da1001's dead tank update

[Uphoric]

My joe's juice from marine depot should arrive in the mail in 1-2 days, and then its dead lol

Nice I've used joes juice before after trying boiling water. Joes juice worked really well.

[da1001]

Nice I've used joes juice before after trying boiling water. Joes juice worked really well.

That's good to hear!

 

On a sidenote, my Tunze ATO is acting weird. I came into my room 2 days ago after work to check on the tank and I noticed microbubbles everywhere. I thought wth? So I started checking everything over. The water in my 3rd chamber was just high enough to keep the return pump covered but just barely. I checked my ATO reservoir, yep, still had water in it because I refill it religiously every other day for peace of mind. Checked the float switch, it hadn't fallen or anything, it was still exactly where I left it. Unplugged and then plugged it back in again and it started right up, sounded fine, and added the appropriate amount of water back in until it was back at its normal depth. I thought that was the end of it. I checked it again last night and it has done the same thing only I caught it before it was super low. Motor runs, everything is in place, I even drug the float switch up to check it out and it travels quite freely in its little slot, its not gunked up and stuck in place in the off position or anything so I don't know what the hell is going on. Any ideas anyone? An ATO is an expensive piece of hardware to have to replace when you just dropped nearly 2 grand on the tank and camera gear and have to replace the windshield on your car still lol.... -.-

[Uphoric]

Luck you caught it, I have no experience with Tunze ATOs but I've done a lot of research on them. I've heard from a few people that a similar thing will happen nothing is wrong with it, it just wont work and also some people had to blow through the tube to get it working again (something like that can't remember exactly)
Keep an eye on your levels thought just in case.

[reefernanoman]

That's good to hear!

 

On a sidenote, my Tunze ATO is acting weird. I came into my room 2 days ago after work to check on the tank and I noticed microbubbles everywhere. I thought wth? So I started checking everything over. The water in my 3rd chamber was just high enough to keep the return pump covered but just barely. I checked my ATO reservoir, yep, still had water in it because I refill it religiously every other day for peace of mind. Checked the float switch, it hadn't fallen or anything, it was still exactly where I left it. Unplugged and then plugged it back in again and it started right up, sounded fine, and added the appropriate amount of water back in until it was back at its normal depth. I thought that was the end of it. I checked it again last night and it has done the same thing only I caught it before it was super low. Motor runs, everything is in place, I even drug the float switch up to check it out and it travels quite freely in its little slot, its not gunked up and stuck in place in the off position or anything so I don't know what the hell is going on. Any ideas anyone? An ATO is an expensive piece of hardware to have to replace when you just dropped nearly 2 grand on the tank and camera gear and have to replace the windshield on your car still lol.... -.-

I have had issues with my tunze nano osmolator in the past. For some reason the water sensor would not shut off the pump, so I gave it a vinegar bath a long time ago(like more than six months lol) and it has been working flawless since then. It pumped way too much water into my tank a few times.

What happened to your Acan?

[da1001]

I have had issues with my tunze nano osmolator in the past. For some reason the water sensor would not shut off the pump, so I gave it a vinegar bath a long time ago(like more than six months lol) and it has been working flawless since then. It pumped way too much water into my tank a few times.

What happened to your Acan?

I will blow through it and give it a good bath this weekend when I do my water change, better safe than sorry. Mine doesn't pump too much water, its pretty good about being spot on at the levels I need, when it's working that is.

 

My Acan was not in the best condition when I bought it, they just gave it to me for cheap in a package deal when I bought a bunch of others and I mentioned I wanted an Acan someday. It was looking like it was turning around for a few weeks but I think the lighting eventually got it. It was used to lower lighting in its previous tank and since my Kessil 150 runs 100% all the time and I just didnt have any good shady spots in my tank in which to put it, it slowly bleached on me. Once my algae took off on me, it covered the frag the Acans were on, starting first as bubble algae and then when I trimmed that away from the frag I got a hair algae outbreak and it went nutso on my Acan frag and the sandbed. I cleaned that up and peroxide dipped the Acan but by then it was almost too late, it had shrunk from normal size (maybe 3/4" per head in size down to <1/4" per head) and looked about ready to totally disappear on the course of just a day or two. I've done everything I can think of, the peroxide dip (no hair algae whatsoever now) seems to have helped but there's no telling anymore. I will just continue to try to find it darker spaces in the tank in the hopes that the lower lighting and constant mysis feedings helps, but who knows? -.-

Luck you caught it, I have no experience with Tunze ATOs but I've done a lot of research on them. I've heard from a few people that a similar thing will happen nothing is wrong with it, it just wont work and also some people had to blow through the tube to get it working again (something like that can't remember exactly)

Keep an eye on your levels thought just in case.

