http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php en Thu, 15 May 2008 14:12:22 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=69 Wed, 14 May 2008 21:56:04 GMT Hello all Couple of pointers which I hope you can shed light on: Are regal tangs susceptible to living with white spot during the course of their... Hello all

Couple of pointers which I hope you can shed light on:

Are regal tangs susceptible to living with white spot during the course of their lives?
Mine was fine for approx 2 months but has since developed a type of white spot, some days not so bad others covered on both sides but yet it eats, sleeps and shits to its hearts content and does not seem fazed by it whatsoever!

That said since noticing it about a month ago, I have had a lot of fish “go missing” never to be seen again although I put this mainly down to stocking the tank too quickly and putting stress on some fish. The tank is 8foot long but I got too excited and had put in around 40 or so fish within 3-4months after the live rock had settled. To deal with the problem which now seems to be under control, I have a UV bulb, numerous cleaner shrimps and a cleaner wrasse + undertake a weekly water change of approx 15%.

Of the 20 or so fish that remain alive and healthy (apart from a Pajama cardinal that has seems to have had an eye eaten by the w/s) they are fed daily on varied diet of frozen food mixed with vitamin and garlic supplements + live brine shrimp, flake, pellet and seaweed.

Lastly I noticed what I thought was a type of coral naturally growing on some of my Fiji rock but on closer inspection and comparing to a book I have it seems to be a type of poisonous anemone that has grown completely on its own. Does this make any sense and if so should I therefore remove it immediately incase it will cause damage to the water conditions or affect the corals and/or fish?

I’m looking forward to the responses.

Gavin :thanks: ]]> gavinw http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=69 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=68 Mon, 12 May 2008 12:17:19 GMT Well it's been a couple of weeks now since my last update, been a bit busy to say the least.

Project Bad-Boy has now been more or less, fully dismantled. The tank is now sitting completely empty awaiting me climbing in it later with a hose and a scrubbing brush. All equipment is removed, pipework removed, everything, all that exists there now is the sump which is holding the last of the fish I am moving on, a stream, bit of live rock and a FM ultra skim1 that STM have kindly leant me until my fish have gone. Once they are all out I can drain it down and get the tank moved into the garage ready for me to get rid.

I have a 3 foot tank on the side now holding the majority of my coral, very simple set up but worryingly already looks better than my last display did :laugh:. Lit with T5's, couple of maxijets for flow and a rowa reactor on the end bringing the posphate down. My shrimps, crabs and snails are in here along with my solitary skunk clown. It looks really pretty at the minute and all be it a temporary situation, it's nice doing top up with a pint glass :laugh:

In the garage I have a 1000L vat, all my live rock is in here and the fish I am keeping. Anemones are housed in here and are happy sitting atop my bommie basking under the lumenarc suspended above. Couple of 6100's for flow and Reef bloke's borrowed AP850 for skimming. Yesterday saw the GHL go on it so everything is nice and automated now. Tell you what, I really like this vat. Only viewable from above it gives a very interesting perspective. Again, this isn't a permanent home, but in the mean time, I am really enjoying the experience.

The fish that have left so far have all gone to homes I am more than happy with, to people I know can take care of them, so far, everyone has said that it's gone smoothly their end. Only casualties to date are 1 dead cleaner shrimp and 1 dead Acropora Humillis, sadly, my blue one. But if that's the limit of problems I am more than happy, I reckon you'll agree that I was right to expect more issues.

Anyways, this tank isn't cleaning itself so I'll end this entry now. Just figured that I will soon be regularly updating again and a 2 week gap will look odd.

cheers for reading :) ]]> SCOOB http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=68 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=67 Mon, 05 May 2008 08:31:49 GMT This is my first Blog entry and definitely my longest:rolleyes:, but I make no apologies for it, the reason will come clear! Way back in January, I... This is my first Blog entry and definitely my longest:rolleyes:, but I make no apologies for it, the reason will come clear!

