Building Big Bertha: 800G
- Thread starter bbrantley
- Start date
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11521225#post11521225 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 20 20
What's an update without pics?
Why do I get this peanut gallery comment every time?
I cleaned the entire glass today, so I will take a picture in a few minutes for you. You better be the first one to comment and thank me, though!<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11522758#post11522758 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by new_world_disor
WOW. ur tank is.... jaw dropping. ./ i think your skimmer is bigger than my current project
Just be glad you don't have to empty and clean a skimmer the size of your project.
B
Hi Tony,
I am very happy with it. It is my first real skimmer, and it wasn't hard to set up. It runs predictably and like a workhorse, or at least it has been for something like 9 months now. I have very low bioload right now, but it is still sucking everything out of the water.
The downsides are that there is no manual (I need to check with Scott and see if anything has changed in that boat), so it is hard to know what the appropriate maintenance routines are. Also, it is definitely hard to get down into the skimmer body to clean it... impossible, in some places, even. I have seen people clean using an acid, but even that will be tricky on a skimmer this large without some help. (It is bulky and heavy and it will be hard to turn it over and drain it.)
Ben
Two questions for the peanut gallery:
1. My powerheads/pumps are dying. Not the ones that run the system 24/7, thankfully, but the spare ones I've been using for maintenance. I had a MAG 15 that was three years old that died, and I replaced it with another of the same model. I used it once, for about 3 minutes, and then put it away. The next time I took it out, it was dead. No humming, nothing.
The same thing happened with a cheaper powerhead I bought. (Not sure what model.) It worked the first time, and I used it to blow off rocks for about 15 minutes. Now, same thing: it's dead. I took the shroud off and the impeller seems okay. Plugging it in produces nothing.
Are these things fused? Am I just getting unlucky?
2. I noticed some tiny white things growing on a few of my rocks today. Most are on the underside or in the shade. They do not blow off, which is how I found them in the first place -- I thought they were large sand grains at first! They look like little flower buds, almost, but closed up sorta. They're probably no more than 1 or 2mm long. I might have fifty or 60 on a rock in a couple places. Do I need to bust out the macro lens to get an ID, or does anyone know what these are already?
Thanks,
Ben
1. My powerheads/pumps are dying. Not the ones that run the system 24/7, thankfully, but the spare ones I've been using for maintenance. I had a MAG 15 that was three years old that died, and I replaced it with another of the same model. I used it once, for about 3 minutes, and then put it away. The next time I took it out, it was dead. No humming, nothing.
The same thing happened with a cheaper powerhead I bought. (Not sure what model.) It worked the first time, and I used it to blow off rocks for about 15 minutes. Now, same thing: it's dead. I took the shroud off and the impeller seems okay. Plugging it in produces nothing.
Are these things fused? Am I just getting unlucky?
2. I noticed some tiny white things growing on a few of my rocks today. Most are on the underside or in the shade. They do not blow off, which is how I found them in the first place -- I thought they were large sand grains at first! They look like little flower buds, almost, but closed up sorta. They're probably no more than 1 or 2mm long. I might have fifty or 60 on a rock in a couple places. Do I need to bust out the macro lens to get an ID, or does anyone know what these are already?
Thanks,
Ben
chris wright
In Memoriam
G'day Ben,
I'm not going to annoy you with update requests :lol:
As for your pumps I'd say just plain bad luck. As you know, sometimes things just don't work. Is it in warranty? Send it back if you can.
As for the white dots, you would be best to post a picture, if you can get a good one that is. I'd imagine that it will be hard due to the angle by the sound of it.
Cheers
I'm not going to annoy you with update requests :lol:
As for your pumps I'd say just plain bad luck. As you know, sometimes things just don't work. Is it in warranty? Send it back if you can.
As for the white dots, you would be best to post a picture, if you can get a good one that is. I'd imagine that it will be hard due to the angle by the sound of it.
Cheers
AquariumSpecialty
.Registered Member
I will pester Klaus again for a BK Ext. manual. We have manuals on the mini's and the internals but not the externals. Glad to hear the skimmer is performing nicely Ben.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11523726#post11523726 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
I just had an octo NW pump totally fuse and I couldn't believe that could happen with a magnetic drive pump.
How about this?
That's an MJ1200 mod with a pipe fitted in the end. This bad boy is wicked powerful. We call it the Reef Blower.
I saw your Reef Blower a while back, and it so happens that I just placed an order for two sets of these suckers. I suppose the pipe fitting part will be easy enough to do myself.
Ben
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11523834#post11523834 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AquariumSpecialty
I will pester Klaus again for a BK Ext. manual. We have manuals on the mini's and the internals but not the externals. Glad to hear the skimmer is performing nicely Ben.
Thank you sir!
AquariumSpecialty
.Registered Member
Ben, They look similar to Grantia or Scypha sp. sponges but it might be a different species. I use to have these in an old reef tank many years ago. They typically do well in overflows, sumps, or in dark areas of the aquarium with good flow.
chris wright
In Memoriam
I agree, I have them in my canister filter, as I don't have a sump.
Oh, and thanks for the pics, btw.
Can you get a close up of the fuzzy stuff that's on the rocks in this picture?:
Looks a heck of a lot, from a distance, like the stuff I've been fighting for quite a while. If it is the same stuff, I'd like to know what you are doing/have done about it, because I just can't get rid of it.
Can you get a close up of the fuzzy stuff that's on the rocks in this picture?:
Looks a heck of a lot, from a distance, like the stuff I've been fighting for quite a while. If it is the same stuff, I'd like to know what you are doing/have done about it, because I just can't get rid of it.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11524190#post11524190 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 20 20
Oh, and thanks for the pics, btw.
Can you get a close up of the fuzzy stuff that's on the rocks in this picture?:
Looks a heck of a lot, from a distance, like the stuff I've been fighting for quite a while. If it is the same stuff, I'd like to know what you are doing/have done about it, because I just can't get rid of it.
On those rocks are at least three different kinds of algae. The fuzzy, hairy stuff is brand new -- it popped up over the two week break while I was gone. It's almost certainly because the autofeeder dumped in more food than was eaten or skimmed out. Totally nutrient driven.
For a while my tank had TONS of that fuzzy stuff all over every rock, but I came back from a weekend trip a few months ago and it was pretty much completely gone. Mostly the rocks now just have a very short, dark algae growing on them. It reminds me of what a lot of rocks look like in the ocean, so I'm not too concerned about it.
I still haven't plumbed the GFO reactor. I suspect reducing phosphates to zero will kill off a lot more of it.
Ben
The fuzzy hairy stuff I've got is just that when it's short, but if I let it go it turns into blobby snotty stuff (that's the scientific name, I believe) with some bubbles in it. From the descriptions I've read of dino's, I've been assuming what I've got IS dino's. Did any of yours turn into the blobby snotty stuff?
