Isaac

ah man, sorry to hear that

are you skimming any wetter than normal?  Mine went away on my biocube w/ more bioload, peroxide, more feeding, and wet skimmer.   seems like you are doing the opposite *lol*

the skimmer cleaner project got a JOLT (*cough*) of energy yesterday (thank you @FarmerTy).  I now have a dead vertex skimmer head, which im gonna take the arm from!

ordered:
gears! http://amzn.to/2fdkcwj
belt! http://amzn.to/2felt6e

The skimmer top will have the larger gear, which is attached to the arm.  the motor above will be mounted to the side (i need to 3dprint the mount).   This design shoooould work, and the added bonus of not having the design flaw of moisture getting in the motor and ruining it (just silly vertex, so silly)

how much UV wattage you got running on the tank?

i got the motor as slow as a complete revolution every 30 mins.  any slower and it kinda freaks out *lol*  suppose i could control it w/ the apex, fire up every 4hrs for 30 mins

YAIR (yet another isaac rant)

why are algae scrubbers so expensive?

2x LED panels.. $25-50 each
small tall acrylic or glass tank... maybe $50
some plumbing... $10?
plastic screen... like 10 cents

I could see these for like 100-150... but 3-500? come on.

Anyone ever use this?

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/insta-set-super-glue-accelerator-bob-smith-industries.html

It warns of heat generation, but does the solution have any adverse affects to certain/all corals?  share your wisdom, oh experienced fraggers.

code i have so far...

/*
 Stepper Motor Control - one rev back and forth
 This program is for the SparkFun Easy motor driver board.
 This program drives a bipolar stepper motor.
 The motor is attached to ground plus digital pins 8 and 9 of the Arduino.
 The motor should revolve one revolution in one direction, then
 one revolution in the other direction at a speed determined by 
 the milliseconds in the microSecDelay variable.
 Created by Bill Harper, Feb. 10 2014
 */
#include <Stepper.h>
int oneway;                      // counter for steps
int onerev = 6400;               // number of steps each direction (edit this 
                                 //   for your particular motor) org 6400
int milsec = 250;                // 1 sec = 1000 ms   
                                 // delay between steps and speed of the motor 
                                 //   (about as fast as the system can react,
                                 //   higher number = slower)
                                 
int dirPin = 8;                  // output pin for stepper motor direction
int stepPin = 9;                 // output pin for the pin used to step the motor
void setup() {                
  pinMode(dirPin, OUTPUT);       // Assign output mode to pin for direction
  pinMode(stepPin, OUTPUT);      // Assign output mode to pin for setp
  digitalWrite(dirPin, LOW);     // Initialize dir pin 
  digitalWrite(stepPin, LOW);    // Initialize step pin
  oneway = 1;
}
void loop() {
  if (oneway < onerev + 1)            // Still in first revolution?
    {
      digitalWrite(dirPin, LOW);      // Keep direction pin low
    }
  else
    {
      digitalWrite(dirPin, HIGH);    // If not in first revolution change 
                                     //   direction pin to High
    }
  digitalWrite(stepPin, HIGH);       // Step motor
  //delayMicroseconds(microSecDelay);  // Wait microseconds
  delay(milsec);
  digitalWrite(stepPin, LOW);        // Step motor
  //delayMicroseconds(microSecDelay);  // Wait microseconds
  delay(milsec);
  oneway += 1;                       // Increment direction counter
  if (oneway > onerev * 2)           // If we have exceeded two revolutions
    { oneway = 1; }                  // Reset counter to start over again
  
}                                    // EOF

still tweaking speed/rotation!

so i've decided to try and make a skimmer neck cleaner.  what i have so far:

stepper motor http://amzn.to/2vU9OjH
stepper motor driver http://amzn.to/2vTQraI
arduino to control driver http://amzn.to/2vTuKr9

If I can get this combo to go in one revolution every hour or two, the plan is to 3d print a shaft and mount some squeegees on it, the run a belt between the stepper motor and the shaft.  I cant mount the motor directly ontop, as i have a clearance issue (ugh).  will post picts once i have something!

thats the way to go!

I use these alot:  http://ebay.to/2eGXMDw

allows me to control crap w/ the varspeed ports.  i have a usb fan wired through it... so it only turns on for 15mins every hour...more at night.... jut as an example.  cheap/sturdy relay using varports

4 minutes ago, Dogfish said:

Thanks,

Now if I can just figure out how to to power some USB computer fans I have laying around. I don't think the Aqua Bus has power. More cables errrrrr.

wall warts

Just now, Dogfish said:

Mine are std Male / Male . They should work  if less than 15' ?

yup.. longer you get, more chance of interference tho.  try and keep them away from 120v power cords.   just like in home theater world... one side of the cabinet AC, one side DC/video.

2 minutes ago, Dogfish said:

Thanks,

Another question. I have a bunch of USB 2.0 cables. Can I use them for the the Aqua Bus on my Neptune Systems or do I need their over priced cables that are 2 long or 2 short?

those are standard male/male cables.  check monoprice/amazon.  alternatively, you can get a gender changer and use an old one. 

awesome, welcome!

So, i couldnt find any 19v regulated power supplies... but I did find this combo that would work. 

Math:  [email protected] = 89.3watts x4 = 357   ( http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/Amp_to_Watt_Calculator.htm )

Items:
2x http://amzn.com/B019OOTL7A   24vDC 8A (200w) $17.99
4x http://amzn.com/B01H97ETVM  24v to 19v stepdown regulator (95w) $16.99
grand total for all 4: $103.94

Then compare it to just having backup bricks:  http://amzn.com/B01KLLSNJ2  $13.66  or $54.64 for 4.

so, for high output 19v, its actually better to stick w/ the bricks, since backups are cheap and quick to get.  any 90+w 19v laptop power supply will work!  hell, discount electronics!  maybe your power supply holding box just needs a fan or two?

I'd recommend upgrading your power supplies.  these "bricks" are prone to overheating, and are overpriced.  look for something like this:  http://amzn.to/2eE8Dht  they come in differing voltages and wattage ratings.  I run 5 AI Sol's w/ one of these, and cheap enough to have a spare just sitting there waiting.  The original sol bricks got so hot they started melting, if they didnt just quit first.

im at about 2gal/day on a 180DT w/ a 20frag, and 30g fuge and 50g (well, 30g whane running) sump.  sump is also in the garage.

not sure what caused it, and i cant pull out the healthy ones today to frag them off. (r22 AND anti-freeze on my hands earlier)  bleh

ugh, woke up to this...

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

now thats what i call a massive heavy jig.

my biocube's dinos finally went away after adding more fish and feeding more.  i think the trick is to out-compete the crap. what crap? 

Quote

It kills off any single celled organism (including algae, bacteria etc) and most if not all people who dosed it in their tanks saw their dinos go away for good. Also, with very little ill effects.

now, its obviously not a cure-all, because just peroxide alone didnt help me.

have you re-tried peroxide while having elevated nitrate/phosphates?

i had that problem last year, when i refilled my media, i upped the ratio.  3 scoops coarse arm, one scoop neomag.  This ratio is well above what the bag says, but its seems to be perfect since.  you can see layers in my reactor since i didnt really mix it in,