Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Marineland NJ1100 Maxi-Jet Submersible Utility Pump, 21-Watt, 294 GPH

Marineland NJ1100 Maxi-Jet Submersible Utility Pump, 21-Watt, 294 GPHI bought this pump to use for water changes. I was tired of lugging buckets of saltwater in from the garage. I now just drop the pump into a 32gallon brute trashcan in the garage and use a 50ft hose to pump the water through the house, and into the tank. Saves my back!

I just got this Marineland NJ1100 Maxi-Jet pump for my 24G tank and installed in and so far its working great. It has an adjustable water inlet to let certain volume in. It's pretty quiet but not super quiet to where you don't hear anything. This one you can still hear it (knowing that it works) but at the same time not loud. So far i'm satisfy with this product.

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I have a nano tank with a small area in the back to hold the pump. This one fits better than the one that came with the tank and it's very quiet.

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Despite regularly running low on water, I have yet to ever have a problem. I had to reroute about half the water from the output back into the bucket because even on its lowest setting it was still way to powerful. The adjustment works pretty well, though doesn't go so low. I am pumping water from floor level to a foot above table level about 10 feet away. With half the water rerouted and in every other way trying to limit the water flow, I still cycle my system about every 7 minutes (about 10 gallons). This is less than half its capability as previously stated.

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This pump is great. Just by holding this pump you can tell that it is high quality. Much, much, much better than the pumps at Lowes. It seems to me that the rated pumping capacity is pretty accurate, which is not the case with the pumps at Lowes. This pump moves more water than another pump which is rated for twice as much capacity.

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Comfort Soft Harness XX-Small Pink

Comfort Soft Harness XX-Small PinkGreat little harness for a tiny dog. I had a hard time finding one that would actually fit ROXIE, but I finally did. Good price also. Now she can go every where with me.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Daily Double Feeder II w/ FREE Fish Food

Daily Double Feeder II w/ FREE Fish FoodThis feeder worked okay while I was away for a week over the holidays. As some reviewers have written, the drum does have plastic snaps that you need to lift carefully but mine are still attached and working. You just need to be gentle. I imagine I could just tape the drum back on when they finally do break.

This is not a precision instrument, but that was okay. In fact I think the mechanism is the same as a little AA-battery travel-clock, but instead of the hands of a clock it turns a drum which you load with food. A scoop/chute inside the drum can be adjusted so that its angle scoops up a little more or less food on each rotation, depending on your needs. Then, as the drum rotates, that amount of food gets dropped out the chute end which you've carefully positioned over your tank through a couple of days of observation. You have to allow for an opening of a couple of inches in your hood because it drops the food all along the last couple of inches of its rotation, which is fine. Actually this came in handy because I was using it over a smaller tank and at the lowest portion setting it wasn't really working with my food mix, so I had to go with a higher portion setting which would have been way too much food for my small tank. Solution? Aiming the device so it dropped a bunch of the food to the side of the hood opening, just allowing some of it to fall into the tank. Definitely allow a couple of days' practice with the device before you go away. I placed a tin foil "cup" in the hole of my hood to catch the food at different settings and at different positions until I was happy with both the reliability of the scooping mechanism and the amount that was being caught in the cup (which would become the amount delivered to my fish once I removed it, but you have to experiment). I used two of these feeders on a couple of small 5 gallon tanks for a week, and all fish survived. One worked perfectly and the water was even clear upon my return. The other I'd aimed a little "off" and the water was cloudy (too much food delivered) but my fancy goldfish Mugsy was alive and well, just needed a partial water changed and a bunch of food vacuumed off the floor around his tank.

The device is probably of greater value to a larger tank where the full amount of food it dispenses reliably will be readily consumed by the larger number of fish. I did not get to use this in my 20 gallon tank as I had someone willing to check it and do feedings, but my sense is that it would have been fine there.

Final verdict? It works okay. Experiment till you know the device inside and out with your particular food and tank setup. It's not difficult, just time consuming because to see it actually operate you need to let it run at its own pace. (Turning it by hand gave me different results than watching it in action.) If you are torn between the reliability of an auto-feeder and a well-meaning fish sitter friend, set up the feeder to dispense the bare minimum to keep your tank alive, then have your friend check in, say twice a week with instructions on feeding one small portion each visit if the fish seem hungry and the water seems clear. (Although if you have such a friend, you may not even need to use a feeder at all.)

