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Newms118

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Posts posted by Newms118

    Slight leak from overflow drain

    in General Discussion

     

    I also use channellocks to tighten larger bulkheads.

    I'm guessing Rob's suggesting he uses channellocks to EVENLY tighten them.

    Tightening a bulkhead with even pressure on the nut as opposed to tightening a bulkhead with a cantilever type pressure against the fitting are two different things. The latter being the real culprit in cracking tanks. (unless it's a very poorly drilled, splintered, hole to begin with)

    Just watch you have the plyers on the nut, not on the nut and against the flange shaft as well. = cantilever type pressure

    I'm also not suggesting you need to brace yourself against a fixed object to get even more pressure since you can strip or crack the nut.

    I also won't mention wetting the tank, gasket, and flange surfaces prior to tightening since we all do that anyway.

     

     

    Ok so this may sound stupid, but its a good idea for the gasket to be wet before tightening? I'm asking bc after I cleaned the overflow and gasket last night, when I was retightening it, there was no way to fully dry the surfaces, so all were still wet.  I had a feeling that this may be bad. But its actually better?

    Slight leak from overflow drain

    in General Discussion

    pull it apart and fix it right. bulkheads are cheap enough that you don't want to resort to re-siliconizing the gasket in order to get a few more years out of it. being afraid of tightening the bulkhead to stop a leak is silly too. take it apart, clean the glass, wet the washer and crank it down woth a pair of channellocks. You'll break a bulkhead before you crack the bottom of the tank.

     

    Ok, anyone seeing this "you'll break a bulkhead before you crack the bottom of the tank," what are your thoughts?  Is the bottom piece of glass that strong?  I've read numerous times not to do use a pair of channel locks to tighten the bulkhead.

    Slight leak from overflow drain

    in General Discussion

    A blank statement of "the gasket goes on the wet side" is incorrect.

    The gasket always goes on the flange side, NEVER the nut side.

    There is no exception to this rule and no gray area either.

    It is not uncommon, not desirable but not uncommon, to have the gasket on the dry side if you install the bulkhead in a non traditional way. (backwards - from most applications)

     

    Are you sure you can't simple give it a little more tighten without breaking it down?

    Being able to bump the bulkhead allowing it to leak, even slightly, causes me to believe there is.

     

    Thanks for pointing that out flowerseller, wasn't thinking about putting the bulkhead in the non traditional way.  The gasket goes with flange side is much more specific.  As far as retightening the bulkhead, that just makes me nervous.  At the least, I could untighten and then retighten so that I know how much more I can twist the nut without it going too far.  Just don't want to hear a crunch from the glass...

    Slight leak from overflow drain

    in General Discussion

    Don't spray silicone on it and put it back on. If you want to reintroduce silicone as a plasticizer into the rubber to soften it, put the gasket into a plastic bag with spray silicone and seal it in there for a few days - clean it well when you take it back out before installing it. I don't believe that I have ever had to reseal a bulkhead after being in the hobby since 2003. How are you tightening it?

     

    I hand tighten, and then when its harder to turn, I do another 1/4 turn.  I don't use a wrench for fear of breaking the glass or deforming the gasket.  I just think when I bumped the drain it may have wiggled the bulkhead a bit to let it leak.  But its stopped leaking so I believe If I re-seat it I should be good to go. 

    Slight leak from overflow drain

    in General Discussion

    The gaskets last a very long time. An old gasket can lose its plasticizers and become hard, making it not able to seal as well. You can restore it by putting it in a small plastic bag with spray silicone for a few days - clean it well afterwards. If the gasket still feels alright, there is no reason that you could not reuse it after cleaning the glass. Make sure that the gasket is not on the side of the threads, rather the side of the flange. If you put the gasket on the nut/therad side, water will eventually leak past the gasket via the threads.

     

    Yep, gasket on the wet side (not the side with the threads).  I have some silicone that I never used. When i take the gasket out I'll put it with some of the silicone and see if that helps it.  Such a mess to have to clean out the overflow to work back there.  How often do people re-seat their bulk head due to leaks? Is this rare or something that should be expected from time to time?

    Setting up quarantine tank

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by Newms118

    Driving to quantum reefs for my first time. It will take about an hour and half. I really want to start with something a little on the tougher side. Either thinking fox face or Bengai cardinals.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

     

    Just be sure that the fish you get look pretty healthy.  I got some fish (2 clowns) from there that went through Quantum's quarantine treatment, but when I got them back to my tank, I lost one in 3 days and the other a week later.  Both due to gill flukes (I treated to late) that had to have come from that store since these were my first two fish.  I've had success with King of Corals for healthy fish.

    Setting up quarantine tank

    in General Discussion

    You really don't need to run a light, less stress on the fish, don't run carbon either as that will pull med's from the tank.

