More fish room work

[LizStreithorst]

My good neighbor had the right tap and the handle

[BallAquatics]

You lead a charmed life Liz.

Dennis

[Mugwump]

You lead a charmed life Liz.

Dennis

+1....Liz, was it sponges that were running slower ?

[LizStreithorst]

Some sponges some air stones.  I cleaned up the valves and screwed some of them more tightly and fixed it.  I still need to make the change to make it right.

[Mugwump]

Some sponges some air stones.  I cleaned up the valves and screwed some of them more tightly and fixed it.  I still need to make the change to make it right.

The reason I inquired is that it suddenly hit me that the nipple where the airline fits on sometimes gets a mini clog...we cleaned (2) here today that were slowing down....it doesn't happen often...but it will slow em down quite a bit....just use a thin piece of wire.....

[LizStreithorst]

I have a few hydro sponges but most are sponges that are glued to a piece of tile with a piece of PVC stuck in. 

I noticed that as I was doing my WC today two of my sponges quit bubbling.  It was because my huge 250 gallon water storage tanks were either low on water or empty.  Having the airstones bubbling into air was enough to make the sponges quit working.  As I filled the containers they started bubbling again.

I need to do this job. 

[BillT]

The reason I inquired is that it suddenly hit me that the nipple where the airline fits on sometimes gets a mini clog...we cleaned (2) here today that were slowing down....it doesn't happen often...but it will slow em down quite a bit....just use a thin piece of wire.....

I have seen this many times in my sponge filters.

[BallAquatics]

The reason I inquired is that it suddenly hit me that the nipple where the airline fits on sometimes gets a mini clog...we cleaned (2) here today that were slowing down....it doesn't happen often...but it will slow em down quite a bit....just use a thin piece of wire.....

I have seen this many times in my sponge filters.

Yep, happens often enough that I have a piece of wire hanging from the main airline for quick access.

Dennis

[LizStreithorst]

I hate thinking.  I'm making up my materials list.  That means that I have to figure out exactingly how I'm going to plumb my air.  I realized in my sleep that I should get everything measured and drilled and tapped first.  Then I'd put in place and ready to hook up to the pump.  That way the fish will be out of air only for as long it takes to screw out of the old system and into the new system and hook up the air tubing.  After that I'll hook it all up to the pump and everything will start working as it should.  An important thing that I figured out in my sleep was how to manage the corner that I can't get to because my huge water storage containers go almost to the ceiling.

Right now I'm going over every place where I will need a each kind of connector.  I'm also trying to figure out how to get the job done with least breaking my back on the lower rack.  I'm afraid I will just have to break my back   This thinking part is hard.  The more I look and think the closer I get to knowing exactly how it will go, and the harder it gets on my poor feeble mind  

Oh well...no use pissing and moaning...I might as well get back to suffering.  The planning is always the hardest part for me.  The work itself is sometimes difficult but it's satisfying.  There is no joy in figuring out how to do it.

[Mugwump]

Smart move....planning it out well....it'll save ya a lot of grief too...

[wallace]

I would order a little extra of everything... theres always a booboo. You could lay all the parts out on the floor in front of the tanks, dry fit the parts, label them, and make a mark for the taps. A mistake I've made lots of times in plumbing is not watching the rotation when gluing... ending up with stuff pointed the wrong way.

My wife tears into things without thinking it through and I overthink things and delay the doing part. It gives us something to tease each other about. It works though... I do the measuring and cutting ("it doesn't need to be to the nearest 1/16th of an inch, Dan") and she does the hammering and screwing ("you want to try going clockwise with that, LauraLee...").

[LizStreithorst]

I always buy extras of what I figure I'll need.  That's why I have a box full of fittings.  As I was typing about connecting to the pump I realized I'd have to reduce a 1" fitting to a 3/4" slip/ MPT to hook up to up the pump!  That would have meant another delay!   No matter how much I think I almost always run into something I didn't think of.  At least the way I'm doing this project my fish won't be without air for long since the existing system will be working until I'm ready to switch over.  Rotation of fittings is not a problem for me.  I'm not great at measuring to the 16th of an inch but I don't have to measure that close for this job.

If your wife didn't have you, she'd learn to think before she dove in.  I've always had to figure it out for myself except when I was a carpenter's helper in Mobile.  It's easier doing what I was told by a smart person that figuring out how to do it myself.

[LizStreithorst]

I finally ran out of excuses and went to Lowes and got all my stuff.  Jack and Judy were walking down the road as I was driving home.  I stopped to chat.  They saw the 180' of 1" PVC in the back of Charlotte.  Jack knew that it was for my project.  I told him that I had put it off for as long as I could.  That I didn't want to do it but nobody was going to appear out of nowhere and do it for me.  It's always like that for me when I have a project.  I love the results but getting started is the hardest thing.

[wallace]

Jon mentioned using a drill to turn the tap. If you have a drill that does a good job of going slow, that would be much quicker on 47 holes.

Are you running an upper and a lower air pipe... or would it work to just have one line above? It would be harder to adjust air flow but easier on your back. I'm probably missing something.

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks for the suggestions, Dan.  I'll be using my 18 volt DeWalt drill.  I can make it go slow.

I would truly love to do the top rack only and run long air tubing to the bottom rack.  It would make the job almost a piece of cake and save my back.  My back can handle it, but it does bitch me out when I abuse it.  My thinking was that I had to do the top and bottom tanks separately  because it would be more work for the pump to run long lengths of air tubing  than short lengths due to friction.  I'm doing this so I can get the most out of my pump.  Is my thinking wrong?  Is it right but the difference in pump effort minimal?  I'm going to 1" PVE rather that the 3/4" I'm using now to reduce friction.

I can't wait to hear what you tell me.  I would love to make this job easier.  If I can, I will.  If I can't, I'll do the back breaking thing and bitch about it  even though I'll know that I will be very proud of myself when it's done