ervine

Oh BTW.. I'm thinking of adding the venturi intake to my supply pump as well.. so even more bubbles!! But don't know how to go about it yet... coz the supply pump intake is a little different than the maxijet.. One thing at a time....

Is that salt or freshwater?

Give it a day or two perhaps... but for me last time I just dumped everything in.. Laid out the new sand, then moved the old LR over, then threw in some old water, poured the old sand in, then moved all the LS over... all in the same day... don't think I lost anything but seriously.. not worth the risk.. for me it was just moving the shrooms, a clown and and an algae blenny... I had no choice... some technical problems caused me to do it at the same time.. but if you can I suggest u wait a while just in case... Oh BTW, I had my sump moved over also... with active macroalgae, so maybe that cushioned the blow...

IMO, my BLV 20k is too blue.. everything looks blue.. can hardly tell the colours apart anymore.. i rather have a 10k....

Hm.... I believe it's a 5 blade impeller... i think i'll test it out on saltwater first.. hopefully it's not so noisy, if it still is then I'll consider modding it to a pinwheel... Sealant I'm using Marine Goop, Silicone and Superglue for different areas... marine goop for the jointing, silicone to further waterproof and superglue for hairline cracks and certain smaller joints... I thought of epoxy but it's quite troublesome to apply it on such a large area... Also, epoxy doesn't havethe flexibility that I require, since tupperware bends and flexes, its better to have a sealant that can withstand this. I was afraid epoxy might crack under flexure... Hopefully after the sealant completly cures it'll become fully water tight...

Thanks guys... but what about the problem of the noisy MJ and the burping return pipe? Any ideas? Actually I am fearful of the lifespan of the tupperskim... it's not so much the plastic will give way, I'm more worried of the joints... they are the weakest part of the whole project... shucks.. hopefully when the sealants cure it will become sturdy as a rock... Oh forgot to give a cost breakdown... here is a rough guide: 01 x Maxijet 1200 - $54 (most expensive part.. ouch!) Tupperware - ~$20 (was on offer) Sealant & Glues - ~$20 (used this thing called Marine Goop, Super Glue and Silicone) Piping - ~$10 Misc - ~$5 Yup... so most expensive part was the maxijet.. if I had opted for a cheaper pump but run the skimmer internally than it would have been a lot cheaper....

Okay that's all for the pics... perhaps someone can help me with some of the problems I'm facing.. 1. It seems like the MJ becomes very loud after a particular point after I tune the air valve... any idea what's wrong? 2. The return pipe keeps "burping"... how to solve this? Thanks... hope to fully test the skimmer on my tank soon.. too bad exams are around the corner and I'm back in hall mugging again.. sigh

Here's a close up of the freshwater bubbles.. can't really see them clearly but what the heck...

Here's the skimmer working on freshwater... Unfortunately as mentioned I had to seal the two joints... Still having some problems in the two joints but re-sealed them.. now leaving it to cure for an extended period of time...

Luckily there isn't much pressure build up between the lower riser and the upper riser (er.. what's it supposed to be called?).. so still can be taken apart for maintenance...

Okay here's one of the major problem areas... I had originally intended for the skimmer to be able to be dismantled completely.. however this particular joint proved to be a major leak area... coz the tupperware was: 1. Never meant to be upside down 2. Never meant to under go so much hydrostatic pressure.. So in the end no choice had to seal the mixing box lid and the connection between riser and mixing box together....

So here are the parts I have used....

Okay.. here's a saltwater test I did in my sump... look at those bubbles!! (and this is already toned down via the air valve) Freshwater tests don't do justice to it... BTW, I have not modded my MJ impeller yet... might not do it in the end in case I wanna reuse the MJ

Posting.. posting.... still got a lot to go.. Ok ok.. so here's the MJ attaced to the mixing box... everything somehow fits perfectly... didn't even need to use any sealant to seal the joints...

Here's a view of the inside... drilled a small hole, shoved an airpipe elbow in and sealed it with superglue... the end of the pipe connected to the MJ is simply heated and fitted over the MJ input... added teflon tape as well for a better seal.. Oh.. there's a limit to how far it can twist.. I tore my first prototype... Also.. this method saves quite a lot of space in that the venturi is much shorter than Cheapreef's.. although I don't know if it's more efficient..

Hi guys, Before I begin, I should stress that the skimmer has NOT been tested on my tank yet (still fixing the leaks)... so I don't know how successful it will be and how safe it will be... But what the heck lah maybe u guys will be inspired to do something better... I originally wanted to make a Aqu*C based spray injection skimmer so one day while shopping at Carrefour, I stumbled upon this new Koren tupperware called lock&lock... which I thought could be used to build the skimmer body... So I bought them... but after a while I realised that the Aqu*C design won't work externally (unless I raised it) as such I was looking for alternatives... A few months later I stumbled on reef central's Cheapreef's deltec based skimmer and I thought why not fuse the two together.. Bought a Maxijet 1200 (MJ) and twisted a 3/4 inch PVC pipe to constrict it into a venturi.. here's what it looks like..

wah that's too extreme for me man

So does it work well?

Huh but my hermits are smaller than the crabs I saw leh.. dwarf hermits...

not ALL crabs are bad.. but some are... and since I have my scavenging hermits, I don't need the other "good" crabs, so I rather get rid of all of them and leave just the hermits... so far still no luck

Wah.. going to be quite hard to hunt down all of them.. ok ok I go see how.. thanks!

They eject something white into the water if I'm not wrong... but I doubt any home aquarist has ever been able to spawn them successfully... or have they??

My clown did the same... they locked together for a few seconds in what seems like wrestlemania... then sperated... I suspect it's coz back than there was not enough room for the two of them thus the need to resort to conflict. Now after the upgrade both seem to live seperate lives altogether...

How much bro?

Hi guys, I laid out a crab trap yesterday hoping to capture what I believe is the cause for some of my fish disappearances... crabs.. However, today I only managed to find 2 of my hermits inside the trap when I know for sure that there are other critters out there (i've seen them!)... How? Should I lay it out again and wait?