Way back in January, I received a phone call from our son’s school, for most parents with teenage sons this can instil an immediate chill around the heart:(, “What has he done now?” “ Has he had an accident?” “ Is he ill?” all questions that seem to pass through the brain faster than the speed of light!
The lady on the other end of the phone was Georges Pastoral Support Manager, (PSM for short), anyways, she was ringing to tell me that George had been selected to take part in a ‘young fire fighter cadet course’, well George, like most teenagers, rarely tells us anything, let alone what is happening at school, unless it entails a day off, so I was a bit taken aback to hear this news. The PSM then went on to explain what it was and why George had been selected. Apparently Essex County Fire & Rescue Service allocates up to 6 places per secondary school each year to attend the 17-week course. Pupils are selected for a variety of reasons, George was selected because the school felt the course would lift his confidence, (George is quite shy and reserved). The course would take place on Thursday evenings at our local fire station. George had informed his PSM that he wouldn’t be able to attend because he worked! That was news to us :laugh:, of course we explained that it was us that worked but that whatever it took we would make sure that we would get him there.

When George came home from school that afternoon, we asked him about this and why he hadn’t mentioned it. George, as I said, is fairly quiet, he’s also wary of the unknown, if he doesn’t know what something is about he’d rather not find out! So he had already made up his mind that he didn’t want to attend! Of course after much cajoling and persuasion we finally managed to get him to the first night which was an induction evening, a chance to find out what it was all about etc. needless to say that within about 5 mins of arriving George couldn’t wait to get going and was already looking forward to the next week! I think it may have had something to do with all of the children,(there were a few girls too,) being measured up for their own firefighters outfits, including helmets!

So far we are upto week 12, George has learnt so much, a lot of things that given the opportunity we would all love to try, playing with the hoses being one;).
But how many of us know that there is a very particular way that the hoses need to be rolled and stored? That there is a procedure to follow when entering a burning, smoke filled building and a way to find your way out safely? There is even a definitive way of using a ladder? This week George has been shown how to use the BA, (breathing apparatus), he has been into tunnels full of water and been shown how to navigate his way out safely. Over the coming weeks George will learn how to extricate casualties from road traffic accidents safely, basic first aid, understanding basic elements of combustion and so much more.

At the end of the course there will be a Squad Pass Out parade and fire fighting display. George will receive a Certificate of Achievement and a personal portfolio showing the skills learnt during the 17 weeks, George will also have achieved the Service and Skills section of the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.
My reason for posting this blog, if you haven’t already guessed, is simple really. Brian and I are extremely proud of George for what he has achieved so far and wanted to share this with you. Should your child be offered the same opportunity, please encourage them, it is a very worth while challenge. At the very least they will learn basic first aid, discipline and a much deserved respect for the fire-fighters as well as for themselves. You never know, it may bring out a desire in your child to become a fire-fighter when they leave school, something that George is now thinking seriously about!

I will update this blog at the end of the course and should have lot’s of pictures of the Pass Out Parade, but for the time being here are a couple of George in his ‘gear’:cool:.












]]> Mrs Ziggy CGA http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=67 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=66 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:49:37 GMT Well, for a bit of a first, there will be no mention of Bubblekings in this entry, save for the mention just then that highlighted the lack of... Well, for a bit of a first, there will be no mention of Bubblekings in this entry, save for the mention just then that highlighted the lack of mentioning....... I think.

As far as reefing updates go, very very little has happened, for this I apologise. What has happened though, I will attempt to pad out to fill this here box so as not to dribble on about my normal life and thus bore everyone stupid.

Last week saw the first UltimateReef moderators meeting, a chance for us all to get together with no distractions and beat each other senseless. Of course, this didn't happen as we all get along swimmingly. Craigg had very kindly offered to hold the first meet and laid on a spread fit for a king. By fit for a king I mean he had oodles of beer and pizza, my two favourite past times. I may be more the court jester than the king, but any king would have been chuffed with the feast. Craig's tank was one tank still on my 'to see in the flesh' list. Having been a member here for some time and in the mod team for some time, frankly, any excuse for not seeing it by now can only be rather poor. Have to say, I kicked myself for not going sooner. It is IMMENSE!!!!! Much much better than in any photo's....... I know that's a cliche, and I am sorry for that, but it really is very very nice indeed. The coral selection, LPS especially, is lovely. Never seen so many red trachy's in the same place before, and I've been lucky enough to have visited two wholesalers in the past. But what impressed me most, was the structure. The rockwork looks very natural with several overhangs and outcrops, far better than your average reef wall. In fact that reminds me, in the centre of Craig's tank, at the front, is a large outcrop that hovers over the rock below you assume is holding it up. Never got round to asking him how he did that.

