Help with a rebuild!

[novahobbies]

Quote:
Originally Posted by rlablan http:///t/392624/help-with-a-rebuild/60#post_3491196
Bahahaha you get the booby prize for being the first person to notice that line! Either no one said anything, or no one said anything until now. Good eye.
I am SOOOO trying not to say anything about the booby prize.
Must.
Not.
Say it.

(As a certified Breast Man ((ask my wife)), you should appreciate how hard this is.....)

 

[novahobbies]

Quote:
Originally Posted by rlablan http:///t/392624/help-with-a-rebuild/60#post_3491200
Hi nova! So glad you can join us!

I have seen a lot of you on the sites from time to time. I dunno if I have seen your thread, BUT I will subscribe now that I know it's there.
"Your boyfriend's idea with the baskets is BRILLIANT. I'm totally stealing this for the cabinets I just built for the 110. Tell him I said thanks."
- 1st off- My idea. lol He just mounted them for me. God, how he hates mounting. Couple of tips-
1-the baskets can be found in different sizes, I got these ate target. They are the EXACT size of the small glass bottles with droppers, like lugols solutions. you can fit about 3 small bottles, and then one of the Larger glass bottle in each shelf. These are metal, I dunno if they will rust from the humidity but they are good so far. They also sell some bigger ones that are made for showers instead of sinks and are made of plastic. Look for those at Bed Bath and Beyond.
2- In mounting these, I would suggest doing what we did, especially if you have a standard stand. We went to Ace hardware and got some various washers and screws. We mounted these on the doors for easy access and to prevent everything getting covered in salt creep. (as far away from the sump as possible) The door on my stand in kind of thin, so we used the washers to bulk up the baskets themselves and then we were able to use the smaller screws because I didn't want em poking through the door. The are REALLY well on there and I am loving these things so far!
These little things are so handy for storing all those little viles of meds, or oddly shaped tools... no more disfunction under my stand! I hate that!
"Your rockwork is beautiful, simply beautiful."
Thank you so much. I am quite pleased with it myself. Allow for maximum flow and lots of hiding places for future blennies and rock perching fishes. The few I have now are LOVING it. It is really open and it makes this tank seem a lot bigger. It also looks more peaceful than the old clunky rock from before the rebuild.
I really loved the black sand, I just got kind of tired of it. Maybe someday in a bigger tank, I want to do half the stand in black and then transition into white sand on the other half... I will have a built in someday and I want it to be lllooonnnnggg, tall and wide.... With a very wide sand bed. Peninsula style. Half n half... we'll see.
As far as this little tank goes, it just go so intense. It seemed to like... suck all the light in the whole thing out. I thought I liked it but now I don't really miss it. It was fun for a while.
With numbers, I did not see an increase in any numbers when I was testing. I didn't have to dose for anything. I was seeing great growth from acans/brains/plates before the algae attack. After that is another story. The only elevated numbers I say were Nitrate and Phosphate. I can't honestly say that is due to the sand... more so to my neglect. I can say that my sand bed was running in the danger zone of depth. It was just barely 4 inches... not quite a DSB and that is really bad for exchange. Either needs to be 2ish inches or well over 4... somewhere around like 6+.
I can say that I never had a PH swing in the test that I did see... PH was always a little higher in this tank, as opposed to my little guy across the room. That has white, mixed grain sand and its PH is never quite where I want it. It's always a smidge too low.
As far as the mud... where were you weeks ago?

