My Cycle Diary

[pammy172]

A combi system does not take the tap water from the heating supply/system. You do not want to tap water from your heating to your tank - it's full of contaminants - stuff that protects your radiators from rusting etc. The heating system is sealed with a top-up tap, should the pressure fall, and with a draning point, should it need to be drained. They run at high pressure!

A combi boiler heats your radiators but as a separate supply from the tap water. The mains supply comes into the boiler where it splits into two. One for the heating and one for domestic water. It heats cold water to hot on demand straight to the tap - therefore the water is not standing in any tank at all. In effect, it is drawn straight from the mains to the boiler to the tap. To use water from the combi system to top up your fish tank - simply run it from the tap into a bucket and pour it in. We use two buckets for emptying and filling - makes it a doddle. Or you could fix a hose to your tap and when it's at the right temp simply fill your tank that way. Personally I don't like that thought as I'd rather be next to the tap in case it needs to be turned off.

Bump

6.2Ph last night along with 1ppm Ammo and Nitrite @ 24 hours.

I hope it gets going again soon.

Paul.

I'd pop a bit of bicarb in to puch it back up a bit.
hth

 

[waterdrop]

Sorry, keep getting interrupted before I can comment on the great pics (!) and explanations but I've been reading them all and enjoying! I'll get to it sooner or later! Keep that pH up, Paul...

-wd-

 

[paulbr1]

Bugger, the Ph is at 6.6 again - thnk I will adapt my tap for a max W/C tomorrow, also I took your advise WD and got the pond dechlorinator stuff - way better deal if you have a 260L the bottle will do 5000L for £7.50 ($10.70) whereas around £4.50 for a 500L bottle.

Ammo is back to 0ppm @24 hours, Nitrite was 2ppm @ 24 hours.

Paul.

 

[waterdrop]

 

[paulbr1]

Bump.

Nitrite @ 0ppm @ < 18 hours today, will check more freq. tomorrow.

Paul.

WD - give it a good shake. ha ha

 

[waterdrop]

Next time I'm in UK I'm just going to have to get some of you guys to give me the hot water system tours ... have you got one of those UK ones where the hot drinking water circulates all the time throughout the radiators to keep the house warm? I keep needing the lecture from the UK guys who understand this... is it a definate thing that these systems are just dumping too much copper or other heavy metals into the hot water?

Hot drinking water NEVER circulates through the rads.
In a conventional system, the boiler (indirectly) heats the water stored in a copper cylinder, which is used for drinking / bathing (much like your glass lined one).
This is done by pumping the heated water from the boiler through a coiled element in that cylinder.
The hot water that is pumped through that element is the same as that pumped through the rads, and controlled by a zone valve which either calls for heat or hot water.

I guess the hot water stored in the copper cylinders is likely to contain higher contaminants in it than regular tap water, and I don't think many people drink the hot water from the tap due to that. Nor cold water from upstairs in these systems, as that usually comes from the cold water feed tank in the attic, unlike downstairs, which is direct from the water mains supply.

Why on earth would you have these feed tanks up in the attic? Why would you not just run cold water from the water mains to the upstairs? The tanks seem an extra step in the whole thing.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[paulbr1]

The pic you have there is the "old fashioned" system, most if not all new installations use the Combi boiler system where it just heats up the hot water on demand and the cold water is fed to all cold taps directly, it is a much more efficient and cost effective boiler.

Plus if you can get a feed you can fill your tank with warm water too , I put mine on min heat and added a couple of buckets of cold and got 30'C spot on.

Figures today are impressive Day36 - checked the Ammo and Nitrite @ 12 hours and got Canary Yellow and Baby Blue for the first time we-hey, long may it last

Paul.

 

[paulbr1]

Bump

Nitrite 0ppm @ 13 hours today. not as good as yesterday but still good..

Paul.

 

[waterdrop]

That makes it sound like you're basically settling into a "qualifying week" situation Paul. Very good place to be.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[paulbr1]

Bump

Nitrite still 0ppm @ 13hours 3 days now.

Does anybody think it would help if I did a rain dance or something?

Paul.

 

[waterdrop]

No, no rain dance lol, but have you considered a 90% water change gravel clean? You don't mention your current nitrate(NO3) level or pH but looking back it seems like I see a lot of 80+ readings, which might mean that by now your N-Bacs are getting inhibited a little too much by all that nitrate.

Now, understand that I'm not saying you -have- to do this, as its never quite clear at this late stage whether the positive "kickstart" effect will override the "pause" (that sometimes happens with any big water change) in terms of the total final days your cycle takes. All that is really just guessing at this point I'd say. Personally I found that doing the gravel clean water changes was quite useful at this stage for working out and refining the details of how I would be doing those things (its certainly a little easier practicing this without fish in there!) ('course I can't remember what size a juwel 260 is and I remember now the hose thing is not quite worked out so this might be asking a bit much!)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[paulbr1]

I will check the Nitrate, but I did the 98% change last week as the Ph dropped to around 6.2.

The tank is 260L 68USG

My hose problem has gone as I retro fitted a new hose tap to the hot system to allow for a quick fill - only two to empty and fill now......

Paul.

 

[waterdrop]

OK, hopefully the nitrates will test out below that 80+ reported previously, and yes I now remember the water change - great that you've made progress on making that easier!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[paulbr1]

Hi, the tested Nitrates are around 40ppm.

Hmm 5 days at 13hours for the Nitrate to reach 0ppm

 

[paulbr1]

Bump - Happy Happy

2 days now at 0ppm @ 12 hours for both Ammonia and Nitrite.

[email protected] - or I will be in a few days!!