rizakaniza Posted September 30, 2009 Author Share Posted September 30, 2009 I just put in an order with Reefcleaners for the following: 34 - Dwarf Cerith Snails 11 - Florida Cerith Snails 11 - Nerite Snails ...I'm excited! Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 3, 2009 Author Share Posted October 3, 2009 Having micro bubble problems? Here's a solution that I found to work. Problem: As water falls from the skimmer and tank drains it causes air bubbles to form as it splashes down. When the water coming from the skimmer and tank drain are directed toward the sump baffle it forces this bubbly water through the baffles in great concentration. Solution: In your front left chamber where the skimmer and tank drains are you need to adjust the skimmer drain so it goes all the way to the left, then put the tank drain hose all the way to the left of that in between the skimmer drain and the sump wall. Why this works: Allowing a slower movement of this bubbly water in the direction of the baffles allows the bubbles to rise up to the top of the chamber before getting through the baffle. This causes a much higher water level in this chamber due to a great concentration of bubbles in the water that are rising to the top. There are significantly less bubbles that actually make it through the first baffle and the remainder seem to dissipate before they make it into the return pump chamber. My setup: I should note that I have my first chamber setup as follows (from bottom to top) 4" of LR Rubble, 1 filter floss, 1 bag of chemi-pure, 3 filter floss. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 The order ended up shipping on monday. I went with 2-3 day shipping, so I think it will get here tomorrow or Thursday. John tried to ship out last week, but he got bombarded. In the mean time my turbos are eating and pooing all over the place. CUC arrived yet? Did you try my microbubble solution? I'm curious if it helped you any. Link to comment
timdanger Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 The order ended up shipping on monday. I went with 2-3 day shipping, so I think it will get here tomorrow or Thursday. John tried to ship out last week, but he got bombarded. In the mean time my turbos are eating and pooing all over the place. Did you try my microbubble solution? I'm curious if it helped you any. i do appreciate the suggestion, and i will certainly give it a shot. however, with adding the livestock and dealing with my GFCI issue, I haven't had the time to work on it over the past few days. i'm hoping to get to it before the weekend. incidentally, remember our conversation in this thread about electrical equipment inside the cabinet? i've been reading about GFCI/electrical issues this morning, and i happen to come across this, talking about salt creep getting into electrical outlets and causing fires (not necessarily related to a lack of drip loop because it seems like salt can creep up). pay particular attention to post #37. yikes. just thought i'd share! edit: sad sidenote, this is the exact same kind of power trip i am using. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 i do appreciate the suggestion, and i will certainly give it a shot. however, with adding the livestock and dealing with my GFCI issue, I haven't had the time to work on it over the past few days. i'm hoping to get to it before the weekend. incidentally, remember our conversation in this thread about electrical equipment inside the cabinet? i've been reading about GFCI/electrical issues this morning, and i happen to come across this, talking about salt creep getting into electrical outlets and causing fires (not necessarily related to a lack of drip loop because it seems like salt can creep up). pay particular attention to post #37. yikes. just thought i'd share! edit: sad sidenote, this is the exact same kind of power trip i am using. Tim, Thanks for that article. I have come across a few like that, but what I notice is most of those guys had rats nests going on under their cabinets. I think the way I have my wires going out behind the cabinet prevents any salt creep from making its way to my PC4. Also, I don't use a GFCI strip. I actually installed a 20A GFCI outlet in the wall. Were these guys even using GFCI's? Certainly a fire starting would have tripped it? Edit: Read Post #60. He didn't even have a GFCI installed. I can't imagine having a tank with that much electrical and not using a GFCI. The GFCI Outlet was the first thing I installed before the tank even arrived. In every case I have read about an aquarium fire there was never a GFCI installed. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 On the same note I just came across a product called an AFCI breaker which prevents electrical fires. Maybe I will look into having one of those installed in my panel. That way I am protected from fires through the breaker box and shock from the GFCI outlet. http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksi...-All-Categories Link to comment
timdanger Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 That thread goes on to talk about a lot of things -- i think what some of those people with electrical backgrounds were saying is that the salt spray (which has, for instance, rusted both my and mkreg's hinges), salt creep, humidity, etc. was all contributing, and that they weren't sure that an arc caused by salt water would be tripped by GFCI. in addition, i felt like the consensus was that an arc breaker (like the one you linked to) would also not necessarily prevent the fire (they called it unsuitable for this application). See Post #152 ("ARC fault breakers are not suitable for this application. They are very prone to nuisance tripping. Thre is no way that they would be stable with pumps and ballasts turning on and off."). that same post goes on to say "NEVER put power strips inside of the stand or where water can splash on them. If you MUST put them inside of a stand, you need to build a moisture proof box that seals the strip and cords from the humidity." That particular user has made over 16,000 posts on reefcentral, which obviously doesn't make him an expert on electricity, but it certainly indicates that he's experienced and has "seen some things." This is all just FYI. I am apparently looking for any excuse for you to take that strip out of your cabinet. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 7, 2009 Author Share Posted October 7, 2009 That thread goes on to talk about a lot of things -- i think what some of those people with electrical backgrounds were saying is that the salt spray (which has, for instance, rusted both my and mkreg's hinges), salt creep, humidity, etc. was all contributing, and that they weren't sure that an arc caused by salt water would be tripped by GFCI. in addition, i felt like the consensus was that an arc breaker (like the one you linked to) would also not necessarily prevent the fire (they called it unsuitable for this application). See Post #152 ("ARC fault breakers are not suitable for this application. They are very prone to nuisance tripping. Thre is no way that they would be stable with pumps and ballasts turning on and off."). that same post goes on to say "NEVER put power strips inside of the stand or where water can splash on them. If you MUST put them inside of a stand, you need to build a moisture proof box that seals the strip and cords from the humidity." That particular user has made over 16,000 posts on reefcentral, which obviously doesn't make him an expert on electricity, but it certainly indicates that he's experienced and has "seen some things." This is all just FYI. I am apparently looking for any excuse for you to take that strip out of your cabinet. Haha, I don't mind, because I know you've got my best interest in mind. I will rethink things this weekend and see about more careful placement of the strip. Thanks for your persistence. I know I am a stubborn guy. