Algae Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 Here is my latest: Noticed 2 of my t5's were not coming on so I disconnect from my controller and go directly into an outlet. Still not firing so I change out the bulbs: no dice! It is a Nova Pro with Sunpak ballasts which are not the best. Luckily, I have an extra supply of Advance ballasts. Time to change out the ballast! The Advance ballast is longer and will not fit without splicing, OK The wire is solid core 18 awg 600 volt. So I take a trip to Jerry's (like HD, except with service). They have no 600 volt rated solid core so they call Hienke Electric and they do! Yess!! Gotta swap out cars and go down to Hienke and they say they Jerry's did not say that they specified solid core (they did, I heard them say it). But they have some old small pieces of solid core that they can give me to use as a bridge. I rolling. So I return home splice all the wire together after trying to figure out the different schematic. Nothing! Then I notice that the on/off rocker switch has been switched off the whole time.DOH! Re-install the old ballast and mission accomplished. Time spent with travel/mechanics 3 hours. Humble Pie ate, priceless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 haha thats a good one Franklin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 I just connected a quarantine tank to cure one of my tangs. I set it up, pump.. heater and left. When back the power was off and 1 gallon of water was in the stand (I still have to install 2 check valves on the return..) I found out the power strip has a fuse/switch that goes off when the unit is charged too much. And the tang eventually died (wasn't looking good since day one). What a bad evening... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 I came home one day and found that my ATO bucket was empty, which was odd cuz i had just filled it that morning. 5 gal of RO into about 35gal of total water volume. I didn't think much of it and filled the bucket again. A few hours later it was empty again, then it dawned on me that there must be a leak or something. Sure enough, cheato had clogged the drain in my fuge and was spilling over the top. My carpet was soaked, took 2 or 3 days to dry it. I never lost anything though. I took my frustration out on the fuge. I have not had a fuge since. Another time i was doing some fragging, gluing frags to plugs. I let them sit out for a couple minutes to let the glue harden a bit. I must have had something else going on cuz we went to lunch soon after that and when I got back there were the frags still sitting there. A couple actually still lived! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 I got into the hobby thinking I could do it on the cheap. DOH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskerduck Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 I got into the hobby thinking I could do it on the cheap. DOH!or even slightly within reason, almost better off collecting Ferraris. I built an inwall tank without front access, major stupidity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 When I was first constructing my 240 and under the advise of a 240 owner, I bought a Dolphin 8800 pump for my closed loop. I turned it on for the first time and the flow was so crazy that it slammed my sailfin tang into the side of the tank and killed it. So much for "there's no such thing as too much flow". I might as well of put an outboard motor on the tank. DOH! Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 I built an inwall tank without front access, major stupidity! Me too. I have to get on a 6 foot ladder just to get into my tank in the garage. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfisher Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 oooops I love the "switch off" ALGEA ! Same issue here, took a deep breath, came back and started from the outlet and checked all current...found the switch off! Here's one; I always assume that leaving the feed hose unattended while filling tanks after water changing is ok......WRONG! And I do it every single time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr S Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Franklin you crack me up. So do the rest of you. My best was cleaning a 120 tank and ended up sunburning my head. The 400 MH did a major job on my head. I told people I had gone skiing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Got some blue sponges from the $1 store to put in my sump to use to seed a new tank. A few weeks later they dissolved and now I have small blue bits throughout the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 The 400 MH did a major job on my head. I told people I had gone skiing! Yer gonna make me wet my pants! Liar liar pants on fire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 When I was a newb I went to the LFS every week and got 5g's of NSW. After a couple months they commented on how dilligent I was with my water changes. I asked, "What's a water change?". They asked what I was doing with all the salt water if I wasn't changing it. "Easy," I replied, "replacing the evaporation". I plumbed a tank and thought it would be slick to put the closed loop intake in the overflow box. Thought it would be sweet to not see it. Luckily I tested the power failure level in the sump. The tank drained to the highest point on the closed loop, so about 75%. I could go on for hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 Re: Got Any Silly Reef Mistakes? not my mistake here but one of my buddies went to a horrible lfs who sold him a 12g nano and talked him into dropping a 400w mh over it....he couldnt figure out why everything kept dying till i saw his setup....can you say bake? Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 Here is my mistake...I bought this rock for $25 because I thought it looked cool...and they guy said they were "completely harmless"DOH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 I got into the hobby thinking I could do it on the cheap. DOH! This is my favorite (clap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berger9953 Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Here is my mistake...I bought this rock for $25 because I thought it looked cool...and they guy said they were "completely harmless"DOH! Is that aptasia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Re: Got Any Silly Reef Mistakes? mojano's....was told they were "rock anemone's" Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Lol, there are people that keep majanos on purpose though....they can be kinda pretty.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Re: Got Any Silly Reef Mistakes? Lol, there are people that keep majanos on purpose though....they can be kinda pretty....i am one of them....i kill a bunch but keep the nicer color ones.....even let them take over a rock that has/had a monti on it.....monti was killed by them but that is ok.....i think that is what montis are for....they make good rocks for nicer looking stuff to grow on Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 When I first bought my 110g tank it had been set up as a FOWLR. We brought all kinds of containers in order to keep as much of the saltwater as possible, thinking that the stability would be good for everything in the tank. When I got the tank home and set up, my nitrates were testing off the charts. Turned out the previous owner's husbandry was not up to snuff and I later calculated the nitrates must have been about 600 ppm the day I picked it up!!! DOH! Guess I shoulda just dumped all the original water and gotten some batches of freshly mixed from the LFS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Speaking of which anyone interested in some high color mojano's? Will cut you a sweet deal and if you are skilled you can probably recover the monti cap on the rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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