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Calzone's new 120x60x45 optiwhite tank build

Calzone said:
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Close up of the AM1000 reactor. Could not work out how on earth the backplate was supposed to go together or attach to the wall. So in the end I just shoved two screws into the cabinet wall, slotted them into a couple of holes in the backplate, and hoped they'd hold.

The answer to this is to saw off the top part of the backplate as its designed to hang on the outside of the tank. This was initially designed as a calcium reactor.

You will see where there are three round probe holders in the top that join the flat section of the plate. Saw upwards on the same plane as the flat plate section and it removes that top bit. Then the backplate screws closer to the wall. Jim at TGM explained this to me when I bought it. Course, its not essential. If you are unsure and want to do it, PM me.
 
mikeappleby said:
Co2 from just one circuit is fine - will get round. Just play with it a bit!

One filter is fine - an external pump is an easy way to increase circulation at a low cost and stays outside the tank so better than a koralia

Mike are there any specific pumps you recommend ? I know reefies like their Deltec and Iwakis. Are these suitable ?
 
Calzone said:
Aquamedic uk certainly won't talk to you unless you are a retailer for some reason. Worth a try though.
I see you got your part, though AM UK were happy when I called them about getting an extra backplate. Im expecting a return call on monday. FYI should you need to remove the tail sections again, use a crescent wrench. Its a plumbing tool that allows you to adjust the mouth size and a medium one works fine. You dont have to get expensive Rothenberg ones, just any old cheapo will do the trick. And to get the bioballs out (I know you already have) but I poked a knife into the flat sections of the bioballs to "skewer" the ball onto the knife, then just pulled it out. I agree though, it is a P.I.T.A. lol

Just re read the whole thread mate. Awesome stuff :)
 
NIGHTMARE!!!

Did some pruning tonight and took the opportunity to clean the eheim 2180. It was fairly murky in there though the media was in ok shape.

Anyway, took out the impeller, cleaned that, sprayed with eheim maintenance spray, replaced. Fitted. Primed. Turned on. Grunk grunk. No flow.

Turned off. Impeller out. Spray cleaned with hose. Fitted carefully. Impeller in (Jesus that magnet is strong). Ceramic shaft in. Cover on.

Still screwed.

Repeat ad nauseam. Tried putting I the white shaft first, then the impeller over the top. Still nothing.. Manual suggest either impeller or shaft broken. Both look totally intact to me. If I put the impeller on the shaft in my hand and spin it, it works fine. But once in the filter, no go. I can't believe the motor has gone, and I would say its full of water, at least priming makes no difference even after many pushes. Can anyone advise? What does a broken impeller/ shaft look like? I assume it's obvious? The impeller is hard to turn once in the casing -you can feel the magnetic resistance.

So, either I have broken one of the bits, or I haven't primed properly, or the motor has gone. Can't think what else.


Double nightmare because the co2 is running off this filter, and so is the heater.....

After water change tonight the tank is at 20 deg. Have moved the heater from my small tank as this might help somewhat.

Without co2 I assume I should turn down the lights to 4 hours, and don't feed the fish while I try to fix it?
 
Rethe eheim ceramic shaft - the eheim parts book shows them with bushings at either end.... Mine is just a white stick. No bushings. Have I inadvertently removed and lost these? How would they go back on? Will go ahead a pond buy a replacement in case and hope for the best.
 
Hi mate, the bushes are actually tucked inside the cap that screws over the inpellor.
Make sure when your trying to prime it that the prefilter tray (blue foam) has no water in it at all. Other wis these won't prime I've had this problem many a time. If there is grunts etc and magnetic resistance I doubt the pump head has gone. Try to enpty half the water out of the filter, ensure the prefilter chamber is dry, then switch back in the filter whilst priming at the same time. This should do the trick. If not I have the details for eheim uk that would service the head under warranty for you
 
