Have fun with the pumps Kevin
I have, am & will. Water changes are getting done...as we type! :thumbs up:
Lost Creek 270
- Thread starter LostCreekReefer
- Start date
Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:
I have, am & will. Water changes are getting done...as we type! :thumbs up:
Warms the cockles of my heart Kevin
I KNOW! Isn't it flipping AMAZING?!?
I like warm cockles.............................................lol. Seriously, I hope you get it all figgered out, trying to match input/output has to be a PITA. Good luck.
HA! so I have this 'purely' hypothetical question...you know, those osmotic pumps....on the SpectraPure LiterMeter III? Do you think (hypothetically speaking) that a pump that sucked up a huge hunk of algae would pump at the same rate as one that no algae in it?? Hypothetically... (I can hear Charles chuckling in the background...)
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, did we clear this hypothetcal piece of algae out of your hypothetical pump? Is it possible to put a hypothetical pre-filter on the hypothetical line that feeds this hypothetical pump?
And who is this "Charles" person?
And who is this "Charles" person?
Ha! So we hypothetically took the pump apart...rinsed out the short piece of tubing that makes the pump work & out popped a rather largish chunk of algae. The now re-calibrated pumps runs at 161cc/min rather than the 28cc/min it was managing before...a pre-filter has crossed my mind (now), don't know what to do there, will call SpectraPure today for their suggestions...any bright ideas out there???, right now there is a 1/4 polyethylene tube in the water. Pretty funny.
I am glad you fixed the hypothetical problem Kevin .
Where is the tubing at Kev, in the sump?
.Where is the tubing at Kev, in the sump?
It is down in the skimmer side of my sump. Debbie & I have been really getting after the algae in the display (sometimes weeding 2X daily) and our efforts are beginning to make a visible difference. That being said, we do dislodge a good amount of the hair algae and it floats around, to get stuck on coral, overflows, Tunze pumps, other pumps, I just did not consider the 1/4" tube as a possible target, so now It's on the list! The fish really have gotten used to 'arm coral' in the tank. They are right there when I go in to root up the algae, looking for tasty tidbits that get suspended in the water....sometimes I look tasty, too!
Something to be aware of, some algae when you pick it will multiply quicker, especially if released into the water column. I do speak with a little experience on this. Also the oils on the arm coral really have a tendency to make your your skimmer go nuts, or quit. Speaking of skimmers................................... do you think yours is efficient?
When we pick, we try to avoid letting of the algae go...an imperfectly executed operation for sure!
I have nothing to compare this skimmer to, just a hang-on-back skimmer that I used while we moved fish & rock & the aquarium in, initially. I hated that one! That being said, I think this one is fine , it is an ATI Bubble Master 250 (2 mesh wheel pumps for input); I had the little dust up a few weeks ago where I was ready to run it over & drop $$$ for a 'better' skimmer. I stuck with it and it is working well now. I rebuilt both of the mesh wheels for the pumps at the same time and it acted like I'd just finished a ChemiClean treatment - talk about the skimmer going nuts! Must've been too much of a good thing! SO I put one of the old mesh wheels back in one of the pumps, sort of a happy medium for efficiency and everything settled down. The skimmer ran very wet for 2 weeks with the gate valve wide open, meaning I had maximum outflow & the bubble column was as minimal as it was going to get - i had to empty the cup daily. That took 2 weeks to stop, so I think it had been working with sub-par efficiency for a while. Now it's more like every 3rd day, so it is working better than it has for a while. Efficient? I guess so. I will say it can be temperamental. When it works, things are great. When it is being touchy I want to try something else and I have a rough few day(s).
So what do other skimmers act like for people? I expected to be able to just plug it in & it would run - like an air pump. I was way wrong about that; my first 2 weeks with it were not-so-good....Greg Morgan at ReefGeek got rather tired of my emails & phone calls. We worked that out over time & things are fine now. :clap2:
When I stick my arm in the bubble column dies for about 1/2 hour, then builds back up over another hour's time.
I have nothing to compare this skimmer to, just a hang-on-back skimmer that I used while we moved fish & rock & the aquarium in, initially. I hated that one! That being said, I think this one is fine , it is an ATI Bubble Master 250 (2 mesh wheel pumps for input); I had the little dust up a few weeks ago where I was ready to run it over & drop $$$ for a 'better' skimmer. I stuck with it and it is working well now. I rebuilt both of the mesh wheels for the pumps at the same time and it acted like I'd just finished a ChemiClean treatment - talk about the skimmer going nuts! Must've been too much of a good thing! SO I put one of the old mesh wheels back in one of the pumps, sort of a happy medium for efficiency and everything settled down. The skimmer ran very wet for 2 weeks with the gate valve wide open, meaning I had maximum outflow & the bubble column was as minimal as it was going to get - i had to empty the cup daily. That took 2 weeks to stop, so I think it had been working with sub-par efficiency for a while. Now it's more like every 3rd day, so it is working better than it has for a while. Efficient? I guess so. I will say it can be temperamental. When it works, things are great. When it is being touchy I want to try something else and I have a rough few day(s).
So what do other skimmers act like for people? I expected to be able to just plug it in & it would run - like an air pump. I was way wrong about that; my first 2 weeks with it were not-so-good....Greg Morgan at ReefGeek got rather tired of my emails & phone calls. We worked that out over time & things are fine now. :clap2:
Kevin, that is why I went back to the dual Beckett skimmer when my air pump went bad on the SWC skimmer. I think that for the bioload in your tank, you may be a little bit under skimmed, but that is just my opinion. It may be that when you let things slide, it is either overwhelmed or, your bioload is exceeding what that skimmer is rated for. Kyle had a way of compromising things, and he may have done you a dis-service. it may say it is rated for x amount of gallons, but they are usually full of, well you know . You have taken that system Kevin and made a real nice sps tank out of it, but it is all bioload, you know what I mean.
. You have taken that system Kevin and made a real nice sps tank out of it, but it is all bioload, you know what I mean.
sarmo
aka Rob
i don't know about Charlie but i almost fell off my chair :evil: i even heard Julie laughing and that was with out reading the part about being 4 gallons behind in the fuge.......
maybe you need a different place for you tubes to pick water from?????:boink:
Kevin, that is why I went back to the dual Beckett skimmer when my air pump went bad on the SWC skimmer. I think that for the bioload in your tank, you may be a little bit under skimmed, but that is just my opinion. It may be that when you let things slide, it is either overwhelmed or, your bioload is exceeding what that skimmer is rated for. Kyle had a way of compromising things, and he may have done you a dis-service. it may say it is rated for x amount of gallons, but they are usually full of, well you know
ATI sez: up to 500 gallons for the BM 250. What is/are a dual Beckett? Should I bring a gun to protect myself from the Becketts, when we meet at your house next week? just askin'...
oh yeah, I was laughing when I responded. for some reason all I could think about is snails????
I think the algae floats where ever, everywhere...I was trying to think of another place, too.
You have seen my skimmer Kevin. You should probably bring a gun anyways.........................lol. Who knows, after I just jabbed Rob, he might be goin reefal, ( postal but in a reef sense).
Can you find some type of plastic screening that is reef safe?
I emailed SpectraPure about it & Scott emailed me back in less than an hour that they do not make anything for that specific purpose, but he suggested: 'I'd get some of that black foam used for sump filters and ty-wrap a piece around the end of the tube.' which did not sound like a bad idea....now to find the black foam stuff.....
