Help with a rebuild!

[novahobbies]

Not to derail your thread, but here's the dining room I just finished. New paint, new chair rail, new curtains, and I replaced a nasty, NASTY white wicker fan (with no light!!) with this three-bulb funky Tiffany style job. What you can't see: the new wood floors, and yes....the floor molding.

And FYI.....yeah, that's my tank reflected in the window in the background.

 

[rlablan]

Looks very nice Nova.
I can't imagine putting the old moulding back but a lot of people do it. It's not worth it... plus you have to make it fit again. Why do all of that work to just use crappy stuff? gross.
I am hoping to get the floors and carpet replaced in the near future and then all of the moulding in the house will match everywhere. It'll be a pretty big under taking though. So... we will see.
Gotta finish the master bathroom first.
As far as the solana, All of the fishes are still doing okay and I am pleased to report that my beautiful porcelain crab has set up shop in an area where I can see him and he's doing beautifully. I am really glad because I was worried about him. He's a favorite. His colors are brilliant with his cream and blue stripped shell... and he was blazing orange maxillipeds. I would be sad to lose him.
I am hoping to get the toilet back in the water closet this weekend, after caulking and an paint touching up that needs to be done.
After that, the tile that started all of the trouble will go up on the wall.

 

[rlablan]

Hello there all!
And Happy New Year!
So- - Just another update
1st things 1st, The fish tank. The Solana is doing wonderfully. Remember my Randall's Goby, how he lived with the blue spotted yellow watchman goby? (And then I had to separate them because I had to meddle and added a pistol shrimp, causing them to fight, causing me to put the watchman in a pico tank, causing him to commit suicide by way of the carpeting? Of course you do!) Well, now that I have merged the two tanks, Oscar (Dusky Jawfish) is living with the Randall's goby! I have no idea why this little guy seems to be able to live peacefully with other gobies or goby doppelgängers but whatever. Such an interesting little eco system I control
The clowns are still hosting the rose bubble anemone. And the tube anemone is slowly being restored to his former (bigger and fatter) glory. Which is good. He was kinda starting to waste away on me. Spot feeding has helped tons! I feed him large pellets with a clear, small tube. He seems to respond will to this and has learned that the presence of the tube means food. He used to shrink up when touched. Now, he extends and holds the tube and will pick the food out. It's pretty interesting.
He will also grab small shrimps and things from the water column when I feed the fish. I still feed him two or so times a week. If he is full, he will take the pellet and drop it. Can't overfeed this guy.
Now on to the Bathroom-
So I have some pictures of that for you. And also a few remodeling question.
Firstly, I have successfuly removed all of the cultured marble and all of the green board that was behind it. There was no moisture barrier or plastic sheeting present, I figured that I could leave the green board up and then put Hardy Backer on top of that, but I would like to just put the moisture barrier back there, just to be safe. I Don't anticipate having/wanting to do this again, so I would rather over engineer it and not have any issue with mold or whatever.
I bought the thickest plastic sheeting that I could, Should do nicely. Pretty thick stuff and I am excited to put that up after the framing of the new shower.
We decided to put as many little "shelves" as possible. I am going to use the existing studs and frame out boxes, then hardy backer those and tile them in. Should be plenty of storage. I am going to do 2 large ones for the Bigger shampoo/condition "pump" style bottle. (Ladies, you know...) and then above that will be 2 shorter boxes for small things like razors, small products, bars of soap, etc. Same width I think, but only about 3-4 inches tall. The others will be something like 18" tall. I haven't decided where exactly these boxes will go and frankly, I don't care as long as my stuff doesn't have to sit on the floor.
Here are the questions- I was told to use hardy backer. And unless someone on here tells me otherwise, I guess I'm going with that. I was told don't use cement board or wonder board. Any guesses why? Can't I save money using something vs something else? Where are my other remodel buddies... what did you do? And remember, I live in AZ. It's super dry here.
Other question. I just removed the dry wall that is at the base of my wall and at the top of my shower pan. I found what appears to be field mouse droppings. There is quite a lot of them. I don't see a hole to the outside of my house, I don't see evidence of studs being chewed on. Just poop. So- Should/could I lay something in there to poison the little jerks? If I do this, will it cause them to die in the walls and smell when it reached 116 degrees here (every summer) until they whither away? should I just close up the wall and try to forget that there are creepers in my walls?
What would you guys do? Is there maybe just some type of deterrent that I can lay/scatter/spray that is long(ish) lasting?
Thanks a million for reading along! Maybe by next New Years, this will be completed.
PS- I left the most horrible job in the world, so now I have time to actually finish this stuff up, keep up on the tank, see my Boyfriend, sleep, eat and function like a normal human. Best thing about this New Year is leaving everything about that place behind in 2012.
Hope you all are wonderful!
Rae