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 7, 2009 Author Share Posted October 7, 2009 I was viewing my sump and churning my Chaeto this morning and I began hearing a weird electrical whirring noise, then "dzzzt...POP!" my fuge light let out a small puff of smoke and was gone. I should point out my fuge light was having trouble from the beginning. That's the last time I will give any extra chances to anything plugged into an electrical outlet. Electrical + Water = scary. Tim, if there was only a way I could mount the fuge light from outside the cabinet! Did I mention the weird smell that occurred afterwards... ...I think the popping sound was an internal fuse that blew. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 7, 2009 Author Share Posted October 7, 2009 I put in an email to Eddie. Originally when it was having issues he said they would send me out a new one. I'm pretty sure this qualifies as a warranty issue. Link to comment
timdanger Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I put in an email to Eddie. Originally when it was having issues he said they would send me out a new one. I'm pretty sure this qualifies as a warranty issue. ha, i would hope so. you're right about water + electricity = scary. what kind of fool mixes salt water with electricity, anyway?? oh, right. everybody here. Link to comment
Rehype Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I was viewing my sump and churning my Chaeto this morning and I began hearing a weird electrical whirring noise, then "dzzzt...POP!" my fuge light let out a small puff of smoke and was gone. I should point out my fuge light was having trouble from the beginning. That's the last time I will give any extra chances to anything plugged into an electrical outlet. Electrical + Water = scary. Tim, if there was only a way I could mount the fuge light from outside the cabinet! Did I mention the weird smell that occurred afterwards... ...I think the popping sound was an internal fuse that blew. Hey the same exact thing happened to my fuge light !! That smell was so weird..I cant imagine it coud be good for the lungs.I dont plan to get another im going to go with a different fuge light Link to comment
awbowden Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I think your fuge light blowing is a blessing in disguise. I just recently replaced mine with a good ole 26W spiral bulb and a basic clip on fixture and the growth difference is quite dramatic. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 I think your fuge light blowing is a blessing in disguise. I just recently replaced mine with a good ole 26W spiral bulb and a basic clip on fixture and the growth difference is quite dramatic. Hrmmm...details, details. Can you gimme a link for the clip fixture you bought and the bulb...I am seriously considering this... BTW, you know you're a reefing fanatic when you find yourself churning Chaeto at 6:30 in the morning... ha, i would hope so. you're right about water + electricity = scary. what kind of fool mixes salt water with electricity, anyway?? oh, right. everybody here. Of course, all this had to occur right after our discussion about fire hazards. Link to comment
timdanger Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Of course, all this had to occur right after our discussion about fire hazards. i'm just saying, mixing salt water with electricity sounds dangerous...! Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 I failed to mention that my CUC from Reef Cleaners came yesterday! It was shipped from Florida on Monday and got to LA on Wednesday! Amazing. BTW, whoever does the work over there needs some counting lessons......because I definitely got way more than I ordered This morning I found one of my snails at the foot of my cabinet sump....I quickly pulled him off the ground and threw him in the tank....not sure if he will make it or not... I stuck him in the sump because my yellow tip hermit crab made a B-line for him yesterday and showed a little too much interest in his shell....meaning he began extraction...so I grabbed the snail and threw him in the sump.. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 I just put in an order with Reefcleaners for the following: 34 - Dwarf Cerith Snails 11 - Florida Cerith Snails 11 - Nerite Snails ...I'm excited! ...What I ended up getting was: 50+ - Dwarf Cerith Snails 15 - Florida Cerith Snails 11 - Nerite Snails Link to comment
Deleted User 6 Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 thread sucks without pics Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 thread sucks without pics Agreed. Here are some pics to cheer you up. Here's the new aquascape (as of yesterday) Also, I realized I had some deadspots going on so I moved my powerheads about 2/3rds down and angled them up and towards the middle of the tank and now I have amazing flow all around the tank. Here's a bristle worm... Here's a turbo snail making a leap of faith from one rock to another... Here is the turbo snail cleaning center... Does anyone know what the orange thing in this pic is? Here's some LR, Macro, and dwarf cerinths... Link to comment
Deleted User 6 Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 orange looks like a sponge. also, try shooting the tank without the flash on. just hold the camera really steady. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 Oh, hey, so I forgot to mention that my Nerite snails seem to like to hang out outside of the tank. I found one this morning hanging out in my cabinet and a few others were just chillin on the top of the tank. Is this normal? Should I expect to find dead Nerites around the house from time to time? Link to comment
awbowden Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Hrmmm...details, details. Can you gimme a link for the clip fixture you bought and the bulb...I am seriously considering this... Well I bought my fixture from HD. Similar to these I suppose. Another user on here used this. Any one similar to these will do. The bulb is also from HD. Something like this. Just make sure it's the proper spectrum. I originally bought a new light for the fuge because mine was flaky since I first got it. It would randomly turn off, I would then tap it and it would flick back on, then go out again. After dealing with this for a couple of weeks I just went out and picked up the clip on. The chaeto growth is way, way quicker with the 26W bulb, I'm now cutting it back every week and wishing I had a bigger fuge. Link to comment
rizakaniza Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 I noticed I have a bit of detritus buildup in my fuge...I threw a few dwarf cerinths and a nerite in there. as well there are 2 pencil urchins in there...any ideas on what else should go in there? How do I keep it detritus free? Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.