Alastair said:
Hi mate, the bushes are actually tucked inside the cap that screws over the inpellor.
Make sure when your trying to prime it that the prefilter tray (blue foam) has no water in it at all. Other wis these won't prime I've had this problem many a time. If there is grunts etc and magnetic resistance I doubt the pump head has gone. Try to enpty half the water out of the filter, ensure the prefilter chamber is dry, then switch back in the filter whilst priming at the same time. This should do the trick. If not I have the details for eheim uk that would service the head under warranty for you

Does your impellor shaft have a little rubber hood at both ends too ? On my G6 (I know its a different filter but thought it was pretty much commonplace in them all) There is a rubber grommit of sorts at both ends to hold the shaft in place. This rubber part stayed inside the hole that the impellor goes in and I had to hook it out in order to make sure the shaft went back in straight.

Hope you get it sorted. As Alastair has alluded to above, the prefilter tray having water in can cause a problem with priming and from memory your filter pipes go quite horizontal upon connection to the hose adaptor section. I would consider even removing ALL the water from your filter and doing a MANUAL prime by sucking in at the spraybar end to get the flow started (make sure there is no water in the return pipe first or you will get a mouthful of tank water as I have done before !).

Good luck, keep us posted.
 
Just as an aside, if you have or can get hold of an in tank diffuser today either for current needs or as a spare in case of problems in the future (which i hope dont arise) then you can feed the CO2 direct into the tank. Either position the diffusor underneath the intake of the other filter inlet strainer or somewhere that your flow holds it down in the tank. Useful to have this as a backup. I can't recal if you had an UP inline atomiser before ? IF so, connect it up and just plop it in the tank as low as possible (will need to weight it down) and it should do the same thing as a diffusor bar.
 
so you guys think that noise is probably an airlock? Will try as you suggest.

I have no diffuser as I broke the last one trying to pull the tube off it.

Here's hoping it is a priming issue, as I just can't see how it can be broken. As you say, pretty sure the bushings are still in there. Need to push the shaft in somewhat firmly to get it in the holes, which I assume are the bushings.

I'm off to try to prime again. I think you may have a point, as the outlet side filled up partially last time i primed, and this time it hasn't, possibly suiggesting its not properly primed.
 
OK. Turns out it was a priming issue. When I clicked the outlet head back in and opened the valve, the filter started filling with water. But unbeknownst to me, it was only filling the prefilter tray (should have known as it didn't go on for 2 minutes like usual, but it was midnight by this point!). The rest of the filter was empty.

The only way to fix this is to press down the priming button immediately you open the valve. Other wise the prefilter fills and before you know it priming doesnt work. This is only the case because my inlet hoses were still full of water. IF they were empty, the priming button would have worked.

Jeez. Thanks for your advice chaps. Here's hoping my bacteria survived the night intact (though the latest I've read suggests these babies are more resilient than we think.), and the fish didnt catch a cold from a night at 20-21 deg.

As an aisde, cleaning the filter didnt improve flow. Which I think means my hoses need cleaning. Hate that job.
 
Calzone said:
OK. Turns out it was a priming issue. When I clicked the outlet head back in and opened the valve, the filter started filling with water. But unbeknownst to me, it was only filling the prefilter tray (should have known as it didn't go on for 2 minutes like usual, but it was midnight by this point!). The rest of the filter was empty.

The only way to fix this is to press down the priming button immediately you open the valve. Other wise the prefilter fills and before you know it priming doesnt work. This is only the case because my inlet hoses were still full of water. IF they were empty, the priming button would have worked.

Jeez. Thanks for your advice chaps. Here's hoping my bacteria survived the night intact (though the latest I've read suggests these babies are more resilient than we think.), and the fish didnt catch a cold from a night at 20-21 deg.

As an aisde, cleaning the filter didnt improve flow. Which I think means my hoses need cleaning. Hate that job.

Glad its all sorted. Blardy filters eh !? I would do ammonia and nitrite tests every 12 hours for 48 hours personally just to keep an eye in case of delayed die off. But I reckon you should be OK. If flow is an issue, given the level of filtration you have and the quality of media (I dont care, I STILL believe not all media was made the same ! lol) You could consider removing some of it in a few days once you are sure your bio filtration has not been affected.