 

[rlablan]

Just beginning to rip out the cultured marble and enclosure.

Green board behind the cultured marble
studs!
mouse droppings.

 

[rlablan]

So I just removed the one piece shower pan and underneath it is a bunch of mice crap as well.
Lovely.
Won't be having that issue again, seeing as I will be pouring mortar, then a huge rubber liner, then more cement, and then a bunch more mortar and then tile.
Take that, you little bastards!

 

[2quills]

That'll teach em lol.
Sorry to hear about the livestock woes.
I used the hardi backer stuff for the first time not too long ago. I like it a lot better than concrete backer board. The concrete stuff is messy to cut and the best way to cut it cleanly is with a saw or grinder and a diamond blade. The hardi backer you can score and snap so it doesnt make a huge mess. And the sheets are 3x5 so they are easier to handle all the way around vs dry wall. Either of those first two choices though is much better than drywall for ensuring a good bond with your tiles over the years.
It may be a tad overkill with vapor barrier for your area. But I see no problems with that what so ever.
The problem with going over kill to prevent mold is that the first time you have a shower valve leak, guess what? If the tub and shower are along an exterior wall the chances go way up of water penetration from either the siding or a roof leak. By the time most of us ever notice it or even get around to fixing it for that it's already got a foot hold within the wall. Using the right products though and going the extra yard help minimize along with good maintenance practices it I'll never be able to argue with.
I hate plastic shower pans.

 

[smallreef]

I would actually use densearmor or densglass...you should never use drywall in a wet application and even greenboard can get wet and mold if something like a pipe leaks behind the wall...
As for the mouse? I'm not sure it is...it actually looks more like carpenter ant piles from the picture but ifyou say itsbpoop then its probably coming in from outside if that's an exterior wall...or could be faling from the attic/eave area up above...do not poison it unless you can close up whereever it is coming from ...its takes more than a year for a mouse to petrify...and that smell is not fun....

 

[rlablan]

Hi all!
2quills- Thanks for the feedback! It always helps to know you are on the right track.
Smallreef- I called a pest place and they advised me of the same thing. I figure as long as I am not overrun with little mice, I am good. The wall has been open and I haven't seen any activity. I did see a small hole just past the studs where daylight was showing through. I will have to go outside, look under the lip around the house and try to seal the house up. They say that this helps to prevent scorpions and where I live, you want to prevent them. We've been here for 3 1/2ish years and I've never seen one but ya know... better safe.
As far as things in the bathroom go, I have officially removed all remnants of the old shower. I will hopefully get the new shower framed out soon. After that, we make us a mortar shower pan...
I hate plastic shower pans too.
So updated on the tank.
We got a great deal on a brand new 150 and stand.
It's an AGA, Not a Lee Mar but it's still clean and new.
We got a great price on the stand, which is a nice stand. It's the type that has "cabinet doors" instead of the "fish tank" style doors.
I wanted something that looks more like a piece of furniture, rather than just a tank stand.
So at this point, there is a tank sitting empty in my living room. Normally, this would give me an itch to get it set up and fill it quickly.
This time, that is not the case. While I am excited about this tank, we have just decided that we are gonna take it slow and get what we really want. If that means we want to get a couple of MP60s (which we do), then it means that we save up and wait, rather than waste money on Koralias that we will eventually replace. Lets just do it once, do it right.
I think another contributing factor is that I am SUPER EXCITED about the new shower.
We talked to a local guy today about making us a canopy that my light rail will fit into. I'm pretty jazzed about that. I am very intrigued about the whole light rail system. I really think it will prove to be awesome.
We have also decided to run 2 separate small tanks off of the dual over flows. 1 tank will be a sump for equipment, the other will be a combo sump and refugium.
And that friends is where the train of thought stops. We don't really know what else we want or what we will do. But we have the tank. And that's a start.

