280g Inwall

[Delphinus]

Am starting to feel full-on FML with things.

Removing the broken glass has been a fairly miserable experience. I ended up chipping a spot in the right hand wall in the process. It's above the waterline so I think a generous dollop of silicone will suffice to fix it but still, darn it all to that. I ended up pretty much having to smash the glass to smithereens in the end and even still I was at it for a couple hours. The 6mm glass is surprisingly resilient against hammer strikes.

I've been having problems with the Tunzes too. I bought one used a few years ago and then I bought one new but it was before the newer style 6105's were out, they are the old style 6100 outboards. They were in use on my cube tank for a couple years when that tank's sole purpose was a dedicated species tank for my H. magnifica anemone. When I sold the anemone I cleaned the Tunzes and put them into storage so that while the cube tank limped along as a holding tank for all my livestock that came out of my 75g when I shut it down, I just used some relatively inexpensive Sunsun powerheads (looks like a dual small new-style Tunze but doubled up).

Putting these Tunzes on a Wavysea is something I've been wanting to see in action for a long long time. Now that they are on (albeit in a partially, but mostly filled tank in just FW), they're having problems. They're perfectly clean but it seems that they jam. The newer one uses a 7420.27 driver and the older one uses a 7420.26 driver. Whichever pump is on the older 7420.26 will occasionally just stop spinning and then the jam alarm sounds. It scares the heck out of you when you're working downstairs alone at 1am and you're not expecting it. Switching the pump drivers and the problem seems to follow the driver and not the pump.

Unfortunately, Roger Vitko of Tunze USA had this to say about things:

The drivers are no longer made and have been out of stock since February. They cannot be repaired. Your assessment may be correct but the 7240.270 driver was stronger, it was made to support the wavebox and 6200 and its development coincided with those pumps which needed a higher starting power. My guess is that the pumps are partially jammed or the drive units are worn past the optimal point and that it is not a bad driver, it is just the 7240.270 can produce more power to overcome the higher drag of worn or dirty drive units. 7240.270 came out in late 2004 so we have to assume at least the older pump was made before late 2004 and if the drive unit is still original it is past due for replacement, 6100.700 may solve the problem.

I might as well start off by trying a replacement drive unit. At least the cost isn't terribly prohibitive and I suppose maybe I'm due for a change in fortune at some point so it's worth a try. If it works out it beats buying a whole new Tunze or a Vortech. If it doesn't work, well, at least it doesn't change the outlook. But if I am looking at a whole unit replacement then the tank startup is pushed back months. I don't think my fish in the 110 can wait that long so if it comes to that I may be faced with some decisions. I really hope it doesn't come to that.

Since I'm on the topic .. Just given the way things work out I am totally expecting to find out that the wavebox as well will not work out on this tank. BVA built the overflow so high up that there is only about 3/4" at the top of the overflow and I'm pretty sure this won't be enough to handle the wave action. On an empty tank I can produce a 2" wave. The effect is great to watch but the way things have been going on this tank, every bloody step of the way .... there's really no reason at this point to expect that this will just sort itself out happily.

On a brighter note, Jay is coming over tonight to help me finish rebuilding my sump. I appreciate the help dude, I'll be in your debt.