We feasted, we nattered, it was a great way to spend an afternoon. Well I say afternoon, I think we left at half eight, not exactly early. Craig had cunningly decided late in the day to feed his fish. Seeing his numerous lionfish and the tusk fish making short work of food twice their size, well, there wasn't a person in the room that didn't look on in awe, wondering how they will get away with adding lions to their own tanks. If I didn't have the flow that I have, I would add one tomorrow, STUNNING!

Also last week saw a brief visit to furface's tank. First time I have seen it since he moved his livestock up there. He has had a couple of ominous fish deaths, so the reasons for being there weren't exactly jovial. But all the same, the tank is really coming on well. His Scopas tang and the clowns he had are fin perfect. I don't mean fin perfect like some dodgy people state when offloading their fighting tangs, I mean proper fin perfect. Not a scrath, not a spot, perfect fins, perfect bodies, not bloated, not skinny, not panting, not scratching. Perfect fish. I have my fingers crossed for him that he doesn't lose any more fish as I really can't see that he has a problem. Wombat is on the case I believe and he is now running ozone so here's hoping. I'd be very interested to find out how they went tho, parameters and everything looked more than fine to me. Just goes to show in this hobby, sometimes 'stuff' jsut happens, naff all we can do about it. If wombat now mentiones a disease I hadn't heard of before then fair play, at least we can put a finger on something, but right now, it just looks like a bad co-incidence.


This week there isn't much fishyness going on either. We have had a 'Streamlining' at work which basically means a bunch of poor sods were given the heave ho, and the rest of us poor sods are having to take up the slack. The shift pattern is all to pot now and I am working all the hours god sends. I always used to work every hour I could before, but now it is no longer overtime, merely normal time. More hours, more work, less ringdings. Toward the back end of this week tho' I am on nights so with a bit of luck, I will get a run up to STM for opening this Saturday. Haven't been for a couple of weeks, need my fix.

Thanks for reading and sorry that this isn't the most interesting of entries. Perhaps I'm only funny when nursing an injury, I'll be sure to smack myself about for next week, promise :) ]]> SCOOB http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=66 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=65 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:47:16 GMT Well, week six has been pretty uneventful. Sure, I've still flooded the place and mildly electrocuted myself, but in very dull and boring ways. Naturally, this wont stop me from doing an update.

The bubbleking, is now officially off line. Pump number 2 has given up the ghost. It pulses now rather than runs constant. I have drained it down, stripped it, repaired it 6 times now. I am confident that I have put it back together each time as bubblyking would have intended. Chances are it's the circuitboard in the back of the pump. It just wont turn off of 'safe mode'.

Have now been in tuch with Klaus Jansen about repairs and replacements. I got a response very quickly indeed full of information about where to send it, how much this that and the other will cost etc. So I have options.

When the BK went down, moments before, the AP850 stopped working. Seriously, what are the chances? I stripped the Deltec but couldn't see a problem with it apart from the mesh wheel looked a little thin, maybe they just wear down when under heavy load?

So, no bubblyking, no deltec, and my old spare needlewheel is up at Reef Bloke's house. He took it with him when we put the mesh wheel in, in hindsight, that was a daft move.

I gave up trying to get the BK running at 02:00 in the morning, then before work, I had another go. Still nothing. By the time I got to work the tank had remained unskimmed for 18 hours. This showed too as I had not long dosed KZ Coral Snow, this was still hanging in the water.

Gets to work and call Tony up to see if he minds me running up there after work to retrieve aforementioned impellor, he says it's no problem.

