Jimbo's 6gal Nano Diary - Page 7

Jimbo327 · #**151** 10/18/2007, 02:52 PM

I think I'm just going to drive down to Petsmart, and get myself a 50w Visi-therm stealth heater. It doesn't have the temperature display, but I have a seperate coralife digital thermometer anyways.

It's like $17 plus tax.

I don't want another crappy heater like my last one. I have to go check it out, and see if it will fit in my chamber 3 though.

Jimbo327 · #**152** 10/19/2007, 01:28 AM

BTW, if buying from Petsmart in store, go to their online website, print out their online price and bring it in store to price match. The price was almost double in the store.

My heater was marked $30 in store, and is only $17 online. I didn't bring my printout, and tomorrow, I have to go back into the store to get some money back.

bad santa · #**153** 10/19/2007, 08:03 AM

what pump are you running for a return, a maxi-jet 600?

Jimbo327 · #**154** 10/19/2007, 11:56 AM

I'm running a mini-jet 600, not a maxi-jet, for my return. It should have stated that somewhere at the beginning of my thread.

Jimbo327 · #**155** 10/19/2007, 12:05 PM

And yesterday, I was looking at my tank, and I see something small moving. I had a closer look.

RED FLATWORM!

****! DIE!!!!

I used a tweezer to pull it out of the tank. And where there is smoke, there is fire. I proceeded to get my Salifert Flatworm Exit, read the instructions. "One drop per gallon" So I squeezed off 5 drops because there is probably less than 5 gallon of water volume in my tank.

Then I saw flatworms start floating in the water. COOL! It works. So I syphon out a few of the floaters and put it in a cup to study. I wait 45 minutes, and the flatworms in the cup still didn't explode. So I decided to just add a drop into the cup, which theoretically should nuke them, but it didn't kill them like I thought. So I added 10 more drops into the tank to see what happens. Waited a total of 90 minutes...then added carbon.

Nothing died in the cup. ***!!!! This stuff doesn't even work, it just stuns them. Now I'm ****ed.

I woke up this morning, saw the snail on its back. So I did a minor water change and added fresh carbon again. Then went to work.

Hmm...perhaps I need to break out the big boys of Red Flatworm eradication. This medication I know works, but I think it may also kill inverts in the process...which is like most of my tank's inhabitants. I'm reluctant to use it. Sigh.

I may try Flatworm Exit again just in case.

When I put the Flatworm Exit into the water, all of my yumas contorted. Weird. And I know who gave me the flatworms, it was the shop where I bought 3 of my new yumas. I saw some of them the last time I went there, and had chills down my spine because I didn't dip my yumas before putting into my tank. Big Mistake.

MDP · #**156** 10/19/2007, 06:08 PM

Hi Jimbo.

Great thread. I'm in the process of setting up a 6g myself. Still at the mod stage.

On the flatworm problem, stick with the flatworm exit. Never had a problem with it. You might need a second dose. I used it to clear flatworms form my 24" cube with great success.

Matt

Jimbo327 · #**157** 10/21/2007, 08:21 AM

MDP,

I want to kill the flatworms, once and for all. FWE does a great job of keep them in check. But I will wait a week before I decide what course to take. Most likely I will dose FWE again, and if I see more FW's, then I might step up to stronger alternate medication.

Anyways, I pulled 90% of the chaeto from my chamber 2 refugium. Does anyone ever smell their chaeto? I don't like the smell of it. It was so packed, the chaeto acted like a mechanical filter. I do not run any type of mechanical filter on my nano, there is no room. I may mod my nano to start running a pad, I feed too much and the detritus is accumulating under the macro chamber.

I'm also thinking of adding an air tube into the tank, just worried about the bubble affecting my Tunze osmolator sensor.

Jimbo327 · #**158** 10/23/2007, 01:15 PM

I turned/twisted the standard return nozzle on my NC6, so the flat output is running vertical instead of horizontal. I think it is helping out with the overall circulation of the tank because the flow really curves around the tank front corner. If you look from top down, the overall flow pattern is a clockwise flow. I did not want a random turbulent flow, so all of the nozzles are pointed in the same direction. I believe this reinforces the circular flow pattern and makes the flow to every part of the tank stronger.

Jimbo327 · #**159** 10/26/2007, 03:28 PM

I just had an idea to get some kind of mechanical filtration.

It will be a manual process. I turn off the return pump. I keep the chiller pump going. I take the output tubing of the chiller and feed it into a micron pouch. I start turkey bastering the tank and the back compartments and everything will be collected in the micron filter bag.

After I'm done, I'll reconnect the chiller output tubing back onto the nozzle. Or I can just use a 3 way valve on the chiller output tube.

