My Pond. Notice frog in foreground and pickerel flower high in the middle of the pond.

This year we have occasionally been visited by a hummingbird around our deck.  Today the hummingbird was back and spent a few minutes getting nectar from flowers on the deck.  After that, the hummingbird flew over to the adjacent pond.  It spent some time hovering in front of a pickerel flower getting some more nectar.  While watching the hummingbird a frog suddenly launched himself at the hummingbird.  It must have jumped 2 to 3 feet in the air and almost caught the bird.  The bird was about the same size as the frog. The hummingbird moved a couple of feet away and perhaps a foot higher, hovering for about another 30 seconds as if to say “What the F*** was that?”, then flew away.  I did a search and found out that frogs have huge mouths and will eat just about anything, including other frogs!

Video pulled off of YouTube

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This is a review of the Green Killing Machine UV sterilizer for aquariums.  My planted aquarium had been stable and crystal clear for over one year.  About 3 weeks ago the water became cloudy and then pea-soup green.  Possible factors contributing to the algae bloom were:

• Dead fish
• The CO2 tank ran out possibly giving the algae a competitive advantage over the plants.
• A wiring error in which the LED lights got plugged directly into a power strip, instead of the timer, leaving them on continuously.  This was discovered after completing the treatment of the water with the Green Killing Machine.

Whatever the cause, the tank had a severe algae bloom.  Earlier this year in the summer my pond had an algae bloom and it was successfully treated with a UV sterilizer so I thought I would try the method on this tank.

What It Is

The Green Killing Machine consists of a small powerhead (water pump) and a sealed UV fixture.  A DC power supply connects to a controller.  The controller, in turn, has one wire connecting to the powerhead and another wire connecting to the UV light fixture.  The unit is reasonably small and fits comfortably in my 30-gallon tank.

It comes in different sizes, and I chose the 9-watt model which is rated for tanks up to 50 gallons.

How Well Does It Work?

It took 5 days for the water to completely clear.  After that, I put the Green Killing Machine on a timer to cycle it on 4 hours per day.  The UV light needs to be replaced after 6 to 9 months of continuous use. One can prolong the bulb replacement cycle and powerhead maintenance intervals by only running it part of the day.

Day 5 of treatment.

A nice feature of this unit is the pump and light connect to each other so that you don’t need to plumb it into your existing pump’s water output.  It’s basically “plug-and-play”.  It’s power requirements are minimal.

Green Killing Machine on Amazon 9 watt model   ($45.95 at the time of my purchase)

See my review on Tetrapond UVC-5 Greenfree Ultraviolet Clarifier

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Ocean Aquarium is one of my favorite fish stores.  It is located in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.  They stock many varieties livestock including:

• Fresh Water fish (tropical, goldfish, koi)
• Fresh Water plants
• Salt Water fish (for both marine & reef tanks)
• Hard & soft corals
• Marine invertebrates

They also stock a large range of aquariums, aquarium supplies, equipment, fish food (both frozen & dry), etc.

Since I have a pond and many varieties of aquariums, it is very helpful to be able to get all of my supplies and livestock at one location.

The staff are very knowledgeable and helpful.  The prices are comparable to other similar stores in South Jersey and Philadelphia.

I find that the fish I get there have a very high survival rate; some have lived over twenty years since purchase.

It is almost a 1 hour drive from my house to the store, but it is worth it.  Sometimes I use it for another excuse to take a scooter ride.  My scooter has a huge top case (55 liters)  plus under the seat storage, so it doesn’t normally limit my purchases, although I wouldn’t try taking a 100 gallon aquarium home on it.

If you have never been there, check it out.  Even if you don’t need to buy anything, you will enjoy viewing the variety of animals on display.

The post Ocean Aquarium appeared first on Arnold Solof.

For most of the 30 years I have had my 90 gallon, kidney shaped pond, I have left it “natural”. That is, no filter or pumps. I have always run an air pump with air stone to provide extra agitation and oxygenation to the water and to leave an air hole through the ice in winter. At one point I had a small internal pond filter powered by a small pump, but after a couple of years I stopped using it. It was a bit cumbersome to maintain and didn’t seem to do much anyway. At other times I tried a small fountain (water coming out of a turtles mouth) and also tried a plastic waterfall, but stopped using that because the sound to the water movement bothered me.

I recently got psyched on the idea of an external pond filter and built a DIY filter from a plastic container onto which I plumbed 2 bulkhead fittings. Water moves from below, through the filter media, and out the top. Initially I used bio-balls and lava rock, but I later replaced the lava rock with matala.  Even after adding a layer of white polyester filter medium to the filter, I was still left with dark pea soup water.  If my fish were more than 2 inches below the surface they couldn’t be seen.  In fact, I would sometimes go months between fish sightings, wandering if I still had live fish in the pond.