 

[acrylic51]

Sounds super exciting.....I'm sure you'll see good results getting that hole sealed up....You'd be surprised the little critters you'll keep out just doing that.....As far as MP60's on a 150....Mmmmm you'll have to dial them way back, and seems pointless to run them dialed way back......MP40's might be a better fit.....

 

[rlablan]

Acrylic- Why would I dial them back?? After I get the rock in this tank, It'll be blocked.
I ran my mp10 on full blast in my 24gallon Wish was a curved glass "cube" shape. In other words, it was a small tank. And it still was not enough. My fish are all in high flow.
I run 3 Koralias (two 4s and a 6) on my solana cube... Are the 60s really that much more flow? I want the option to dial down, rather than get 40s that have to be running full bore all the time.

 

[acrylic51]

Just a thought....there's guys with bigger tanks that ran MP60's and sold them off because of to much flow.....If the tank is that packed of rock could be a different story. Plus the 60's running wide open have a whine......That's something I noticed as well as others have noted.....

 

[sweatervest13]

When I read that you were looking at MP60's I thought it may be too much flow as well. But if you have a TON of rock it may work. What are the dimensions of the new tank?? (72" long?).
I have a standard 125g with 2 mp40's and it is more then enough flow. I had to change over my sand bed to a larger grain to keep the sand from blowing everywhere.

 

[2quills]

dang

 

[2quills]

dang it!!!

 

[2quills]

stupid phone!!!

 

[2quills]

Perhaps you could hit up Lois or BTldreef. I think they both run MP 40's on thier 180 and 225g tanks and hear their thoughts.
MP 60's seems kind of like buying a corvette only to ever drive it around the parking lot.

 

[2quills]

Ummm wth???? Lol

 

[acrylic51]

I just seen that.......

 

[rlablan]

2 quills- you alright over there, buddy? seems like you're spazzin' out a little. Haha
I will ask them what they think. I am sure that Lois will give me her .02
If the 40's are enough, then I will go with those. I just don't want to make the mistake at I did with the 10. It was cool but it was not enough flow unless it was on FULL.
So here is a question for you all.
I bought an impulse purchase today, I should have thought about it a little more but I have them now... Oh well.
I bought a couple of tiny sea slugs. They are purple and have little orange horns. I know they eat sponge. I have a crap ton at the moment. I suppose if they run out, I will have to buy more.
My question is, I have drip acclimated them and I go to place them into the tank. They won't stay put! They just keep floating around, and won't "stick" to anything. What should I do? I've tried holding them down, they started to motor around and I thought they were good. Then they just release upward and are off, again.
Should I just shut down the power head?
(And yes, I am gonna start a thread on this in inverts.)
Thanks,
Rae

 

[acrylic51]

Yeah would probably shut the PH's down.....
On the MP60's, I can attest to the flow of them where the other 2 can't and trust me on my big tank, 2 on the same side I can blow water out of the thing......I actually had 3 total and the flow is insane, but even then wasn't running them wide open for a couple reasons.....1 their capacity to move water and the other was noise.......The other issue is if you have fine grain sand as Seth pointed out.....You'll never run these things more than 3/4 tops due to sand storms.....Unless you mount them all the way to the top and then you'll have other issues.....