Good morning!!!!

[daugen]

mkr, open to anyone, more the merrier, welcome
originally a way to say good morning and tell about the weather and maybe what you were doing that day.

 

[sodamo]

Good morning, Got a question. Is this thread for anyone to join in or is it a private thing? Don't want to bug in where I should not. It is a cold 19 heading to 31 but there is a huge yellow/orange orb in the sky something I have not see in awhile.

Very welcome to join.
You are responsible for donuts and coffee first month.

728508

 

[rswyan]

RS, I'm so glad you are still alive, I need some advice from you.

LOL ...

... blind leading the blind ?

I have a rusty trailer that needs repainting. What is the best chemical way to prep it, or should I just get with it with sandpaper?

If it were me, I'd probably squirt it down with a solution of Dawn/water or something along those lines, then pressure wash it to get any oil/grease off. Maybe rewash after that.

Then hit the rusty areas (assuming that it's only surface rust) with some muriatic acid and rinse. Then use a little phosphoric acid to convert any minor flash rusting that occurs.

And I'd do it on a warm day, when the sun was out ... to allow it to dry quickly to minimize any flash rusting from the muriatic acid.

Nice Aquarium. Can't wait to see the backdrop added!

Thanks.

Hopefully I'll get back to the backdrop in the not-too-distant future.

 

[rswyan]

RS, man am I impressed with that fish paradise!

Glad you're back.

Thanks Billy.

 

[rswyan]

RS. Nice fish load. And I sure didn't realize that your filter setup was that extensive. Can definitely tell it's not your first rodeo.

LOL ... my first tank - which I got when I was around 8 or so years of age - was a 15g "MetaFrame" (metal frame) tank with a slate bottom ... which I'm sure dates me.

When I get around to setting up the other 55g, I'm going to need to do something additional as far as filtration goes.

Plants look good for such thin "soil".

Thanks.

Are you just going to let the fish feed them or do you add water soluble?

As of now, I haven't really added anything, other than the phosphoric acid ... which was intended to eliminate any "phosphate block" that would prevent the specific nitrifying bacteria that convert nitrite ---> nitrate, from reproducing rapidly ... to the point that they could all convert all the nitrite that was being produced to nitrate within 24 hours.

It must have worked, because my nitrite levels - which I think were around 5 ppm IIRC - dropped to zero about 12 hours after I added it.

I have considered adding a substrate designed for plants ... maybe some Seachem Fluorite:

Seachem Fluorite

The LFS I frequent has one bag of it that looks pretty old ... I might take it off their hands at some future point. It's a mom and pop operation and they look like they need to move it.

Truth be told though, I could probably get away with not doing anything beyond what I'm already doing ... the fish will likely supply enough nutrients to keep the plants hummin' along. And hopefully the plants will keep the nitrate levels in check for the fish.

Symbiosis ...

 

[rswyan]

I bought my Oceanic used. 36" x 18" x 20" tall outside dimensions. The glass is 1/2" thick. So my calculations make it only a 51.5 gallon.

Yeah ... sounds like it.

I really wish my 55's had that 18" depth ... the 12" depth makes it a little tight for putting in a backdrop ... at least one which has some space behind it.

Glad to see you online again.

Thanks.

One more thang, I'm not a fluid dynamicist, but my first guess if your not getting the flow you want out of your pump would be the intake filter clogging up and being the inhibitor.

Yeah ... I should probably pull it and squeeze it out in some tank water that I've drained as a part of a partial water change.

It does get cleaned by some of the fish while it's in the tank tho' ... they pick at it pretty regularly. Of course, they can't really get to anything that's not right on the surface of the filter.

I might steal some of your pump ideology if I ever redo mine.

I'm shooting for around a 10x hourly turn over through the RFUGF minimum ... 55g = 600 gph, plus or minus ...

Don't need to see the gravel jumpin', but I would like to see small particles being pushed up into the water column. Might use a single pump like the Danner I mentioned ... or go with a couple of powerhead's - mebbe Penguin 1140's - hooked up to run reverse flow.

Have a read a number of posts on UGF's ... a lot of folks tend to poo-poo them as being "old technology" ... but there's a lot of us oldsters out there running them in reverse flow that love 'em

 

[rswyan]

RS, great fish pics. How aggressive are your fish? any problems with cannibals?

The African Spotted Leaf Fish, once they get bigger, will eat anything that will fit in their mouths ... and their mouths are huge, given their size.

The Chinese Algae Eaters, once they get larger, are rumored to attach themselves to other fish and suck on 'em. They grown to 12" in the wild.

As far as aggression goes, a lot of it is con-specific:

Larger African Spotted Leaf Fish chases the smaller one.

The larger Black Molly chases smaller one.

The Chinese Algae Eaters chase each constantly.

But there is some inter-species stuff going on as well:

The male Betta was bullied endlessly by the larger African Spotted Leaf Fish when I put the Betta in the tank ... for about 24 hours. Since then the Betta spends most of its time following the Leaf Fish around and threatening it ... by holding its fins erect and flairing out it's gills.

The larger of the two black Mollies chases after anyone that's around if it's trying to feed.

And the Chinese Algae Eaters will chase after other fish.

But there are no fish cowed into the top corners of the tank, and I'm not seeing any real nipping at fins ... so there really doesn't appear to be any actual attacking going on.

 

[txdon]

Good morning,
Got a question. Is this thread for anyone to join in or is it a private thing? Don't want to bug in where I should not.
It is a cold 19 heading to 31 but there is a huge yellow/orange orb in the sky something I have not see in awhile.

Of course you can join - Tomorrow! Otherwise you would have stollen my morning's only day of the "Lowest Temp" in the nation, including Canada and England.

Thanks for the info RS. Are these the sam chemicals you use in your aquarium?

We got the local paper today there was correction from last week's paper. And I quote:

"More information has been released by the . . . Sheriff's office a man who had his pants stolen from his house. . . . .It was first reported that Mr. D stated that the woman grabbed his private area, but that turned out to be a misinterpretation by the dispatcher. The crotch grab was a misunderstanding by our dispatcher. There was no crotch grab. The investigation is ongoing . . ."

Good to know!

 

[daugen]

I am cross posting this because almost no one goes into the Gravely area.
I'm stuck. Literally.
How do I get this steering wheel off?
what kind of puller do I need that won't wreck all the plastic and fiberglass around there?
I have never used a bearing puller in my life...
thanks

 

[mkr7734]

If it was Me,,,,,,, I would start soaking it with WD-40 for many days. It looks to be in sad shape but you want to save what you have. So be sure to put the nut back on flush with the top of the shaft and get someone to pull up on the wheel when you gave the nut and shaft a hit. It should pop loose. Other than that you will need a puller but you should still have the nut on the shaft even using a puller so you don't deform the end or threads,