Miss Wiggle And Big Ian's First Marine Tank!

[Miss Wiggle]

Lol, good to hear . Someimes I wonder if my tank has a gateway to another dimension under those rocks

glad it's not just us!

 

[BigIan]

NIGHT MARE........

well we got a nice new TMC v2 skimmer for xmas and as i was setting that up today i caused a minor rock slide and accidentilly fragged the candy cane (if any one wants some frags let me know)
then the timer went to turn the lights on, the metal halide buzzed a little then small puff of smoke and it died. so we trailed over half of leeds searching for AY metal halide light fixture but every where was closed.
So we phoned our mate at the LFS and he`s fostering our corals. untill wensday when we get our new 250w saline proof metal halide light delivered,
so should be able to pick our beloved corals up again on thursday.

I`m most upset i`d only just got my new cup coral in there after xmas....
.

 

[SkiFletch]

Sorry to hear about the troubles Ian, at least the LFS is going to watch over them for you. Good luck

 

[BigIan]

And the New skimmer decidede to empty the tank last night.......

just waiting for the electrics to dry out before i try tinkering with it any more....

Any idea how well inverts and fish deal with a "LIVE" tank?as i got a bit of a belt off it this morning

 

[rhysiboy]

hmm well if you start to smell fried cod then i think its safe to say they are not having the best time in the world. if you are runnning of a power strip extension majiger change it, and unplug from the wall. Tbh i dont thing they are that affected as long as it isnt like 70000 volts

 

[SkiFletch]

Its unclear wether voltage or current (or the combination) is detrimental to livestock. Either way, I'd unplug the tank and ground it to drop the voltage back down. Then clean/dry things out and start plugging back in You got a voltmeter?

 

[bobf]

NIGHT MARE........
...then the timer went to turn the lights on, the metal halide buzzed a little then small puff of smoke and it died.

Expect the new year can't come too soon for you folks then eh?

Did I read somewhere that Halides require an industrial (type?) timer, as they can melt a regular timer given the power demands when they first switch on?

Might be a factor to bear in mind (if it's true) with the new one?

 

[SkiFletch]

Halides can pull significant current at the higher wattages and really especially with dual bulbs so yes, they can burn out cheap timers. Remember, a 250watt halide will pull about 2.5A in the US and 1.25A in the UK. Double that for a 2 bulb fixture. A 400watt halide iw gonna pull 4A US and 2A UK, and obviously double for a double fixture.

 

[BigIan]

I figured out what made the tank live....

the heater exploded, didn`t even think to check it this morning, when i was mopping up. so over the next week the tank must have had a 100% wate4r change, new LR, New skimmer, Going to get a new light and just got a new heater...

Just waiting for all the silicone seals on the tank to go now.....
Either that or thw floor to open up and swallow it

 

[SkiFletch]

Why new LR and skimmer? Did your skimmer break or just go nuts and malfunction?

Sorry about your troubles

 

[maidenfan]

you've had real bad luck there mate

 

[BigIan]

the old skimmer was just a bit pants, only worked when it wanted to. so we upgraded to a new one thats caused even more troubles.

And we got some new LR as we needed some more as the tank didn`t really have enough, we also wanted some smaller bits as most of what we have is very dence large pieces of rock, and the LFS got some great stuff in that was incredibly light with gorgeous shapes on it and was teeming with life (you could see the pods in the display tank) so we got some

oh well only a few more hours of this godforsaken year to go..........

Happy new year people

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah i think this was just 2006 getting it's final kick in!! it's been a disasterous year in a lot of ways, just wanted to make sure we remembered it!!

but on the plus side all the fish and inverts are fine, the corals are fine (except the fiji leather which is on a massive piece of rock so we couldn't take it into the lfs, just gonna have to keep our fingers crossed!!) the new skimmer now seems to be working, we've a nice new heater which isn't the end of the world at all and it's kicked our butts about getting a new light sorted, we knew it was on the way out we just couldn't afford a new one.

but it's not as bad as it could have been, if the light hadn't gone the corals would still have been in the tank and the tank drained below where the acro lives so that would have been dead. also i got a bit extra xmas money i wasn't expecting and we hadn't decided what to spend it on, was just sat in the bank, so that's gone on a new light. if it had happened before xmas we'd have been completely screwed. so you know it could have been worse!!

happy new year everyone we're off out to get peshed now

 

[SkiFletch]

You're not peshed allready? Heck I'm 8 hours behind you and I'm about to get started

 

[Miss Wiggle]

You're not peshed allready? Heck I'm 8 hours behind you and I'm about to get started

ha ha nah we weren't even gonna celebrate the way yesterday went.... however about 8pm we changed our minds....... only crawled out of bed about an hr ago