-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank
- Thread starter jimroth
- Start date
Just a cautionary tale: As I've said before, don't leave a hose dangling in a barrel of water. Siphon started on its own and dumped 50G of freshly-made saltwater onto the garage floor.
When I bought my new wet-dry vac at HD, I dropped an extra $30 for a pump that screws into the drain and pumps water out continuously. This thing is awesome as you no longer have to lug the heavy full vacuum out to dump the water (when you're already sad and irritated)/. Worth the money!
Refilled my Ca reactor, I used about 3/4 of a column of media since I started using it again. Also refilled my CO2 tank.
I bought short and coarse filter socks from PA and I've been using them. They are more like mesh than felt so they don't trap tiny tiny stuff and don't get clogged as fast. The thing I found was the short ones are very easy to change, they just pop onto the end of the drain lines, and I just swap the dirty ones for clean ones and I'm done. I wonder if anyone else feels bad about tossing out amphipods and mini-stars when the clean their filter socks? I feel like a murderer.
When I bought my new wet-dry vac at HD, I dropped an extra $30 for a pump that screws into the drain and pumps water out continuously. This thing is awesome as you no longer have to lug the heavy full vacuum out to dump the water (when you're already sad and irritated)/. Worth the money!
Refilled my Ca reactor, I used about 3/4 of a column of media since I started using it again. Also refilled my CO2 tank.
I bought short and coarse filter socks from PA and I've been using them. They are more like mesh than felt so they don't trap tiny tiny stuff and don't get clogged as fast. The thing I found was the short ones are very easy to change, they just pop onto the end of the drain lines, and I just swap the dirty ones for clean ones and I'm done. I wonder if anyone else feels bad about tossing out amphipods and mini-stars when the clean their filter socks? I feel like a murderer.
I changed the GFO reactor, and acro growth seemed to pick up a lot. Pink lemonade is taking off in particular.
I will need to find a new home for one of my Duncan colonies, it's crowding the A. Nana colony.
Somewhat regretting the flame angels. They nip at acro polyps enough that daytime polyp extension has been reduced. The have really affected the pokerstar monti too, which doesn't bother me, but the acros are completely drawn in. They are still growing, and I know a lot of people like Coppolino grow great acros without PE, but it's a tradeoff. Nice to look at though.
Had an odd thing in my nano cube. I had a blue tux urchin in there, and the Halloween hermit started always hanging on it, riding it right up the side of the tank. I knocked him off a few times and didn't think much about it. Eventually I took a close look, and found the crab had eaten all the tube feet off its back! I have moved the urchin to the big reef where there's nothing to bother him , and he's much happier.
I will need to find a new home for one of my Duncan colonies, it's crowding the A. Nana colony.
Somewhat regretting the flame angels. They nip at acro polyps enough that daytime polyp extension has been reduced. The have really affected the pokerstar monti too, which doesn't bother me, but the acros are completely drawn in. They are still growing, and I know a lot of people like Coppolino grow great acros without PE, but it's a tradeoff. Nice to look at though.
Had an odd thing in my nano cube. I had a blue tux urchin in there, and the Halloween hermit started always hanging on it, riding it right up the side of the tank. I knocked him off a few times and didn't think much about it. Eventually I took a close look, and found the crab had eaten all the tube feet off its back! I have moved the urchin to the big reef where there's nothing to bother him , and he's much happier.
Hey Jim, how are things? I was looking back through this thread at some of your recent pictures. I find it interesting that a few of the corals that you got from me, look better in your tank (even before my recent issues with lighting). You seem to be on a roll with the tank now. Good for you.
I've had a tough year, due to issues with lighting and not being able to get to a remedy for a while. Lost a few corals. argh, this hobby can be frustrating as we all know.
Talk to you soon,
Eric
I've had a tough year, due to issues with lighting and not being able to get to a remedy for a while. Lost a few corals. argh, this hobby can be frustrating as we all know.
Talk to you soon,
Eric
Hi Eric, Things are mostly going okay. Recently the slimer stopped growing, which is weird. I need to do comprehensive water tests this week. Everything else is doing well, especially the pink lemonade. Probably should have stayed away from the flame angels, too.
Having good luck regrowing my old Joe the Coral and some new stuff like Pearlberry Would like to pick up a few super frags. Still need to revamp my Kalk Reactor, the kalk drip isn't cutting it. Mostly staying on top of stuff although it's easy to drop the ball when other things get busy. Currently wondering if I need to re-start carbon dosing, probably with biopellets rather than vodka. No that I went back to before I went off the track, It's hard to not repeat going off track. The one thing which gives me few problems is the calcium reactor, pinch valves are the way to go!
Having good luck regrowing my old Joe the Coral and some new stuff like Pearlberry Would like to pick up a few super frags. Still need to revamp my Kalk Reactor, the kalk drip isn't cutting it. Mostly staying on top of stuff although it's easy to drop the ball when other things get busy. Currently wondering if I need to re-start carbon dosing, probably with biopellets rather than vodka. No that I went back to before I went off the track, It's hard to not repeat going off track. The one thing which gives me few problems is the calcium reactor, pinch valves are the way to go!
There was some kind of water quality issue in my tank at some point, and the green slimer stopped growing. The weird thing is that it's growing again, but there's this thinner, miscolored section on the branch, like when the rings in a tree show a bad year! I wonder if it's when mu calcium reactor almost ran out of media.
Float switch stuck on the ATO today and luckily, the second float switch stopped it at the top of the sump. Knocked salinity down a point.
Premium aquatics and Marine Depot both have 15% off until December. I ordered the Ecotech ReefLink for my many Ecotech products, and a cute little PCX 10 pump for the kalk reactor project, I'm sick of trying to get a powerhead to fit. The PCX looks like the world's smallest "real" external pump.