Remember, the feeder delivers food twice a day no matter what, so set the portions to half of what you want your fish to eat every day, and they get that twice each day (remember: clock mechanism).

Good luck!

I've been using these for about 10 years now, and they work very well.

Good for about 2 years.

Be careful opening food chamber as the plastic tabs are made very cheaply and will break if you bend to far.

Again,, it is made as about cheap as you can make a product but, it will rotate twice a day for about 2 years, and only on about 3 battery changes.

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it's hard to tell if it's working, so i sometimes feed the fish. of course, this negates the purpose of the automatic feeder. i would not recommend it.

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Aqueon Ammonia Neutralizer

Aqueon 06008 Ammonia Neutralizer, 4-OunceYup, I said it, cloth diapers! My son has an extremely high amount of ammonia in his pee, and regular washing wasn't getting it all out of his cloth diapers. I found online as a suggestion to use this fish stuff, as it's safe, and so I bought some. Comparing this one to another brand I bought, and searched for online, this works great, AND it is a good price. A huge container for a good price, I usually buy these two at a time! If you're a cloth diaperer and are having ammonia issues, add a few tablespoons to your wash cycle and it'll do the trick!

This product neutralizes ammonia build up in your tank. It is a must buy. Here is the low down on the product:

1) Works quickly.

2) Does not cloud the water.

3) Has a press down cap and cap cover.

4) The larger 16 oz size is a great value.

I would recommend this product.

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Great product at a GREAT PRICE!!! I have been using this product for many years and at this price I will be using it for many more!!!!

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Tetra Pond Tubing, Corrugated, 1 1/2 Inch x 20 Feet

Tetra Pond Tubing, Corrugated, 1 1/2 Inch x 20 FeetWell I bought this item along with the 3600gph tetra pump and the 1500uv pressure filter. Everything worked great...at first. Came home from work today and found the hose had burst and drained my 800 gallon pond. Luckily I put it on a shelf so there was still about a foot of water for my fish. My plants however did not like being stranded in 95 degree weather and I doubt they will recover.

I had my old 1200gph pump connected to the tetra waterfall filter, that pump overheated and the shaft melted so it's now garbage.

In conclusion the cheapest part, the hose failed after less than 2 weeks and it will cost me a $120 pump, probably $50 in plants, and 600 gallons of water, I hope the fish don't die.

Beware.

had it installed about 2 hours and the first 20' section burst............now I'm wondering about the other section, thank god I didn't bury it. this is not the product you want to use....now how do I get a refund for it.a worthless purchase, the cheap stuff from the lumberyard is more trustworthy........I expected more, this not the tubing you want to use

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I purchased this tubing expecting a far better result. Within a week it had burst causing my pond to go to seriously low levels. I was out of town and had to call my plumber to fix the problem only to find that the next day another major leak occurred. Do not buy this product! This tubing has caused me major set backs and now I have to redo all the pond plumbing.

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They may claim this is 1 1/2" hose but not one of the 1 1/2" barb fittings I used would fit inside this hose. 1 1/4" barbs were too small and would have leaked. I didn't have time to return this dimensionallly incorrect product so I took my 1 1/2" barbs and ground them down with a belt sander until they fit. The product is "inexpensive" only if time and effort don't matter too you. I do NOT recommend this hose.

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Very thin walls and does NOT have a inside diameter of 1-1/2; more like 1-1/8 or 1-1/4. Furthermore, I would strongly suggest NOT burying this. I decided to just use it for very low pressure applications; mainly backwashing.

Prevue Pet Products Keet Tiel Cage Tall House Style Roof 18X14X39"

Prevue Pet Products Keet Tiel Cage Tall House Style Roof 18X14X39'Not expecting much for $43. Needed replacement cage for cockatiel. Ordered this one until I had time to go out and find a good cage. Pleasantly surprised when I received this one. Knew the measurements when ordering but for some reason it just looks bigger. Very sturdy, well made, color nice, dishes a little thin but no major problem. No directions, you don't need them anyway. Assembled in 5 minutes, bird jumped in 15 minutes later. Happy cocktail climbing up and down and running around settled in and happy.

Will not be needing to go out and find a good cage now, this one is it.

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Aqueon Aquarium Betta-Bow 2.5 Gallon Acrylic Aquarium Kit

Aqueon Aquarium Betta-Bow 2.5 Gallon Acrylic Aquarium KitThis looks like a really good idea in theory, but in practice it leaves a little to be desired.

