Beware the Shallows

[jedimasterben]

I will be soon.

[jedimasterben]

MP40wES paid for this morning. Now to just sell the Tunzes!

[Spirofucci]

Well, I found something a bit prettier than a foxface lo to take care of the valonia.

 

Wow.

[Giga]

Well, I found something a bit prettier than a foxface lo to take care of the valonia.

 

Very pretty

[jedimasterben]

Took one of the Tunzes and made a shitstorm. I don't know where I put the canister filter, so I just ran a 1 micron filter sock - literally filled it up and had it almost overflow in less than an hour. The system looks a ton better, but I did it again just a few minutes ago, and I'll probably keep doing it tomorrow, especially if I can find the canister (probably in the spare room with the other crap).

 

The big clump of cactus caulerpa that I thought was getting brownish and dying was just literally smothered in detritus. Now it's nice and green again lol. The position that it is, though, right in front of the overflow, it acts as a detritus trap, so it will need to be moved to prevent that. The Vortechs should help that, though, as when I had three MP10s, there were zero dead spots in the entire tank. We'll see how the MP40 does, hopefully it doesn't make the sand go nuts, but luckily if it does, it will be a quick sell to swap for an MP10.

[jedimasterben]

So far so good after the monsoon yesterday!

[jedimasterben]

Cyano is not coming back, at least not like it was. A few percent of the downright infestation it was last week. Boy am I glad. I don't know if it was the 1m filter sock and monsoon or the Phosguard that was the nail in the coffin, but hell, at this point, who cares!

 

 

 

In other news, I'm considering the Motorola X. It would be the first phone I've had since 2009 that would not have a physical keyboard - all 'Droid'-branded models from the original to the 4 I have now, and I don't know if I'm ok with that. There are 'leaked' photos of a supposed Droid 5, but it looks a lot like the D4.

 

I probably would have already tried something without a keyboard earlier, but I am still on a legacy plan - if I were to get a new phone, I'd need to pay full retail price ($500-700) or lose my plan. I calculated that with as much data as I use monthly, it would cost me an additional $2000 over the two year contract versus the plan I have now - makes far more sense to pay full price for a phone. Verizon's new 'Edge' promotion changes that, you pay installments monthly on the full price of the phone with nothing down, and after six months you'll have paid half the retail cost of the phone and are now eligible for an upgrade if you want one, no contracts or extra costs. Now that that's a thing, my wife and I will be getting new phones soon.

[NirvanaandTool]

Awesome rabbit and congrats on the progress in the fight against cyano.

 

Verizon 'Edge' isnt as good as it seems. Verizon tacks about $20/month onto every plan for the price of the phone, that's why you can get a $600 phone for $200 with a 2 year contract. With Edge, you pay a monthly fee for the phone plus the extra cost already built into the plan. If you dont upgrade after 6 months to a year you end up paying lots more for the phone.

Tmobile's jump is the best upgrade program money wise. I've been reading about it since they debuted. Here's some good reading on it. http://phandroid.com/2013/07/19/t-mobile-jump-vs-att-next-vs-verizon-edge/

[jedimasterben]

Awesome rabbit and congrats on the progress in the fight against cyano.

 

Verizon 'Edge' isnt as good as it seems. Verizon tacks about $20/month onto every plan for the price of the phone, that's why you can get a $600 phone for $200 with a 2 year contract. With Edge, you pay a monthly fee for the phone plus the extra cost already built into the plan. If you dont upgrade after 6 months to a year you end up paying lots more for the phone.

Of course - buying phones is always a terrible deal anyway, you get shafted no matter how you buy it. I would like to keep my unlimited plan (my average data use is 8GB per month, within the last year it's been 18GB at times, but I think my phone was freaking out, the data usage was several hundred megabytes at like 4AM, WTF), but that's not an option without paying retail, and as you said, no matter what we pay for the subsidy, regardless if you bought a phone with a contract or not. The appeal of the Edge program is having an upgrade path very quickly without being reamed by non-subsidied pricing.

