I've Been Thinking!(NEVER A GOOD THING)

[big b]

That's to bad. I can't take the easy way for everything I guess.

[b125killer]

It's interesting to think vodka can drop N03 and P04. I wounder what other nutrients are taken up. It's something I could probably use in the future.
Big b, I'm quickly learning that the easy way is probably best left alone with saltwater. I tried to take the easy way out for curing the rock. Should of just acid washed the rock last week when I found out about the process. Also the diy overflows, although if I had the space in the overflows box to make the durso pipe I could probably still make it work. But the weir on the box isn't cut wide enough apart and it's uneven. So I would have to work on them some more. To get them right in would need to get a new blade for the table saw so I can cut plastic. The wood blade likes to grab the pvc. With small cuts like the weir it just pops them off. Not good for making overflows. I also had it kick back and piece of 4 inch pvc that I was split in half. It hit me in the stomach, felt like I got hit with a bat. I don't want to go through that again, so I bought a overflow box.

[BillT]

Alcohol (or vodka) has been used in denitrifier biological filters.
The alcohol provides carbon to the bacterial in a low oxygen area (often water being slowly flowing through a long thin tube).
The bacteria eat the alcohol, and in the process, use up the oxygen metabolically in their part of the tube and have to get oxygen from somewhere.
Certain bacteria can get oxygen by taking apart two NO₂ molecules, to yield a N₂ molecule (nitrogen gas) and two O₂ molecules (oxygen).
The nitrogen floats away (or might get used metabolically possibly to make proteins), the oxygen gets used by the bacteria along with the carbon from the alcohol.

[b125killer]

The things we go through for our fish tanks! ok this one might be the most extreme thing. I got all the rock acid washed. It wan't as bad as I was thinking. But it is time consuming and dangerous. It didn't smell so bad. So this is where I got completely stupid! DON'T DO THIS EVER! I had to see what the acid smelt like, (Not my shining moment). I stuck the bottle to my nose and smelled it. It almost put me on my butt! and it burned like someone set a fire in my nose. I think I got very lucky it didn't do any damage to me. Maybe killed off a few more brain cells. but as you can imagine I don't have that many left. I need to conserve the few that are still in there.
The rock after bleaching. It's pretty clean now. All life forms should be dead. I was reading that majano can survive bleach. not sure how but it did survive being dry for weeks.

This rock is to show the tube worms. A lot of the rock is covered with it. not a bad thing there dead. but makes the rock ugly.

The reaction was quick. it did over flow the can. I used two cans and they were half fill. I feel sorry for people that try this with 5 gallon buckets. The patio didn't get as clean as I was hoping but that's okay

This is the small rock that had the tube worms. the worms are gone on all rock. This rock took a beating. It lost a lot of it's weight.

Here is all the rock. It's all clean and shiny. Most of the coralline algae is gone. what little is left is just calcium now. the little white rock is different. it's a dead coral. I did acid wash it, I didn't leave it in the acid as long. Only fifteen minuets. The rest was an one and a half hours. That still took a lot off the thing. It's still a cool rock.


Over all I'm happy with how this turned out. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. it was quicker then curing it to let all dead matter rot off. That would of took for ever, any where from 1 to 6 months. and with the amount of matter on the rock it would of been 6 plus months. And the Majano was still alive on the rock. That's not a good thing at all. now I'll soak it in fresh water for a few days. then put it in the tank.   

[Mugwump]

You sniffed what......geez Louise....you're a lucky guy...be careful my friend...please...

I saw a guy sniff industrial strength ammonia based window wash.....he did fall down...knocked him cold..

The rock, etc..looks really good.....it'll look nice and should be worry free from now on..............

[wsantia1]

No lectures from me Scott but please be careful buddy.

[b125killer]

It's story time, and a little bit of how stupid I was. When I was a younger man, the first factory job I had they used Tylene to strip paint off screws. This was some nasty stuff. It stunk bad, so me and a few friends decided we would sniff the stuff. The owner was dumber then me. She gave me keys to the shop. Tried making me a boss. I was 18 at the time. And only really concerned where the next high was at. I found it, so I opened the shop for some friends to try the paint stripper. Now there was 5 people in this shop getting high on paint stripper. This stuff just knocked you out quickly. One hit was all it took. Luckily no one died that night.

[Mugwump]

It's story time, and a little bit of how stupid I was. When I was a younger man, the first factory job I had they used Tylene to strip paint off screws. This was some nasty stuff. It stunk bad, so me and a few friends decided we would sniff the stuff. The owner was dumber then me. She gave me keys to the shop. Tried making me a boss. I was 18 at the time. And only really concerned where the next high was at. I found it, so I opened the shop for some friends to try the paint stripper. Now there was 5 people in this shop getting high on paint stripper. This stuff just knocked you out quickly. One hit was all it took. Luckily no one died that night.

I think we all have a few stories that make us wonder  how we're still kick'n........me?.....more than just a few too....

[wsantia1]

It's story time, and a little bit of how stupid I was. When I was a younger man, the first factory job I had they used Tylene to strip paint off screws. This was some nasty stuff. It stunk bad, so me and a few friends decided we would sniff the stuff. The owner was dumber then me. She gave me keys to the shop. Tried making me a boss. I was 18 at the time. And only really concerned where the next high was at. I found it, so I opened the shop for some friends to try the paint stripper. Now there was 5 people in this shop getting high on paint stripper. This stuff just knocked you out quickly. One hit was all it took. Luckily no one died that night.

I've done something as stupid before too. We are lucky.

[b125killer]

I got my glass drill in today. The first try at drilling glass didn't work out so good. The first hole I put too much pressure on the drill. The second hole my son was putting pressure on the glass. The third hole I got it to drill but it chipped in the back. But I didn't tape the back. I didn't care, the glass wasn't any good


It's a good thing I had another 40b to drill. I got the holes drilled pretty good. A few chips but not big or that many. What looks like a crack near the rim is just black marker where I'm putting the overflow. It was marked out better but drilling the holes made a mess.

[Mugwump]

I thought that you put a block of wood behind the pane..and taped...

[b125killer]

Nope, i watched a lot of YouTube video. They all just used tape. They seemed to drill there's faster. But maybe that's because I was nervous and wanted it done without cracking. I sure hope I can get this plumbing right. I'm redoing all the plumbing. I need to take out the horizontal runs on the incoming water. Also there's going to be two lines for the incoming water now. The last try I made both line join together. I guess your not supposed to do either.

[wsantia1]

Still following the link closely. You're doing a fine job.

[Mugwump]

Nope, i watched a lot of YouTube video. They all just used tape. They seemed to drill there's faster. But maybe that's because I was nervous and wanted it done without cracking. I sure hope I can get this plumbing right. I'm redoing all the plumbing. I need to take out the horizontal runs on the incoming water. Also there's going to be two lines for the incoming water now. The last try I made both line join together. I guess your not supposed to do either.

...sounds like you're getting the hang of it now....   nice job...

[PaulineMi]

I'm really enjoying this thread Scott. (The "Mom" in me just has to say be careful though.) Thanks for taking the time to share. Now I'm going to Google those things in the rock that need acid to die.