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Aquarium update
Dec. 4th, 2005 04:48 pmAfter a number of ups and downs, a malfunctioning filter, an
underpowered heater, a defective air pump, and defective lights, the
new aquarium has finally hit its stride.
The H.O.T Magnum is well and truly toast. I bought a new impeller, thinking that was the issue. I tested the new impeller dry in the canister and it spun without a problem but when I filled the canister with water and plugged it in, it made a painful sound and seized up. I have scavanged it for parts and it will be going out in the trash. In the mean time I have been running the small filter we used on the turtle tank when turtle was a baby filled with a filter pad and carbon as well as a small corner bubbler filter filled with filter pads and ammo chips. This set up seems to be doing ok but I know i will need to find a more effective filtering solution sooner than later.
The small heater we had used for turtle's tank doesn't begin to put out enough warmth to consistently heat that tank to 78-80 degrees, no way, so was forced to supplement it with the ceramic heat lamp clipped to the edge of the tank. I amazes me that the recommended wattages on the heater packages are so low. We read a lot of boxes over at the pet store until we found a breakdown of "if you need to raise X and so gallons, Y and so number of degrees you need at least Z watts for your heater." You'd think all the companies that make heaters would want people to know that, it might encourage them to buy higher wattage therefore more expensive heaters.
The air pump J bought for me on the late night run to Brighton proved to be defective (I think it might have had a problem with its diaphragm), so we exchanged it for another of the same model. It's doing fine, nice and quiet and is powering the corner bubbler and two flat airstones.
The most critical issue up to this point has been lighting. I have so far bought 2, 28" flourescensts to mount in the hood. Its a long story but a scavanged the unit out of the hood when J's son built a larger, more bulb rich cover for the 29gal tank, now I have an empty hood that will take one unit but trying to find one that works has been vexing. The first one I bought was arcing so it got returned to the Home Despot. The second turned on without a problem, ran for just a bit, made a pop and wouldn't come back on. I went back to it today and find it is running just fine (and especially bright with the special bulb I had for it) so I have mounted it in the empty hood. It gives a good degree of lighting but I think I will want to either build a larger hood like we have for the 29gal or get a two bulb strip light. We'll have to see how motivated I am!
As this is by way of explaining my surprise and delight the other night at finding that my little fish had popped out 5 babies. They are very small so I can't sex them yet but they seem very healthy and curious.
The H.O.T Magnum is well and truly toast. I bought a new impeller, thinking that was the issue. I tested the new impeller dry in the canister and it spun without a problem but when I filled the canister with water and plugged it in, it made a painful sound and seized up. I have scavanged it for parts and it will be going out in the trash. In the mean time I have been running the small filter we used on the turtle tank when turtle was a baby filled with a filter pad and carbon as well as a small corner bubbler filter filled with filter pads and ammo chips. This set up seems to be doing ok but I know i will need to find a more effective filtering solution sooner than later.
The small heater we had used for turtle's tank doesn't begin to put out enough warmth to consistently heat that tank to 78-80 degrees, no way, so was forced to supplement it with the ceramic heat lamp clipped to the edge of the tank. I amazes me that the recommended wattages on the heater packages are so low. We read a lot of boxes over at the pet store until we found a breakdown of "if you need to raise X and so gallons, Y and so number of degrees you need at least Z watts for your heater." You'd think all the companies that make heaters would want people to know that, it might encourage them to buy higher wattage therefore more expensive heaters.
The air pump J bought for me on the late night run to Brighton proved to be defective (I think it might have had a problem with its diaphragm), so we exchanged it for another of the same model. It's doing fine, nice and quiet and is powering the corner bubbler and two flat airstones.
The most critical issue up to this point has been lighting. I have so far bought 2, 28" flourescensts to mount in the hood. Its a long story but a scavanged the unit out of the hood when J's son built a larger, more bulb rich cover for the 29gal tank, now I have an empty hood that will take one unit but trying to find one that works has been vexing. The first one I bought was arcing so it got returned to the Home Despot. The second turned on without a problem, ran for just a bit, made a pop and wouldn't come back on. I went back to it today and find it is running just fine (and especially bright with the special bulb I had for it) so I have mounted it in the empty hood. It gives a good degree of lighting but I think I will want to either build a larger hood like we have for the 29gal or get a two bulb strip light. We'll have to see how motivated I am!
As this is by way of explaining my surprise and delight the other night at finding that my little fish had popped out 5 babies. They are very small so I can't sex them yet but they seem very healthy and curious.
