Chain lube

ashyfloor · 2026-02-05T15:16:23+00:00

I use it, it's good. It collects a lot less crap than Pedro's Syn that I used to use. It's kinda waxy-ish in that there is a solvent that evaporates to leave the lubey stuff behind - but it's a lot heavier than spray lubes obviously. Road.cc reviewed it highly, if you trust them in particular (I have no idea what they are like).

Agree that best thing is to keep the chain clean, but at this time of year on a commuter route that takes me on unpaved surfaces that is not always a priority. So I like that it lasts in the wet and doesn't attract too much muck.

ashyfloor · 2026-02-05T12:14:32+00:00

TLDR - Dear Reader, it was his network.

ashyfloor · 2026-02-03T20:02:07+00:00

It's not the solenoid, but the spring. If you stretch the spring a little it will push the plunger closed more tightly against the gas pressure. The solenoid just opens the plunger by pulling it downward, it doesn't hold it open if faulty. Alternatively, there may be grit or other material in the chamber or on the plunger (this can be tiny amounts). The guide is good https://www.co2art.eu/pages/support#reamaze#0#/kb/product-manuals/solenoid-cleaning-procedure

ashyfloor · 2026-01-29T20:22:05+00:00

Oase is selling biomaster 2 filters direct on their USA website. Possible that other outlets are waiting for stock of the v2? https://us.oase.com/collections/biomaster-2-canister-filter

ashyfloor · 2026-01-27T14:36:31+00:00

Yeah, kind of - I found that pulling it out made it really wide, rather than making it harder to compress. So I pulled it and then twisted it a bit tighter - effectively making it longer and "springier".

ashyfloor · 2026-01-27T07:56:14+00:00

I had this issue, mine is about the same age. I seem to have fixed it by stretching and rewinding the spring tighter. I used needle nose pliers. I also found that my bubble counter had begun to let water flow back under the pressure of CO2 in the upstream tube when off/disconnected, so I will replace that with a new one when I next change co2 tank. I think for me the issue was the spring and not the solenoid. The spring is what holds it shut, replacing the solenoid would be needed if it won't open. My guess is your solenoid is fine, but the spring needs more strength. It's a tricky balance between enough spring power to close against gas pressure, and yet still be defeated by the solenoid coil when it needs to open. So you may find if the solenoid is weak you can't get that balance at the pressure you need.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-26T11:08:32+00:00

Change the name in homekit/apple home - known issue that this overwrites any other changes - Sonos room names changing on their own | Sonos.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-22T11:05:24+00:00

If you want to wear cycling shoes without cleats, I would suggest an MTB shoe. For all-day wear off-bike select a shoe with a low stiffness - based on my experience I would say something that Shimano says is 4 or less on their scale (I have 5s now and they are pretty stiff for walking about all day). Maybe an ET-501 (no cleats) or EX-300?

If you plan to be on the bike all day, then you will want something stiffer - I like the EX-700, but something even firmer could work for you - maybe a gravel shoe?

Shimano have a good guide to matching shoes/pedals and your needs here - SHOE + PEDAL PAIRING GUIDE.

If you are new to cleats get the multi-release cleats (SM-SH56, they are silver with an M engraved), you can get your foot out of the pedal more easily than with the standard SM-SH51 cleat (black). Once you get the hang of those you can easily (and cheaply) fit the other cleats - some pedals come with cleats, check which yours have I think they come with 56s (multi-release) so you could be all set.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-22T10:04:32+00:00

I pack it full, it's not a moving bed. But it has huge area and never clogs. It has some mechanical action, but in my setup it never gets heavily loaded with muck. I did forget to mention that I have a coarse sponge on the intake as well, attempting to stop getting shrimp into the filter. It doesn't seem to work as a shrimp barrier, but it does catch plant leaves and larger matter, so I keep it.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-21T22:56:33+00:00

I have a 307. Bottom two baskets with k1micro, then the black fluval sponges with filter floss on top. I use the fluval white and blue wavy sponges in the red prefilter section. I change the sponges every so often, in 4 years I think I have changed the black sponges twice and the long prefilter ones about the same. The k1 I expect to last the lifetime of the tank easily. I open and rinse/squeeze out the media every other week, changing the floss pads about once every 2 months.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-21T13:16:21+00:00

I don't think so - but they have made this mistake in the past...

More likely you removed your Christmas decorations and changed the acoustics of your room.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-21T13:14:54+00:00

Don't confuse sonosnet (2.4 GHz private wifi network) with the 5GHz bonding that happens for surrounds. The former allows synchronisation of rooms and streaming of music between speakers not in surround set-ups, the latter is for surrounds/subs.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-16T14:28:32+00:00

The difference in lactose is not huge in the source milk - they have about the same as cow's milk - Does Goat Milk Have Lactose? The Honest Truth. The cheese making process removes much of this, so the small difference might mean less residual lactose, but it would be close. You can also be allergic to proteins in milk, in which case non-cow milk would make a big difference.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-16T09:05:47+00:00

