strawberryblonde
05-05-2011, 08:16 PM
Just wanted to post a thread here to say thanks for the info and advice you give us newbies on tank setups, etc.
Yeppers, I have a good reason for my thank you's!
Monday morning I was doing a regular WC and when I bent down to unplug my canister filter I noticed a slight leak near the outflow hose. I told myself I'd tighten the hose once the WC was done, but being me, I got busy doing chores while the water was refilling and totally forgot it.
I noticed that the filter seemed to be taking a long time to get the flow started again when I plugged it back in, then remembered the leak, and just as I got onto the floor to reconnect the hose, it blew off. I muttered a bit, then set about cleaning up the wet floor and the inside of the cabinet, then tightened up the hose and plugged it back into the surge protector.
Again, the motor turned on, but I didn't hear the water flowing. I hopped up and looked, nope, very little water was trickling out into the tank.
Back onto the floor to check the hose and just as I got down there, blam, the hose flew off AGAIN! At that point I was mighty frustrated, but figured the end of the hose was simply worn a bit, so I cut a couple inches off, mopped up more water and reattached it.
This time I stayed on the floor when I plugged it in (by now well over an hour had passed).
And son of a gun if this time, as I waited and waited for the water to start moving, the entire motor didn't spring a leak and start spraying water everywhere.
It knocked out my CGFI so there I was with a flood on the floor and no oxygen to the tank.
Long story short, I spent another 3 hours toying with the motor and trying to make it work, along with stuffing the media from the canister into the tank and running extension cords for my hydro filter and my heaters so the fish wouldn't get all toxic on me.
I eventually had to admit defeat and make a mad dash to Boise for a new filter unit. Thank goodness my LFS stays open till 7pm!
So my thank you to you guys is for insisting that people use at least 2 filtration units. If I hadn't had the sponge as backup the water would have been really nasty by the end of the night.
And just to be on the safe side, I got an extra seeded sponge at the store and added it to the tank while my new canister filter is catching up. I figure at least some of the media that I transferred must have died.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonus to my filter failure:
Upon replacing it with the exact same model and priming said new unit, I immediately realized that my original unit had NEVER worked properly! The flow is outstanding now! No wonder I was having mini-cycle after mini-cycle when I added my discus to the tank, and every time I fed them more than a pinch of food 3 times a day.
Other bonus: My buddy at the LFS and I finally had a chance to talk without interruptions from other customers and he's very interested in helping me with a breeding program for discus as well as my german rams (who seem to be constantly in the mood for making babies.) Won't be breeding anytime soon, but when I'm ready, he's ready to buy. Woot!
Yeppers, I have a good reason for my thank you's!
Monday morning I was doing a regular WC and when I bent down to unplug my canister filter I noticed a slight leak near the outflow hose. I told myself I'd tighten the hose once the WC was done, but being me, I got busy doing chores while the water was refilling and totally forgot it.
I noticed that the filter seemed to be taking a long time to get the flow started again when I plugged it back in, then remembered the leak, and just as I got onto the floor to reconnect the hose, it blew off. I muttered a bit, then set about cleaning up the wet floor and the inside of the cabinet, then tightened up the hose and plugged it back into the surge protector.
Again, the motor turned on, but I didn't hear the water flowing. I hopped up and looked, nope, very little water was trickling out into the tank.
Back onto the floor to check the hose and just as I got down there, blam, the hose flew off AGAIN! At that point I was mighty frustrated, but figured the end of the hose was simply worn a bit, so I cut a couple inches off, mopped up more water and reattached it.
This time I stayed on the floor when I plugged it in (by now well over an hour had passed).
And son of a gun if this time, as I waited and waited for the water to start moving, the entire motor didn't spring a leak and start spraying water everywhere.
It knocked out my CGFI so there I was with a flood on the floor and no oxygen to the tank.
Long story short, I spent another 3 hours toying with the motor and trying to make it work, along with stuffing the media from the canister into the tank and running extension cords for my hydro filter and my heaters so the fish wouldn't get all toxic on me.
I eventually had to admit defeat and make a mad dash to Boise for a new filter unit. Thank goodness my LFS stays open till 7pm!
So my thank you to you guys is for insisting that people use at least 2 filtration units. If I hadn't had the sponge as backup the water would have been really nasty by the end of the night.
And just to be on the safe side, I got an extra seeded sponge at the store and added it to the tank while my new canister filter is catching up. I figure at least some of the media that I transferred must have died.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonus to my filter failure:
Upon replacing it with the exact same model and priming said new unit, I immediately realized that my original unit had NEVER worked properly! The flow is outstanding now! No wonder I was having mini-cycle after mini-cycle when I added my discus to the tank, and every time I fed them more than a pinch of food 3 times a day.
Other bonus: My buddy at the LFS and I finally had a chance to talk without interruptions from other customers and he's very interested in helping me with a breeding program for discus as well as my german rams (who seem to be constantly in the mood for making babies.) Won't be breeding anytime soon, but when I'm ready, he's ready to buy. Woot!