Good idea Uphoric, I will be sure to check it 2x a day and top up as needed and blow on it and do whatever I can to get it working again. Looks like I will need to do some research on them soon too!

[da1001]

Since I unplugged/plugged it in several times last night to hopefully reset its internal computer or something, it has been working as advertised again. Fingers crossed it keeps doing well, but I will still be giving it a good cleaning come water change day.

[da1001]

The ATO is acting up again and not working. -.-

 

But...I did find a torch finally

[da1001]

Oh snap!

 

 

Hmm. I like it. I will probably move it up onto the rockwork soon, I dont like the flow pattern of it where its at right now, it seems a little too brutal. Hopefully the rock with shield it from some of the wave action and if its right in the middle of the tank it will hopefully sway side to side more rather than all to the right haha.

 

My Aiptasia killer from marine depot didnt show up Friday like I thought it would since thats how long my previous package took. -.-

The USPS tracking code they e-mailed to me hasnt worked all week either. If it doesnt show up today I might send them an email to see if I can get a good tracking number haha.

 

Cleaned my tank last night and changed the wooden airstone in the pico skim this morning, I can tell a great difference already in more bubble action, my ATO seems to be behaving at the moment. Shortened the airline tubing running to the airstone as well in the hope that the shorter distance will allow my air pump to push it a little harder down the lower head space? if that makes sense. We shall see, right now it looks the same since its only been 15 mins.

[da1001]

Well, I just got the Joe's Juice! Wow...I filled the little tiny syringe to the 3rd mark on the side, ended up using only 1 mark's worth of it to kill all 3 aptasia dead as a doornail but it was still too much. I have a small cloud of white Joe's Juice floating around my fish tank right now. But, just as they advertized it doesn't seem to be hurting any of the corals and my return pump is doing a great job of keeping it blowing around until my filter floss in chamber 1 can catch it. So yeah, +1 for Joe's Juice.

 

Funny story on the torch I snagged last night. I had been eyeballing it for 3 weeks, but the first week I asked they said it wasn't for sale. The second week I asked (since I'm a persistent jerk) they said $90. This time I had a rainbow monti all bagged up and I saw it again out of the corner of my eye and I asked them and they said $50, which is about $15-30 less than I would get if I had ordered it online and then paid the next day shipping costs on it. I told them to toss the monti back in the tank and I would pick it up in a few weeks instead lol. They got plenty so I am not worried about them selling them all before I can get it. And now I finally have some movement in my tank. I stuck it on the rock work about halfway up and just as I thought it seems to enjoy the flow there better, its a lot more random movement and it doesn't seem to be stretched quite so much. I went ahead and fed them some mysis and the clownfish went nutso and ate a third of it but the corals got the rest. He had been kinda hungry even though I fed him this morning because he got pissed off at my water change last night and refused to eat at his normal time (it was the first water change in my tank he had ever been through). Needless to say that he murdered about 40 pellets of the New Life Spectrum Thera+ I have about .01 seconds after it hit the water haha. 40 seems about right, once per day. He ain't getting skinny, he ain't getting fat, but he is still growing just fine too so I am happy I have that dialed in.

 

About 20 minutes after I replied about my air pump and the new airstone I ended up having to turn it down to about 60% because it was shooting so many bubbles into my skimmate reservoir so I am happy to know its recovered from being "too weak" like I thought it was. Guess I just needed a slightly bigger/newer wooden airstone haha. The bubbles coming off it are insane. The entire tube is full of bubbles, I might have to raise the tube in order to get more room so I don't have my ATO popping off every 10 minutes haha.

[Uphoric]

Nice! post a new FTS.
I've added a torch to mine as well it had 2 head which is a bit to much for my tank so i cut it in half going to put the other half into my RSM

[da1001]

Ask, and ye shall receive!!

 

Not the best pic in the world, I took a quick one since I still got a lot to do today. It's nowhere near the quality I normally aim for but until I finish cleaning the house and re-running my new ATO tubing that hasn't been chewed on by the cat and is all leaky, you will have to suffer with a white blown-out half crap pic. -.- Sorry all! Give me a few hours and I will post a better one.

 

[teenyreef]

Congrats on the new torch!

 

And I can't make a wooden airstone last more than about three weeks. There's a huge difference in skimmer performance between the first week and the end of the third.

[da1001]

On the third week my airstone seems to be working perfectly. It is lower than normal but pull those big puffs of nasty bubbles and shoots them to the top. I am not pulling any gunk out of the water right now because the bubbles seem too fine if that makes sense?

 

Anywho, I redid my pics because I felt bad and I kept the 3 I liked the best so here they are!

 

This one has a decent shot of LT 2.0 in it, my best pic of him so far so I tossed it in even though my fstop was way off and the back half of the tank was out of focus.

