Snake's 10g reef puddle

[snakeblitz33]

Bad temp issues. The morning it happened i checked the temp and it was like 74 because the little heater wasnt big enough. So i turned the fan off and went to work. When i got home the temp was 90 and everything was dead. Bad luck, i suppose.
My aqualifter pump comes tomorrow. Ill install that sucker and leave the fan on low for the rest of the summer.
Planning on a five gallon water change to reduce ammonia this evening after work.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Anyone have any suggestions for a modification for thr output nozzle of thr return pump? Its a lot of flow coming out of the nozzle and i dont think that i could put any corals on thst top rock.

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/396018/snakes-10g-reef-puddle/20#post_3527799
Anyone have any suggestions for a modification for thr output nozzle of thr return pump? Its a lot of flow coming out of the nozzle and i dont think that i could put any corals on thst top rock.
Can you put a little ball valve on the tubing??
Or if you have loc-line, you could put a longer piece on the output and add a wider nozzle. I have read the the loc-line is pretty restrictive on flow.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Yes, i have a ball valve. Good thinking.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I bought a cool looking yellow and black gang valve. I'm going to use it to hold the airline in place that connects to the aqualifter pump for the ATO. The aqualifter pump is supposed to arrive tomorrow in the mail. I'll install it ASAP and leave the fan going for the rest of the Summer, at the very least.
The tank is clouding up from a bacterial bloom, since the mass die off. I took out a few more pieces of dead stuff out of the tank this evening. For some reason, the macroalgae is dying, but that's ok with me right now. I don't know when I will get the fuge online, and I might be able to get a little from the fish store.
I am going to wait until Saturday to do another water change to reduce ammonia and stabilize the tank. I should be able to buy the PAR 38 light this weekend. Doing a little at a time will help in the long run. I'm pretty satisfied with how things are at the time being. I'm really in no hurry to do anything to this tank for the time being.

 

[snakeblitz33]

The ato pump comes in today. Im kinda excited about that. Lol. I hope to go by the fish store today and get some saltwater for a water change. I added one mL of prime to the tank to help detoxify ammonia, just in case anything is still clinging to life. Ill do a water change this evening.
I dont have to worry about fish food now. I think im going to leave the tank fishless like i originally planned and just feed phyto and zooplankton like i originally wanted to do.
I have about half the money saved for a par 38 bulb. I might buy it this weekend.

 

[snakeblitz33]

My air conditioner is broken again for the fourth time this Summer. My ten gallon temp is 86. My house temp is in the 90s. I hope to god my landlord gets it fixed this time. Im royally pissed this time. My electric bill went from $120 to nearly $300 a month. Sounds like AC problems to me.
Seems like i wont be able to have a decent tank until my airconditioner is permanently fixed.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I installed the aqualifter pump. It does what it is supposed to do and sets my mind at ease.
I mean, i have all the equipment i could ever ask for on a ten gallon tank and yet i can keep anything alive until i get my AC fixed at my landlords leisure.

 

[mohawkninja]

I did that on my freshwater breeder. I broke it down out of sheer anger and never set it back up. I lost about 10 golden veil angelfish. Now I am left with 2 in my community, but I want to turn it into a South American biotype with some driftwood, plants, and maybe some cardinal tetras.

 

[2quills]

Sorry about the whoa's, Seth. If we were neighbors I would fix your a/c for ya, bud. If this keeps up you might have to look into a reptile tank, sheesh.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Yeah man. I hate it. Its almost 10pm and its 89F in the house.
Puts everyone on edge. Tempers get lost easier.
I believe it will get fixed tomorrow. Im glad i dont have thousands of dollars of SPS frags in my tank right now.
Paying close to a grand a month in rent and electric. We might be looking for a new rental or buy something ourselves. Im sick of this.

 

[sweatervest13]

Lol. Reptile tank.
Sorry for all the bad luck Seth. I hope they can get the ac fixed for you. I do admire you sticking with it.
Once your place gets the temp controlled that will be a real nice 10g system.

 

[snakeblitz33]

So, today at work, I was working on a deer ear when the stupid thing got an air bubble in it. I took a pearing knife to poke a hole in it to let the air out to give a smoother finish and I stuck the finger pad of my left hand middle finger through and up and out the other side. It severed my nerve and so I no longer have feeling in the tip of my middle finger. When I accidently stabbed my finger, It shot blood halfway across the room, I felt for sure that I had arterial damage and would have to have surgery. I have no insurance, so after I got out of the ER this morning, I will probably be sacked with a $2k medical bill. yay! go me!
They gave me all kinds of antibiotics and tetanus shots and soaked my finger in iodine for an hour and took an xray to make sure that I didn't nick the bone or have any foreign material in it to get the bone infected. They did say that I have a 50/50 chance of getting feeling back into my finger. Thank God they didn't have to do any micro vein surgery to repair a main artery in the finger. They said that I BARELY missed it,.. but apparently, I wasn't lucky enough not to sever the nerve.
I think this is one of the most physically painful events that I have had to go through in a long, long time. Man, Lortabs work great!

