I took a day off today and was going to clear up some paperwork but decided not to bother. Well, what's the point of having a day off and wasting it on the paperwork. I thought I would clear up one or two problems around the house and I have managed to solve some things - In a fashion.
The filter in my fish tank wasn't working very efficiently so I thought I would investigate. I had three filters all of which were expensive but useless. ( Notice the past tense.) It is obvious isn't it, that no matter how big or powerful something is, if it isn't working efficiently and hasn't got enough suction the water isn't going to bother going through the middle of the filter material. It's going to take the line of least resistance and trickle up the sides, avoiding the filter medium as much as possible. Anyway, I decided to take all the filters to bits and see if I could make one good one out of the three of them. The problem with the big filter seemed to be the cylinder magnet with attached rotor blade. It wasn’t spinning round as fast as it should. None of the other cylinders and blades would fit but when I took the blade off the first filter, attached it to the magnet of the second and stuck it on the spindle of the third, it spun round like hell. ( Technical explanation over with :-))
The water is clearing fast but the filter is excessively noisy. It is noisy because the cylinder isn't quite deep enough and the plastic blades are grinding against the casing. I need to find something to pack round the bottom of the spindle so that it lifts the magnet and blades clear. The problem of course, is that it needs to be something, which doesn't prevent the magnet from spinning. I'll see if I can find a few washers or something in the shed tomorrow.
My fish is one of those fancy veil tailed things and it was rather surprised to find it's tail and fins being sucked up into the filter - I think its learnt to keep away from it now. I hope the blades don't wear out before the morning. I have visions of waking up to a bladeless motor, sparkling clear water and a finless fish.
Best go and clear all the bits off my kitchen table.
9 comments:
Oh dear, poor fish :-(
I prefer the virtual sort (see blog!).
I've seen your fish and I fed it for you. I think I would have got the tiger myself but I'm not sure I want a pet on my blog. :-)
"It is obvious isn't it, that no matter how big or powerful something is, if it isn't working efficiently and hasn't got enough suction"
Sad... but true....
Once when I saw one of them trapped and dead, I gave up my fishtank and fishes.
I am all for the technological solutions, but have you ever thought about expanding the ecology of your fish tank with some algae-eating fish or the like?
LOL@your surprised fish, very 'finding Nemo' ;)
I had an aquarium once....yeah, got rid of that sucker after my Oscar jumped out and crawled across the living room to his death. Yuck.
Never had fish myself, but one of my sons had a couple tanks with fish. Most of his paper route money was spent on more items for his tanks. He raised fish for quite a few years until one week-end hubby and Ii took off for a vacation . When we got home we learned that a friend of his bros showed up with a bottle of bear and poured beer into the larger fish tank and killed all the fish. Heard that when he was asked why he did that, he said he wanted to see how fish act when they are drunk. One less friend as my son never trusted him after that. The son who owned the fish gave away all those still living in the smaller tank and never had fish after that.
Good luck with your air motor.
Fonzie - er yes. :-)
Jac and Wendy - Keeping fish isn't as easy as it first seems and losing a fish or picking one up off the floor is unpleasant. I hate touching them. When my son was a very small child his goldfish jumped out of the bowl just as I was walking into the room. We couldn't find the fish anywhere - We eventually found it stuck and flattened to the bottom of my shoe. It was so upsetting and horrible - I screamed and screamed and threw the shoe out of the back door.
Michiel - Up until last year the goldfish was living quite happily in a tank which was in a state of good ecological balance. It didn't have or need a filter and I very rarely made complete water changes. Things now though are a bit different and it needs a bit of mechanical help. When I brought this goldfish home in a little plastic bag just over 5 years ago I did not have the foresight or realise that it was going to turn into a monster over 12 inches long. The fish and it tank have almost taken over my kitchen. It digs up all the plants and gravel and spits pebbles at me when it wants something to eat. It should really be in a pond or a frying pan but as it is used to a life of luxury I don't think it would cope very well in either situation.
Dotm - Drunks seem to love giving beer to fish. It isn't funny though when they die - It's very upsetting for the owner.
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