Kessil

NanoCrazed's Lazy Tank(s) Journal

Pest tank
===

Well. That wasn't expected.

My kenya trees went unclaimed so left them out in the yard planning to compost. But last minute decide i could dump them all into my pest tank and let them go wild.

Whoops...

...turns out a few days out, they were melting inside despite looking fine outside.

Kicked my tank into cycling again. Too bad think the ball nems, aiptasias, and majanos are all melting to get in on the cycling action. Ammonia is probably sky high.

Being that this is next to my keyboard, man does it stink... lol

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Evo 13.5
===

Bad news: lost another Ultimate Chicago Sunburst today... 2nd mysterious sudden death in this tank. Went from fully healthy 3"+ nem to complete necrosis in less than 24 hours.
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Better news: figured out the culprit finally. Damned shrooms in the corner. Both sudden losses were after nem snuggled up to the shrooms.
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Yumas, i expect. These I didn't. Time to evict them!
 
AquaJapan85
===

Just saw my female mandarin out roaming -- looks like the lancing procedure was a success... Feeding and acting normal. Though, I didn't full work out the excess air from her air bladder. just enough to give her range of motion so she's not at the mercy of the powerheads. so, she's still slightly bulged but I think of it as a balance -- don't want to be too aggressive on the lancing.
 
AquaJapan85
====

Aaaargh!!

My Trident stopped taking in water samples. Thought it was a clogged line. Cleared it... still could prime

Swapped line in from another unit... nope.

Will try to clear it again later... thankfully i just picked up another Trident so will swap it in. But that also means my calibration needs to be rechecked... and no calibration solution. sigh

Will make do with water from my other tank... i standardized the calibration with same calibration solution between that and my DT no long ago. So should be close enough.
 
AquaJapan85
====

Aaaargh!!

My Trident stopped taking in water samples. Thought it was a clogged line. Cleared it... still could prime

Swapped line in from another unit... nope.

Will try to clear it again later... thankfully i just picked up another Trident so will swap it in. But that also means my calibration needs to be rechecked... and no calibration solution. sigh

Will make do with water from my other tank... i standardized the calibration with same calibration solution between that and my DT no long ago. So should be close enough.
I have some sealed calibration solution for you in Sunnyvale if you'd like
 
Took the trident apart. Fixed it.

The tubes connecting to the hub were all loose... probably slipped off over time. Found reagent spills all over the backside. Fun.

But, cleaned up mess, and reseated tubes... all seems well again.
 
AquaJapan85
===

Once again, the Trident misbehaved. Kept showing Test B Fail.

Spent all day running dosing without trident input. Not my idea of fun...kept wondering where my numbers were. Quite the crutch i build for myself being so dependent on the Trident...

Finally opened up the unit again and found the solenoid controlling reagent b access was sticking from dried reagent and what bot from when the lines came loose. Clened it up with alcohol and seem to be back in biz. Though, I think that solenoid has limited life left.

While i was in tinkering mode, i finally opened up my vertex 180i to clean and attempt to convert to DC... been waiting for the Sicce psk 1200 sdc to come out but taking forever. Losing my patience.

The PSK 1200 SDC should be plug and play swap out for the stock pump in ther vertex. But since that's taking so long, i am planning to convert the skimmer to ise and external pump... now trying to decide of i want tk use a jebao DCP 3000 or a varios 2.

Advantage of jebao is i have everything I need now (3d prints the pinwheel impeller and venturi) but the Varios has a float switch and smaller footprint...but i need to order a new pinwheel impeller for it.
 
AquaJapan85
===

After swapping out my Vertex 180i for the SImplicity 240 for a quieter DC skimmer, I feel that the results just isn't as good... partly because I did not adjust the skimmer height since I was trying it out... in case I wanted to swap back.

So, have been working on converting my Vertex 180i skimmer to DC. I originally wanted to go with a literal plug and play with a newly announced Sicce DC pump (Sicce PSK 1200 SDC) -- but turned out it was a tease. Not yet available.

Then I resigned myself to make do with either a Jebao DCP-3000. or Varios 2. Would have been a complete McGyver job (for those who remember the good ol' days)... I printed out the parts for the Jebao but then needed to steal one from a running system and haven't had time to devote to the swap... I then next though, well... maybe I will buy a new pinwheel impeller for converting the used Varios 2 I bought to skimmer... trouble is, parts are out of stock.. literally right as I was about to check out someone bought the last 1 impeller.

And so, seems problem solved itself with time. The Sicce pump was made available just this afternoon on a site I frequently buy from (at least shows in stock). Jumped on that one. even paid for premium ship vs free ground. :). best $10 spent on ship if it gets here by Monday or Tues. Needed some more Trident 6-month anyway so 2 birds with 1 premium ship stone!
 
bad reefing mojo continues...

lost another kole tang today while on a call. heard a splash and got water on me so initial reaction was fish jumped... so looked for a jumper right away but couldn't find any signs despite tearing up everything.

So figured, maybe just one fo the tangs making a fuss so went back to my call. Realized my kole was missing after my call was over and went scouring again. after another 15 - 20 mins, I then realized it was wedged in a tight spot between my drain hoses and stand, behind the tank. the 1 in a mil spot it shouldn't have been able to get to.

2 kole tangs lost in a week from different tanks... what are the chances.
 
In non-livestock related news, was super excited that my new Sicce PSK skimmer pump would be arriving today so that i can upgrade my vertex omega 180i and put it back into service. Nope.

Stuck with FedEx somewhere 3 hours away... (near Modesto).

Grrrrr
 
I heard UPS is having a labor strike :p :p
Damn you for cursing me!!

Good news, packaged shipped Monday. On FedEx

Bad news. It's making a tour of the state. Was due yesterday. But somehow wound up traveling to Bakersfield, then Modesto, then Stockton, and now currently in Lodi.... wtf.
 
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