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Snorkeler's Cube

Balling equipment isses, take 3

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by
snorkeler
, 12-09-2013 at 04:48 PM (15686 Views)
Back in Nov 17th I posted about some issues I had with my Balling dosing pump+hose. Well... those were not the last of my issues.

On Dec 1st, I was greeted with this "beautiful" view as I opened the cabinet where ATO and Balling reside:
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Not good huh?

Initial inspection, turning the pump on and observing, revealed the silicone hose had burst open, with a hole pointing towards the cabinet wall.

Why? Good question, had no idea... I checked with the folk at IPAQ and a fellow reefer suggested maybe the end of the tubing was in the water. If so, then the KH liquid in contact with seawater would form crystals while the pump was off, gradually jamming it.

Spot on, that was what was happening. And here is a picture of the jammed tubing end:
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I cleaned up the cabinet, changed the hose and tubing and this time made sure it was fixed above water so nothing gets jammed... and I'll frequently check that tip to be sure it looks OK.

So, if you're going to do Balling, you better get a fixture like the one below, which I intend to purchase soon, when I find an LFS or individual selling it:
Name: balling-hose-fixture-978.jpg Views: 745 Size: 39.7 KB

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Tags: balling
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‎ Equipment

Comments

  1. melev's Avatar
    I've heard that the tip of the tubing can clog up above water as well as submerged. It just seems like those need to be cleaned from time to time to maintain consistency.

    Sorry to hear about your mess. Better clean it up completely so you'll be able to spot another issue down the line.
  2. jlemoine2's Avatar
    Mine slowly clogs above the water line... at least it's easier to see it happening when the line is not submerged. I've never had a blow-out though, looks like it made quite the mess!
  3. snorkeler's Avatar
    Yep, you bet I'll watch that tip everytime I open the sump. The mess took some 20 minutes to clean, wearing gloves just in case, and another 15 minutes to setup a new silicone flexible hose and the new tubing into the sump. Not to mention that KH was probably out of whack.