Three Year Fun

Cleaning your pipes

Congratulations! You have had a tank up and running for three years and if you are lucky, guess what you get to do? That is right, clean the pipes!

Over time, the insides of your pipes get more and more mineral deposits from your tanks water flow. These deposits are hard and stubborn and they like being there. They don’t want to come off. Not for you, not for me, not for anyone. They have become very attached to your pipes and they are not about to let go without a fight.

Buckets of Fun!

What is the easiest way to clean a pipe? I have found if you can replace it – do it. Pipes are the cheap part of the plumbing. The unions and valves cost more money, but usually you can get to them with a file.

A good tip is to get  help, as the host of The Reef Aquarium DVD, A Set Up & Maintenance Guide, Bob Wiatrowski, helped me this time. Two hands make this big job go much easier. Make sure you budget enough time as many things with a fish tank often take longer than you would think.

So if you are wondering why your water flow isn’t what it used to be, check your pipes. That might be the propblem.

My favorite CO2 Regulator

Here is a great regulator that is by far the best one I have ever tried. It is an Aquarium Plants CO2 Regulator that is very dependable and works.  At one point I had a mishap when my regular dumped a large amount of CO2 into the tank too quickly. This dropped the PH in the tank very fast and was very dangerous to the fish. They looked terrible and were struggling to survive.  I quickly added some alkalinity to the tank to bring up the ph and it worked thank goodness.  I only lost one Clown Fish that was not doing well to begin with.  Then I went looking for a good regulator and found one.  There is a whole series of regulators that Scott caries at Aquarium Specialty from Aquarium Plants that, I think, have a great design and have worked extremely well for me.

The first thing I noticed about these regulators was the price – they ran about $40 – $100 higher than some of the other regulators.  While this may put off some, please read on.  It costs me about $33 per small container of CO2 . However, with the efficiency of an Aquarium Plants Regulator, I figure I will save at least $100  in my first six months as the CO2 containers are lasting me much longer than when I used the cheaper regulators.

Set Up CO2 Regulator

Setting it up was easy. I just attached the regulator with a C-wrench and the directions walk you through a leak check. After I was done with the leak check (the unit was perfect the first time attaching it) I tested it out with a small piece of tubing and a water-glass. They say you can control the size of the bubbles in the direction. I did not see a great difference in bubble size, but was easily able to very accurately adjust the bubble flow – something I always had a challenge doing with the cheaper brands.  Once tested I hooked it up to my calcium reactor and the unit was functioning perfectly within minutes.  More than two months later is has not missed a bubble and has held the timing that I had started with it.

So if you are running a calcium reactor or thinking of doing so, this is the best piece of equipment you can get to keep your bubbles regulated.

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5998