BOO then pm's me with a link to a pdf copy of the bubbleking range instructions. They are very good too, full of photos and gives you a lot of ideas on how to run them best. It also proved that my bearings and everything else are perfect, so it is internal, nothing i can do to fix it.

Out of the blue essentially, Jobr calls, he is in my car park at work. I go's out there and the daft ****** has brought me down a spare needlewheel for the Deltec. He was going to lend me an aquabee one it seems, but after consulting with Andy j, he thought it better to break into Andy's skimmer shed whilst Andy was at work, and just remove a pump from the side of his large tripple pumped H&S skimmer. One hopes that Andy was aware of this plan prior to Jobby scaling walls and what have you. Anyways, like a faithful spaniel that has returned from the lake with the ball you once threw, jobby is in the car park, pump and impellor in hand, wagging his tail excitedly. We come up to my office where Tony's pump is and sure enough, the impellor fits just so.

As an extra precaution I asked one of the girls here if she happened to have a pair of scissors to trim the mesh on the meshwheel as it was a bit frayed. After receiving copious abuse for being sexist....."why didn't you ask Dave for a pair of scissors, or Paul or Kevin, why ask me, it's because I'm a woman isn't it, how sexist is that".........she finally caved, reached into her samsonite sized handbag and gave me a choice of colours :rolleyes:

I have trimmed the meshwheel down now, it was splayed well wide of the disk and was fouling on the internals of the pump. I will fit it again when i get home this evening, I reckon it will work fine. But last night, I just wanted to get the 850 up and running ASAP. Not skimming scares me, I deliberately didn't dose or feed the tank whilst the skimmers were offline. The fish were more than pleased to see me reach for the pellets :laugh:


So, as it stands right now:

BK is back to being a glorified sump.

850 is running as trusty as ever with a nicked needlewheel.

Jobby got thrown an extra large biscuit for being a good boy.

Andy has called crimestoppers and posted pictures on the surrounding street lights offering a reward of £50. Think I might claim that and buy my own impellor in a couple of days, I'll let him sweat it for a while first tho :)

And that's about it for the skimmer saga. OOH, you may remember (those that have read previous updates) that I found that design flaw in the bubbleplate, the one where I can't possibly drain it without removing the pump and soaking the house. Well, 5 strip downs I managed to save most of the water by using an old bit of pipe to redirect it. By the 6th attempt, Boo had sent those instructions. On all BK's made in the last year you can now strip the skimmer down completely, the whole thing. The bubble plates on the current skimmers have a single screw through the centre to remove the plate. Well, I looked at mine, no screw BUT it does have a central drilled hole that is about 6mm wide. Just wide enough to drain the pump compartment using RO hose. Sure, it takes a fair old while, but it works. My last strip down resulted in no flooding at all...........




edited to add




................... Just got a call, bi-boobied one is back from the shops, 50 litres or so on the floor, she aint amused!!! seems I never did the jubilee clip up that seals the pump to the skimmer...................whoops :cool:

thanks for reading, it's appreciated. ]]> SCOOB http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=65 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=64 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:05:00 GMT Well its the middle of April,and dare I say it,but the tank is doing great.The algae has stopped forming on the rocks and sand ,so it seems the... Well its the middle of April,and dare I say it,but the tank is doing great.The algae has stopped forming on the rocks and sand ,so it seems the cheapo skimmer is doing its job.I'm getting used to the noise.People say that Xenia takes over the tank,well mine is on the sand on small pieces of rubble and it is bushing out but not spreading.Hope someone in Hull wants a swap soon,as I could do with a bit of a different colour coral.Will be looking for some blue mushies soon.I do like blue coral. ]]> techieman http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=64 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=63 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:39:22 GMT this blogg business has realy started to grow on me, so most of the plumbing is done will get it finished saturday and hopefully start the wet test... this blogg business has realy started to grow on me, so most of the plumbing is done will get it finished saturday and hopefully start the wet test on sunday nite:)
then comes the fun filling with ro, gettin it salty and get the sand added, definatly gettin close 2 being done ]]> stevogamble http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=63 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=62 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:45:27 GMT Clown Goby, awesome character, seen his true colours lately, even nicks food from my Pippette when feeding the Sun Coral, cheeky ****** :P So, happy... Clown Goby, awesome character, seen his true colours lately, even nicks food from my Pippette when feeding the Sun Coral, cheeky ****** :P