I think I'm on to something here. It is not a permanent mechanical filtration, but it should work fairly well without another piece of equipment like a canister filter.

bad santa · #**160** 11/05/2007, 08:07 PM

Jimbo...Im thinking of setting up the same fuge set up you have. Are the 13 watt bulbs putting out 6500 Lumens? Does the light assembly get hot?

Jimbo327 · #**161** 11/19/2007, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bad santa
Jimbo...Im thinking of setting up the same fuge set up you have. Are the 13 watt bulbs putting out 6500 Lumens? Does the light assembly get hot?

I'm not sure how many lumen it is putting out, but it was very bright. The light assembly does get warm (but not hot) and will heat your water up a little bit. I have an oversized chiller, so it's not a problem for me. And it is getting to winter, so it is actually helping me maintaining heat in my tank.

bad santa · #**162** 11/19/2007, 07:00 PM

Thanks Jimbo. I finally firured it out and the light is pretty bright. Kind of blinding after tinkering with it for awhile. I add a 50mm fan inside the fixture to blow the hot air out. It seems to keep the temp in the fixture around 87 deg., without it, the tank would get a little hot in the evening. How much did your cheato grow with this set up?

Jimbo327 · #**163** 11/19/2007, 07:01 PM

I have been very busy at work and at home, so I have neglected my tank again. My last water change was about a month ago. And I have not done any maintenance even longer. I really need to change out my carbon, phosphate remover, and purigen. Need to trim back the chaeto as well. Basically, nothing has been done on the tank in the past month. The ATO is just keeping the tank filled. Nothing has really changed in my tank, it still looks the same. I've been feeding every morning before I leave for work, that's about it. All of the inhabitants are alive and getting fatter.

I really need to get do a quick maintenance on the tank. Maybe this weekend.

Jimbo327 · #**164** 11/19/2007, 07:05 PM

Ed,

The chaeto is growing like crazy, my chamber 2 is packed every couple weeks. I had a small clump about a month ago, now it is completely packed again. I have a 16 hour light cycle for the fuge light, most of it at night. I do feed a lot, so it's not a big surprise that the chaeto grows well with all that nutrient.

bad santa · #**165** 11/19/2007, 10:09 PM

Thanks jumbo. I only hope that my tank will resemble yours one day.

Jimbo327 · #**166** 11/21/2007, 03:01 PM

I changed about 2 gallons yesterday.

I changed out the actinic bulb, carbon, and phosphate remover as well.

My first pink zoas that I glued onto the background has some kind of disease, I think. Most of the polyps are closed and the stems are shriveling up. It is definitely dying, and I have no idea why. Not happy about that since they were the first zoas I put into this tank almost a year ago.

I added a couple more yumas from the $5-$10 frag bins at my LFS. Nothing spectacular, I like the variety.

I also bought a gongorian with white polyps for like $12 because it is a small branch. This is my first gongorian, and I hope it thrives in my tank. I do feed heavily so it should be happy.

I will test my water and try to get my calcium/alk in balance soon, maybe this is causing my zoas to close up. I don't know. I read a lot of the forum, seems like it is a big mystery.

zma21 · #**167** 11/21/2007, 06:39 PM

any update pics?

cherubfish pair · #**168** 11/21/2007, 09:51 PM

Jimbo327,

I'll eventually read all of this thread, but I just got a NC6 and I was wondering what mods you have done to yours.

bad santa · #**169** 12/14/2007, 10:18 AM

Jimbo do you have any pics of the chiller return hose in the third compartment and how the hood looks in the closed position. Im thinking of adding a chiller and i need ideas on how i should route my hoses through the hood.

Toygrr · #**170** 12/14/2007, 08:53 PM

not bad, lookin very good.

Toygrr · #**171** 12/14/2007, 08:55 PM

what exactly is the medication you dip them in?

racksteris · #**172** 12/15/2007, 12:16 AM

kool Tank..

bad santa · #**173** 12/15/2007, 02:46 PM

I just cleaned out my return pump and it was glogged with cheato. Did you ever figure out a way to keep the cheato from going into the 3rd chamber? Eventually my tank might be like yours one day.

cherubfish pair · #**174** 12/20/2007, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo327
BTW, if buying from Petsmart in store, go to their online website, print out their online price and bring it in store to price match. The price was almost double in the store.

My heater was marked $30 in store, and is only $17 online. I didn't bring my printout, and tomorrow, I have to go back into the store to get some money back.

I wonder if that would work at Petco?

How's your diy kalk dispenser?

jdpierce21 · #**175** 12/20/2007, 08:35 PM

I love your tank! Nice job.