Pros:

It's big enough on both sides for the two bettas

5lb of gravel fills this up nicely

Set up is easy

Divider is sturdy construction

Cons:

Filter is noisy and the water simply travels over the cartridge rather than going through it like is a better idea

Don't put the gravel in first; put the divider in first

Hard to get fish into the filter side once divider is in place

Feeding panel is sort of small

Bettas have a VERY hard time with current of any type. The one on the left in my tank constantly gets caught in the filter output, causing him to flare his fins and gills in fear (bad thing). It also takes up roughly an eighth of the swimmable space in the left. I'd recommend just getting one betta and making it a community tank with compatible fish.

The construction of the tank in general is solid and well done for the price. I wish they included a different filter, and I'm going to get the TOM mini filter () to replace it.

Also, if you have aggressive fish, you'll want to find a way to make the divider opaque. Mine are fairly friendly towards one another, so it's not a problem for me, but they see each other and interact a lot.

I loved the look and design of this tank. It is in my kitchen, and looks great; however I think my 2 bettas hate it!! The "divider" is slatted and does not fit tightly to both sides of the tank. The 2 fish are constantly flairing up and ramming the divider at each other! I emailed the manufacturer to see if they offered a solid or alternative type divider for this tank, but they do not. After having my 2 bettas in the tank after a couple of weeks, I came home one day to find both bettas on the SAME side of the tank! There had obviously been a nasty fight, but they both were still alive in an exhausted state and both very tattered, torn and wounded. The tank has a hood, so I don't think they jumped over. It looks like somehow they were able to get thru "around" the edges of the divider.

The tank is marketed especially for 2 bettas, but during the past couple of weeks my 2 fish have been constantly agitated which eventually led to a fight! I am now looking for a new tank and medication to help my wounded fish!

I gave it one star...it looks nice, but is meant to house healthy fish and does not.

Again....pretty decor but poor design!

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Simple design issue scared the crap out of us tonight. The light/hood is directly over the water with only a a cyclinder shaped cover for the light bulb itself. The moisture from the tank goes straight up and into the light fixture. I have had larger tanks all my life, but this was the first where the moisture would condense directly on the exposed electrical components. We bought this small starter set up for the baby's room to use it as a night light. Tonight, the baby monitor started indicating there was a problem....there was no electricity on the transmitting side of the baby monitor. Sure enough, the power had gone out. I restored the power and noticed the light fixture plug was ejected from the wall slightly..when I plugged it back in..bang and a flash! The fish are still alive, but to say the least I have unplugged this tank completely. I knew this design was an issue. Never seen a light dangling over the water and should have known better as water always condenses above and from time to time the fish can splash water up as well. If you must have this tank, get a surge protector...could save your life.

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I bought this tank for my first betta, Blaze. The instructions for set up were well explained and thorough. I filled up the tank, used the included Betta Bowl Plus water conditioner, and set up the filter according to the instructions. Blaze seemed to be very happy in his tank. He swam freely and had a lot of energy. The filter is really quiet, and it never sucked Blaze in the inlet. The current was pretty strong, but he just avoided it most of the time. He lived in the tank happliy for about 6 months. The little feeding door was very conveinient. Then, one day after starting to appear lathargic, he was found dead :(. So, after having a fish funeral, i let the tank just sit there for awhile, to let the water circulate for a few weeks. Then, I took 50% of the water out, replaced the filter cartrige, and re conditioned it, then, put my new betta in, Spark. He acted the same way as Blaze and immediately started making a bubble nest. He is looking good so far! Along the way, i never had a problem with any component of this system, but, i did notice some condensation by the lightbulb during the summer, so i just kept the feeding door open, and i never had that problem again. I am very pleased with this tank. BTW: This tank is actually bigger in person, so the Mini Bow 1 might work just as well for most people.

Nick

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Pros

-Looks nice and gives betta lots of room to swim

-Enough room for 2 bettas

-Nice design

-Good price for tank size

Cons

-Filter is too strong (I recommend taking filter out and doing weekly water changes)

-Filter is loud

The current created by the filter stressed my betta out and caused him to get sick. Therefore, i took him out for a couple of days for his fins to begin to grow back. Afterwards, I removed filter and just placed him in tank.

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