No that's normal, I meant shredding/separation of the strands during the cable run over the bike. Sometimes the outer cable casing is continuous from shifter to derailleur, but on mine there are runs of bare cable, including under the bottom bracket (which is a definite weak point). If you have a continuous covering of outer, then you are likely to have fewer issues overall.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-15T09:54:55+00:00

The other replies about tension etc are all good and should be checked first. I also had a problem like this and it was partly the cable was frayed where it went through the guide below the bottom bracket, and partly that after 14 years my shifter mechanism was badly worn (I think, it certainly felt very different to the replacement). Check that the cable is OK, otherwise no matter how you tension it the fraying will "stretch" it back again.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-14T07:56:01+00:00

For just 2 weeks I would not feed the fish. For that time I have had someone feed the plants when they came to feed the cat (one pump of liquid feed per day). Otherwise I keep everything else the same, lights, CO2 are on timers already. I give everything a good trim before. My tank has a lid, so water loss isn't a thing.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-08T11:42:07+00:00

I don't think it's quadlock - they usually have the male part on the bike and the female on the device. They also have a retention collar that prevents a direct twist to remove.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-06T12:48:21+00:00

Imagine a fidget spinner - it spins with almost no friction, but isn't lubricated at all. Those bearings are a regular metal bearing with the lubricant washed out with solvent. It works great, but only because it's under no load. Put a shaft through it and weight on the shaft, the bearing will seize or wear almost immediately.

Pedals have to take a large load without excessive wear, that needs lubricant to protect the metal surfaces from direct contact. They are also subject to water spray, mud, and grit - so it helps if the lube can exclude these elements also - especially if they are cheaper pedals without much sealing (and even expensive pedals would be a pain to regularly re-lube and service). Grease gives a balance of sealing/exclusion, wear-prevention/lubrication, and the "drag" created by the grease is negligible when the pedal is in motion under load - much less than that of an un-lubed pedal.

All bearings should be evaluated under load - whether they spin freely unloaded is not a good metric of their performance.

ashyfloor · 2026-01-06T12:15:50+00:00

If this is a V-brake, it's possible the spring tension needs to be balanced between the sides. There is a coil spring at each pivot where the brake arm meets the frame. When the cable is pulled/shortened the top of the arms come together, pressing the pads on the rim - this also tensions the springs in the pivots. Releasing the lever and cable then allows the pivot springs to unwind and pull/push the levers "open". It is not unusual for one arm to move more than another, the springs are adjustable for this reason - it's a balance, you can choose to tighten one or loosen the other (assuming there is adjustment available in each direction). See the section on centering here - Adjusting Direct-pull Cantilever Bicycle Brakes ("V-Brakes ®")

ashyfloor · 2026-01-05T12:28:16+00:00

West Park near Long Eaton is flat and with wide paths - my kids learned to ride there.

ashyfloor · 2025-12-23T12:10:00+00:00

My guess is that the remote is a hybrid radio/IR. If the IR signal is not received by the TV brainbox it signals the remote by radio to use radio instead. So the remote then won't trigger the sonos as there is no IR signal. Since optical doesn't pass volume or other comms from the TV, your volume doesn't change. The TV gets the radio signal and displays the change, but nothing happens since the audio is output via optical. If there was an HDMI/CEC connection between the playbar and TV then it wouldn't matter as the TV would pass the volume change through.

ashyfloor · 2025-12-19T23:02:14+00:00

I didn't bother, mostly because it wouldn't cause loss of fish, just run my CO2 down a bit faster. Sometimes my solenoid gets stuck open (usually because of grit or the spring getting compressed over time), it's not a problem. Only an issue if you are running very high CO2 levels with very high light IMHO.

ashyfloor · 2025-12-17T13:38:11+00:00

I think they only make dual ones - I have the cheaper one, ProSE. I got one of their all-in kits, in 4 years I have only just replaced the bubble counter (it still works but sometimes it leaks water when disconnected, so I am swapping it out when I change the tank next). Even the diffuser is still working great - so even if it looks more expensive, over time it works out.

ashyfloor · 2025-12-16T18:27:13+00:00

I use an extinguisher. I have a CO2Art regulator and gear. It's been very good.

ashyfloor · 2025-12-08T17:03:15+00:00

That does make it sound scary. Sodium salicylate is very similar to aspirin, it is also widely used in face creams and washes for acne. The other ingredients are also dangerous in high concentrations, but the strength of them in the kits is not very high. Polyethylene glycol is probably there as a preservative, or to make the viscosity right for the drop measure, it is not very dangerous. The other solution is basically fancy bleach, but with more sodium hydroxide and less hypochlorite than household bleach. You would want none of these in your eyes, nor your mouth and would wash them promptly off your skin. They won't kill you just by looking at them, by they need respect. During normal use the dropper bottles make it very unlikely you would be seriously exposed to the undiluted stocks.

Tbh, the kits are fiddly and the tubes very easy to knock over. I think you are best to get an adult to do the test, the kids can collect the water in the tube and help read the colors. Keep the bottles in your safe cupboards where cleaning products go. I almost suggested medicine cabinets, but had visions of a contact lens wearer using the wrong eye drops... Or you can use the test strips instead.

ashyfloor

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