Catpicklesdog
08-07-2008, 3:37 PM
As my tank has been set up for a year, I thought it time to give it a darn good clean. One of my ball valves has been slightly dripping for a bit and the my left hand side overflow hasn't worked properly for ages.
Lunch over, I set to it.
Removed the skimmer, the return pump, the R/O top off and phosphate reactor and dismantled and cleaned all accessible parts of those.
Next step, undo ball valves. Oh, they're very tight!!!!
Next step, get monkey wrench and untighten - oops, twisted too hard and ripped the top seals!!!:eek:
Water now coming down outside of pipe work at the speed of a very fast drip/slow gush!!!
Next step - call LFS
Bless him, he pops in, in between jobs that he's had booked for ages takes a look and tells me I've done a fantastic job at wrecking his handiwork:grinyes:
I always say if a job is worth doing it's worth doing properly:grinyes:
The good news:
We've managed to control the leak (hopefully) so that it is only dripping into the sump. It had been tracking all the way around the stand and dripping everywhere.
The bad news:
We have to totally strip down the tank and reseal it.
The good news:
He isn't going to charge me (I love my LFS).
The bad news:
He needs a whole day to do it at least.
The good news:
He undid the ball valve of the left overflow and pulled out 20/30 snails/crabs - that'll be why that didn't work, why my nitrates have been a problem and why my crab/snail population has depleted. Overflow now works:grinyes: Oh and I did apologise to my Trigger as I had half wondered if he had caused the disappearance of them:lipssealedsmilie:
The bad news:
He can't do it for another week as he's doing a display at the local flower show and doesn't want to start the tank in the evening because he wants enough hours to make sure it's OK.
The good news:
Funnily enough, I'm still laughing!!!!
That's been my day today, roll on tomorrow:grinyes:
Lunch over, I set to it.
Removed the skimmer, the return pump, the R/O top off and phosphate reactor and dismantled and cleaned all accessible parts of those.
Next step, undo ball valves. Oh, they're very tight!!!!
Next step, get monkey wrench and untighten - oops, twisted too hard and ripped the top seals!!!:eek:
Water now coming down outside of pipe work at the speed of a very fast drip/slow gush!!!
Next step - call LFS
Bless him, he pops in, in between jobs that he's had booked for ages takes a look and tells me I've done a fantastic job at wrecking his handiwork:grinyes:
I always say if a job is worth doing it's worth doing properly:grinyes:
The good news:
We've managed to control the leak (hopefully) so that it is only dripping into the sump. It had been tracking all the way around the stand and dripping everywhere.
The bad news:
We have to totally strip down the tank and reseal it.
The good news:
He isn't going to charge me (I love my LFS).
The bad news:
He needs a whole day to do it at least.
The good news:
He undid the ball valve of the left overflow and pulled out 20/30 snails/crabs - that'll be why that didn't work, why my nitrates have been a problem and why my crab/snail population has depleted. Overflow now works:grinyes: Oh and I did apologise to my Trigger as I had half wondered if he had caused the disappearance of them:lipssealedsmilie:
The bad news:
He can't do it for another week as he's doing a display at the local flower show and doesn't want to start the tank in the evening because he wants enough hours to make sure it's OK.
The good news:
Funnily enough, I'm still laughing!!!!
That's been my day today, roll on tomorrow:grinyes: