Equipment

As the years go by, equipment gets old and eventually fails. I've used UPS (uninterrupted battery system) to keep things running when the power goes out initially. They are designed for computers, but I've used them to run pumps, powerheads, and the Apex. Over the past 60 days, I've had some really old one die. When they do, they bleep or blare a never ending sound which indicates it needs a new internal battery.

However, mine are really old and once that happens, my faith waivers ...

One of the metal halide ballasts became problematic this week. I noticed about a month ago that it was occasionally not lighting the bulb on the left end of the reef, but with a little tinkering it resumed as expected. By tinkering, what I mean is taking down the ballast, cord, socket and bulb and hauling all of that into the kitchen to test it in a different outlet, and naturally it turned on just like when you take your car to the mechanic and everything works perfectly.

Last week, ...

I just ordered some pretty SPS frags that will arrive next week.

New video uploading now to Youtube. This week's topic is about skimmers, and this is going into my system soon. It's the largest NYOS Quantum skimmer, which is brand new to the market. I saw it at MACNA, and they asked me to give it a review so I'll be running it for a couple of months in my system.

About six months ago, I switched from the Milwaukee pH controller to the Reef Fanatic Micro pH controller. First thing I discovered was that their pH probe was a smaller diameter and required me to MacGyver a way to keep it installed in the calcium reactor.

Lately, my back pain has been so bad that I've been ignoring my reef to the point I didn't even clean the glass on the 400g and the 60g for days at a time. As the brown film amassed, I just let it go. I still checked on the calcium ...

I don't know when I got the Dart pump that runs the 400g's return flow (from the sump), but I'm guessing 2011. Maybe it's a newer, because the serial number label doesn't match the image from back then. So maybe 2012. Last night I was working in the tank with the flow off. When I turned on the return pump, it needed a little help to get started - which has been the case for the past week. Using a flathead screwdriver, I can insert it into the driveshaft's slot and give it a small twist and ...