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What did you get done today?


Cory

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1 hour ago, AdamTill said:

Neat, good system. I may or may not have forgotten a few times and once had the neighbours phone me saying water was running out the side of the house. Now I have lots of water alarms and no RO system lol.

Is that switch controlling a booster pump? Can’t quite make out what’s going on there.

The timer turns on and off both the booster and a solenoid valve controlling water flow into the unit at the same time.  I had a regular light switch controlling power to the gfi, but swapped that out for the 2 hour mechanical timer.

Edited by tolstoy21
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I’ve been admiring the Panta Rhei “Flow To Go” false bottom stream flow tanks for a long time, and I just got a new job for the first time in 12 years, so my wife and I treated ourselves to a new tank.

Used larger tanks are rarer then hen’s teeth up here in good condition, so I picked up a new Marineland set. Not my fav stand, but it’ll do and I wouldn’t have been able to make something better until the spring. Also have a Co2art system coming soon, and I needed something I can make lockable against the prowlings of a toddler.

Today I called a local glass shop for some of the bits to make the false bottom, and they whipped them up the same today. Just picked them up...muwahaha.

When I got home my new puffer mug was here too, so all in all, a good day.

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Today I was able to get a 40g breeder donated to a substance abuse/mental health residential facility and I am going to be stocking it with a few fancy goldfish for the guys in treatment to take care of. I like to promote the wellness/mental health benefits of aquarium keeping. Maybe I will be able to convert a few hobbyists in the process!

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Applied the blue (hubby's choice) window cling background to the new 90 gallon tank and got almost ALL the bubbles out!  I KNEW the decade I spent covering books as a librarian would come in handy in "real life" someday!  Never did a book as big as the back of this tank though!

And on day 3 of soaking the driftwood with hot water changes throughout the day.

Oh!  And got my handy husband to measure for shims to level the stand (it's not crooked, but our 120 year old floor is, even by the wall!)  Now, if he can get his planer working, I might be in business!

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Edited by KaitieG
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17 minutes ago, AdamTill said:

Ooh @KaitieG, bubble preventing tips appreciated!

I can try for some tips but have to preface it with I'm only a "pro" when it comes to books--I've done a sum total of 2 aquarium backgrounds vs a few thousand books 🙂  They do basically work the same though...kinda.

I just started on one edge and gradually peeled it back until I got about to the middle (the handy cross brace let me know where that was).  The hardest part was getting the first edge lined up straight enough that the whole 4 ft piece would go on straight.  If I were doing anything any bigger than this 4 ft tank, I'd probably do it in two pieces, working towards the middle. 

I used my hands to spread it out a little first and then REAAALLLLYYY wished I had one of the library book cover smoother-outers that I'd used there (just looked it up and they're called a "bone folder" and if I was doing backs on a bunch of tanks I'd absolutely buy one!).  I had to settle for a credit card.  The bone folder is a lot more solid and is a lot longer, which would have been been handy. 

I squeezed the big bubbles towards the edges and then did the other half.  Then I went back for the little bubbles.  Those were the hardest, and the 2nd half had a lot more tiny bubbles trapped.  They really wouldn't move no matter what I did.  I decided to peel that side back off (wish that worked for library books, but those covers are adhesive--you've only got one shot!) and added more water to that side, figuring it maybe had dried out a little before I applied the film (the first side didn't have nearly as many of the little bubbles).  That really did the trick.  The directions on the window cling were totally right-- "More water is more better."** Not applicable to library books 😉 

 

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Got some triming done, water change, and added some red root floaters. Also, added a sponge to the outflow of my HOB to slow down the water flow. Hope it helps with growing my floating plants. 20210109_180856.jpg.9c34c9b3562b6fe654cdcee5516b0d8e.jpg

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Edited by Garren B
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Did a water change on my 10 and 55 gallon tanks. I cleaned up the 55 a bit (scrubbing the glass, rinsing the filter media, etc) because it had been a while! I also decided to place the lights above the water instead of under the water—I think I like the looks of it better this way. Plus one was building up condensation inside and that had me concerned.

I also ordered a microscope to help me do post mortems on my fish. Up to 1000x with a wifi connection to my device for $33? Yes please!!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MJ6826G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Big day today on our new 95 gallon--

My husband finished shimming the stand/super heavy duty antique buffet, so it is now "dead on" as my husband congratulated himself (it wasn't an easy leveling job thanks to uneven floors and a broken planer--yep planer, not planner).

I got the drawers cleaned out for the first time in 10 years.

The kids and I washed and added the BDBS substrate.

I messed around with hardscaping ideas.  I'll need to mess around more and decide what layout we want to go with.  I'm finding the driftwood a challenge, as I don't particularly like the shape of the big piece, and I'm not sure where to go with it.  Also can't get the height I want (hoping val and some stem plants can help with that) since I couldn't afford the tall driftwood I really preferred.  So, working with what I have.

 

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Edited by KaitieG
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Today during a water change I installed a cool floating plant corral I bought online. My fish always hate water changes and any time I stick my hand in the tank, so I will wait till next water change in order to make adjustments and remove a lot more of the salvinia minima. I'm really surprised how well this works - to one side is where the sponge filter bubbles surface, and to the other has the HOB filter (pic is sideways in order to see the flow). All it is is a piece of airline tubing and two attachments with suction cups. The attachments have leeway to float up or down for WC - you can see the thing that looks like a pole in the looking-up pic. Theres a little round thing hooked to that pole and the tubing that goes up and down on the pole depending on water depth and which length is ordered. 

I'd much rather be handy and make something for free or cheap, but the price was pretty reasonable. No more plants being thrashed about in the filter flow!! The pic shows how they get all messed up and turned upside down at the front where they were deposited after the ride (and eventually suffer) - I still have to fix those. 

 

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