thedude

Just as an afterward, the electricity leached into the tank killed all three large turbo snails in Mike's tank. If ANYTHING is tripping a GFCI in your tank, unplug it and assume it is leaking electricity.

Just an FYI on this thread as Stephen has been extremely busy... the B-Ionic was not making the skimmer overflow. Restricting the skimmers output ended up being the culprit.

I'm a huge fan of the Artica Chiller line by JBJ (and we use them as often as possible). My only word of advice is that I bought a 1/10th HP Pacific Coast chiller and wish I had gotten a bigger one. If you ever upgrade, it's much easier to use the same chiller you used on your 30 gallon. A JBJ 1/4hp Artica would be my suggestion for a long term, effective chiller that you can use on a much larger tank.

It's tripping the GFCI because current is leaking out somewhere (mags are warranteed for 2 years or possibly lifetime). STOP using the pump. Call incoming...

It all really depends how much you want to spend because some of the controllers are absurdly expensive. Off the top of my head -Biomatix -Elos Biotopus -IKS Aquastar -Aquatronica

BAD NEWS In short, they are sold out. A container came in last week and was sold almost instantly. The slightly good news is that another container is on its way sometime this month. They won't be here for the frag swap but if ya'll are serious about wanting the pump, I'll still work on the orderl. The price will be the $49.99 as they are popular enough to not warrant a quantity discount.

1200

All, The guys at MAAST asked if I could do a group order for the Hydor Koralia 4 pumps and I obliged. Info is below:

I replied to Aggiemedic's thread on this and I hope it clears up some of the confusion. Soft starts increase the life expectancy of the pump but will still not work on a prop pump if the pumps powers down completely for any period of time. IE: The Tunze controllers are controllable from 100-30% Btw Seio's are a different beast all together. Seios are actually still an impellar pump and put out a flow very similar to a donut (thing of a ring of flow with the "eye" of a hurricane in the middle).

It's not so much the turning them off and on, it's doing so repeatedly (BTW questions NEVER bother me so ask away!). Prop pumps have problems starting in the correct way unlike impellar pumps (impellars can spin either way, props only work one way). To make them spin the correct way, resistance is applied to the shaft (utilizing gravity) and the prop automatically corrects itself and spins the correct way. The early Tunze nanostreams are having this exact problem. The shaft is too loose on the pump and the lack of resistance causes them to spin backwards indefinitely or until you put something near the pump's output (now intake as the prob is going backwards). The suction causes resistance, and the prop corrects itself. This problem with them starting makes prop pumps (nanostream, hydor, maxijet mods) unable to be used on a wavemaker. The normal on/off is expected but to do so continuously will ruin the pump. All the big tunze streams have a braking system that forces the impellar to always spin the correct way PLUS the streams never power completely down, only to 30%. This also happens to be the reason you can't clean a stream with muriatic acid, the brakes will melt. John

Yes it would be essentially the same thing and no, the hydor pumps will not work that way.

I like the Hydor powerheads alot for flow applications between 400-1000 gph. When you start getting near the 1000 gph range (model 4) the pump is the same size as a Tunze and I'm always going to be a Tunze fan. They will not do well on a wavemaker. Prop pumps on general will not work on a wavemaker unless designed to do so (Tunze). John

The CS-80 is more appropriately rated for an 80 gallon aquarium and would work great on a 50 gallon setup. I'd save the extra money and go with the ER personally. John

Honestly, neither. I have tanks with both of those and neither work that great and require trouble shooting everytime we visit. The Coralife pump is very very strange and doesn't work right 50% of the time. We've found that butting it up to a sump wall and offering the intake some resistance helps but it still has a very real chance of overflowing. Gabriel (GKarshens) used one for awhile and I hope he chimes in on the difference between it and his Euroreef. The Precision Marine skimmer is just an outdated technology IMHO. Mag 9.5's are not good with head loss and back pressure, they produce tons of heat, and the amount of air it's able to draw just isn't very good. We have a larger model with an Iwaki 50 driving it and it's never done anything for me. Look into Euroreef as they make some really fair priced needlewheel skimmers. You're paying for reliability, performance, the ability to set it and forget it, and lower power consumption and heat. A RS-80 made out of extruded acrylic is only $178.99 on Marine Depot. http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_protei..._rs.asp?CartId= John

Thanks Andrew!

Haha I deleted all of them but I still have these 91 unread ghost messages. Man, I'm popular. *EDIT I take that back, I have NEGATIVE 91 messages haha

Andrew, My PM's are acting real weird. First, it said I had a PM from you and I didn't, then my inbox was 181% full, and now it says I have 91 new messages.

Fragging for the swap! Seriously though, if you miss this meeting you will regret it.

Shop vac to suck out the crud in the sump. We use muriatic acid to clean all pumps, skimmers, etc. except for tunze streams (the acid will eat through the brakes).

Basically the same requirements as "cooking" live rock. Powerhead or pump to circulate and oxygenate the water, heater to keep it warm, trashcan full of water to keep it wet.

Robert! We've missed you on here man, how's the new baby and tank?

I think that in my experience a 6500k bulb grows chaeto better. Best place to check would be www.melevsreef.com John

What is your temperature doing? Sounds like a pH or temperature swing to me. John

Yes it's true... Clint's new tank actually exists and is in my possession. Yo Brian, pics?