     

    Most treat with prazi, and keep a copper treatment on hand if the need arises. 

     

    Beat me to it  :clap:

    Setting up quarantine tank

    in General Discussion

    You can slow the water changes down by adding some liverock from your system. 

     

    I've read that you're not supposed to put live rock into a QT bc it will absorb the medication. When I set mine up, I just used PVC elbows for the fish to hide. 

     

    Yes because of ammonia...probably 3-5 gallons daily or every other day...

    If your not using meds, you can get an ammonia badge to check..but I would not go more than 2 days without changing some water...

     

    I usually replaced about 3 gallons every 2 to 3 days. I checked ammonia daily and really didn't have issues.  The ammonia badge is great to use though.  After about a month of the tank running (I ended up having them in QT for 2 months), the tank cycled and the QT care was easy.  Water changes were done more so to lower the nitrate level than any other issue.  And yes some say that its not possible for the nitrate level to climb high enough to cause an issue, but the fish (1 clown, 2 yellow-tail blue damsels, and one royal gramma) were visibly distressed and responded much better when the nitrate levels dropped.  

     

    attachicon.gifImageUploadedByTapatalk1409442825.001139.jpg

     

    Do I want to run carbon at first in my whisper filter.

     

    What medication should I have on hand. The only stores close are petco and pet smart.

     

    If you see anything wrong please let me know. Ordering book tonight from mr saltwater.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

     

    From what I've read, if you are going to treat, no carbon since that will just pull it out.  I used an hang over the back filter stuffed with filter floss to just collect the particulate matter.  The trick was making sure the fish ate ALL of the food added, and if any is missed, just scoop out with the net so that it doesn't add to the build up of ammonia.  For medication, I'd get Prazipro (for internal parasites) and some form of copper (I used Coppersafe but many use Cupramine) for ich and gill flukes.  If you use Coppersafe, the only copper test that will work is the API which tests for total copper.  If you get cupramine, than the salifert copper test will work.  Of course testing for copper is required because of how toxic it is.  You may already know all this or have a lot of experience but I figured I'd just add some details since I just went though this QT business over the summer.

     

    And for lights, I didn't really pay much attention to that. the fish were kept in the kitchen (on the Island) so if they wanted somewhere dark to go they had the PVC elbows, one for each fish so no fighting.

    Slight leak from overflow drain

    in General Discussion

    I have my tank overflow plumbed Herbie style, and haven't seen any issues (tank was filled back in February of this year) until today.  I was putting a powerhead in my sump and potentially touched the drain pipe somehow. I didn't notice any type of leak until I actually turned on the powerhead.  At first I saw the drops coming from the junction between the bulkhead and the PVC, but when I dried the pipe I could see it was actually coming from the bulkhead.  I turned off all my pumps and the leaking stop.  I dried everything again making sure to not bump the drain pipe and turned my pumps back on.  So far no more leaking.  I haven't tightened anything but am wondering if the best course of action would be to drain the overflow, clean the glass, reapply the gasket, and tighten the bulkhead again.  

     

    What do you guys think? Just clean and reapply gasket, or buy a new gasket altogether?

    Clownfish potentially sick

    in General Discussion

    I know what you are going though. So hard to tell especially because I had a clownfish with a severe learning disorder especially in QT.  I think he was looking at himself in the reflection on the bottom of the tank and doing the mating dance telling his reflection that it could go ahead and turn to a female. I thought he was rubbing his gills on the bottom but was really just bored looking at reflection. Couldnt hurt do do another round but also make sure you keep up on the water changes. And monitor ammonia closely it can sneak up on you. Could also be the problem.

     

    Well my QT has been up for so long its been through the cycle, no ammonia or nitrites detectable, just nitrate that slowly builds.

     

    I'll try and get some cupramine, really hate to have to go through that again.  What makes me doubt anything else is going on is the fact that the other two fish don't seem to show any signs of disease.  Perhaps the clownfish is just stupid lol.

    Clownfish potentially sick

    in General Discussion

    So I've had 1 clownfish, 1 royal gramma, 1 yellow-tail blue damsel in a QT since the beginning of June.  I had issues with white stringy poop and noticed the white ich on the fish, so I first treated the fish with a weeks worth of Prazipro, followed by a full month of Coppersafe for the ich. I thought these guys were fine, and then about two weeks ago the clownfish looked a bit sick (swimming on the bottom with closed fins) and was flashing on the PVC tubes.  I didn't see any signs of ich and the other two fish seemed fine, so I treated the fish with Prazipro.  This seemed to help the clownfish.  It was swimming normally and its fins were up and about.  So after two doses, Ive taken the Prazipro out and after about 4 or so days, I've noticed him go into a bit of shakes followed by a few flashes on the PVC tubes.  Any idea whats going on? The other two fish don't seem to be sick, its just the clown, so I'm wondering if perhaps I need another round of Coppersafe. 

