cover your pump intakes well!!!!!

[wfuavenger]

I have a peach tipped star fish. I guess the star was curious about what was in the powerhead. It pulled off the cover (or wiggled it loose) and by trying to free his other arms, got ALL but 2 stuck in the intake of my reversable pump. He has 2 stumps and one messed up arm.

The arms are growing back pretty quick but I am feeding him every other day now to help out.

So much for a peach tip on each finger.

(he has really helped out by eatting asterina stars like popcorn)

 

[DNickell]

I got started with salt water aquariums when someone gave me a 29 gallon tank (I have never forgiven him). It came with a wet/dry filter and the bizillion blue bioballs.

I quickly learned of potential problems with the bioballs and they went into storage. Not long after that I had a really nice shrimp get sucked into a powerhead. It was not pretty.

Ever since then I always keep a blue bioball on the intake of my powerheads. Water flows right through, snails, crabs, shrimp and even starfish crawl right over it with no apparent discomfort.

When a bioball starts to get filled with the debris it has sucked in, I simply change it out, hosing out the used one and drying it thoroughly. After all, I have a bizillion of them.

 

[wfuavenger]

thats a good idea.

 

[DNickell]

The main drawback is that you hear all the blue ball and power head jokes.