I use the old-school kind of auto-shutoff waste collector. The problem is that if it really gets going, it still leaks a little. That looks like a good gizmo but not for $169. Plus I sometimes make a couple gallons of skimmate, that thing's tiny!
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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank
- Thread starter jimroth
- Start date
I use the old-school kind of auto-shutoff waste collector. The problem is that if it really gets going, it still leaks a little. That looks like a good gizmo but not for $169. Plus I sometimes make a couple gallons of skimmate, that thing's tiny!
It's not the valves Bax. I even tested that. When the injector clogs, there is no air going in at all. The water level rises in the injector housing and starts to come out the valve. I think the key is to keep small particulates OUT of the injectors.
Maybe the recirc pump is wearing out or slowing down. I have one I can swap in there, see if that helps.
EcoTech doesn't usually piss me off, but now they have. I have an MP60 vortech I like very much, but it's starting to wear out and make noise. They do not sell individual parts for the MP60. If you need a new shaft, and you need a new propeller because the old one got chewed up, you need to buy a "Rotor" ($100) and a "Wet Frame" ($65) or you can just buy the whole wet side ($150). This is bad service to their loyal customers, it's money grubbing of a low kind. They could just sell the damn propeller if they wanted to.
Edwardw771
NJRC Member
I agree that's why I can't wait for the new Maxspect pump.
Kind of bummed about this: My juvi emperor angel seems to have developed HLLE. I haven't ever seen that happen in a reef tank, in fact I haven't had a case of it since my old F/O tanks back in the 20th century. I don't think there's anything to be done except euthanasia, he's losing patches of flesh all over his head and his behavior is starting to change. :-(.
None of the other fish are sick.
None of the other fish are sick.
dnov99
FRAG SWAP VENDOR
Agreed. Hlle symptoms usually are not so aggressive.
Edwardw771
NJRC Member
http://www.coralvue.com/fw110-high-amperage-float-switch
This one can be mounted in any size container.
I've been having a different problem with my MP60 Vortech. The darn thing won't stay on the side of the tank. This is after years of NOT sliding off the tank. It slides down, it moves, it pulls the adhesive hangers off the tank. I used up a dozen of those little adhesive hangers people use before I came up with a solution. What I did was place several of the adhesive hangers UNDER the dry side, in a kind of cradle. It can PULL them off, but it can't PUSH them off. I don't know what changed. Either (1) The rubber backing has dried out so it's not as sticky (I tried cleaning it up, that helped a little) or (2) The worn out wet side is causing vibration that moves the whole thing. No similar problems with the older MP40s.
I am testing out the Lifegard Aquatics Intellifeed automatic feeder. It's kind of pricey @$70 plus another $16 for the AC adapter, but it works really well. It's fun to watch it do its thing, though it jammed once when I first got it. You can check out the video of it online, but the main thing is that the food container remains sealed and only comes out and when it's time to feed the fish. Mounts easily on the Euro Bracing.
Kind of a bad thing happened where the Majestic angel suddenly decided that my venerable brain coral, in culture since 1999, was tasty food. He got through about a quarter of the brain before I figured out what was happening and evacuated the victim to someone else's tank. If he keeps doing this I will have to find him a new home.
Coral growth seems to have slowed a little< probably need to do some complete water testing and figure out what's happening. Getting good growth on my Red Planet frag though, it's almost a mini colony.
I am testing out the Lifegard Aquatics Intellifeed automatic feeder. It's kind of pricey @$70 plus another $16 for the AC adapter, but it works really well. It's fun to watch it do its thing, though it jammed once when I first got it. You can check out the video of it online, but the main thing is that the food container remains sealed and only comes out and when it's time to feed the fish. Mounts easily on the Euro Bracing.
Kind of a bad thing happened where the Majestic angel suddenly decided that my venerable brain coral, in culture since 1999, was tasty food. He got through about a quarter of the brain before I figured out what was happening and evacuated the victim to someone else's tank. If he keeps doing this I will have to find him a new home.
Coral growth seems to have slowed a little< probably need to do some complete water testing and figure out what's happening. Getting good growth on my Red Planet frag though, it's almost a mini colony.
I had good luck over my ten-day vacation in California. The system chugged along pretty well the whole time, with one exception. Before I left I took out the filter sock I've been running. It sometimes gets clogged up and then water comes out of the top. I need to grit my teeth and redesign the point where water enters the sump, so I can use filter socks more easily, like have it drain directly into the middle of the sump into a sock-holder. Anyway, the upshot of taking off my socks was that the becketts on the skimmer clogged about mid-week and it stopped skimming very much. The funny thing when this happens is that some of the corals really look great when you get back, they like a little dirty water occasionally. My red planet frag looked fantastic, I think it grew a lot. For once the calcium reactor did not clog.
On the plus side, my teenage tank sitter Andrew misread my instructions, so instead of feeding the THREE cubes of frozen food per day that I had left in my old-folks pill container, he was randomly picking ONE cube from the freezer. With the broken skimmer, this was a good thing. He was great at observing and reporting everything else.
