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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank

Skimmer is on the way from Louisiana!
By the way, xenia is starting to cover my tank. If you would like some free xenia, and can pick it up here in Rockaway, just PM me. I'm gonna have to start flushing it after a while.
 
The skimmer is here! It's a beauty, good construction for the price. I'm a little alarmed that you have to assemble the drain line with PVC glue. It's metric rather than USA size pipe, one screwup and you would have to order a new pipe.
 
Skimmer is running! Didn't really want to fit with my layout, I had to drill a new hole in my bench for the drain. The drain runs as a kind of elevated line and kind of blocks my switch panel, but so far so good. First I forgot to install the valve on the skimmer body drain, that became apparent when water came pouring out. Then I realized I forgot to glue one of the joints. Say, that looks like a bad glue joint! Oops, that's a no-glue joint! The only real hangup is that the PCX 40 is too big a pump to feed it, I need something smaller, I guess around 300-500GPH or else you can't control the level in the skimmer. For now I have the PCX40 (900GPH I think) throttled back, always good to have a valve between the pump and skimmer. I hooked up the auto-shutoff waste collector, but not the neck wiper yet, since it looks like it's going to take a while to break in.

I did turn it off for the night. I hate to let new stuff run overnight and have someone wake me up with "Dad! Your tank's making a noise and there's a flood in the laundry room!" Not my favorite way to start the day.
 
I fiddled with the SRO 5000 it and it made some skimmate. Sort of like baby's first poopy. In my heart, I don't think anything can equal the power of the ETSS downdraft skimmer, it was able to pull out a load of RANK DARK STUFF. But, like all beasts, hard to control. Also, I think the bioball tower has some negative effects. So we'll see, I think it's going to make my life easier and more predictable.
But what to do with the old skimmer? It has a long and storied history in NJ Reefers, having passed through the hands of Jcurry, Phyl and John, ReefsAndRotts, and now five years with me. I think I should spray paint it gold, we could make it into a trophy, our own Stanley Cup. Or maybe I'll take it apart and try to make a fish trap or something. But it's skimming says are over, it is worn out.
 

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Well, after seeing the prices Picasso's juvenile crap...I mean art...can cost, I'm figuring the artistic value of these table lamps would bring in 50 to 100 thousands each..................as a skimmer, about $150. If you purchase both table lamps, I'll cut you a break. :eek:


IMG_0534_zps46318c0d.jpg
 
Well, after seeing the prices Picasso's juvenile crap...I mean art...can cost, I'm figuring the artistic value of these table lamps would bring in 50 to 100 thousands each..................as a skimmer, about $150. If you purchase both table lamps, I'll cut you a break. :eek:


IMG_0534_zps46318c0d.jpg

Hi-tec...yet stylish...needs some LEDs in the base...go over big in Europe

As a skimmer, I already got one jussst like it!
 
Getting a dice steady drip of cider-colored skimmate, very stable, very controllable.
In the other news, I got a Siamese cat.
 
ReefOctopus went crazy for the first time, and the switch in the waste collector shut it right down. I was a little unsure about my new waste collector (about a half gallon) versus my old waste collector (made from a 5G bucket), but I realized that it means that when the skimmer goes nuts, it can only pull a small amount of tank water, unlike the old one, where 5g of salt water comes out and then is automatically replaced with 5G of RO, creating some issues with salinity requiring adjustments. You can get this thing skimming very consistently, a steady drip drip drip like the output of a still. Haven't installed the neck cleaner yet due to having to program the aquacontroller, but the neck and cup mount with an o-ring rather that thumbscrewa, it's very easy to pull the assembly and clean it.
 
I took the large rock out of my 30G nano to try to remove the murderous pistol shrimp living in it. No joy. I cleaned the rock up and dumped 4 liters of soda water on it, no shrimp! Tough little bastard must have a sealed apartment inside the rock. Maybe if I bake it...

New skimmer on the big reef continues to exceed expectations.
 
I took the large rock out of my 30G nano to try to remove the murderous pistol shrimp living in it. No joy. I cleaned the rock up and dumped 4 liters of soda water on it, no shrimp! Tough little bastard must have a sealed apartment inside the rock. Maybe if I bake it...

New skimmer on the big reef continues to exceed expectations.
Don't not bake or boil rock inside your house. It has almost killed people, do a search on RC.
 
Finally sold the MRC 400R skimmer. Guy in Alberta Canada bought it. WHat a PITA to ship that thing to Canada! Ended up being $150 to ship. Loving my new skimmer, which is really making a lot of skimmate.
 
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