 

And after running the numbers, actually switching to the share plans has us coming out ahead by around $660 over a 24 month period, even with 10GB data monthly, versus the 'Edge' program or buying the phones outright. They've really adjusted the price of the plans - when I first calculated the cost to me for switching to the share plans, it was almost $2000 more than I'm paying now over 24 months.

 

Basically, cost right now (buying two phones outright for $600 each) and the cost of my plan after taxes ($160 monthly), is $5,040.

 

Edge program with the 'MAX' plans for both lines is $210 monthly including the cost of the phones, is $5,040

 

Share plan with 10GB data is $170 monthly, plus $150 each for the Moto X, comes to $4,380

 

Tmobile's jump is the best upgrade program money wise. I've been reading about it since they debuted. Here's some good reading on it. http://phandroid.com/2013/07/19/t-mobile-jump-vs-att-next-vs-verizon-edge/

Tmobile is a horrendous carrier - I'd rather not switch and have no service in my town or even in surrounding counties just to save a few bucks. I've got Verizon, and it works no matter where I go. I had LTE almost the entire trip to Kentucky I took last year, and had great 3G service in the ares without LTE. With Tmobile, I would have no service for most of the trip. There are hotspots around larger cities that have Tmobile service, but if you're not near those, you're pretty SOL at this point.

[NirvanaandTool]

Ya you pretty much get the shaft on any cell phone plan. Oh I hear you on Data. I too am grandfathered into unlimited data with VZW and dont want to see it go. I average from 4-8 per month depending on how much Youtube or Pandora I'm on. The new Max plans are nice but having to have Edge for it sucks.

 

Wow thats quite a price difference between the plans. Surprising. Maybe the wife and I will go that route when our contract is up in 6 months. I definitely don't see us using Edge - after seeing the hard #'s on it, I would have a hard time giving VZW that extra money even if it means an upgrade every year.

 

Yea I wouldn't switch to Tmobile for exactly that point. The service is shotty at best. Pricing is great but until they improve the service, I just cant see leaving VZW.

[jedimasterben]

Got the MP10 and MP40wES today. The MP40 is on the tank right now, and in short pulse, it almost splashes water out of the tank. It's badass. Every drop of water in the tank is moving, something I just don't think I got with both Tunze 6095 going at 100%.

 

The MP40 does need new bearings, I was hoping it wouldn't, but it does. I greased up the shaft before it went in the tank (after a vinegar bath) so the wet side will be good for another 6 months or so before it needs maintenance.

 

I'm gonna order a small bearing press. Went to my parents house to have my dad help with replacing the bearings on the MP10, and my dad may have destroyed the dry side magnet, and the damn bearings are still on it, can't seem to get them off. Once we do, we'll see if it still works - hopefully so, otherwise I'll need a new complete dry side, as they don't sell the magnet by itself. Le sigh.

[gena]

I had an MP20 and it was strong. The MP40 must be incredible!!!!!

[jedimasterben]

Imagine the MP20. Now picture it pooping its pants during a school play. MP40, boom.

 

 

 

A video showing the aftermath of the cyano (still some on the big gorg and the back of the tank) and the wave the MP40 makes.

 

[metrokat]

[jedimasterben]

So my grandpa helped me get the bearings off. We got the new ones installed (the same ones I tried to use for the last MP10 i did this to, from Boca Bearings, ceramic hybrids).... and it is still absolutely loud as hell.

 

 

 

 

And after reading through the thread on RC, redfishblewfish sums up the MP10 bearing change failures and successes (see here) in that ceramic hybrids don't seem to reduce the noise, just change the tone.

[jedimasterben]

I really just can't catch a break. The MP40 I bought, the seller broke part of the nozzle (the plastic guard around the prop) before shipping. I thought it would be fine until I could get a replacement in - nope. A nerite crawled in last night, and now the wet side will not even spin! The prop is stuck on the drive shaft and I can't get it off without breaking it.

 

It's about $55 to get all the parts in it replaced (the prop, drive shaft, bearing, etc), but I'm trying to get a whole new wet side for $55, so hopefully I can get that. Good news is that the wet side is actually the source of all my noise - the dry side is 100% silent without it running, so I won't need to replace the bearings in it.