I reviewed articles on the internet and on YouTube regarding algae management.  Because I was growing plants in the pond I didn’t want to use a herbicide if I could avoid it.  For years I had seen these ultraviolet filters in the stores, but never quite understood why someone would really need one.  As I finally understood that the peas in my pea soup were actually suspended unicellular algae which were too small to be filtered effectively with mechanical media, and that I was struggling to achieve an ecological balance that would allow the plants but not the algae to thrive, I thought I’d give the UV sterilizer a try.

The unit is pretty straightforward in design.  Water enters a plastic tube containing the light bulb and is exposed to the ultraviolet light as it passes the bulb.  The algae is sterilized in the sense it can no longer reproduce.  It eventually dies.  The dead algae clumps together forming a mass large enough to be filtered by the mechanical filter(s).

Since my pond is only 90 gallons, I bought the smallest unit, UVC-5, 5 indicating it uses a 5 watt bulb.  You have to replace the bulbs every year because they lose their effectiveness over time.  The electricity is minimal, but the bulb will cost $14 for each replacement.  So figure about $20 per year running costs.

Connecting the unit required me to buy 2   adapters to go from 3/4 inch (the smallest diameter on the unit) to my 1/2 inch hose size.  So the pump immersed in the pond connects to the clarifier and then the clarifier connects to the external pond filter.  The external pond filter returns the water to the pond.

After about 5 days continuous use, I didn’t see any change.  At that point, to accelerate to process of the initial cleanup, I did a couple of water changes to flush out the bulk of the algae from the pond, hoping that the uvc-5 would maintain it.

It is now about 3 weeks from the water change, and the water is clearer yet, if that is possible.  It looks so clear that at least by appearance, you would almost feel comfortable dipping a cup in the water and drinking it.  So, instead of the algae returning, the pond clarity has been maintained/improved.  You can easily see all the way to the bottom with even minimal light outside.

Now, you might say that I cleaned up the nutrients in the pond by doing the water changes.  However, my tap water has a lot of nitrate and some phosphate in it plus I add plant fertilizer to the pond weekly (Thrive) which contains both macro and micro plant nutrients.  So, if the algae were going to bloom again, they have nutrients available.

So, as far as I am concerned, problem solved.

Check out my post on the Green Killing Machine UV sterilizer for aquariums.

The post TetraPond UVC-5 GreenFree Ultraviolet Clarifier – Review appeared first on Arnold Solof.

There are 3 pumps:

• Return pump (from the sump) (Rio 2500)
• In-sump protein skimmer (Currently Bubble Magus Curve 5)
• Rio 600 inside the aquarium
• Previously, but not currently, a small pump to circulate in a refugium in the sump.

In addition to that, there was a trickling/splashing sound of water as the water entering the slits of the overflow and the water squirting out the anti-siphon hole fell 18 inches to the bottom of the return chamber.

For years I’ve been downsizing my aquarium activity, but, since retiring in September of 2016, my interest in the hobby has been renewed and I have been setting up new tanks and reconfiguring existing tanks.  After setting up a new 30 gallon reef tank in the basement using an old hang on the back overflow I had, I noticed how remarkably quiet it was.  Looking further I saw the siphon tube dropped down just a few inches into one compartment of the overflow, then dropped down just a few inches more into the section that had the drain bulkhead.  In that configuration, there was no long drop and no splashing noise.   Hmm.

I started researching online to see what options were available to reduce the noise on the reef-ready overflow system.  It turns out there are several.  Since I had only the 2 holes in bottom of my aquarium, 3/4 inch return and 1 inch drain, I opted to try a Durso Standpipe.  For years I considered replacing the reef-ready aquarium with a regular aquarium to eliminate the noise.  But louder than all those pumps was the sound produced by the water movement of the return pump.  Depending on the configuration of the drain hose, there could be a gurgling or flushing sound coming from that and/or a splashing sound as the water entered the sump.

At first, using the instructions that were available on Richard Durso’s website, I went to Home Depot and bought the plumbing components.  For the pipe section, he recommends schedule 26 PVC because it is thinner and therefore has a wider internal diameter than the corresponding (standard) schedule 40 PVC.  My Home Depot didn’t have schedule 26 in stock.   I was kind of nervous about the installation because I had read about the potential for flooding if you screwed it up.  I was also worried about not having the thinner walled / wider internal diameter PVC.  So I relented and purchased the standpipe  directly from Richard on his website.  I also ordered the strainer he makes for them.  The total cost including shipping was $44.89 .

Another concern I had was the connection between the standpipe and the drain bulkhead.  Everywhere on the internet it was saying you had to glue PVC slip joints and not to use Teflon tape on them.  However, Richard recommended doing exactly that;  No glue at that joint; just wrapping the end of the pipe with Teflon tape and push fitting it in.  The danger here is that if that connection leaks, then the several gallons of water held in the overflow would drain into the sump, possibly overflowing the sump, depending on the reserve capacity of the sump.