 

Here is the back of the tank in focus after I noticed the aperture f*** up I had made lol, notice the birdsnest all retracted? After I ran the ATO tubing I went ahead and scraped algae off all the sides of the tank for my upcoming photo shoot but the superglue that had been holding it onto the frag has always been loose and my water movement of the algae scraper actually knocked it loose! I reef puttied it back in place on the frag taking care not to cover up any of its polyps, but it sure wasn't happy with the ordeal. However, you CAN see how much the little turd has grown though. When I bought it 3 weeks ago, it was just a little Y shaped birdy, now as you can see its all about the branching effect. The biggest one is probably getting close to being a centimeter long!

 

And here is my favorite shot. It shows some of the equipment and my Kessil going full steam ahead and gives a size perspective to the whole thing. See my orange Ric front and center on my algaefied sandbed? He was originally on that empty frag on the right of the large rock lol. He decided to go exploring I guess and I have been too lazy to superglue him back yet. He seems to love it on the sand so I leave him be. You can notice the Acan on the left and how much it has receded. It hasn't died, but it's almost totally gone.

 

Anything in particular you all want to see? I am up for taking requests now that I have nothing to do for the rest of the day but relax and stare at my tank.

[da1001]

Quick update: Spoiler'd my first post so it wasn't so scary to new people coming in a take a peek. Also updated the cost of owning this turd to reflect current amount spent on it after buying the torch, haha!...my poor wallet...

 

Edit: I promise to get a 35mm lens soon for my camera so I can make even better FTS shots and I don't have to stand 10 feet away to get them while balancing my tripod on my bed and hoping I don't wiggle too much and ruin the shot lol

[Uphoric]

Quick update: Spoiler'd my first post so it wasn't so scary to new people coming in a take a peek. Also updated the cost of owning this turd to reflect current amount spent on it after buying the torch, haha!...my poor wallet...

 

Edit: I promise to get a 35mm lens soon for my camera so I can make even better FTS shots and I don't have to stand 10 feet away to get them while balancing my tripod on my bed and hoping I don't wiggle too much and ruin the shot lol

Ouch...$1300

Thats around the same as me

Thought it wouldve been cheaper in the US

 

[da1001]

I wish! Makes me wish I had gone the route of just buying a 20L and custom making the AIO section to fit my needs, maybe hang a couple Par38's over it....save myself a couple hundred bucks haha

[Uphoric]

I wish! Makes me wish I had gone the route of just buying a 20L and custom making the AIO section to fit my needs, maybe hang a couple Par38's over it....save myself a couple hundred bucks haha

yeah haha would have been nice, wish i had gotten the 20 gallon, wouldnt have costed much more.

[da1001]

I think its time for a quick update. I finally gave up on the Acan and tossed it. $5 down the drain. No matter what I did, it wasn't liking it and it finally receded down to nothing so I decided it was time to let go. Everything else seems to be doing ok so far, I went ahead and did a water change last night and rearranged my media bags in the inTank basket. Boy, the flow through there now is AWESOME. No more weird noises, no more overflow off to the sides, its running like a champ. I also scrubbed out as much of the first 2 AIO chambers as I could while I was working back there, they were looking extremely dirty and algae-fied so I went to town with a brush. The ATO seems to be off again/on again as to whether it wants to work or not. I don't know what its problem is but since it is currently working I wont complain too much. That's it for now, lots to do so not much time for pics or huge updates at the moment but I will add them as I can.

[teenyreef]

Quick update: Spoiler'd my first post so it wasn't so scary to new people coming in a take a peek. Also updated the cost of owning this turd to reflect current amount spent on it after buying the torch, haha!...my poor wallet...

 

Edit: I promise to get a 35mm lens soon for my camera so I can make even better FTS shots and I don't have to stand 10 feet away to get them while balancing my tripod on my bed and hoping I don't wiggle too much and ruin the shot lol

I only have the 18-55 kit lens to compare too, but my macro lens takes shots that are much clearer and detailed from ten feet away than the kit lens from three feet away. The better glass makes all the difference. All my FTS shots that I've posted in the last few months were taken with the macro lens.

 

Now if you are talking about getting a "real" 35mm lens, you're going to be very happy But much poorer. Last time I checked the "good" 35mm from Nikon costs about the same as your total outlay for your tank

I think its time for a quick update. I finally gave up on the Acan and tossed it. $5 down the drain. No matter what I did, it wasn't liking it and it finally receded down to nothing so I decided it was time to let go. Everything else seems to be doing ok so far, I went ahead and did a water change last night and rearranged my media bags in the inTank basket. Boy, the flow through there now is AWESOME. No more weird noises, no more overflow off to the sides, its running like a champ. I also scrubbed out as much of the first 2 AIO chambers as I could while I was working back there, they were looking extremely dirty and algae-fied so I went to town with a brush. The ATO seems to be off again/on again as to whether it wants to work or not. I don't know what its problem is but since it is currently working I wont complain too much. That's it for now, lots to do so not much time for pics or huge updates at the moment but I will add them as I can.

