Careful when cleaning your powerhead / submersible pump ...

[mermaidwannabe]

That you get it hooked up again as soon as possible. Mine feeds directly into the lift tube of my UGF, and so can't be left unplugged for too long.

I unplugged it to disassemble and clean it, and it took longer than usual because the hook slide kept coming out of the groove. Then the airline detached and I had to push it back into the Venturi collar. I finally got things to stay together like they should, but by the time I was able to reinstate the power, apparently some of my beneficial bacteria had begun to die.

I did a water test thereafter and found ammonia still 0, but nitrite had risen to 0.25 and nitrates were up between 10 and 20 (the swatches are so close in color in that range, it's hard to tell which it was). When I had tested this morning, before cleaning the powerhead, nitrites were 0 and nitrates had only risen to 5. So, after rehooking the powerhead, there was quite a spike.

I just completed a 20 percent water change, and hopefully things will settle down again.

So this is fair warning -- don't keep your pump and aeration system off for too long, if you can help it. I couldn't, in this case, because it wouldn't stay together, but I am thinking of a remedy for that in the future.

I know where that hook slide has to be to raise the thing high enough so the bubbler works. I'm thinking of hooking up my second (back-up) power head, then taking this one and drying it off well, and putting a spot of glue in that hook slide exactly where it needs to stay put. When that dries, it shouldn't come out, anymore. Just got to make sure the glue is waterproof and non-toxic.

Sometimes we just need a little DIY ....

Learning all the time ....

-- mermaidwannabe

[KatzeSlaugen]

ide really reccomend getting a HOB filter its generally agreed that UGFs are relatively outdated and HOBs are better

[mermaidwannabe]

I'm beginning to consider it, to use in conjunction with my UGF and Maxi-Jet. Are HOBs complicated to assemble? Are the instructions that come with them clear and easy to follow -- do they give enough information and cover enough details so that there's little guesswork involved? What is a good brand of HOB for my 20-gallon-high, when used together with the UGF and Maxi-Jet? I'm going to my LFS tomorrow, and may start looking into it, then.

I'm just concerned because so many of these things are made in China, now, and the instruction manuals leave a lot to be desired.

-- Mermaidwannabe