It's in there now, and the pods are loving it... I think it's gonna be a pain to remove and I just don't want to deal with it... If it becomes a problem, I'll pull it but it's there now... The polyp extension has been awesome since I added that though. I am trying new food too but even before that... So far, I like the stuff. Time will tell though.
Now I'm on my way to get dog food. lol I have a small dog with an irritated tummy. I will be back to do a full update.
AWWWW, so sorry to hear about the dog! :-( Happens to my Shihtzu every once in a while; we switched her to Wellness brand dry food for small breeds and it really helped.
I'm going to look for these over at Target. I have two side cabinets I can mount them in, and there's no worry of humidity in these since they're not the actual sump area. So thanks to you, then, for the idea. I was going to add little shelves, but this seems SO much easier.
My black sand is in my 110g tank rebuild....that thread is in the "Share Your Aquarium" section. It's a tank reset...this was my baby in our old house, but it had been broken down for a while during the move and home renovations, so when I started thinking about putting it up again I decided to go whole hog and build a new entertainment unit to make it look sort of like a built-in. My seahorse thread is in....you guessed it....the seahorse section, and it's a LOOONG diary thread. One word for new readers: Skim. Look for pretty pictures. (I suppose that's 5 words).
I'm glad to hear you didn't have too many chemistry problems with your black sand. You might be right with those smaller tanks....I suppose it does "dim down" the whole tank when you add all that black. The new sand DOES look great in there. As for the mud......well, as I say, Flower's case might be isolated, but it's worth knowing so it's in the back of your mind if you start to see algae buildup. I also had another theory about that, but it was in relation to the pond foam we've all been using and as you're not using the foam wall.....it's not relevant to your tank. Just keep an eye on excess hair algae.

 

[rlablan]

Quote:
Originally Posted by novahobbies http:///t/392624/help-with-a-rebuild/80#post_3491223
I am SOOOO trying not to say anything about the booby prize.
Must.
Not.
Say it.

(As a certified Breast Man ((ask my wife)), you should appreciate how hard this is.....)

I don't know that your wife would take too kindly to me talking about boobies with you or with her, pertaining to you. lol

 

[rlablan]

I ended up grabbing some food for my dog... made it through the night without any crying or throwing up... the dog I mean. I got him some sensitive stomach food, it's all natural and has probiotics in it... seems okay. For now.
As far as the tank is concerned, Nothing much to report.
the small black clown I had purchased wasn't doing too well. He has a swollen right gill. Looked like it was puckered out and his color, splotchy. I was going out of town, so I was unable to watch him closely but when I came back 2 days later, he had died.

The female clown does not seem phased at all. Sometimes, I think she is is happier in her corals all by herself. She's shellfish.
Wow. I can't believe I just put that. But it stays.
I haven't really gotten anything new since the last update. Hopefully this weekend, I will pick up something pretty.
Now, I'm off to check out nova's threads.

 

[novahobbies]

Heheheh, the Wife and I share everything, including off-color internet comments. I told her your "booby prize" joke, she thought it was funny.
But......back to the TANK.......

Why not a good FTS of this little beauty with the new additions? Oh, and I'm also adding a vote for the court jester goby...they're cute, useful, and cool little fish. I've seen the new pikeblennys that Seth mentioned.....interesting fish, but....a little weird for my tastes, ya know?
I'd also say a standard firefish. I know they're common, but the colors on them are so vibrant. I always loved that splash of electric yellow on their foreheads.
Oh, yeah: how's the dog?? Doing better I hope?

 

[meowzer]

OK I HAVE TO ASK.....WTH is a certified breast man? LOL

 

[novahobbies]

Whoops, combo post. I see you answered half my comments before I even added them, LOL.
Sorry to hear about the clown. :-( Sounds like there was a bacterial infection going on there.
(Going to steal the shellfish line. Groaner....but still damn funny.)

 

[novahobbies]

Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///t/392624/help-with-a-rebuild/80#post_3491471
OK I HAVE TO ASK.....WTH is a certified breast man? LOL
Go ask Florida Joe. He'll fill you in.

Speaking of which.....where has he been? I haven't seen his wit grace these pages in a while now.....

 

[meowzer]

I pm'd him...he said it's summer in Florida.....LOL....what more can I say

 

[novahobbies]

Ah, out enjoying the water I hope. One of the reasons I *love* my home state.

 

[rlablan]

Hi all!!
And HELLO Meowzer!