 

[snakeblitz33]

On the upside, my house is cool again. Lets hope my air doesn't break again in another two weeks. I'll be p!ssed even more.

 

[deejeff442]

good on the a/c. if you worked construction all your life like i do all you need are some napkins and duct tape for just about any cut. i have a 3 1/2 inch gash on my leg from a diamond blade. duct tape and change every few hours lol.thats just one scar.i have many. but i do keep up with my shots. my firestation just gave us tetanus. hep 1 and hep 2 also tb test .dont cost me anything. since i have to deal with blood on car accidents.
anyway whats the plan for the 10 gallon stock wise?

 

[2quills]

Can't tell you how many field bandages I've had to whip up over the years that consisted of napkins/paper towel and some kind of tape or twine lol. What's up with the a/c, Seth does it have a leak? I feel your pain, I've had days, weeks and even months like that when things just don't go right.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I know. Ive definitely had my share of field bandages. Hopefully when school gets started again things will go smoothly. I severed a nerve. Usually a cut or puncture wound isnt really bad, but i cut a nerve in two. Its an unbelieveably unimagineable excrutiating amount of pain.
Anyways, my air conditioner was gassed up today but not fixed. They found two leaks in the system and are replacing two of the main system componants on Sunday. So far, tomorrow i know will be a hot day because the house temp is gradually getting hotter and hotter this evening.
As far as the tank goes, i am Soooooooooo happy with that aqualifter pump. I believe i will always be using one for any auto top off system in the future. Its amazing.
Im going to clean out some more dead material and throw it away. Tomorrow ill buy 5g for a water change. Ill be saving $20 a week for the par38 bulb or maybe ill be able to trade it out.

 

[mohawkninja]

Quote:Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/396018/snakes-10g-reef-puddle/20#post_3528023
I know. Ive definitely had my share of field bandages. Hopefully when school gets started again things will go smoothly. I severed a nerve. Usually a cut or puncture wound isnt really bad, but i cut a nerve in two. Its an unbelieveably unimagineable excrutiating amount of pain.
Anyways, my air conditioner was gassed up today but not fixed. They found two leaks in the system and are replacing two of the main system componants on Sunday. So far, tomorrow i know will be a hot day because the house temp is gradually getting hotter and hotter this evening.
As far as the tank goes, i am Soooooooooo happy with that aqualifter pump. I believe i will always be using one for any auto top off system in the future. Its amazing.
Im going to clean out some more dead material and throw it away. Tomorrow ill buy 5g for a water change. Ill be saving $20 a week for the par38 bulb or maybe ill be able to trade it out.

Hope your hand ends up okay.

 

[snakeblitz33]

So, I went on a forum and I'm going to try to trade my old Octopus NWB150 skimmer for a PAR38 bulb and I'm also trying to trade out my old Octopus CR125 with the media and a feed pump for an MP10. I hope someone bites. Either one of those is a great trade, IMHO. I'll be happy trading any of those out. Maybe someone will bite on the trade and I'll be able to get both of the pieces of equipment that I so long for.
If the AC ever gets fixed and my tank properly cycled, I might just turn this tank into a mini SPS tank. lol!!! What do yah think about them apples?
I actually hope to add a lot of diversity of life to this tank. Sure, it will be fishless, but I think shrimp are also pretty fascinating.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Man, I have been wheeling and dealing lately. I'm selling off some old equipment and stuff that I'm not going to be using for the time being. I'm selling off the calcium reactor and the skimmer that I had. I have all different kinds of stuff that I am selling off to make room in my house! A corner of my kitchen is an absolute mess... so I'm trying to get it all nice and clean again and everything condensed and put away. Making the house look a lot nicer is a big priority for me right now before school starts. I want to get the house picked up so that I have a little room to spread my papers out to do homework. Ya'll know how that goes.
The freshwater planted tank is coming along well. I added about $20 of fish to the tank because I was tired of not seeing any life in the tank. Seeing something swimming around is making me happy at least.
As far as the 10g reef tank is going, I will be doing a water change this evening to rid the tank of some ammonia and keep some of the things on the rocks alive. The air conditioner is supposed to get fixed permanently tomorrow... but on the other hand, (pun intended) the feeling has not come back to my finger just yet.
I have some kind of maintenance routine in my head.
Sunday: 5g water change, tank cleaning, filter replacement. After maintenance, add 1 cap of phytoplankton and 5mL of xooplankton. Observe
monday-saturday: Observe.
No tinkering, toying, or otherwise menacing inside the tank. Just good ole' observing and correction.
Once the tank grows in with corals, I MIGHT add a small fish, possibly a blue stripe neon goby pair.