Float switch stuck on the ATO today and luckily, the second float switch stopped it at the top of the sump. Knocked salinity down a point.
Premium aquatics and Marine Depot both have 15% off until December. I ordered the Ecotech ReefLink for my many Ecotech products, and a cute little PCX 10 pump for the kalk reactor project, I'm sick of trying to get a powerhead to fit. The PCX looks like the world's smallest "real" external pump.
Took apart the ETSS-1000 skimmer to clean the bioballs, and the collection cup fell apart. Cheap piece of crap! What is it, only 12 or 15 years old? They don't make quality products anymore. I did a quick repair with Weldon, but that leaked right away, as soon as there was any skimmate in the cup. So now I have shut it down and will have to really reseal the cup, with a heavy bead of Weldon, and no skimmer until tomorrow...
Your going to call Matt Lauer Glib?!
You gotta agree, he's pretty freakin' glib. Not jumpin' on no sofas, though.
When I took the skimmer out to get the bioballs out, it seems I caused the seam on the TOP of the skimmer to give way, so water started to run out of that seam, which will be way harder to fix. Couple gallons of water on the floor of the garage. I put a 10 Lb dumbbell on top of the box and that closed the leak. I think it may be time to buy that new skimmer...sorry kids, daddy needs his end-of-year bonus for something besides presents....
Happy Thanksgiving to all my faithful readers, both of you.
Hah ha, if you feel like you need to read this thread, yer gonna suffer right along with me.
The ETSS skimmer was leaking pretty bad, so I went to reseal the seams from the outside with Weldon. The first thing I found was that the seams had all been sealed BEFORE from the outside! So I took care of that, and when I was putting the skimmer back together, the top section fell off the bench and broke on the concrete garage floor! Good times! I repaired the broken flange with more weldon and clamped it, but not sure if it will work when it cures. I think that after probably ten years, the acrylic is getting more brittle and the glue joints are giving out. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER! Hah hah hah the fun we have.
I have ordered a ginormous Reef Octopus SRO 5000 external skimmer, with neck cleaner and all the trimmings. Hopefully will arrive soon. Time to get with the times. The big MRC skimmer is up on Ebay, with not much interest.
I did receive in the mail today the EcoTech ReefLink, a IP/RF bridge to control Ecotech stuff. That is pretty cool as it allows control of the Radeons and maybe the vortechs from my laptop. It's almost jarring to hit something on a webpage and see all the lights reset over the tank. Plus you can set maybe a 20% chance of thunderstorms, cloudy days etc. very cool.
Hah ha, if you feel like you need to read this thread, yer gonna suffer right along with me.
The ETSS skimmer was leaking pretty bad, so I went to reseal the seams from the outside with Weldon. The first thing I found was that the seams had all been sealed BEFORE from the outside! So I took care of that, and when I was putting the skimmer back together, the top section fell off the bench and broke on the concrete garage floor! Good times! I repaired the broken flange with more weldon and clamped it, but not sure if it will work when it cures. I think that after probably ten years, the acrylic is getting more brittle and the glue joints are giving out. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER! Hah hah hah the fun we have.
I have ordered a ginormous Reef Octopus SRO 5000 external skimmer, with neck cleaner and all the trimmings. Hopefully will arrive soon. Time to get with the times. The big MRC skimmer is up on Ebay, with not much interest.
I did receive in the mail today the EcoTech ReefLink, a IP/RF bridge to control Ecotech stuff. That is pretty cool as it allows control of the Radeons and maybe the vortechs from my laptop. It's almost jarring to hit something on a webpage and see all the lights reset over the tank. Plus you can set maybe a 20% chance of thunderstorms, cloudy days etc. very cool.
Edwardw771
NJRC Member
Congrats on the new skimmer. Now you need a Gyre.
I love those, especially with the white sauce, but they make me burp garlic all day!
I try to save money but sometimes you get backed into a corner. Besides, I got a small bonus this year.
The patched-up skimmer is back in service, I put a bunch of silicone into the flange instead of the gasket and it's not leaking. Can't be taken apart but who cares. The collection cup is leaking a little but i should be able to make it until I get the new skimmer. Then I'm gonna take my old skimmer out back and shoot it! Or maybe just offer it up for free.
The patched-up skimmer is back in service, I put a bunch of silicone into the flange instead of the gasket and it's not leaking. Can't be taken apart but who cares. The collection cup is leaking a little but i should be able to make it until I get the new skimmer. Then I'm gonna take my old skimmer out back and shoot it! Or maybe just offer it up for free.
I went to check my RO water and found out it was coming out at nearly 40ppt, my bad. I wonder if that explains some of the coral unhappiness I've been seeing lately. Typically, I had let this slide although I had purchased all DI cartridge. I decided to do all the cartridges since I had them. So, I finished that, and then it occurred to me that to be really thorough I then had to ditch the half a barrel of "bad" RO water in the garage and make up some fresh 0PPT water, so that's happening.
By the way, I was using an annoying hose coupling type connector for year to supply my RO, and it was really annoying sometimes. I bought this
http://premiumaquatics.com/products/spectra-pure-quick-connect-faucet-coupler.html
and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. When the connector is off, it looks and acts like a normal faucet aereator!
New skimmer hasn't shipped yet. Chewing my nails hoping the old one holds out!
By the way, I was using an annoying hose coupling type connector for year to supply my RO, and it was really annoying sometimes. I bought this
http://premiumaquatics.com/products/spectra-pure-quick-connect-faucet-coupler.html
and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. When the connector is off, it looks and acts like a normal faucet aereator!
New skimmer hasn't shipped yet. Chewing my nails hoping the old one holds out!