Do dirty pipes really reduce flow that much ? I have not cleaned mine since the tank started. :woot:
 
Re flow, I think ditry pipes do reduce flow a lot. Especially when they're 1.3 m long like mine - last time I cleaned them it made a lot difference. And all I can say is I have a clean filter, and its flow is probably less than half what it was 6 weeks ago. Nothing else changed..... Figure its the pipes. Still only one way to find out. The flow indicator window itself is dirty enough I can't see where the float is - which tells you something.
 
Calzone said:
Re flow, I think ditry pipes do reduce flow a lot. Especially when they're 1.3 m long like mine - last time I cleaned them it made a lot difference. And all I can say is I have a clean filter, and its flow is probably less than half what it was 6 weeks ago. Nothing else changed..... Figure its the pipes. Still only one way to find out. The flow indicator window itself is dirty enough I can't see where the float is - which tells you something.

Thats interesting. I may be cleaning my pipes tonight. :crazy: :lol: IT could be that its that which is reducing my flow too.
 
Calzone said:
alright, let me know, and dont cock up your priming !!!!!!!!

Although won't be a problem for you as your pipes will by definition be empty.

The G6 can still be a bitch to prime if the pipes are not empty though. I found the earlier advice about keeping the return out of the water makes a big difference though :) I will be cleaning the pipes tomorrow and seeing if that has any affect.
 
Finally, fixed my problem. Turns out the small amount of scrunchy I'd put in the AM1000 had got sucked into the outlet, presumably when it drained as it was fine before the maintenance session. It's invisible down there. When I opened it was sucked in about half a centimetre but quite densely packed and had clogged with dirt.

Have now removed it, plumbed back in and all working. Flow restored to more or less where it was.

So here's a classic example of double jeopardy - its never one thing that goes wrong, these things come in twos and threes. In my case, cocked up my priming, knocked slightly loose a key part of my filter, and ended up moving a small bit of my setup which caused an invisible blockage, all in a nice little sequence.

Fortunately, no apparent damage to the tank yet. Looking forward to get co2 back up as felt things were starting to take off.

Only problem I now have is one patch of my HC just won't stay put due to short roots. Think I will simply replace with cuttings of my stauro and helferi.
 
Calzone said:
Finally, fixed my problem. Turns out the small amount of scrunchy I'd put in the AM1000 had got sucked into the outlet, presumably when it drained as it was fine before the maintenance session. It's invisible down there. When I opened it was sucked in about half a centimetre but quite densely packed and had clogged with dirt.

Have now removed it, plumbed back in and all working. Flow restored to more or less where it was.

So here's a classic example of double jeopardy - its never one thing that goes wrong, these things come in twos and threes. In my case, cocked up my priming, knocked slightly loose a key part of my filter, and ended up moving a small bit of my setup which caused an invisible blockage, all in a nice little sequence.

Fortunately, no apparent damage to the tank yet. Looking forward to get co2 back up as felt things were starting to take off.

Only problem I now have is one patch of my HC just won't stay put due to short roots. Think I will simply replace with cuttings of my stauro and helferi.

Have you taken the scrunchy out now Nick ? Others seem to think there is no need for anything in there anyway. What a pain in the a... :rolleyes: But glad its all sorted. Have you thought of weighting a small bit of netting over the HC for a while ? Just till it gets going... I have the pleasure of trying a HC carpet myself soon :)
 
I've taken the scrunchy out. I reckon its not needed. Plus its just a dirt magnet.

Re the HC, good idea, I might try that one more time before binning the idea. I also tried replanting various stems which is very awkward in a 60cm deep tank, but the damn things just kept coming right back out, or worse, they'd stay in but dislodge 3 more established stems!!! There was some blue language.
 
i am glad you enjoy planting as much as me :) although i do seem to be getting the knack now.
 
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