Well I woke up last Saturday morning and as I was getting ready to get married and I noticed that my light timers where not clicking on my lights. In fact my Pc 10k bulb was burnt out. Not a good thing since I was going on my honeymoon until tonight. I was horrified, I would be gone for five days with inadequate lighting on my reef tank. Nightmares of my crocea clams, my gigantea anemone, my nine sinularia colonies shriveling up an dying quickly raced by my eyes. It was not a good feeling and I was almost going to throw in the towel, then i took a good look at the saltwater tank and thought to myself “There survivors, these creatures can live through hurricanes.” The water parameters where spot on and I promised my self It wouldn’t take my away from my wedding day.
Luckily I had an old Vo strip light that came with my 46gallon tank and my actinic lighting was still working, So I threw on the old Vo stip light and hook it up to the timers giving it an extra two more hours. I come back today and luckily everything is still Alive and looking good. So tonight I am going to order a nice new t5 fixture that I have wanted for almost a year now.
Tomorrow I have a shipment of corals coming In from a fellow reefer from reefcentral.com. I had ordered a few colorful zoas and xenia.
Well I’m finally tying the knot with my long time girlfriend this Saturday and shortly there after we are heading up to the finger lakes in NY. Needless to say that I wont be posting again until after the 19th of June. On that note Here is a link to a good site to read while I’m away. The webmaster has some good photo’s and articles on saltwater fish and if your into freshwater fish hes got that too.
Every Tuesday I do my weekly water change, pump maintenance and phosphate reactor cleaning for my reef tank. The day before I make up five gallons of Ro/Di water in a big bucket and put a Fluval underwater filter filled with phosban. I have been using the same filter for this job for the last two years and it does two things for me, It moves the water so the salt will disperse faster while providing O2 exchange and it also removes any phosphates that my Ro/Di unit may have missed.
Everything was going fine with the water change today, that is until i put my finger in the newly mixed saltwater to test its temperature. Shock, Zap, OMG!!! Wow I thought, I quickly pulled my finger out and unplugged the Fluval. My trusty filter has betrayed me, but it could have been a lot worse. After leaving it unplugged I finished up my water change with a new batch of saltwater, I went back to check on the filter. Somehow the waterproof seal where the cord went into the filter was cracked and the unit was compromised. Lesson learned, Use CFGI outlets with any thing that involves water and electricity, not just for the aquarium. I live to blog another day.
