Nobby's S-650

SPR

Well-Known Member
You know when we have one of 'those moments' where we just stop thinking straight and afterwards we just scratch our heads and wonder just what were we thinking?
A few weeks ago my Nitrates were practically zero and so was Phos. "aha", I thought. I just need to bring down the amount of NOPOX I'm dosing.......so I did.

Roll on a few weeks, and the latest test shows that my Nitrates are up to 25ppm and my Phos has shot up to 0.008......."blimey", I think to myself. How did that happen? I only replenished the Rhowophos last week. What can I do about this, while forgetting that I had reduced the NOPOX, and I had probably reduced it too much.
It was a full 24hrs before I had that "eureka" moment when I remembered that I had lowered the NOPOX dosage.

Sometimes, I do worry that my mind just doesn't work properly.
It happens to me all the time, it’s called being an old git! Lol
 

Pancho75

Well-Known Member
You know when we have one of 'those moments' where we just stop thinking straight and afterwards we just scratch our heads and wonder just what were we thinking?
A few weeks ago my Nitrates were practically zero and so was Phos. "aha", I thought. I just need to bring down the amount of NOPOX I'm dosing.......so I did.

Roll on a few weeks, and the latest test shows that my Nitrates are up to 25ppm and my Phos has shot up to 0.008......."blimey", I think to myself. How did that happen? I only replenished the Rhowophos last week. What can I do about this, while forgetting that I had reduced the NOPOX, and I had probably reduced it too much.
It was a full 24hrs before I had that "eureka" moment when I remembered that I had lowered the NOPOX dosage.

Sometimes, I do worry that my mind just doesn't work properly.
Things like this happen to me all the time. I guess consequences of aging? lol
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Another yearly maintenance job completed yesterday as I took the NYOS 160 Skimmer apart to give it a damn good clean ! After re-installing the skimmer it is quite noticable how much quieter it is :)
I have an old salt bucket in the garage which is half-full with a white vinegar/water mix. I always use this for cleaning stuff, especially pumps. I run the pumps in this solution for up to half an hour. I reckon that it cleans the parts you can't reach !
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
It's been delivered and is waiting for me at home. Yes, The Ecotech Vectra L2, the Battery Backup and the Battery Backup Booster Cable are sat in boxes at home! I shall unbox them later and rub my callused hands all over them, while gently whispering sweet nothings.
 

Pancho75

Well-Known Member
It's been delivered and is waiting for me at home. Yes, The Ecotech Vectra L2, the Battery Backup and the Battery Backup Booster Cable are sat in boxes at home! I shall unbox them later and rub my callused hands all over them, while gently whispering sweet nothings.
Xmas in January ?!
Congrats.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Waiting to hear your impressions on the installation of the new pump!
I am just sorting out the connection first. I will report on how it goes. Although, while messing around yesterday to check what size connection I am looking at, I managed to snap off the ball valve from the ATO, so I have had to order a new one.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
I'll just expand on my problem with the ATO. I switched off the Return Pump because I wanted to disconnect it so I could have a look at the return flexi pipe connection, and then figure out what I had to do to connect the Vectra. While manhandling the return pump to disconnect it I managed to knock the ATO resulting in the floating part snapping off! As always, while trying to fix one thing you make a mistake which results in something else needing fixing. As you can imagine there was a lot of bad language used. I did go to the local hardware shop to try and buy another but apparently they are 'too old' and the store doesn't stock them. I had to order a Red Sea replacement kit from my favourite online store.
One of the problems here in Germany is with the sizing. Believe it or not the vast majority of plumbing stuff comes in Imperial sizes. I think this is because after WWII and the re-build, most of the help came from the US or the UK, and the Imperial measurements for plumbing has stuck. However, there is an awful lot of stuff that uses Metric as well, so it's a real mish-mash of sizes! You would have thought that there would be loads of converters/connectors between the sizes but this isn't the case.
I am still trying to find out the size of the flexi return pipe on the S-650! I've put the question to Red Sea Support so I'm hoping they will come back with an answer soon. It's the internal size of the pipe that I really need.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Fat fingers... like me. Sorry to hear about the struggles, are you teaching your fish to curse?
I think the fish only speak German because they don't seem to understand a word I say ! "stop eating the snails", but they don't stop. "stop moving bits or rock around", but they continue to move small bits of rock around. "stop splashing me with water when I come to feed you", but they still splash me. "stay still so I can take a picture", but they don't.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Oh no, oh no. I think I've had yet another 'senior moment'. I can't/don't want to explain too much right now but I think I will understand the connection of the Vectra a bit more when I get home and have a peek at something.
 

legazya

Member
I never thought that the aquarium hobby would make neccesary studying plumbery and the differences between metric and imperial measurements.
I don't know if this will be of any help, but in my S400, the pump was one of the old ones (PJ Max-flo 7500 100 w), which has an outlet diameter of 32 mm. It is attached to the flexi pipe with this connector. The flexi pipe is connected to the second barbed tube (the third is lost), so it should have an inner diameter of 25 mmraccord.jpg
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Thanks for that legazya, however I think Ecotech have tried to be too smart. The connector on the pump has no screw nor edges. It is smooth and designed so you have to cement a rigid pipe into it. Not ideal if you have flexi hose. So, I need a rigid reducer which goes from 40mm on the pump end to 28mm on the flexi pipe end. The flexi pipe will then be held onto the rigid reducer with a plastic hose clamp thingy, pretty much in the same way it is now.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Where is the plumbing guru Shaun when you need him eh?

got to say, for a premuim product I am not too impressed with the Ecotech Vectra regarding connection. I don't feel I should be hunting around to find a connector that fits.
 

Pancho75

Well-Known Member
I am surprised you had so many difficulties. For the COR20 I made a “fix” taking the Red Sea flex hose connector and glued/sealed to the adaptor provided by Neptune. It took me maybe 30 min to set it up.

I would recommend you to stay with flex hose to avoid wasting part of the Vectra power. How is the setting up for the battery back up coming?
 
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Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
I haven't even looked at the battery backup yet. Honestly, the connection for the Vectra is a right PITA. Every other manufacturer has a graduated barb to fix the flexi hose onto. Dead easy. Not this mob though. I cannot believe that I have to glue something into the collar/holder/connector of the Vectra. They advertise a "quick coupling connector", but it's only quick if your current rigid pipe is the exact same size. If you have a flexi hose then you have to find a way to connect that, with no help whatsoever from Ecotech Support.
 
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