RFBF's 90 Gallon Déjà vu All Over Again

[redfishbluefish]

I have a love / hate relationship with my skimmer. I love the skimmer, but hate the pump. I have an SWC 160 skimmer that has an Atman PH2500 pump. I've lost count how many pumps I've put on this thing...somewhere in the range of ten or so. Anyway, the beast was making noise so I pulled out the pump to find that the impeller was eating itself.

The needle wheel portion is not suppose to come off the magnet portion. And if you look closely you can see the white stick portion of the magnet is partially conical......worn away.....must have been spinning on its own.

The good news is that this is the very first impeller I ever had to change on an Atman pump. That is, the impeller went before the pump went....that's a first! Knock on wood, this current pump has lasted the longest of any Atman I've had. (Probably shouldn't have said that....you know what I'll be doing next week) So I pull out a couple of the busted old spares to get the impellers and find that every impeller I look at is different than the one I currently have. Here's one example:

So I find one that's closest to the one I pulled out (has no white plastic on the backside of the magnet), and put that in the pump.

Reassemble the skimmer with pump and go to put it in the sump and bam! The shelf the skimmer sits on drops down on the right side because the support broke loose. Lousy picture, but the plexi with the half moons is the shelf and you can see it dipping down on the right side.

Upon inspection I find the nylon bolt was sheared off.

Not having a replacement nylon bolt on hand, I decided to use a stainless steel bolt and find the hole in the shelf bracket does not line up with the hole in the baffle. I'm guessing the "grain" of the two pieces of plexi were 90 degrees off and when one swelled from being submerged, it sheared the bolt. The only way I could get the replacement stainless steel to go in was to grind the one end to a point.

Anyway, back up and running with a new impeller on order.

 

[redfishbluefish]

And I forgot to mention that I got scolded for leaving five old pumps on the kitchen counter!

I had this tendency of putting in the new pump and then simply throwing the old pump in that box and tossing it in the closet. I've now pulled out impellers and front parts and threw the old pumps out. I'm keeping the front parts because new Atmans come stripped with only the body and impeller.....no front parts.

 

[quentin17110]

Rock Cooking in Bleach

So the rock is bathing away in bleach. I thought I had more rock, that's why I pulled out the 100 gallon stock tank. Only filled it about half way....with two gallons of bleach. It will steep for one week and then rinsed. I'm doing this outside and hope we don't get a hard freeze within the next week.

Return Line

Return Lines figured out.....two 3/4 Wye Loc-Lines with large fans. Since I'm going down to two Loc-Lines, I'll be using the larger 3/4 LocLines with the large fans.

To get over the Euro Bracing, 3/8 inches was cut off the elbow and the NPT fitting so that the combo came to the edge of the bracing. This horizontal pipe setup will be siliconed to a piece of half inch acrylic which itself will be siliconed to the plastic frame of the tank and the glass in the opening of the Euro Bracing. This acrylic piece will also block that otherwise 1/2 gap that would have been between this pipe and the glass edge in the overflow area. With my luck a fish would still fit through that gap and end up carpet surfing if I don't block it. Here is a mock up of a scrape piece of acrylic and the one side of the pipe arangement. You can see that extra elbow was cut down on the one side. I also used a rasp to flatten the NPT fitting so that it sits flush to the Euro Bracing.

Pipe lengths won't be cut and glued until the overflow is installed because the return line has to clear each of the drains while it comes up between the two 1 1/2 inch drains. You can see that here with the old tank....just missing the drains.

Glass-Holes Overflow

I've sent a request to Glass-Holes to supply the drawing/schematic of the back wall of the overflow so that I can locate hole locations for drilling. I want to have the tank drilled and ready to go to minimize transfer time. In the past I'd just use the box itself, but I'm not going to have that until I dismantle the old tank. I'd like to get the tank drill ASAP, so that it's done.

Very nice job

 

[redfishbluefish]

To continue my saga on Atman skimmer pumps, the stripped down Atman pump I show above runs about $60-$65.....and you only get the body and impeller. In the past I've purchased ViaAqua 2600 pumps that are exactly the same as the Atman 2500, with the exception of the needlewheel impeller. I'd simply switch out the impeller and I'd be in business for about $30.

So I searched for a ViaAqua and found they were few and far between, but the search did send me to an Aquatop Maxflow 2600 pump that looks exactly like the ViaAqua. I decided to take the chance and order one to see if it fits the skimmer. Amazon had it for about 35 bucks after tax, HERE. I'll let you know how it works out when I get it.

 

[redfishbluefish]

To continue my saga on Atman skimmer pumps, the stripped down Atman pump I show above runs about $60-$65.....and you only get the body and impeller. In the past I've purchased ViaAqua 2600 pumps that are exactly the same as the Atman 2500, with the exception of the needlewheel impeller. I'd simply switch out the impeller and I'd be in business for about $30.

So I searched for a ViaAqua and found they were few and far between, but the search did send me to an Aquatop Maxflow 2600 pump that looks exactly like the ViaAqua. I decided to take the chance and order one to see if it fits the skimmer. Amazon had it for about 35 bucks after tax, HERE. I'll let you know how it works out when I get it.

WOOHOO! I took the chance that the AquaTop MaxFlow 2600 was the same as the Atman 2500 pump (except for the impeller), and it was! Couldn't be happier to get a deal. Another option to keep my old SWC 160 skimmer going. I going to make a separate post about this because I believe Bubble Magus used an Atman as well.

So now I know that an Atman 2500 = ViaAqua 2600 = AquaTop MaxFlow 2600....with the exception of the impeller.

So here's the Atman next to the MaxFlow, right out of the box:

Once you remove that piece of plastic that looks like the hood of a 1937 Buick, you find that the two pumps look exactly alike:

As mentioned, the only difference is the impeller. Replace the impeller and you're good to go:

I now have a backup skimmer pump for about half the price!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Back in May 2021 I dropped a 5 gallon jug of water into my 32 gallon Brute snapping the 300 watt glass heater that was simply resting in the Brute. To minimize this happening again, I took a scrap piece of ½ inch acrylic and attached heater clips to it and siliconed it to the inside of the Brute. I used my favorite silicon specifically made for plastics and knowing that polyethylene is a tough plastic to adhere to, I tested some of the silicone on the Brute lid. Held just fine.

Well, after all this time the silicone failed. A bit disappointed but believing it sitting in water for extended periods aided in the failure. In retrospect I should have flame treated the polyethylene Brute and now wonder if that would have helped.

Anyway, I didn’t want to go that route again and also didn’t want to even consider using specific glues for polyethylene. Instead I decided to try using neodymium magnets…..a total of six So using 12mm magnets, and using a ½ inch Forstner drill bit, three partial holes were drilled in the acrylic strip and similarly, three in the same location of a scrap piece of wood. Holes were deep enough to just bury the magnet. Magnets were epoxy glued into these partial holes….the dark gray spots.

This held just fine until I put the heavy heater in the clips. The magnets weren’t strong enough to keep the bracket from sliding down.

So then my thoughts went to adding some hanging device. My first though was to heat bend acrylic over the lip of the Brute and attach this to the heater bracket. I’d still use the magnets to keep the heater was swaying in the water flow. Eventually common sense took over and decided not to over-engineer a simple project. A hole in the top of the bracket with a piece of nylon string up over the lip and through two holes in the handle was the simple solution:

This way I could still use the lid on the Brute.

 

[redfishbluefish]

This guy has got to go!

I helped a local reefer and he rewarded me with a frag of Hollywood Stunner.....Fool me once!

Well it's grown like a weed to over 18 inches wide. Here's a top view with my crappy camera.

And here's a front view where you can see it growing over the overflow. I've cut it back a couple times.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Added six books to my library today....thank you FreeCycle and Chris from Belford, NJ. They are dated, especially when they talk lighting and filtration. Most are books from the late 70's and 80's. @Paul B would love the chapter on under-gravel filtration. Otherwise the corals and fish info is great, with fantastic color pictures.

 

[redfishbluefish]

One of my original (from 2006) MP40 power supplies died, and I documented it HERE.

I used the last of my Jameco replacements and just ordered three backups from Amazon. THESE are the ones I ordered for $14.99 each.

 

[redfishbluefish]

It's happened again....lost another MP40 wetside to a swollen magnet. I documented this HERE.

So it's just not in me to buy yet another wetside. I'm sort of burnt out on what are very expensive powerheads that I would expect would last a bit longer. On top of that, it appears the price of wetsides has gone up form $75 the last time I purchased to now $90...and that's just the wetside. I can buy an entire pump of other brands for less than that. While I mull over what I'm going to do about this, I'm pulling out one MP and replacing it with a Jebao PP15 I just happen to have. I'll pull the MP that's in the back on the left side that is partially hidden with the rocks. I'll be removing the antique controller in the second row from the top....

And here is the equipment cabinet with the replacement Jebao PP15....

I've also noticed that just having purchased three new power supplies for the MP's that the Jebao takes the same power supply....voltage, amps and plug...all the same.

 

[redfishbluefish]

With the lights full on I’m able to show the placement of the Jebao. You obviously see the MP40, in your face! Now look behind and down low, and partially hidden by the rocks, you will see the Jebao.....and the wire going up past the feeding tube.

So it looks like I’m back to having wires in the tank, for the time being. This was the best location where it wouldn’t be very noticeable. So the count is three MP40’s, two MP10’s and a Jebao PP15.

 

[redfishbluefish]

A double Doh! moment with my RO unit!!!!