So, happy with him

Jewel Wrasse, are these Leopard Wrasses? Anyway, bought him about 2 weeks ago, didn't come out at first, but is out most of the time, only disappears when we sit down at tea time, he must get scared of my Dad :P

Xenia, WOW! Doesn't stop growing, new shoots and extra parts etc etc, looks great too. Doesn't pulse much like :/ Likes kinda-direct Powerhead flow, :)

Clowns, one is definitely bigger than the other now, but the bigger one chases the small one a hell of a lot, is this normal? Is the bigger one the female? They hung around the GSP's for about a week, and then the Goby made it his home, so now the Clowns can't host it :/

Everything else, fine :D

Ben ]]> ibex_57 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=62 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=61 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:25:43 GMT dont you just love wakin up on a sunday morning hungover? i hate it, but hey i shall try and get the plumbing sorted out today with a load of help... dont you just love wakin up on a sunday morning hungover?

i hate it, but hey i shall try and get the plumbing sorted out today with a load of help from ballyvallyarcher, im in no fit state 2 most of it alone
i shall update later when it hopefully is finished ]]> stevogamble http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=61 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=60 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:27:27 GMT *_Nightmare Update_* Used oodinex on the tank, done the 3 day course as per instructions. Lost 4 fish to it:cry: 2 Green chromis 1 Bangai... Nightmare Update
Used oodinex on the tank, done the 3 day course as per instructions.

Lost 4 fish to it:cry:
2 Green chromis
1 Bangai cardinal
1 Mandarin

The rest of the fish have picked up really well, all are feeding again and slowly recovering.
Just hope it doesnt come back, would hate to lose the rest of the live stock.
All the cuc and shrimps seem to be doing fine.

Also ive found a strange side effect of using the oodiex. All the flatworms i had in the tank have gone. And beleive me there were thousands in there, was syphoning them out every few days and they still came back. BUt the oodinex seems to have got rid of the lot.:thumbsup:

Planning on rescaping the tank this week hopefully. Got some plastic rods to skewer the rocks together. Going for a more open look. and i think the skewer rod option will work out the best way to do it. Should also help out with the flow as well and give the fish a bit more swimming room.


Will update soon:thanks: ]]> reefkeeper_2006 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=60 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=59 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:43:20 GMT I've got an SPS, yes just the one and I'm not sure what its called, It was sold as a pink hysteix but its never been pin, just a brown colour :(

Anyway, I was cleaning the glass today and I knocked it over. So stuck it back up with some milliput......

Doh! it fell over again,
Stuck it back up,
Doh! it fell over again,
Stuck it back up,
Doh! it fell over again,
Stuck it back up,

So this time I got a big lump of milliput and it seems to have held :dance: ]]> MrFish http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=59 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=57 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:52:25 GMT Still fighting hair algae-I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and add some yellow tangs. The fox face just can't eat fast enough, the sea hares don't like the high flow and bright lights so i have moved them to the sump.

On the developer front they are still there-I thought the current economic situation would have put them off but no. just had the contract for discussion with the solicitor, once that is signed then its binding subject to them getting planning permission............AH well keep the mind on the new tank!! ]]> haydn Gopsill http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=57 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=55 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:23:59 GMT Well what a nightmare. Went in to Bupa last Thursday to have a thraot op and me tonsils out, they say the first few days the pain is not too bad, it... Well what a nightmare.

Went in to Bupa last Thursday to have a thraot op and me tonsils out, they say the first few days the pain is not too bad, it then peaks at day 5 and starts to improve between 14 to 21 days post op.

Well it bloody hurts, despite taking over 20 tablets a day that they have given me the pain at times is almost unbearable, the worse part is the constant ear ache.

The knock on effect is i haven't had a beer in over a week now, i am hardly eating (no real problem wouldn't hurt to shed a few stone) and i feel quite unwell for a good 23 hours out of every 24.

