My 735ltr Marine Aquarium

[xd2-david]

Progress

 

[N1z]

haha slowly getting there!

 

[xd2-david]

Tank is now full woohoo

I have a couple of questions before I totally make a mess of things,

1) Do I need to turn the filters off to mix in the salt
2) are my filters meant to be blowing air through even though they are not taking any in

Will get a pic of full tank later on

 

[N1z]

I ran my filter when doing the salt, get the water moving but cycles the tank also.
2) depends on a few things what pumps u got? Also if they have a venturi tank sure you turn that fully off.
If not open them up and take out all the impellars etc and then put it back in making sure they are ok.

 

[xd2-david]

I have two eheim professional 2's one is working fine now one is still blowing air.

Will try breaking it down see if that helps thanks

Also I have a power head and electricity is going to it and the fan is being held in and I can feel the magnetic force but it isn't spining, it is an aqua medic ocean runner 2500

full of questions tonight

 

[hi-dro]

nice tank will be checking back for more pics hopefully i will get some up the weekend lol

 

[SkiFletch]

I have two eheim professional 2's one is working fine now one is still blowing air.

Will try breaking it down see if that helps thanks

Also I have a power head and electricity is going to it and the fan is being held in and I can feel the magnetic force but it isn't spining, it is an aqua medic ocean runner 2500

full of questions tonight

You should never be blowing air in to a display tank where you plan to keep corals. Microbubbles can kill corals and other inverts.

If the motor isnt spinning but you can feel that its trying, the impeller must be bound up somewhere. Either the bearings are siezed or the impeller itself is stuck against its housing. Dont investigate this problem with the power still on, cause if the impeller does kickstart, it can take your finger off . Try breaking it down and seeing if you can spin the impeller with your hands.

 

[xd2-david]

the impella appears to not be attached to a motor rather floating in the centre I presume it is some sort of electro magnetic coil system that makes it spin *shrugs*

Thanks hi-dro - I will try to get some more up soon.

 

[SkiFletch]

ok so its a standard magnetic powerhead. There should be some rubber "feet" on either end of the impeller. One side should fit into the large magnetic portion of the powerhead and the other into the cover of the powerhead where the inlet is. Does the impeller spin semi-freely on those two bearings? Sometimes impellers need to be kick started. Best way to do this is to use a pencil tip, plug the powerhead in, and try to spin the impeller (either direction). Sometimes once the frictional moment is broken they'll warm up and work fine.

 

[xd2-david]

Already had it apart and tried this, it feels like it wants to work but won't maintain its own spin. I used my finger though not a pencil (my bad) I don't reccomend anyone else tries it

 

[SkiFletch]

*snicker* yeah those things do have some kick when they get going. Sounds like your bearings could use some silicone grease or even new bearings. That rubber can get old and tired and not allow free-spin anymore...

 

[xd2-david]

Skifletch thanks you was right, one of the washers that seperates the rubber from the impeller had slightly split causing friction

think it is ok now will get lube and stuff tomoz

 

[SkiFletch]

Be careful that you get straight up silicone lubricant. Watch out for any rust inhibitors or other addatives in the lubricant. Generally oxygen-safe silicone lubricant (used in pure oxygen environments) is safe for aquarium use, albeit a little expensive.

 

[xd2-david]

K well I will aim for that stuff then. might also take the thing with me see if they have any other suggestions.

I just added the salt to my tank but alot of it settled on the sand will this still mix in or have i totally messed up now.

Only added half of what I need to add

 

[SkiFletch]

If you've got enough flowrate in there it will dissolve EVENTUALLY. Could take a day, could take longer, tough to say. When adding salt in the future I'd reccomend super-saturiting a few gallons as water evaporates and adding it like that. Might take a while but you've got some time before you're really looking to add livestock yes?