.
The recent cold snap has made the air bone dry, causing the salt to harden in the joints ofr the new skimmer. Leakage has slowed to a seep and I hope it stays that way. Skimmer has been doing well, although it did go crazy and skim out 5G last night, fortunately stopped by the auto-shutoff bucket.
 
jimroth

jimroth

I had bought a JBJ True-Temp 1000W heater/controller package before. The controller has turned out to be a real piece of crap. The temperature probe failed once, and having replaced it the controller can't maintain a temperature. One hint that it's a bad product is that the 1000W heater has a heavy duty cord, the controller has a light duty cord, like lampcord, and you are supposed to plug the heater into that. When the heater cranks, you can feel the lampcord get hot! Bad design. Since the heater is a pretty basic piece of equipment, I ordered a Ranco (heavy duty) controller from PA with their holiday discount. Plus a Milwaukee digital refractometer.
Skimmer is done leaking but covered with salt! Little cleanup today plus I'll clean the cup and neck.
Going to set my old Ca Reactor back up and see if it works. I might have to buy a new regulator since that thing's been sitting forever. Ordered some new CO2 safe tubing although I think airline will be okay for a couple of days. I also ordered a pinch valve to regulate the effluent. A lot of people think they are more clog resistant than the micro ball valve, and I don't want to pony up for a new peristaltic pump until I at least try that.
And pull more algae out of the tank!
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
I have an extra regulator sitting around from when I upgraded, shoot me a pm if you need it.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Well I snapped the pvc lower spout off my calcium reactor. I dremeled the remains out of the hole and tapped it to 3/4", have some revised plumbing parts and Weldon 16 on the way. Pooh.
The new skimmer is skimming away. It's interesting. The new (Beckett) skimmer is better at removing particulates than the old (downdraft) skimmer. There's a lot of stuff floating in the skimmate. The skimmate smells less foul though, so there's a difference. I briefly imagined life on another planet where skimmate is a gourmet drink, and a skimmer is kind of like a coffee maker, and people go to skimmate tastings, the whole point of the reef tank is to get that precious skimmate. Then I punched myself in the face and got back to work.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
jimroth said:
....... I briefly imagined life on another planet where skimmate is a gourmet drink, and a skimmer is kind of like a coffee maker, and people go to skimmate tastings, the whole point of the reef tank is to get that precious skimmate......
Click to expand...

Jim, you’ll never cease to amaze me. I have the number for a good therapist, when you return from your fantasy. :grin:


I will have to agree on the performance of a becketted skimmer. The best I’ve had as far as removing gunk from the tank….and I’ve used an MTC, MRC 2 and MRC 3…all with becketts.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
The filter post on here allows for at least 5 characters so I really wanted to convey how much I enjoyed your post.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Set up my new Ranco heater controller with the 1000W heater. It started to get cold in tha garage and the tank dropped to 76F. The big heater works fast. One thing that held me up was the instructions with the controller stated to not get the temperature probe wet! For an aquarium! So rather than order the capsule they recommended, I put it into a little soda bottle (one of those little club soda bottles) and sealed the wire to the lid with silicone. Seems to keep the water out and I placed it in the sump and mounted the controller to the wall.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Jim, what Ranco did you get. The probes i've seen are a short little metal rod on the end of a wire....that go right into water???
 
jimroth

jimroth

I bought one from PA that had the cords already wired. It had a long grey cable with a darker grey tip kind of badly silliconed on there. The instructions had the warning about not getting it wet and mentioned that chillers have a kind of a dry probe chamber you could stick it in.
 
jimroth

jimroth

The 1000W heater with the Ranco controller is definitely kicking butt now. Easily maintaining 78°F during this cold snap (for those who don't want to read the whole thread, my sump and backend are in an unheated built in garage, which runs about 50° on days like this. I got the Weldon16 glue I needed and glued the broken calcium reactor. Once it's cured I'll test it out for leaks and finish the recreated plumbing. The tangs have encouraged the foxface to eat more algae, and between them and the urchins, they've done a good job of mowing the hair algae down to a crewcut. Almost time to start adding corals back in!
 
jimroth

jimroth

The calcium reactor repair was successful. I glued a new fitting into the drilled out hole with Weldon16. I recreated all the plumbing in schedule 80 so it should actually be stronger. I was quite jazzed to find I could locate my 1/8" tap and matching 11/32 drillbit, last used four years ago. The tricky bit was drilling and tapping a PVC "T" for the gas inlet. Cosmetically, it's a little beat up but the whole thing is watertight, that's what matters. It's always good when you can fix something instead of replace it.

I'll probably fire it up tomorrow. I bought a probe gland to install in the top but that's gotta wait for another day.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Bubble counter on the CO2 regulator is cracked and leaks under pressure. Attempt to repair with weldon unsuccessful. ordered replacement bubble counter.
 
jimroth

jimroth

The bubble counter from ebay seller Spankyaquatics was a success. It's not the same size or design, but because the threads are the same it screwed right onto my regulator. The reactor is running, just need to get it dialed in. I'm using the micro ball valve to regulate the drip for now, if it gives me grief like it did before, I have a pinch valve for a backup. Also bought a new pH probe, just need to install that and calibrate it.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Ca Reactor is online. Took a few moments to remove about a half gallon of hair algae mats from the substrate. All the tangs and urchins will not ever get through that; some manual removal is required. Added a crown conch from Pet Safari yesterday. The price was right and I figure he'll be happy! I have two tiny living patches left of Superman Cyphastrea and Montipora Undata. It's maddening, they are about three polyps each. It would be cool if I could get them both to recover to their former glory, but I think the math is against me.
 
jimroth

jimroth

I added a new shrimp goby from AO to the biocube to replace the one that died a while back. The new one is a large pink spotted goby and the obnoxious watchman goby has given him no guff! He immediately moved into one of the existing holes. The goby-less candy cane pistol has been trying to get his attention, but no dice so far. While at AO I picked up a frag of purple-blue stylo as a kind of test frag, see if it stays happy and grows.
 
NikkiT

NikkiT

jimroth said:
I added a new shrimp goby from AO to the biocube to replace the one that died a while back. The new one is a large pink spotted goby and the obnoxious watchman goby has given him no guff! He immediately moved into one of the existing holes. The goby-less candy cane pistol has been trying to get his attention, but no dice so far. While at AO I picked up a frag of purple-blue stylo as a kind of test frag, see if it stays happy and grows.
Click to expand...


Nice pick ups Jim!
 
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