Tank has suffered a lot over the last 10 days when all i have done is feed, no dosing of my zeo/FM additives or pumping of the stones.
Plan is to do a 100litre water change as soon as I feel up to it, I have one ready, normally i do 5% every week without fail.

So hopefully a day on the tank will give it a good and much needed spruce up.

On the plus side the latest article Scott and I wrote for Ultra Marine has been well received and the articles we have submitted for the next issue have gone down an absolute storm.

Off for another lie down now;) ]]> jobr http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=55 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=54 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:06:52 GMT Welcome back folks to yet another edition of 'Scoob cocks it up'

This week we shall mainly be following the antics relating directly to 'never-listens' syndrome, yes it's a syndrome, got stifficates and everything.

When I was at school, on many a report card it read 'spends more time looking out of the window than at his books...the boy never listens'. Fair point, i've always been a day dreamer, but to not listen to myself what's that all about?

I signed off last week resigning myself to not fiddling with the BK, didn't I? I am sure I did as I am pretty sure I was there when I wrote it. Well guess what? Go on, guess!

That's right, this morning I was up at 5am, with the infamous 'guest towels' out again vainly mopping up about 150litres, give or take a bucket. How did I manage that you ask? Why not take a seat on uncle Scooby's knee and he can tell you all about it :annoyed:

So where did we leave off, ah yes, I remember. The big heapo'crap was shocking me to my core, water everywhere, shut it down and left it alone.

That lasted for about 3 days, maybe 2. Because I had shut it down with water sealed in it, what I started doing was turning the inlet on, pumping through for 30 mins then shutting it down again just to keep the water from going stagnant. After the 2/3 days i thought, well why not just have it running through? It shouldn't cause a problem and will add 100 odd litres to my system, it could be the worlds most expensive sump. So I did. Again, this lasted mere moments til I thought, sod it, I might as well turn the good pump on and leave the shocking one off, just keep a close eye on it. This worked too and for 4 days we had skimming! Thick dark bubblynog overfilleth the neck and ran into the vaccuous cup like one of those cheesy chocolate fountains. cheesy as in timmy mallet in a glittery suit, not cheesey as in emmentale.

So it was working, only one pump, but still working, afterall, that's what a bk500 is and that's plenty big enough for my tank :)

It ran for a few days like this, plenty happy with it. Then in a moment of madness, well, moment of sanity but mad stuff happened, I placed my thumb over the air inlet of the drawing pump (YES, i've got to stop causing disasters with my thumb, I too notice the trend) to stop the air going in. This was so that I could see the water level in the skimmer, perhaps throttle back the outlet a little to raise it higher, really push this thing hard. Instead, the impellor immediately fell apart. The needlewheel came unstuck from the titanium shaft and naff all happened. No water moving, no air. OK, back to being a posh sump then?

I gets a thinking and realise that I have a semi-decent impellor in the duff pump, If I drain the skimmer down, remove the pumps, swap the impellors, I could have this thing back to how it was.....

smell that? that's the unmistakable scent of impending misery and destruction. You think it's strong your end, you wanna sit where I am, it's much more pungent, kind of like melted wires mixed with female scorn. A potent cocktail for the senses.

Lesson 1 for week 5:

The term 'BubbleKing External Skimmer' is a lie, a big fat 'you've been framed moment' lie. Mr Klauss the designer of this thing is a genius, I hope to one day shake his hand and tell him so, but the slight design flaw I have discovered, makes me wanna shake his neck, hard.

