OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef
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sherm71tank
Premium Member
Remember your zen breathing.
jnarowe
New member
Just a quick update. Camera is on store duty. 
Anyway, since Winter has arrived, I thought I would remind everyone to check their powerheads after outages. We had some brief outages yesterday and I found the Tunze Nano not running today. These el cheapo powerheads don't seem to take power fluctuations very well. The Koralias need coaxing sometimes too.
So the moral of the story is, check all pumps/powerheads after an outage to make sure they are running!
Corals look good. The frag shelf is completely full of sweet young corals. Got a new bud on the Aussie Duncan a couple of days ago. Fed my wandering PLTA last night and tonight. I don't know what it is up to, but it has a suspicious look...hiding out under the reef.
Several of the corals that apparently had died during the dino battle are showing signs of fighting back. Even the birdsnest that completely RTN'd has a finger with some flesh on it. I think all it takes are a few viable cells for a colony to come back, so what I do is leave "dead" colonies behind the rockwork and see what happens. I have had corals re-start after having appeared to be dead for months.
Otherwise, all is well on the reef...at least the part I can see!
Anyway, since Winter has arrived, I thought I would remind everyone to check their powerheads after outages. We had some brief outages yesterday and I found the Tunze Nano not running today. These el cheapo powerheads don't seem to take power fluctuations very well. The Koralias need coaxing sometimes too.
So the moral of the story is, check all pumps/powerheads after an outage to make sure they are running!
Corals look good. The frag shelf is completely full of sweet young corals. Got a new bud on the Aussie Duncan a couple of days ago. Fed my wandering PLTA last night and tonight. I don't know what it is up to, but it has a suspicious look...hiding out under the reef.
Several of the corals that apparently had died during the dino battle are showing signs of fighting back. Even the birdsnest that completely RTN'd has a finger with some flesh on it. I think all it takes are a few viable cells for a colony to come back, so what I do is leave "dead" colonies behind the rockwork and see what happens. I have had corals re-start after having appeared to be dead for months.
Otherwise, all is well on the reef...at least the part I can see!
jnarowe
New member
Well, I have finally run out of patience with Eco-Tech. After well over a year of struggling with their pumps, being bait-and-switched, having my tank ruined, and losing a lot of livestock, I cannot let it go any more.
They have repeatedly insisted that my tank room conditions were making the pumps run too hot, and offered multiple solutions, mostly consisting of minor alterations and using the pumps at far less than the expected flow rate. They have now changed their mind and are insisting that my tank is at fault, claiming that it is improperly manufactured.
It's with great disgust that I post the following:
VORTECH PUMP ALERT!!
These are different angles of one area of my tank that crazed heavily because a Vortech pump over-heated. I do not recommend that you use these pumps on any acrylic tank. They operate anywhere from 109F to 150F and over time the heat can ruin acrylic.
They have repeatedly insisted that my tank room conditions were making the pumps run too hot, and offered multiple solutions, mostly consisting of minor alterations and using the pumps at far less than the expected flow rate. They have now changed their mind and are insisting that my tank is at fault, claiming that it is improperly manufactured.
It's with great disgust that I post the following:
VORTECH PUMP ALERT!!
These are different angles of one area of my tank that crazed heavily because a Vortech pump over-heated. I do not recommend that you use these pumps on any acrylic tank. They operate anywhere from 109F to 150F and over time the heat can ruin acrylic.
jnarowe
New member
There are a lot of threads/post regarding the heat issue. I have gotten many messages about it as well.
And BTW, all the pumps crazed the tank in the early days because they were running hot. That was a superficial situation which I turned the other cheek to, and turned down the pumps so that they wouldn't operate above 130F. This one was set at 60% and apparently freaked out and over-clocked. I really have no idea what went wrong with this pump, but Eco-Tech has flatly refused to make good on the tank, and repeatedly told me that I use them at my own risk.
With dedicated fans, I am able to run them at full speed and keep the external temp. down to about 109F - 119F.
And BTW, all the pumps crazed the tank in the early days because they were running hot. That was a superficial situation which I turned the other cheek to, and turned down the pumps so that they wouldn't operate above 130F. This one was set at 60% and apparently freaked out and over-clocked. I really have no idea what went wrong with this pump, but Eco-Tech has flatly refused to make good on the tank, and repeatedly told me that I use them at my own risk.
With dedicated fans, I am able to run them at full speed and keep the external temp. down to about 109F - 119F.
jnarowe
New member
Marc,
It can't be reinforced. The tank manufacturers I have spoken with, including James at Envision have said replacement is the only option. Trying to glue on a patch will not work because over time the crazing will grow beyond the patch. Plus the glue itself could cause even more damage. Since you have worked with acrylic quite a bit, I am sure you are aware of how the glue would react with the cracking.
The good news is that it is not seeping yet. The bad news is that Eco-Tech has dis-owned me. Sucks pretty bad since I weathered major issues throughout my ownership experience. The latest "suggestion" from Eco-Tech is that we drill out the crazed areas and install bulkheads, but they continue to claim that my tank is incorrectly manufactured, even though they have never seen it, nor have any of their tank experts.
I have an above ground pool coming just in case this thing blows.
Gabriel, you know I nearly round-filed my Tunze nano because it was a total piece of junk, but then Dahn Nguyen modded it to run extremely well. I am going to put a Vortech in his hands, and see what he can do.
I had talked with Eco-Tech at length about modding the motors and at the time, Tim told me that installing a fan on the shaft would keep the pumps much cooler and solve my over-heating issues. Unfortunately, that was one of the bait-and-switches, where they decided to send the subject pump back without the mod. telling me that if I ran the pumps on pulse, they wouldn't over-heat. That is indeed true so far, but the pump area pictured above is from one of the pmps that had yet to get a WWD swap out.
I am not a happy camper. And this tank is built into the tank room, so removing it would include tearing out the wall and sliders, and I just cannot imagine the misery that will cause. Every Vortech I have seen in person was running at an external temp. above 135F and I have recorded temps. near and above 150F.
It can't be reinforced. The tank manufacturers I have spoken with, including James at Envision have said replacement is the only option. Trying to glue on a patch will not work because over time the crazing will grow beyond the patch. Plus the glue itself could cause even more damage. Since you have worked with acrylic quite a bit, I am sure you are aware of how the glue would react with the cracking.
The good news is that it is not seeping yet. The bad news is that Eco-Tech has dis-owned me. Sucks pretty bad since I weathered major issues throughout my ownership experience. The latest "suggestion" from Eco-Tech is that we drill out the crazed areas and install bulkheads, but they continue to claim that my tank is incorrectly manufactured, even though they have never seen it, nor have any of their tank experts.
I have an above ground pool coming just in case this thing blows.
Gabriel, you know I nearly round-filed my Tunze nano because it was a total piece of junk, but then Dahn Nguyen modded it to run extremely well. I am going to put a Vortech in his hands, and see what he can do.
I had talked with Eco-Tech at length about modding the motors and at the time, Tim told me that installing a fan on the shaft would keep the pumps much cooler and solve my over-heating issues. Unfortunately, that was one of the bait-and-switches, where they decided to send the subject pump back without the mod. telling me that if I ran the pumps on pulse, they wouldn't over-heat. That is indeed true so far, but the pump area pictured above is from one of the pmps that had yet to get a WWD swap out.
I am not a happy camper. And this tank is built into the tank room, so removing it would include tearing out the wall and sliders, and I just cannot imagine the misery that will cause. Every Vortech I have seen in person was running at an external temp. above 135F and I have recorded temps. near and above 150F.
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