Additionally, I keep a glass cover on my reef-ready tank.  Normally, the top of the Durso stand pipe is somewhat above the top of the aquarium.  If you shorten the pipe, you may then drop the water level in the return chamber, increasing both the distance the water falls and the loudness of water splashing into it.

Durso Standpipe Under Glass cover

At first, I rearranged the glass canopy of my tank so that the pipe could protrude above the tank.  That was a mess.  It looked stupid, made the hinge lid of the cover not work correctly, and forced me to locate the light fixture over the opaque plastic strip that connects the glass panels.

Next I cut the PVC cap and the connecting 1 1/4 inch pipe joiner both very short so that the cap abutted the pipe directly with no visible joiner pipe between them.  I then further shortened the stand pipe so that it fit about 1/2 inch under the glass cover.  I drilled a hole in the cap slightly smaller than 1/4 inch.

The result of the trimming was that the standpipe fit under the canopy, yet the water level in the return chamber was only 1 1/2  inches below the bottom of the slits of the return

Wow!  What a difference!  That night I kept checking the aquarium because I kept thinking I had forgotten to turn the pumps on.

Problem solved!

The post Durso Standpipes appeared first on Arnold Solof.

So, here’s the background about what is going on.  Several years ago I couldn’t get the venturi unblocked on the Lifereef skimmer. The skimmer periodically gets calcium deposits in the venturi and these have to be cleared. For years I would just shoot RO/DI water into the blocked venturi under pressure using a 10cc syringe. However, it got blocked to a point I could no longer clear it sufficiently. Instead of doing what I should have done, ie. run it in a vinegar bath for a day, I drilled a small hole in the venturi to unclog it, messing it up. Following that, I went without a skimmer for many years, just using a refugium growing macroalgae.

Recently I was having trouble stabilizing a new 30-gallon saltwater tank and a little CPR bakpak made a world of difference cleaning up the water and stabilizing the tank so the occupants would remain healthy.

Then I decided to put a skimmer back on the 75gallon reef tank. I contacted Jeff at Lifereef to see if I could get a new venturi. He recommended also updating the cup. Years ago he switched the cup style to remove the carbon container and to add an air port to attach to the venturi suction. This allows fresh water to condense in the air tube rinsing the line to prevent calcium deposits. By keeping the venturi opening from building up deposits, it keeps the diameter of the opening constant, which minimizes the need for adjustments to the skimmer. It also acts as a muffler to decrease the sucking sound of the air.

So, after getting the venturi and modified cup I tested it out. I was having difficulty getting the skimmer tuned in, and it wasn’t working well. I was also concerned about 73 watts that my Rio 3100 pump required, compared with the listed 8 watts of the Bubble Magus Curve 7. Later, I put a Kill-o-watt meter on the Rio 3100 and it measured only 39 watts of power used.

Eventually, I had to build a 2-inch stand for the Lifereef skimmer because I couldn’t get the water height adjusted right in it. That resolved the water level issue, but it just didn’t seem to be skimming well.

I said to myself, “screw it”, and ordered the Bubble Magus. The very next day after I ordered the Bubble Magus, the Lifereef skimmer got dialed in well and was skimming properly. Figures.

So, I am now trying the Bubble Magus to see how it compares to the Lifereef skimmer. The instructions are the typical mangled English you get with many Chinese products. I mean, how much could it cost the company to pay someone to do that properly? Anyway, I assembled it and put it in the tank. The whole setup is much lighter and has a much smaller footprint. It is also noticeably quieter. It is not that the Lifereef skimmer was loud, but in my TV room, a drop of 5 or 10 dB is significant. The power draw measured by the Kilowatt meter was 21 watts. The 8-watt listing is at 240 volts, and it is supposed to be 18 watts at 120 volts. Some websites just list it as 8 watts, so this is misleading for both reasons. Still, it is about 1/2 the power requirement of the Rio 3100. Also, the skimmer stopped making bubbles after 1 hour. I traced this to gravel entering the pump. I removed as much gravel from the sump as I could, cleaned the pump, and the pump started making bubbles again. They really should include a strainer on the pump intake. Some microbubbles are appearing in the aquarium. After 12 hours it is not yet skimming, but skimmers can take a few days to break in, so I’ll wait and see. It seems to be generating sufficient bubbles to skim properly, once broken in.

I will update this later after the skimmer breaks in.

Update 11/29/2017 (after using it for about 6 months):

The skimmer has been working flawlessly.  After the 2 modifications which were made early on, there have been no failures due to gravel entering the pump and the venturi has not clogged from a calcium build up.  I just empty the cup when full and occasionally clean the cup.

Update 2/1/2019 (after using it 21 months)

See Comments:

Mod #1

Mod #2

Update 2/1/2019

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