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bigJPDC

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Posts posted by bigJPDC

    Exploding heater

    in General Discussion

    thanks guys - this could have been very very nasty.

     

    The heater and a ph were in a 32 gal brute can in the unfinished part of the basement where I have the RODI set up. At the time of the explosion I was actually looking up at a ceiling fixture above me because I thought the flashing in the room was the light going bad. If this happened in the main tank sump, even if the sump survived we are talking about a major cleanup - not to mention I obviously don't have a backup sump with baffles etc. The heater is about two years old and has only been in the brute can - I went the cheapest I could since it was only for the mixing vat. I felt the concussion through the can on my legs so I'm pretty sure this had some potential. And the exposion didn't trip the breaker btw. I turned off the powerstrip and then unplugged it without incident.

     

    The brute can stinks like gunpowder so that will now be used for trash - I'll dump the contents into some kind of strainer and then put the broken shards in a glass mason jar for disposal.

     

    If I think about it - this is probably the inevitability of a glass heater.

    The Economy and our Hobby

    in General Discussion

    I wish I would've known how much Loudoun sucked before I bought a house here :(

     

    <<Political comments removed - Ybe>>

     

    Moving here from New York, we very much love living in Loudoun after a lengthy home search in other parts of NoVa. I wouldn't change a thing, it was just a comment on the local government's reaction to a recent downward adjustment in housing values as compared to the percieved devastation of gas prices.

    We have twice the house with 1/3 the property taxes and auto insurance and great great neighbors and I hope we stay here for a long time.

     

    <<Political comments removed - Ybe>>

     

    sorry yb, I know better.

    jp

    Exploding heater

    in General Discussion

    Went to check on the sw mixing vat and noticed that the power strip that held the ph and visa-therm deluxe heater was dead. I flipped the breaker and went back to check on things . . . flash . . . flash . . .ka-POW! Even with a foot or two of water in the 32 ga Brute I felt a concussion and then this was all that was left:

     

    IMGP5043.jpg

     

    So now I have to obviously dump the vat and fish out the broken glass and start over.

    No more glass heaters ever - only stealths from now on.

     

    jp

    The Economy and our Hobby

    in General Discussion

    This is the new global warming - everything is blamed on gas being $4/gal now. And here I thought that a 1.75% forclosure rate was the end of the world. And somehow GDP and consumer spending are increasing, which baffles all the experts every quarter. Anyways.

     

    Property taxes on my house have and will increase more over the next few years than any impact the very recent gas price spike could make - and I don't see that causing a revolution, although it should. They raised the tax rate 18% here in Loudoun, which increased the total tax liability despite the value of the house going down - which means that when property values all go up in a few years the taxes will follow right along. Nice.

     

    <<Political comments removed - Ybe>>

     

    cd

    jp

    6 line wrasse

    in General Discussion

    How big is the wrasse and why get rid of it? I'm not quite sure where Hamilton is either. I'll probably go through a lfs to get one. You could try the bottle method to catch him. Not sure if he'd go for it though. I had to catch a Damsel that way.

     

    I saw that FWE treatments ultimately solved my flatworm issues, which the 6-line didn't, and the 6-line's purple\green just blends in too much now. I'd like to get some other fish in there but don't think the wrasse would play nice with something like a candy hog or a different colored wrasse in my 65. It's just time for a change. No worries.

     

    I watched my sixline pull apart a cleaner shrimp when I put it in. I think he picked apart the peppermint shrimp too.

     

    I don't know that he ate them, but he at least bothered them and pulled at their legs and such enough to kill them.

     

    Nice, you sure it wasn't picking at a molt?

    6 line wrasse

    in General Discussion

    Yes, I'm looking to add one this week.

     

    I've been wanting to get rid of mine since I only got it to try and control flatworms. The problem is that I doubt I could catch it; I'd probably have to use a trap, which I don't have.

    Something to try in place of a chiller

    in General Discussion

    would blowing processed AC air on your tank directly have an effect on your pH?

     

    could be a concern since it will be running more during the higher Ph times during the day, but I doubt it would take you out of acceptable ranges if you are dosing kalk or whatever. I'd be more concerned about blowing dust and junk into the tank so I'd use some kind of filter over the vent, which you'd have to change and now this is too much work.

    LFS in/near reston

    in General Discussion

    I am pretty sure you guys are talking about Mikes Aquatic world.

     

    His store has gone down hill since I first started with my fresh water tank.

    I went a couple of weeks ago and couldnt believe the way the store looked and smelled.

     

    - definately not a fanboy of that store, but I'll be darned if I don't still have every fish (3 BG chromis, 6-line and two percs) I ever bought from him, going on a year and a half now on the percs. I think he's just in the business for the business, and not all about personalized and customized customer service like we see at F&F and BRK.

     

    jp

    32 gallon brute water volume ?

    in General Discussion

    If you look at a homer bucket in the right light, you'll see that the orange stops becoming transparent up near the rim. If I fill it to that point, so I can no longer see through it, and add one solo cup of salt I get 1.025 SG every time. I like to do it one bucket at a time because the act of pouring that much water into the Brute can gives violent agitation just in case any salt hasn't dissolved.

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