One of the reasons the skimmer works so well is because of the bubbleplate. A disk of acrylic near the base of the skimmer drilled with loads of tiny holes. Under this plate the airy water mix is swirled, this then rises through the plate filling the body with fine bubbles. The idea is that it stops the majority of the swirling, but allows you to still use mahoosive pumps to draw water and air. Anyways, this bubbleplate is just above where the pumps are plumbed. So, I pump the skimmer out, right down to the bubble plate. I then syphoned into a bucket the surrounding water down to below the bubble plate and understandably, below the pumps. Makes sense yeah? remove the water to below the pumps you are removing. Good, I'm glad you agree with me, proves I'm not insane. So, water level lowered, I undo the jubilee clips on the good pump. Undone, I grab the pump and tug it out of the hoses......this naturally causes a jet of water to fly out of an invisible source! It's bouncing off the end of the tank cabinet, it's going in my mouth, I'm trying to gob it into a bucket whilst putting my hand over the hole. The mrs hears the commotion and comes out. "what's happened, thought that was empty, where's it coming from?". She looked at me, I was red in the cheeks from choking, hair doused, looking more confused than the daddy hedgehog examining his son after the reliant robin went past. What the, how the, who the, I hate this thing! Water is below pipe, check! Pumps are all switched off, check! Skimmer feed is closed, check! Well WHERE THE HELL IS IT COMING FROM? I remove my hand for a second, the pressure washer starts again. This time I giggled. Let a little more out, more giggling. I have learnt to create water from nothing. People of the world rejoice, the drought in Australia is over, I will turn Ethiopia into a beach resort, Kent will have no hosepipe ban this year. WHERE IS IT COMING FROM!

Let a bit more out and I begin to notice something, something that rightly or wrongly I am calling a design flaw, sue me if you like Royal Exclusiv or prove me wrong.

This bubble plate, it's a sealed soddin unit. The pump draws from the base of the skimmer, up from the bottom. The outlet blasts under the bubble plate, but into the sealed box that is under it. That's right, the very bottom of the skimmer is where the recirc pipes are, above this are two sheets of acrylic, one solid, one drilled, this created the mixing section.....have I lost you yet? Anyway, the skimmer is an EXTERNAL, but unless I have really cocked this up, there is no way to service the pumps without letting 3 gallons blast out over your shagpile whilst this internal sealed reservoir empties.

Lesson 2 for week 5:

Yes ladies and gentlefolk, this weeks update is a long one, apologies if when you started reading this you promised your significant others that you would put the rubbish out, feed the cat, take her to salsa class in 'just a minute'.

So we have removed the pumps, we have switched the impellors, we have put it all back together. Time to refill. In it goes, all the water that I had removed (save for the 3 gallons). I fire up the feed pump, open the taps, off it goes.

I recall how it went wrong last time, ah yes, putting thumb over air line to judge water height. This time, I decide to tweak BEFORE turning on the good dragon. On the Bubbleking the outlet has 2 ways of adjustment. Firstly the pipe is telescopic, so I have that raised right to the top, this is mainly so it goes over the top of the sump. The other means is by rotating the inner pipe in the outlet. The end of which is cut to 45 degrees. The more you turn it, the more the outlet closes, exactly like the FaunaMarin skimmers do. So I close a little, open a little, close a bit more, perfect, right at the base of the riser tube. I feed the fish, scratch my arse, day dream a bit and check it again. It is stable, perfect. Now to test the rd, on it goes....whoooooosh, airy water all over again, just like mumma used to make. It's running, now to leave it the hell alone and never touch it again.

This all happened about 2pm yesterday. It was ok all afternoon, all evening, even well into the night when I finally went to bed, all good!!!

05:00 this morning "SCOTT, SCOTT, FFS WAKE UP. There's water all over the kitchen floor, my feet are wet"

I fall out of bed and ironically knock a bottle of mineral water over, soaking my trousers I had 'neatly' slung on the floor the night before. I then stub my toe on the radiator or something, I dunno, what do you want? a mental image? try this on for size....22 stone bloke in a pair of scruddies, hair like the outback, possibly sporting an oasis classic...wouldn't like to comment, bumbling along an unlit landing toward the 'voice of displeasure' in the kitchen. She was correct, there was indeed water all over the kitchen, she was stood in it, her feet were wet. She told me her feet were wet, I said so are mine, I just knocked over a bottle of evian. Rightly I got a look of thunder, those piercing blue eyes that scream at me 'Big Picture, PLEASE'.

