alan mcilvried

Since I'm sitting around all unemployed today, I was messing with my tank, which I just moved a little more than a week ago. Part of moving the tank was installing a new GFI receptacle. I stopped to eat lunch and all of a sudden I hear my check valve clicking, which means my supply pump has stopped. I look in the cabinet, but I don't see anything strange other than the GFI is tripped, so I reach in and click it back on. Suddenly a geyser of water spews out of the hose that used to be the feed for my skimmer, but which now was just shooting water up and out of my sump. (Don't ask me why I didn't notice the water the first time. There are so many hoses and wires under there, I really just didn't see it.) Fortunately, it hit my switch bank and everything shut down almost instantly. I had a bit of a mess to clean up, but nothing like it would have been if my sump had been emptied onto my floor. If you ever even remotely consider plugging in to anything other than a GFI, I'd remind you that it is not safe and it just might save you a LOT of aggravation. Al

Maybe this belongs in the LFS thread, so feel free to move it, but I just went to House of Tropicals just off Rt. 97, about a mile from BWI airport. I was just killing time, waiting for a friend to fly in, but I was very surprised at how nice a store this is. It was easier and faster to get to than I had expected, so I thought I'd share my experience. If you've never been there, it's definitely worth going to take a look. It's a BIG store, with a lot of fish, coral, rock, tanks and equipment. They have a large, knowledgable and friendly staff. Their equipment selection is about as big and varied as any I've seen locally and they have a lot of nicely maintained tanks, both salt and fresh water (with healthy looking fish.) Probably not the largest variety of saltwater fish I've seen, but there are a lot of fish there (For example, some species, even larger ones, might have 10 or 15 specimens) and some unusual ones that I don't normally see in LFSs. It was pretty busy and I was there for about 30 minutes, but I probably had 4 DIFFERENT people ask me if I needed any help. I felt that they had a genuine interest in helping me find what I needed, they didn't seem to mind answering my questions and they didn't blow smoke up my dress. So now I'm $160 lighter than when I went in, which is bad because I wasn't planning on spending anything. No fish, but that may be another trip. I don't mean to "dis" other LFS's, but since I've not seen much about this store on the forum, I thought it might be of interest. Al

I am using 37 gallon Tuff Stuff feed storage bins from Tractor Supply. Round with snap fit lids. They are black plastic composite, inert plastic, VERY, VERY, VERY heavy and durable. And they are only $27.00. I had two garbage cans split on me previously. These things can't be beat in my opinion.

OK - so here is what I'm going to do. I'm going to get my trash can and put my sand, live rock and the water from my tank in it with a power head while I move the tank. I'm going to "sift" the sand to clear it of loose debris, and then put it back in the tank, with the expectation that I'm going to empty my skimmer cup every 14 minutes for the next 2 weeks. OH - and I'm going to doing this one handed because I'm going to take the most important advice - which is to enjoy a beverage while figuring it out. What the heck - I don't have any fish to kill. Thanks for all the advice. Al

I'm moving my 75g tank so I can change the flooring in my living room. Tank has no fish but lots of worms, crabs, snails and other little critters. I have about 80# of LR and a 2.5" aragonite bed. I don't think I'll be able to move it without removing most of the aragonite bed. Any thoughts on whether it would be better to rinse it in freshwater and reuse it or just punt and put in a new bed? If I put in a new bed, I'll probably go with much less depth. I don't think I'm getting any benefit of a deep bed with only 2.5". I see a lot of information around regarding depth of sand beds, but I don't really see anything compelling that would suggest anything other than covering the bottom of the tank is necessary. A deeper bed is nice for stablizing the stacks of rock (except when I got an engineer goby that just about did me in.) I've had fairly bad luck over the last few years. I had majanos, then Ich several times, and then high nitrates that I couldn't control, even with aggressive water changes. Since I have no fish, I'm going to make a clean and fresh start. Thanks for any thoughts. Al

I'm getting quite a collection of bristle worms. I don't mind them in the tank, but I'm getting hesitant to put my hand in there. Is a thin vinyl painters/healthcare glove sufficient protection? How bad is the sting? Al

Thinking about switching from PC to T5 HO lighting. Anybody have experience with Fulham ballasts? Available from several of the lighting suppliers. Al

Came across an article that suggests a freshwater dip before introduction of all new fish to a QT. After cruising the net a bit, there is a lot of information about this topic, including M Blue and Formalin dips. Some of the suggested procedures are quite involved. Of course, everyone writing about it thinks it's critical. So, 1) Who is doing it here and how much trouble do you go to, or is it just a dip-n-go? 2) Do you feel it's effective, a waste of time, or stressful to the fish? Mostly just curious. Getting ready to re-stock my tank after a round of ich and everything is going into the QT anyway. Al

I am barely a novice in this hobby after 2 years, but I'm on my second round of NO FISH in my tank - 4 months each time - trying to get rid of ich that came from someone with an awesome tank. I now have a 10g. quarantine tank where my last fish lives while my bristle worms wait for company in the big tank. Al

