I'm Back

[Philosophos]

For anyone who recalls me/cares:

After a 16 month or so hiatus, I'm ready to do plants again. When I left, it was after watching my 55 gal show tank come almost to fruition... then collapse completely. HC uprooting, verical glosso, gassed shrimp, CO2 off-gassing... everything that could went wrong, did. At the same time, the local club crashed out and other interests of mine took off.

Since that time, I've been letting the tanks rot; I came close to selling all of them. Instead, my wife and I decided to pop up a little 28 gal reef tank, and enjoy that. By the time the reef tank started my routine again, I looked over at my glib library tank of surviving tough-as-nails plants. I figured 'screw it', turned on the CO2, and started scooping in ferts whenever I felt like. Anything had to look better than what was there.

9 months completely untouched for trims, just CO2 and dosing, and I looked over to see this a few days ago:

It's not great, but it's good enough. If not trying got me this far, then I think I'm ready to pick it up again. This time around, it'll be at a saner pace.

 

[csmith]

Welcome back, Dan. Good to have you back. What happened to your tank is why I'm taking things so slow with my 55. It seems easier with lower/slower expectations. I'm still using your stock solution formulas. Haven't gone wrong with those, yet.

 

[Biollante]

Sane Is Good, Though I Never Knock Anything I Have Not Tried...

Hi Dan,

Welcome back...:gw

Funny was just thinking about you this past week or two...

Biollante

 

[nipat]

Welcome back. Your disappearance was so abrupt.

 

[Philosophos]

Nipat, It was about as abrupt as the afternoon where I said, "I'm not having fun anymore". It's a hobby, not a cause.

Biollante, as sane as any hobbyist can be. Spending thousands of dollars on non-illicit plants and bags of white powder, can't be considered normal.

csmith, if you're still using the 9.19g/L formula, you can get away with doubling that. I use a small powerhead, and put the entire mix in a warm water bath in the sink... then go do something else. Works great with getting over the endothermic reaction on the macros, as well.

 

[Biollante]

'Cause It Is A Hobby... Not, Well... Er... Golf

Hi Dan,



Well I have never tried sanity so I won’t knock it.



Biollante

 

[Gbark]

glad of your return

 

[Gerryd]

Hi Dan,

Welcome back!

Gerry.

 

[Left C]

Hi Dan

I'm glad that you're back! Have you checked out that regulator?

Left C

 

[Philosophos]

Ya, there's a small leak somewhere between the reg and the bubble counter that I need to hunt down. It's probably just something a little loose. I haven't had a canister of CO2 around to spare for testing, but that should change in the next week or so. Once it's tested for a couple of days on a spare tank, I'll be flipping it over to my 80 gal.

 

[Left C]

I hope that it isn't the Clippard solenoid. Your VTS253A has a solenoid that I purchased about a year prior to there being reports of them leaking. I'm still using its "brother" that I purchased at the same time. It isn't leaking.

Anyway, if it is the Clippard solenoid leaking, just let me know. herns has a good picture showing where the Clippard solenoids leak: http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/6470-Dual-Stage-Regulators?p=52048#post52048

I have a new stainless steel Parker 20CC02LV4B4F solenoid that I can send you on me if it is the solenoid. This isn't one of the sherrrodsurplus ones that were bad. It is a different model. Oreo has some pictures of the one that he bought. The one that I have is the same part number: http://www.barrreport.com/showthrea...alves-die-on-me-in-one-day!?p=51858#post51858

Another part that can leak is the JBJ bubble counter. The top threads on the side where the clear part connects to its "brass hat" can leak. Either it is a bit loose or it needs some Teflon tape.

 

[Tom Barr]

Co2 is the mother of all failure in this hobby.

 

[Philosophos]

LeftC, I'll check it out. Is soapy water a good enough test method? That's how I diagnose a cheap system, but I'm not going to take any chances with a beautiful system like this.

Tom, The mother of all failure... and the opiate of our aquatic religion.

 

[pat w]

Anyone know about Clippard's Mouse solenoids? Good or bad?

Pat

 

[Left C]

LeftC, I'll check it out. Is soapy water a good enough test method? That's how I diagnose a cheap system, but I'm not going to take any chances with a beautiful system like this. ...

Yes. Soapy water, Windex, leak detector, etc will work.

I'm sorry it leaks now, but I'll make it right.

 

[Left C]

Anyone know about Clippard's Mouse solenoids? Good or bad?

Pat

Hi Pat

I've seen them in Clippard's catalogs, but I haven't used them. There are quite a few different designs of them. They use #10-32 threads and there are various optional manifolds that make them stronger. Also, they run on DC current; therefore a transformer is required. There are several different voltage options available too.

- Left C

 

[Philosophos]

LeftC, you have the best customer service I've ever seen in the hobby. It's a year later, I didn't always make payments on time, but here ya are trying to fix things.

 

[Left C]

LeftC, you have the best customer service I've ever seen in the hobby. It's a year later, I didn't always make payments on time, but here ya are trying to fix things.

Yours is one of the two brand new VTS253A-1993 models that I purchased. They are very sweet regulators. I had a total of 5 at one time and I am down to two now. The regulator that has your solenoid's "brother" is also a VTS253A-1993. I have it running on my grow out tank.

There are some new diffusers on the market that make very fine bubbles. They require around 30+ psi to operate. The Victor "A" models may or may not run them very well because the "A" models max out at around 24 psi. Other than these new diffuser additions to our hobby, they will run everything else very nicely and never waver.

Here is one of the few places that sell VTS253A-1993 regulators now and they retail for $245. The ones that used to be available on ebay by mrmotorcyles were all purchased by one of the sponsors on several forums. This sponsor purchased all that were left, loaded them onto two pallets and shipped them to Malaysia. I thought that this was a very greedy move by this sponsor. He did offer them for sale with a solenoid, Fabco NV, and a JBJ BC with brass adapters for close to $500 on his site. They didn't sell at that outlandish price and off to Malaysia they went. I was the dummy that told him where to get these regulators. Never again!

 

[pat w]

Hi Pat

I've seen them in Clippard's catalogs, but I haven't used them. There are quite a few different designs of them . They use #10-32 threads and there are various optional manifolds that make them stronger. Also, they run on DC current; therefore a transformer is required. There are several different voltage options available too.

- Left C

I'll probably take the chance. I need the cycle life and the low V DC works because I'll be switching it multiple times a day through reed style float switches (already have a 12VDC transformer out in the garage). It'll be hard mounted on a sturdy base so the light weight fittings shouldn't be a problem.

Pat

 

[Left C]

I'll probably take the chance. I need the cycle life and the low V DC works because I'll be switching it multiple times a day through reed style float switches (already have a 12VDC transformer out in the garage). It'll be hard mounted on a sturdy base so the light weight fittings shouldn't be a problem.

Pat

I really haven't read anything bad about them other than some concern over the #10-32 threads. You have this addressed, so it should work fine.

Good luck!