    Anemone Troubles - Need Help

    in General Discussion

    Bump

     

    I use the salifert phosphate test and I get 0 phosphate. I run chemi pure elite so that should help pull the phosphate out.

     

    Came in after work and both are balled up again, I just think it's too much light, which is strange bc when I first put them in I had the leds at a higher percent. I only had to turn them down when I put more corals in that we're bleaching out. It's like they lost their tolerance to the light.

     

    As for the feeding, I feel if I don't feed them they'll die since they have been shrinking. One thing I should mention is that I've been using zeovit sponge power, lps amino acid, pohls xtra, coral booster and coral vitalizer. Think any of those guys can cause issues?

    Anemone Troubles - Need Help

    in General Discussion

    What color is the stringy stuff? Brown, black, purple? Do you have clownfish, if so, are they trying to use the 'nems as hosts?

     

    It seems clear, like mucus.  So it seems to have opened up a bit now which just doesn't make sense to me.  Its as if its getting to much light and opens at night bc only my actinics are one and at a low intensity.  If it didn't like the light, why won't it more down?  Its like its intentionally starving since its been shrinking. And no clownfish yet.

    Anemone Troubles - Need Help

    in General Discussion

    How old is the tank? Your mag is a little low, but I don't see how that would contribute to your nems unhappiness. Have you tried turning your lights up? Maybe they are looking for higher flow? My old LTA hung out in front of the powerhead.

     

    I started the tank up in February so I think it should be old enough to support the anemones.  The larger one has been shrinking so I've been trying to feed it mysis once a week.  Ive tried turning the lights up but started bleaching the corals, so couldn't go much higher than what Im using today.  

     

    Right now the anemone has some stringy substance coming from it.  I can't tell if its from the mouth since its still closed up.  I also did feed it yesterday.

    Anemone Troubles - Need Help

    in General Discussion

    So I have 2 green bubble tip anemones that have been refusing to open up the majority of the time lately.  The first indication something was up was the larger anemone starting roaming around.  I thought it was just not getting enough light since it got on the glass and crawled all the way to the top, where it sits now.  In this spot, he does receive lots of flow, so I attributed his closure to that.  However when I keep the flow down considerable all day, the anemone still stays closed. The smaller anemone appears to be doing the same thing.  It didn't roam around but I rarely see it open up to stretch out its tentacles. The tank is a 65 gallon with a 30 gallon sump.  So far it has corals and cleanup crew since I've been fighting some ich/flukes with my fish (their in QT).  My lights are 2 units from Build My LED (14000K and 20000K) running at 56% of max. All my corals (2 torch, some birds nest, some leathers, 2 favias, 1 hammer, 1 frogspawn, 1 red planet, 1 GSP) seem fine and have good polyp extension, which makes me confused bc I figured these guys would also being showing signs if something was off with the water.

     

    Here are my parameters:

    Ammonia = 0 ppm

    Nitrate = 2.5 ppm

    Calcium 500 ppm

    Magnesium = 1140 ppm

    Alkalinity = 7.8 dKH

    Temp = 79 degrees C

    pH = fluctuates between 8.2 and 8.1

    Salinity = 1.026

     

    I'm afraid these guys are on their way out since its been at least a week in this state.  I don't want to have them nuke the tank, so any suggestions would be much appreciative.

     

    Larger anemone

    larger anemone

     

    Smaller anemone

    smaller anemone

     

    Frag fest

    in General Discussion

    John,

     

    You're going to have a great time. Frag Fest is when all the local vendors donate big colonies or frags of things that are cut up and tossed out to members. It's pretty nuts, but it is super fun. It runs just like all the other meetings, open, socialize, vendors/sales/trading, speaker, frags are handed out, raffle, shut down. Pretty much, give or take the order.

     

    Take what you have and trade with other folks, or sell them, as always, you will see tons of sales up and around this time.

     

    This may seem like a silly question but since its also my first frag fest, when you say tossed out to members do you mean available for purchase or raffled/given out for free?  

    Whats happening to this green birds nest coral

    in New to the Hobby

    doubtful that a limpet ate it- more likely it died from trauma and RTN'd. get bigger, fully healed frags next time.

     

    I'm thinking it wasn't RTN because I found that limpet on the coral.  In fact the bit of SPS tissue at the very tips of the coral that weren't eaten are starting to grow back.  To my understanding if it was RTN I should have lost all the tissue and that would be the end of it.  For the other smaller birds nest coral that was looking fine, I broke the healthy tips off and left them sitting in the tank for a week to avoid anymore trauma.  Yesterday I glued them onto a frag plug and they seem to be doing fine with good polyp extension. 

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