Might be a few quesitons and observations here if you want to pick through my mumbo jumbo. I was checking pH on my new RODI water, comparing readings from a Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Low pH test kit and my digital pH meter. Generally the digital meter is within 0.1 of my API tests for saltwater, so I expected them to be the same for the RODI water, but they were not. Here's what I got. (I don't normally measure freshwater pH.) 1) RODI with the AP kit measured a pH of 6.4 with the initial color. No wait time is indicated on the instructions. 2) The digital meter readings are ALL OVER THE PLACE. With saltwater, it zeros in very quickly and remains stable. In the RODI it started at about 7.45 and VERY slowly (like 5 minutes) dropped to 6.9. I stirred the water with the meter to make sure it was stablized and lo and behold, it continued to drop, all the way down to 6.25. When I stopped stirring, it started to rise again, but only back to 6.7. 3) I went and got some more water and tried again in a separate clean glass. With the meter, I started at 7.3 and dropped to 7.1 where it stopped. Stirred and got a big drop again, ultimately rising back to 6.9 when I stopped. API tested at 6.4 again for initial pH. 4) After screwing around for a little bit, I went to empty the vials and noticed that color of the first vial of AF had darkened to a color around pH 7.2 to 7.4 - up almost a full point from the initial color was. The 2nd vial was getting darker also. Questions I'm pondering: 1) API card does not mention a need to wait on the directions for the Low pH card color match. Should I be waiting 5 minutes like Saltwater? Color definitely changed over time. 2) Why would pH drop by stirring the meter around in the RODI water? Could it be CO2 creating carbonic acid from the air? Seems like a fairly extreme response. And why would it go back up again when I stop stirring? I don't see the same response in saltwater or even tap water when I stir them. 3) I was expecting RODI water to be almost exactly pH 7.0. No matter what I measure by, it's not that, but I guess I don't know what it is either. (My tap water is around 7.6 by both tests) I got the meter because I got tired of not being able to do the color match. You know. "It's pink....well, maybe the purple one........no I'd definitly say it's the red one.......you think? I'd say it's more orange ....." Al

Well, figured it out with the help of AWI. In case anyone else has a problem, this is what they recommended. First,I removed all of the filters and ran water through the empty unit with the product and flush valves open. Water flowed easily through the entire unit. Then added filters back one at a time, starting with the sediment filter and ending with the RO membrane, running water through the unit each step of the way. Water flowed freely until I installed the RO membrane, when it completetly stopped coming out the product line. AWI determined over the phone that I had a defective RO membrane. They sent me a new one at no charge and no hassle (via priority mail) and two days later I'm producing RODI water at about 50-60 gallons / day. Production rate of about 5:1 I would reiterate what others have said on this forum. Air Water Ice is a very professional and pleasant vendor to deal with and they totally stand behind their product. Al

OK, Thanks, Don. Here are the stats - Pressure is a little under 65 psi. Incoming temp is about 54 degrees. (Just checked again and it's 52) Hooked into the cold water supply. All valves are closed except RODI output (and the input of course.) TDS reading is 155-165 for the tap water and 0 for the RODI in 3 separate samples so it is working - just very slowly. Been running for about 36 hours. The last filter section on the left is not filling up. When I turned it on, the first 3 sections filled up very quickly, but you can see that water is just trickling down the inside of the last canister (the black one). I'm not even sure how it's coming out the product line to be honest because that canister doesn't appear to be full - unless it's wicking up the filter media. Water is coming out the waste line in a steady stream but only dripping out the product line. When I open the waste valve it shoots out very hard. Since I have you, the 2nd canister is dripping slightly at the seal. I've tightned it up as much as I'm comfortable. Only a couple of drips a minute so hoping it will just seal itself, but if there's a trick, let me know. Thanks Al

I bought a T - 3 with a WAMAS group buy awhile ago and for reasons beyond explanation, I've still been lugging RO water from a friend ever since. Finally got motivated to set it up yesterday. Flushed it for 15 minutes and then ran it all night. Not knowing what to expect, I ran it into a glass carboy sitting in my laundry tub, expecting that it would overflow by morning. After running all night, I had about 3 1/2 gallons of RODI product water. I measured a waste rate of about 11 gallons per hour - so I'm roughly getting 5 gallons of RODI out of 200 gallons of water. Brochure says production may be slow for the first 3 days, but at this rate that will be 800 gallons of water down the drain. That's not necessarily a cost catastrophe, but more waste (or less production) than I was anticpating. We have "good" water pressure. I'll have to get a guage if I need numbers, but we have plenty of pressure to run two full-on showers concurrently on the 2nd floor (and I have 3 girls, so I'd hear about it if it was a problem.) Filter is in the basement, so that's 20 ft. of head pressure on top of that. What ratios are you guys getting - Product to Waste ? Thanks. Al

So for a 450g I figure you need about 9,000,000 worms. I'll throw a handfull of pellets into my tank, wait about 30 seconds and scoop out a few net-fulls. I get about 1500 per scoop. If you neglegt your tank JUSSSST right, like me, you should have about 9M in about 6 months. I charge $15 per million, so it'd cost you about 49 cents, plus gas, depending on where you live. Let me know if you find a better deal. I'll negotiate Al

Injector is clean as is the air valve. Still no foam. Think I'll throw in a few hot dogs tonight and see what happens.