kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[kien]

I love the performance of Hydor 700. It skims very well and I am quite pleased with it. However, there is one thing that I do absolutely hate about it and that is the fact that you require herculean strength to remove the skimmer cup. It is held in quite tightly by an O-ring. Often times I find myself wiggling, jiggling, twisting, turning, and whatever else I can do to get that darn skimmer cup off. Sometimes I get fed up and just give it good 'ol brute force which unfortunately usually results in the contents of the skimmer cup ending right back into the sump

It was finally time for an intervention. What I ended up doing was removing that darn O-ring completely.





In order to prevent water leaking out of the skimmer cup's neck I employed a gasket instead. The gasket is cut out of that thinish foamy paper that you can get from craft stores like Michaels.



I cut out a ring the exact size of the skimmer neck and seated it on the lip that the skimmer cup rests on.



Lastly, the skimmer cup had a little bit of play in it due to the removal of that O-ring so I needed to shim it a bit with something. After trying various types of tape I finally settled on a strip of electrical tape which made a perfect fit.



The skimmer cup now sits into the main skimmer body quite nicely with a smooth and gentle insertion force.



This has worked out quite well and now I no longer dread cleaning the skimmer cup.

[kien]

These NP-Bio Pellets seem to be all the rage. Gotta keep up with the Jone's right? So I ordered a batch with Tony to try out. Like everyone else, I'm curious to see how well they work. My current Phosphate control method of choice is a TLF Phosban reactor stuffed with Rowaphos. Personally I don't really know if it is doing anything since my test kit never seems to read anything and the chaeto in my 'fuge doesn't seem to grow all that well. Nevertheless, like a good reefkeeper I run it.

Here it is, a bag off NP Bio Lentils (as Tony likes to call them).



I am actually quite happy to be rid of the Rowaphos as it is quite a bother to set up each month. The emptying, cleaning, disposing, refilling, rinsing.. what a pain! And messy to boot.

These biopellets are great. No rinsing, they are easy to manage, just open bag and dump into canister. Plus they dissolve so there's no cleanup after use. Easy peasy!

Out with the old in with the new!


And here's my one two punch, carbon and bio lentils daisy chained.


I've decided to run about 600ml to start out with. There is a slight tumble of the bioPellets in the reactor.


So this evening Tony came by with his probe. We got a nitrate reading of 8 which I don't think is anything to really be concerned about but certainly not zero like my test kit likes to try to tell me.

Parameters to note for testing purposes:
Nitrate: 8 (with Pinpoint Meter)
Phosphate: Colourless on test kit.
Specific Gravity: 1.026
Temp: 79-81F
Ph: 7.9 - 8.3
Alk: 8.5
Calc: 420ppm
Mag: 1400ppm

* I feed a combination of formula 1&2 flakes and pellets twice a day and sometimes frozen fish mush that I make up with PE Mysis.
* I have about 18 fish that I feed, plus inverts like shrimp, crabs, starfish and various LPS that I spot feed.
* I do not currently have any nuisance algae.
* I do not run zeo or use any additives other than the odd Coral Snow once in a blue moon.

In about a week or two I will have Tony come by and probe me again to see where we're at with the readings.

[shrimpchips]

Originally Posted by kien

In about a week or two I will have Tony come by and probe me again

Sounds like a good time.

Should be interesting to see them run in a reactor - if they don't breakdown and clog the reactor, I think I'll be ordering some after my GFO runs out.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by kien

In about a week or two I will have Tony come by and probe me again

WHOAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by kien

I love the performance of Hydor 700. It skims very well and I am quite pleased with it. However, there is one thing that I do absolutely hate about it and that is the fact that you require herculean strength to remove the skimmer cup. It is held in quite tightly by an O-ring. Often times I find myself wiggling, jiggling, twisting, turning, and whatever else I can do to get that darn skimmer cup off. Sometimes I get fed up and just give it good 'ol brute force which unfortunately usually results in the contents of the skimmer cup ending right back into the sump

It was finally time for an intervention. What I ended up doing was removing that darn O-ring completely.

In order to prevent water leaking out of the skimmer cup's neck I employed a gasket instead. The gasket is cut out of that thinish foamy paper that you can get from craft stores like Michaels.

I cut out a ring the exact size of the skimmer neck and seated it on the lip that the skimmer cup rests on.

Lastly, the skimmer cup had a little bit of play in it due to the removal of that O-ring so I needed to shim it a bit with something. After trying various types of tape I finally settled on a strip of electrical tape which made a perfect fit.

The skimmer cup now sits into the main skimmer body quite nicely with a smooth and gentle insertion force.

This has worked out quite well and now I no longer dread cleaning the skimmer cup.

I know what you mean....I was just at a clients house yesterday where the gentleman (who's tank it is) has been away for three weeks...his g/f hasnt touched the skimmer( a hydor) and I dang near had to get a crowbar out to pry the skimate fused cup off....of course she is standing there looking at me like Im some sort of weakling....

Great solution! Should market them as Kien's skimmer cup-eze.

[kien]

Thought I'd throw down some photos of some new additions from the last couple of months (or so).

[kien]

Okay, so I guess not *all* of them are new, but they are pretty :-)

[JDigital]

Sweet Tailspot!

[lastlight]

Incredible photos and I'll second that...I so want a tailspot!

[kien]

Originally Posted by JDigital

Sweet Tailspot!

Ya, he's the family's new favourite fish! He has such a great personality. He swims around openly, back and forth through the tank. He'll rest on something just to stare at YOU while you peer into the tank, so funny.