[beebes]

I really just can't catch a break. The MP40 I bought, the seller broke part of the nozzle (the plastic guard around the prop) before shipping. I thought it would be fine until I could get a replacement in - nope. A nerite crawled in last night, and now the wet side will not even spin! The prop is stuck on the drive shaft and I can't get it off without breaking it.

 

It's about $55 to get all the parts in it replaced (the prop, drive shaft, bearing, etc), but I'm trying to get a whole new wet side for $55, so hopefully I can get that. Good news is that the wet side is actually the source of all my noise - the dry side is 100% silent without it running, so I won't need to replace the bearings in it.

 

[metrokat]

You must be Irish Benny.

[1.0reef]

Well, I found something a bit prettier than a foxface lo to take care of the valonia.

 

Buy a little one, there's a reason people recommend a 6ft long tank for an adult.

[DRLOVEtoreef]

If ecotech could come up with an affordable service option for failed bearings they would be the very best option ... Just seems like the pump design lends itself to bearing failure way too fast

[jedimasterben]

Buy a little one, there's a reason people recommend a 6ft long tank for an adult.

Average captive adult size is 6". 6ft tank my ass.

 

My suggestion to you is that if you're wanting to be a true 'Fish stocking master', then do a little more research on what these maximum sizes are.

 

Specifically, from an article on rabbitfishes by James Fatherree:

 

Do keep in mind that maximum reported sizes are basically record-setters, so very few individuals of a species will closely approach it.

 

 

This holds true for nearly all species of fish, especially those that are larger than just a few inches in length. Supermales are certainly record setters and are few and far between, but unfortunately this is what 'maximum size' is based on. Females of most species are sometimes considerably smaller than even average males. A supermale (or a similar record-setter) will realistically never happen in captivity.

 

If ecotech could come up with an affordable service option for failed bearings they would be the very best option ... Just seems like the pump design lends itself to bearing failure way too fast

If they would just switch the bearings to a true rubber sealed variety, they would never have these issues. They're around a dollar more than the shielded bearings they use now. Oy.

 

They also need to update the design of the MP40 wet side to match that of the MP10 and MP60. THe shaft is basically free-floating, the end of the nozzle housing doesn't hold the shaft in place to keep it from getting off-balance. That is causing damage to them over time.

[1.0reef]

I've seen some 8-10 inch ones, of course that would take years, I guess an average would be 6-8 max.

[DRLOVEtoreef]

Average captive adult size is 6". 6ft tank my ass.

 

My suggestion to you is that if you're wanting to be a true 'Fish stocking master', then do a little more research on what these maximum sizes are.

 

Specifically, from an article on rabbitfishes by James Fatherree:

 

 

 

This holds true for nearly all species of fish, especially those that are larger than just a few inches in length. Supermales are certainly record setters and are few and far between, but unfortunately this is what 'maximum size' is based on. Females of most species are sometimes considerably smaller than even average males. A supermale (or a similar record-setter) will realistically never happen in captivity.

 

If they would just switch the bearings to a true rubber sealed variety, they would never have these issues. They're around a dollar more than the shielded bearings they use now. Oy.

 

They also need to update the design of the MP40 wet side to match that of the MP10 and MP60. THe shaft is basically free-floating, the end of the nozzle housing doesn't hold the shaft in place to keep it from getting off-balance. That is causing damage to them over time.

I agree on the mp40 design ... I have been waiting on that ever since they d/c the mp20 ... I can't figure out why they wouldn't switch them

[metrokat]

What is a super male? Does it come in human?

[jedimasterben]

I've seen some 8-10 inch ones, of course that would take years, I guess an average would be 6-8 max.

Wild-caught, yes - raised in captivity, no. Wild-caught specimens will be a maximum of around 8 inches, with the record-setters being very few and far between. Fish rarely reach their typical maximum size in home aquaria, even in 'properly sized' tanks.

 

I agree on the mp40 design ... I have been waiting on that ever since they d/c the mp20 ... I can't figure out why they wouldn't switch them

Maybe they have a ridiculous amount of them made already lol

 

What is a super male? Does it come in human?

I think Zeph may qualify lol