I'm glad the flow is better now. The inTank is great but if your bags block the flow it doesn't do much good Sorry to hear the acan didn't make it

 

It's weird about your ATO. I've got the same one and never had any problems like you have. The only time I've had problems has been when snails get the float valve stuck on.

[da1001]

I only have the 18-55 kit lens to compare too, but my macro lens takes shots that are much clearer and detailed from ten feet away than the kit lens from three feet away. The better glass makes all the difference. All my FTS shots that I've posted in the last few months were taken with the macro lens.

 

Now if you are talking about getting a "real" 35mm lens, you're going to be very happy But much poorer. Last time I checked the "good" 35mm from Nikon costs about the same as your total outlay for your tank

I'm glad the flow is better now. The inTank is great but if your bags block the flow it doesn't do much good Sorry to hear the acan didn't make it

 

It's weird about your ATO. I've got the same one and never had any problems like you have. The only time I've had problems has been when snails get the float valve stuck on.

Yes, I plan on getting the "good one" in regards to the 35mm but I was planning on shopping around for a nice used one so my wallet doesn't deflate too much again.

 

My ATO seems to be working fine again for the last few days....*shrugs* who the heck knows. I didn't see anything in it when I checked for potential blockages that would hold it in the up position so that it wasn't adding any water. I think it might have something to do with the electronics. I don't know, they have not been wet in the wrong places from what I have seen but sometimes when it starts acting wonky and not filling all I need to do is unplug and then plug it back in and that usually fixes it again for a day or two. I am not an electrician so I will just continue what I do now, check it every evening while I feed LT 2.0 and scrape my glass and sift the sand around a bit. (my algae is slowly dying off, but not quickly enough for my liking lol)

[teenyreef]

Hmmm, I wonder if for some reason it isn't able to fill quickly enough? If it fills for more than an minute or two, it will automatically turn off and won't fill any more (overflow protection). You reset the overfill protection by resetting the power.

 

You're making me jealous about your plans for a prime lens, I've been wanting one too

[da1001]

Prime or nothing.

 

My ATO has never run for a minute straight, I have heard it maybe 15 seconds straight before when I forgot to check the levels in my 3rd chamber after a water change and it was 3 inches low and it turned on to fill that up but stopped before anything weird happened, so I am not really sure what the problem is.

[da1001]

Quick update: Work has been horrendous lately so not much time to take pics and such. Nothing much has changed except for the birdsnest, which has taken off in growth, I will get a pic or two of its new fluffier look soon enough for you all. The algae is slowly going away due to semi-diligent sand sifting on my part and lots of glass scrubbing when I have a spare moment. Flatworms are under control again, never more than 20 or so total on all the glass sides combined at any one time now although I can still see them on the rocks. I turkey baste them into the water current, let them get sucked into the filter floss, toss the floss and no flatworm death poison to worry about.

 

Ric is fine, Zoas are growing, Candy Cane is good, Birdsnest is a freak on steroids, torch is doing well and the digitata is ok (when im not knocking it loose that is, I sweat I go to clean my tank and ALWAYS seem to knock the poor bugger off his perch even though he is glued in place, so the pile of glue I keep sticking him on is getting higher and higher ever time lol). He is growing, although more slowly than the LFS said he would. Probably my own fault for stressing him out every few days by knocking him over, so I will have to be more careful in my cleaning practices going forward.

 

That's all for now folks, hope you are having a wonderful evening!

[teenyreef]

Wow, that's great that everything's going so well. I know how you feel about work - I'm just starting to have free time to play with my tanks again after a solid month of craziness at work

I've had similar problems where I keep knocking corals off rocks even though they're glued down. What works well for me is to siphon out enough water so that the problem coral and it's mounting point on the rock is out of the water. Pull out the coral, trim off the old excess glue with some wire or bone cutters, and use a cloth to dry off the part of the coral where the glue needs to go. Make sure the part of the rock where the coral is going isn't totally wet (it should be more damp than wet by now). Put plenty of glue on the coral, and optionally put some glue on the rock to make sure you can fill in any holes where the coral is going. Hold it in place for 30 seconds, and then let it sit for another minute. Then put the water back in (or use this as an excuse for a water change).

 

By gluing it up without being underwater, I get a much stronger glue bond.

[da1001]

Good to know teeny, I will try that out next time I knock it loose.