I am going to do a little update... I think that this is really just for my purposes, so that I can have a record of things, as I go forward... Reason I am saying that, is that I am sure most of what I will post, will seem sort of trivial/meaningless, so just disregard if you guys want
9/18/08: Did some mesh modding on my skimmer pumps last night... Strange results were to follow... I had done one of them earlier in the week... My goal was to get each of my Aquabees to pull 500 L/H of air... When I did the first one I used two pieces of Enkamat, and I put them right on top of the pins of the pinwheel... I pulled them pretty tight with low test fishing line... The first piece that I put on the impeller was cut out in the center, so that I could get the mesh to push all the way down among the pins... The second piece, I just sat on top, and found a good hole for the ceramic rod to go through... Pulled it all down real tight, and then started to trim the mesh down... I only trimmed the mesh down enough that it would not rub on any part of the volute... I stuck her in, and fired it up... When I hooked it to the scfh meter, the little indicator ball was bouncing up and down a bit, right in between 18 and 20... So I am calling it 17.75 scfh, because that = 502 L/H of air… Since my goal is 1000 from the two pumps I called that good… So last night I decided to do the other pump, and I did it exactly like the other one, only this one would only register around a 15 on the meter… Needless to say, I was not happy
I pulled the impeller to inspect it, and it looked exactly like the other one, so I studied it a little while longer and decided that maybe this pump just needed an extra layer… I re-did the mesh mod, and did it exactly like the first one, except I used 3 layers of mesh… I had to trim the mesh down a little bit more than I did on the first one, because the pump would not start unless I did… I hooked this one up to the meter, and amazingly it was registering the same… Around 18-20 scfh, but I am calling this one 17.75 as well… So my skimmer is now a 1000 L/H +++, skimmer… I can see the difference it made, and I even changed the configuration of the plumbing on the inside
I went to Lowe’s and bought some ½†elbows, and a piece of ½†PVC… The original plumbing had the input just shooting straight against the opposite side, and it had 45 degree elbows on the output of the re-circulating pumps... This seemed to cause problems, because the water entering the skimmer seemed to disturb the bubbles as they were reacting with the water... The input was blowing right through the middle of them… I changed the input plumbing, so that it would put the water down towards the input of the recircs… I added a 90 degree elbow pointing straight down, and a short piece of PVC, so that the water would not enter the body until it was down there… The way it was, I think it was causing too much turbulence… On the outputs of the Aquabees, I also put 90 degree elbows pointing straight down, so that the bubbles would have much more contact time… I think this will make the skimmer much more efficient than it was… The thing that is so good about that, is that it was really efficient to begin with, so my tank should be that much more clean from now on… This should really help when I have it filled to capacity
9/19/08: I am still using the KZ Aminos, with great results so far… I have also added another supplement to the mix… I picked up some Elos Pro Skimmer… I think it may be similar to the Aminos in a way, but is marketed as a “coral energizerâ€Â… It calls for 3 drops per 26 gallons of true water volume… I started supplementing it the day I got home from Macna, but I started by adding only 1 drop total… I am slowly working my way up, and plan to stop at the point that gives the best results, and that is assuming that I see any… If I get to a certain point, and can see no benefit , then I will stop using it… Right now, I am up to 4 drops total… I plan to move up to the 5th drop today… Between the two supplements, one of them is working quite well, as my corals are really colorful at this point… I mean, before the Aminos, my corals really were washed out looking… Even when they were not bleached, they just seemed to not be happy… They are all very very happy right now… They have amazing colors, and SUPER polyp extension… I guess I can’t ask for more than that, unless I was to ask for a more rapid growth… However, I enjoy watching them change slowly, so I would not even think to be wishing for rapid growth
I guess that is really all I have for now… I have had no issues, events, or happenings with the system… It just seems to be existing happily for now, and I hope it stays that way… I continue to use limewater for all top off, and I add 2 teaspoons of baking soda every 24 hours to keep my Alkalinity stable… I use carbon in a bag, and it is tumbled around in the skimmer compartment of my sump, by a maxi mod... I use Warner Phosar in a TLF reactor, and there is barely a trickle moving through it right now... I am thinking of putting some carbon in an additional reactor, and then running the output from the GFO through it... This is just a thought, so that any harmful chemicals that may come from the GFO, could possibly be removed by the carbon... We will see how long it takes me to get that done
... The chaeto in my fuge has finally started to grow, but if I have one complaint about my system, it would be the fuge... Man does that thing stay dirty... I really can't stand it, and want to clean it every time I look at it... The only thing that stops me is that I feel that would defeat the purpose of the thing... I would just end up sucking any life from there, right back out into a drain
9/19/08: Oh, one more thing... I did add one fish to my display this week... I added a mandarin, and boy is that one beautiful fish... The only problem that I have is that this fish will not stop hiding... I can't stand the fact that I have such a beautiful fish in my tank, and it never comes out
... I mean, are these fish always like that, or did I just get a bad one?
Later,
NathanS
