Aquamaxx HOB 1 What a Beast!

So I got to say I'm very excited about the aquamaxx hang in the back.  I read upon several people that had use it.  Did my research and decided to go ahead and try one out.

The Aquamaxx HOB1 is rated up to 75 gallons.  Has a dimension of 7.5"x 3.5"x 17". Comes with a shark 1.0 made custom for the HOB 1 and has a power consumption of 11 watts. It's design to fit inside the protein skimmer to reduce noise and save space. Easily hangs over the back on any aquarium regarding if it's rimless or has rim bracket.  It has two screws that easily attach to your aquarium.

The Aquamaxx has a small custom needle wheel that inserts right in the shark pump.  The needle wheel turns the water into micro bubbles.  This air and water movement removes organic waste and sends it straight into your collection cup.


The quality of the skimmer is laser cut by computer and is made to last for years. It comes with a built in silencer to further reduce noise. FYI!!! this skimmer is really quiet, don't know how some people say it's noisy, so far it's the quietest skimmer i ever heard.

After installing this on the back of my tank I hit that wall that everybody experience with it.  I was unable to open the lid from my 28 gl nano.  So a few alterations where done to the return and send plumbing.  I had to cut at least half of each tube and end up gluing the return line since it was dripping water.  After I let the glue dried i re-installed it and gave it another shot.   The lid open up, no leaks, no fuzz and it was working like a charm.  It only took three days for the break in period for it to start skimming some good ol waste ;)

invertebrates

Just a little update on my snails :)

Spill on Isle 6, bring in the Clean up Crew

After several debates, I decided why not start off with a small clean up crew.  I'm gonna try to stay away from certain crabs. .. boy I learn my lesson when I had my 12 gl nano.  For now I will stick and start off with some snails. Having the advantage of having several LFS around I don't have to break my head searching around or ordering livestock online.   I hate paying the overly priced shipping and handling and sometimes it's never WYSIWYG. The only transaction I'll do is maybe local forums.
So getting back to my snails I decided to get the following:

6 astraea snails
6 nassarius snails
1 turbo snail
1 cerite snail (they had ran out but luck I was able to find one) ;-)

So I got home and placed them in a bucket.  Lowered the water level to avoid excessive water from the main tank.

I hanged the Accudrip on the tank and let the drip do its job.  It only took about 25 min for it to reach the desire volume.   I tested the ph and specific gravity to make sure everything is ok to transfer the snails. 

After the transfer it only took a couple of seconds for the snails to start moving.  Within minutes the snails where happy and gone there way.

acclimation

Now that my parameters are stable,  its time ti start adding some livestock.  Before I go crazy and go spending right away I figure I have to find the best solution to acclimate my livestock.   We all now the floating technique but seriously that does not work for saltwater creatures since some are very delicate to others.  I've been looking into the acclimate gently that looks really simple to use.  But today I'll be focusing on the drip version.  One fabulous product that Innovative Marine release is the AccuDrip.

I gotta say this one of easiest way to acclimate.  No more siphoning and getting ur mouth salty.  The Accudrip utilizes a tube that hangs on the aquarium which flows water through a self siphon bulb doubles as a drip counter and is controlled with a thumb wheel rolling clamp.

The Accudrip requires one gentle squeeze to create a siphon guaranteed every time. Its pretty simple, 1-2 drips per second for snails, shrimps, crabs, starfish, anemones.  2-3 drips per second for wrasses, puffers, anthias, gobies, butterflies. 3-4 drips per second for majority of other fish and corals.  It is recommended that the water level is tripled to slowly equalize all the water parameters. 

And the Results are In.........

so after 13 days I tested my water:

Here are my results:
PH8.4
Nh3/Nh4 0ppm
N02 0ppm
No3 ppm

Haters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.... oh... i mean heaters ;)

So there has been several debates on which heater is the best, titanium or glass.
Titanium heaters are build to last and go through anything. Titanium heaters are more costly and if not use appropriate it can damage your wall in your tank/chamber/sump. I would not recommend titanium over acrylic.

Glass can be fragile and if run dry can expose to air and might crack.  But the convenience of them are less expensive.

I had to try what the whole fuzz was about the Eheim Jager TruTemp Heater.  This heater is fully submersible, UL Certified.  It has a dial with readjustment ring that allows the user to calibrate the heater for a precise temperature reading.  If has a thermo safetycontrol and enable running dry protection, in other words heater will shut off when out of water.

The Eheim Jage Tru Temp has precise temperature.  It comes with 2 suction cups and a clamp.  So far it's been a couple of days and I been happy with the results.

Gary!!! here comes the nematodes.. I mean the diatoms

Ok, so its been a week.. to my surprise I notice diatoms this morning.  So far tank is looking great.  I'll top it off later today and check my parameters.   Just a little update