The first Doh! was that I recently put a new membrane in my unit (March 2022) and last week it was putting out 14 TDS which now burnt out the DI, showing 3 TDS. I typically have a TDS out of the RO that's 2 - 3 TDS. A little bummed that I only got a little more than a year out of a membrane...and it was a Dow, Filmtec. This Dow membrane replaced a membrane that lasted 15 + years, so the 1 year + was a surprise.

I ordered a new membrane and BRS doesn't carry a 50GPD membrane, so I order from Amazon (sold by Zlite)....specifically said Dow Filmtec with the typical picture of that membrane. The second Doh! is I go to install it yesterday (because being a professional procrastinator, I'm totally out of water), and I open the package and it's not a Dow membrane.....it's a CFS membrane....and I'm now ticked. I need water NOW and so I had no choice but to use it to make water.....and write a scathing review on Amazon. Here's a picture of the membrane; I've included two Filmtec membranes so that you can see the CFS in NOT Dow!

I should also point out that CFS membranes are about half the cost of Dow membranes....but I paid Dow price!!! Here's the label that was on that CFS membrane (that clearly says "Dow....")

Even though I changed the other filters about two months ago, I put in all new filters and a fresh canister of DI resin.
The one bit of good news is that I'm back to 2 TDS after RO and of course, 0 TDS after DI:

 

[redfishbluefish]

Added a Filefish to the tank. This is a “regular” aiptasia eating filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus). He’s a small little guy, about 1 ½ inches. I was a bit concerned the bully in the tank (Purple Tang) would pick on him, or scare and chase him. Surprisingly the Purple could care less and doesn’t go after him and when the Purple zooms buy, this little guy holds his own and doesn’t flinch. Looks like all is good in the neighborhood! That is flake food you see floating around that I used to lure this little guy out to take the picture.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Another shot of the little guy:

 

[RocketEngineer]

Nice!

 

[redfishbluefish]

GENERATOR SAGA

I store my generator dry. Once I’ve used it, I’ll drain the gas, including the bowl, and put it back into storage. Even with gas stabilizers, it still could go stale, especially since we very rarely get power outages.

Over a year ago we had a power outage and so I gassed up the generator and it wouldn’t start. Did the typical check for spark, having proper oil level and even checked the low oil sensor switch. Everything checked out, so I did what any procrastinator would do, I went out and bought another generator.

This past week, I figured I’d procrastinated long enough and so I finally got around to checking out the non-working generator, with the carburetor being very suspect. I was shocked how easily the carb came off. Two nuts and the air filter housing and carb slipped right off. Dropped the bowl and cleaned every hole and jet with carb cleaner. The bowl had a slight dusting of a dark something at the bottom of the bowl, which was wiped clean. Put all back together, gassed it up, and on the first pull, it started. So now I have two working generators waiting for the next power outage.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Say Bye-Bye Hollywood Stunner

In post #267 above, I talked about the need to get rid of my Hollywood Stunner. It had just gotten too big and was impacting other corals, blocking off the light. This was back on January 19, and as a good procrastinator, I'm just now getting around to taking care of this.

Now you see it:

Now you don't:

This beast was approximately 17 x 20 inches, and if it wasn't for the Euro-bracing, I could have gotten this out in one piece. Packed it up and took it to an LFS for a little store credit.

 

[redfishbluefish]

LIGHTS OUT!

While sitting in the fish room this afternoon I noticed the center of the tank was a bit blue. I run three Black Box fixtures, and at this time of day, both the white and blue channels should have been ON. I open the door and find the white channel on the center was not ON. I check the wire connections, note that both the two fans were not running, and the top portion of the fixture was warm....compared to the other two fixtures with all lights on/all fans running....and were cool to the touch.

First thoughts are that both fans are shot and I'm hoping there is some thermal cut-out that turned off the white lights. I pulled out this fixture and even though I have back-up Black Boxes, I just so happen to have one of my Fathom lights out while setting up a quarantine tank, in anticipation of picking up a bunch of fish. So for now I've put the Fathom up.

Small, but mighty!

So now I need to open up that Black Box and see what's going on.

 

[redfishbluefish]

LIGHTS OUT - CONTINUED

I opened up the light and it appears the one power supply is shot (along with two fans). Tried to source a new power supply and that didn't pan out. Also looked at some of my older black boxes and because they are more basic (old).....literally only blue and white LEDs....I decided to buy a new black box, that include green, red and other colored LEDs. I'm going with a ViparSpectra 165....it's the closest thing to the current black boxes I have (SBReef). Going to take about a week to get here.

 

[redfishbluefish]

It's the PCB board!

Since I have time waiting for the new light, I delved further into the cause of the blackout. I discovered that the power supplies work just fine. Testing the PCB board, that's were I found the problem. The "white" channel was cooked. Too busy to look into this further, but after Thanksgiving I might see if I can resurrect this board (and put in two new fans) so that I have another backup. It might just need a new LED bead that cost pennies.