The new auto feeder worked so well, I'm just going to let it keep doing its thing so I don't ever forget.
When I got back I gave the skimmer a good cleaning and watched it work through its "backlog." Disgusting yet fascinating. The usual little calcium animal parts in the skimmer; I think they are mostly pieces of mini brittle stars.
Ironically yesterday, there was a big storm and part of Rockaway lost power. That would have been hard for my tank sitter to deal with. I am now resolved (since I'm back) to do maintenance on all the external pumps, they have calcium clogging the volutes and it has to be removed.
While I was in California, my family and I got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Steinhart Aquarium from Renaissance Man and all-around swell guy Richard Ross. Interesting factioids: (1) Even the giant Philippine Reef is just run like a big version of a home reef, (2) They use hobbyist products like the Vor-Tech on their smaller systems and (3) Instant Ocean moved across the country, so they started making their own salt.
On the plus side, my teenage tank sitter Andrew misread my instructions, so instead of feeding the THREE cubes of frozen food per day that I had left in my old-folks pill container, he was randomly picking ONE cube from the freezer. With the broken skimmer, this was a good thing. He was great at observing and reporting everything else.
The new auto feeder worked so well, I'm just going to let it keep doing its thing so I don't ever forget.
When I got back I gave the skimmer a good cleaning and watched it work through its "backlog." Disgusting yet fascinating. The usual little calcium animal parts in the skimmer; I think they are mostly pieces of mini brittle stars.
Ironically yesterday, there was a big storm and part of Rockaway lost power. That would have been hard for my tank sitter to deal with. I am now resolved (since I'm back) to do maintenance on all the external pumps, they have calcium clogging the volutes and it has to be removed.
While I was in California, my family and I got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Steinhart Aquarium from Renaissance Man and all-around swell guy Richard Ross. Interesting factioids: (1) Even the giant Philippine Reef is just run like a big version of a home reef, (2) They use hobbyist products like the Vor-Tech on their smaller systems and (3) Instant Ocean moved across the country, so they started making their own salt.
Stopped by AO to get another blue tux urchin for the big tank. The one in there is doing a good job on the red wire algae that seems to cover everything, but always stays in the same rock section I figured, just get one for the other section. And some additional trochus snails. There were a couple of pinkbar (Aurora) gobies in the store, so I bought them for my goby-less pistol shrimp tank. These were a nice medium size. I bought both because I have had problems with agression between differnt sizes and species of gobies, and thees were already getting along at the shop.
Once they were acclimated, I was treated to quite a show. The candy cane pistol, the smallest one and perennial also-ran, spotted the gobies and made an immediate bid. He has barely been out of his burrow lately, but he came out and walked back and forth opening and closing his smaller (non snapping) claw. He ran up to one of the gobies and touched it at various spots along its body. This did not faze the goby but seemed to have another effect, as the goby soon followed the shrimp into his burrow and set up housekeeping with him. It took only a few minutes. The other goby is left to hang around the entrance to the burrow. I'm hoping that the large tiger pistol will spot him and make a similar arrangement, but maybe the rule is both gobies stay with the same shrimp! This is why I love the hobby.
Once they were acclimated, I was treated to quite a show. The candy cane pistol, the smallest one and perennial also-ran, spotted the gobies and made an immediate bid. He has barely been out of his burrow lately, but he came out and walked back and forth opening and closing his smaller (non snapping) claw. He ran up to one of the gobies and touched it at various spots along its body. This did not faze the goby but seemed to have another effect, as the goby soon followed the shrimp into his burrow and set up housekeeping with him. It took only a few minutes. The other goby is left to hang around the entrance to the burrow. I'm hoping that the large tiger pistol will spot him and make a similar arrangement, but maybe the rule is both gobies stay with the same shrimp! This is why I love the hobby.
Very cool. Good luck with them Jim.
I changed the plumbing in my sump so the drain now goes to the center section in an effort to keep tiny calcium bits out of the skimmer. If that in and of itself does not help, it will make it easier to use filter socks, which has helped before. I actually drained the sump and vacuumed it with the shop-vac to remove detritus. I cleaned the injectors and then when I started the skimmer, they clogged in seconds. I realized I had stirred up all the crap that clogs the injectors. So I tore the whole skimmer down and cleaned it with vinegar. It looks very clean now, but I've had to clean the injectors one more time already. Man's gotta have a hobby.
Will need to mount filter socks sooner than later. Injectors are clogging on a daily basis now, probably due to calcium trash being shot under the divider in the sump. If the injectors clog enough, tank water shoots out of the air intakes, flooding the garage. Happened twice last week already, I cannot keep having this happen. I have mounted a filter sock over the intake to the skimmer as a temporary measure, but it's pretty crude. If the clogging doesn't stop, I'm going back to my old ETSS skimmer.