Random Thought Thread

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Small tanks don't seem to be my forte. I shutdown what had once been a fairly nice zoanthid tank over that the valonia got the better of things. In the bigger tank valonia just isn't an issue since the fish in there will destroy it. This 40g carpet tank is the same sort of thing, nobody who will fit into it will take caulerpa down. I experimented with a number of urchins but they seem to be more interested in wearing a hat made of caulerpa rather than eating it.

I hear you. Tangs & Rabbitfishes are worth their weight in gold.

[Lance]

Sometimes I hate living in a small town. I can't find aquarium-safe silicone anywhere. Now I have to order a tube just to install one lousy bulkhead. Grrrrrr!

[muck]

Don't have a Crappy Tire Lance?

[lastlight]

Why do you need silicone dude? I have never had a bulkhead leak and I've never done anything but wash the gasket with warm water first, acetone the glass on the gasket side and install hand tight. Hand tight means I torque it until my fingers sorta hurt but still just with my hands.

[Lance]

Ryan: Our Crappy tire doesn't carry the right kind.


Brett: The bulkhead is going on a 55 gal plastic container that holds the SW for water changes. I don't think you'd get a good enough seal without silicone on a thin plastic wall.

[lastlight]

Use a ton of pvc primer and glue and make it permanent lol!

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Lance

Brett: The bulkhead is going on a 55 gal plastic container that holds the SW for water changes. I don't think you'd get a good enough seal without silicone on a thin plastic wall.

I've sealed many containers with thin plastic using a bulkhead without any issues, as a rule I never use silicone on bulkheads as the seal will break if you twist the bulkhead by installing or modifying any plumbing that attaches to it. Perhaps what you need is a better bulkhead?

[Lance]

OK. I'll try it without the silicone.

[Mrfish55]

Check with Bob, he had some in stock, if not I am sure I have a tube if you still want some.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

So this morning I found my last nice RBTA stuck to the intake of a powerhead. Awesome. I've noticed that in the last few months the RBTA's have gotten a little restless, after having never moved in years all of a sudden they move, and I notice it seems to correlate with caulerpa getting too close to them. I prune the stuff every day and pull out gobs and gobs of it but it's instantly replaced. I don't even know how this stuff got into the tank, it just showed up one day and has been causing me huge headaches ever since. At least in the big tank the rabbit and tangs happily eradicate the stuff but there's no similar behaving fish that can fit in a 40g. I can't WAIT to shut this tank down and let the tangs and rabbit go to town on the rock.

Tonight I came downstairs after supper and I hear a weird whining noise. It's the autofeeder in the cube tank. The LED screen has gotten all wonky and it's stuck on so turn after turn of dumping pellets in until the hopper was empty. Stellar. Ordinarily I have it set to turn 3x which is enough to make the fish go crazy and eat it up in about 30 seconds. The tank is completely full of pellets floating everywhere and the fish are so full of them that they're not chasing them down anymore. Ugh, now what? I hope that changing the filter sock out, cleaning the skimmer and doing a 25% water change will be enough .. I'll do another one tomorrow maybe.

Not the best day for my tanks. Hope others had much a better day than I did!

that sucks