WonderBart

I Cleaned My Rena XP4 Main Turtle Filter Today

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on March 2nd, 2010

I cleaned my main turtle filter today the Rena XP4 but it was cleaner then I thought. The only reason that I can see it being so clean was that I found a kink in the hose going into the filter, so it wasn’t sucking as much water as it was suppose to so it was filtering a lot less. So once I cleaned it, I returned it to it’s location under the aquarium and made sure the hoses were not kinked anymore.

Here are the steps that I took to cleaning my filter

Step 1 - I rinsed out a new BioZorb chemical pouch under cold water for 2-3 minutes till it was almost clean water running through it.

Step 2 - I disconnected the filter from power and used the quick release handle to remove the filter from under the aquarium and put it into my sink

Step 3 - I opened the filter, put the motor head in the sink and took out all the media baskets into a pail

Step 4 - I drained all the old water and cleaned the inside of the filter canister with a scotch pad sponge then rinsed it.

Step 5 - I cleaned the bottom basket and foam inserts one by one

Step 6 - I cleaned the other 2 baskets with Bio Rings by gently running cold water over them and shaking the basket

Step 7 - I cleaned the top basket and discarded the old BioZorb pouch and the old floss pad

Step 8 - I inserted the new rinsed BioZorb pouch and floss pad into the top basket

Step 9 - Once all the baskets were clean I inserted them into the canister filter housing and cleaned the motor

Step 10 - I made sure all the baskets were all aligned and added water to the filter, once the water was at the top I quickly closed the motor on to the canister

Step 11 - I closed all the latches on the motor and made sure it was nice and tight

Step 12 - I took a towel and wiped any excess water of the filter sides and hooked the filter back on

Step 13 -I plugged the filter back on and WAALAA its back to filtering my aquarium

Step 14 - I then cleaned up and I was done so spent I 10 minutes enjoying your turtles and fish

Below is a picture of the XP4 filter and how the water circulates through the canister.

Posted in Setup & Maintenance

Crosby 2010 NHL Hockey Hero

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on February 28th, 2010

Yes ladies and gentlemen after a 2 – 2 tie with Canada and the U.S. In the 3rd period, Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal making Canada the 2010 Olympic Champions!!!

Go Canada Go!

USA did put up a good fight in the game tying it up in the last 19 seconds of the 3rd period which forced the game to go overtime but Canada pulled it of and won.

Canada is awarded gold and USA silver medals. Congrats to both teams for making it this far.

Posted in Mixed Bag

Tags: 2010 NHL Hockey

Baby Guppies have Babies

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on February 27th, 2010

I bought some baby guppies today because they were really cheap and to my surprize these babies had babies them selves. Take a look below at the pictures.

In the picture below you can see 3 small guppies and 1 little baby guppy beside mama guppy.

Below you can see the little baby guppy swimming around

Posted in Aquariums

Tags: guppies

32nd Annual Coast Swap Meet May 28 and 29

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on February 22nd, 2010

The 32nd Annual Coast Swap Meet is this May 28 and 29, 2010. It’s a good place to buy and barter old car parts and meet a great bunch of people. I’ve attended a bunch of times in the past few years and always likes what I’ve seen so if you get a chance go check it out this year. If you click on the image below you will get sent to the main website for the swap meet which has more info.

Posted in Car Shows & Drag Racing

Tags: swap meet

Do The Research Before You Start Anything

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on January 21st, 2010

Before you start getting into any project always make sure you do the research!
I’ve been working on Honda’s and other mechanical things for over 13 years and from my own experience doing the research before I started the project has always yielded great results. I will admit I am not the first to pickup a book and read it but as soon as I start looking at magazines or articles on the Internet that have pictures I get interested real fast. This is one of my main reasons for running this blog is for people of all mechanical expertise to find the information they are looking for in one place with lots of visual material.

Forums are also a great place for information but be careful how and where you post your questions because you might get called a NOOB or get flamed for not using the search function. So I advise you to always try searching for your question before posting a new forum post as it’s probably been covered a number of times before. Good luck and remember Google and Wikipedia is a great place for information.

Posted in Mixed Bag

AVATAR The Best Movie in a Long Time!

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on December 20th, 2009

I just came back from the movie theater and man the new movie Avatar from James Cameron is awesome. I’ve seen a lot of movies in my time and I would have to say this one is one the best and to my surprise it was also in 3D which made it even better.

To see the HD Trailer from Apple Click Here

Posted in Movies

Transmission Gear Ratios

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on October 4th, 2009

If you ever wanted to know the transmission gear ratios in your Honda Civic, I found some info on D-Series Forums that shows everything.

Click Here for the link.

Posted in Tranny and Drivetrain

Steel Garage Building Kits

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on September 16th, 2009

Building your Garage but don’t know where to start? Try Olympia Steel Buildings they service both US and Canadian Customers.

Click Here for US Customers

Click Here for for Canadian Customers

Posted in Structure and Layout

Cordless Power Tools

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on September 14th, 2009

Battery powered impact guns, ratchets, die grinders, and drills are getting more and more popular as the battery life is getting longer and more powerful tools are coming on the market everyday.

Ingersoll Rand makes a series of wireless battery powered tools called the IQv Series which are quite impressive looking. The torque on the 1/2 inch drive impact gun is 360ft-lbs which is really good for a battery powered tool and weigh’s at only 6.2lbs. I like that fact that battery powered tools are so handy when working on a car as you don’t have to worry about the air line getting in the way of things.

Here is a link to Ingersoll Rand battery powered tools section so you can check them out yourself. Click Here for more info.

Posted in Tools and Equipment

Heater Core and CV Joint Have Fixed Them Selves

Posted by Bart Piotrowski on September 14th, 2009

My recent issue with my CV Joint was actually loose lug nuts on one of my front wheels which was surprising but at the same time educating. From now on I will always have to double check and torque down my lug nuts as they seem to have gotten loose over time. And as far as the heater core I’m a bit confused, because the issue seems to have disappeared and no more smell of antifreeze is present in the car anymore and I’ve been driving everyday since the smell became present. I will keep my eye on this issue but so far it seems to be OK.

Posted in Engine Cooling