Open the fishroom door and do a split second analysis. Sump empty, pumps screaming, skimmer cup over flowing, water everywhere. You know what? In these situations in Hollywood the numpty of the film will now rub his eyes in the hopes that it's all a mirage, as if wiping the sleep from your tear ducts fixes anything. I can be patronising of this little film sterotype as I tried it, twice. It really doesn't work.

So, as I said, it's 5 am, I have every towel in the world on the floor. Frantically trying to dry the drowning plug sockets, lifting things out of the way, you know the drill. I mop, she screams, same old. I pumped out my drum of water change water and refill the sump, I empty the skimmer cup into the sump. Get it all filled again. Opened the skimmer outlet fully and switched everything back on that looked safe. Anything not safe is still off as I type. No lights for project bad-boy today, will get under there with a hair dryer when I have finished writing this. Honestly, I have salt creep in places I never knew I had places. Minorish floods I am used to, but to lose in excess of 150 litres, sheesh. Still, interesting fact for ya. The skimmer cup on a BubbleKing 650 holds no less than 70 litres of water. How 'bout that? Took 3 buckets to empty it into the sump. So I'm one step closer to divorce, one step closer to the pearly gates of St Peter, but at least I can die happy knowing that it takes 70 Litres to fill a bk650 cup.

Look at me ma, I'm on top of the world!!!!!

cheers for tuning in :cool: ]]> SCOOB http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=54 http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=53 Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:18:37 GMT (Week 3)

Hello,

I have been told that it would be interested for people to see how I've modified by Interpet 50 nano, so here goes.

Equipment:

Interpet River Reef 50 (94 litres)
12 Kg Live Rock
Cheato (compartment #2 at back)
V2 Nano Skimmer

Livestock:

2 False Percs
1 Scarlet legged hermit
1 Cleaner Shrimp
2 Money Cowrys
1 Trochus

So here is my message about getting cheato in the back compartment:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes I did scrape off the back black stuff, but it's a ******!

I twisted the aquarium round so that I could get my arm round, then used a wallpaper scraper (the triangle ended ones) to scrape it off. It's really stuck fast though.

Once you get the black stuff off, you are left with a very sticky surface, so I used Isopropynol to rub that off. It's not a very neat job, but no one is looking at the back

I then got some little striplights from Woolworths, but the transformer melted them over night (black hole in the back. So I went to Wickes and got 2 under cabinet 10W flourescent tubes. I stuck them with little velcro pads top and bottom (next to each other and facing the glass) then used gaffer tape to hold them in place.

I then took some Kitchen Foil and made a loose cover round the back (to stop it lighting the whole room at night).

It's like Blue Bloody Peter in my house!

I hope the cheato appreciates the effort I've gone to!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So for anyone who didn't read the nightmare I had this weekend, here it is:


I got Milliput and checked with at least 3 people that it would be safe to use on a stocked tank (bearing in mind I'v never done this before).

So my tank now has a cleanup crew and 2 percs.

I did as I was told and formed the milliput, then rinsed it to get the dust off, but when I used it to block the vents at the back, the water went so cloudy that the percs sank to the bottom (gasping for air). It was a nightmare! 3 weeks in and I'd already nearly destroyed everything I'd done!
I rushed to my LFS and got an airstone to try and oxygenate the water. The water took all day and all night to clear (I had the skimmer running which was pulling a lot of white gunk out).

I really thought the percs would be dead by morning, one was lying on its side and the other was poking it as if to say "Come on! Get up!". It was heartbreaking.

Anyway, but morning the water had cleared (and the fine filter sponge was full of white dust). The percs were happy and have continued to be fine and feeding. The Skunk shrimp molted and the hermit crab found a new (huge!) shell to drag around.

So all is well (thank god!) although the live rock still has a white dusty covering (which won't hoover off) and I think it's killed off some of the stuff growing on it (don't have any corals yet - thank god).

An awful weekend, but with a happy ending.

(I did lose 1 snail, but it seemed pretty DOA from the LFS and refused to move even for the day before this happened.)

Sorry for the long post, but other newbies please be aware of Milliput.


:thanks: ]]> jimchayts http://www.UltimateReef.net/forums/blog.php?b=53