I was wondering if you would join my humble little thread. Good to see you!
So some new things going on.
1- I decided Yesterday that I am so sick of my master bathroom and I really can't stand it any longer. I painted a few years ago and I was supposed to be tan but it turned into this sort of shell, 80's peach. Bleck! But when I painted it, we had just moved into our home and I was painting so many rooms, I thought screw it. I'm not re painting it. So three years later, I've decided that it's gotta go. I will probably post some pictures of that on here so everyone, just for entertainment and I am pretty proud of my DIY skills. We're going to look at new vanities when the BF gets home. JOY OF JOYS!!! Real storage, hopefully. The cabinets now are like big bottomless (and shelf-less) piles of junk. The storage is totally wasted. By the time I add shelves and drawers... I can just buy new units. Going for a mix of modern and traditional. Weird, I know. It's hard but the BF like sleek, glass... monochrome. I like curves, and detail... Big impact. I wish I knew how to use some sort of rendering software... but I don't. So I will have to try to describe everything to ya'll as best as I can.
After looking at the room all day yesterday, here is where I am on it.
I found this tile at home depot. It was on clearance but I bought all 42 that they had. I bet I could find a few more at another store if I needed. We'll see what happens.
Oddly enough, I have laid tile on two other vertical surfaces in my home. I love the impact it can make on a space. And It's quite unique, at least out here. It can really be one of those "Wow!" moments in a home, if it's done right. I did it in my living room and get nothing but compliments.
So here is the tile.
It's got charcoal grey, a light pebble grey, a clear glass and a neutral tan. I am thinking about laying it vertically on the wall, in the niche in my bathroom, above the vanity, basically from floor to the ceiling, which is 10 feet in there. I think it will have awesome impact. I was also thinking a really really dark grey or black grout. I have white in there currently and it gets dirty QUICK! Also white just won't flow with what I'm doing.
So here are some pictures.
new tile for wall- Did I mention that this tile was on clearance so it was less than 3 bucks a sheet?!?! It was originally 15!! SCORE!

This is the bathroom, as it sits right now.

This is my new paint color for the room. It is the same shade as the dark grey on the tile.

>Also, it's just a test coat so it's not very deep. It's only one coat. It'll be a little more true grey after the second coat.
I want to keep the existing sinks, but have them a little inset (just to that little lip you see on the bottom) and I am thinking I will keep the medicine cabinets, and also the faucets. They are all really nice quality and I got the sinks, and both faucets, new, for just under 200 bucks. They were all discontinued items but I got two displays from two stores. One store just let me have a set! SCORE! The picture you see above... The whole redo cost around 275 bucks for the WHOLE bathroom! But I knew it was temporary. I needs to go. lol
Moving on, I was thinking tile on the back wall, white cabinets, and a black quarts or solid surface counter top? Maybe granite (though, I hate it so). We need a 7' x 25'' piece. Easily found at a scrap yard or bone yard of remnants. I can install it myself... The only issue is weight. We shall see.
Here is a snafu in the plan. Our tile... is awful. It was a "quick fix" that the previous owners put down. It's 12'' tile. Yuck. Set on a grid access. Gross. It had extremely light grout, that is now discolored. Stupid choice. It also has nearly 1/2'' lines. Through. My. Whole. House. *shakes head in despair.*So... It was laid by someone inexperienced and they did a terrible job. Because of this, the tiles are cracking everywhere... (after 3 years) and the grout has holes in it just from walking... you take a step... oh look! new hole the size of a dime. fantastic!
So I have been putting off the flooring... It's a big job... Our home is 2300sq. ft. And I really don't wanna deal with the whole house right now. Budget is also a factor. BUT the eeediots who owned this home prior, have set the tile around the cabinets. so they are inset. The new cabinets will not fit in the existing space where the tile is, since I am changing up the set up. Plus, In my book... you remove cabinetry AND moulding (Which they didn't do either) in a room when you place or put in flooring. It's just a pride thing. Make it look nice and finished and actually do a good job. I cut corners that are meaningless... not something you can see upon entry and becomes a problem down the road.
So... I am thinking. Screw it. DEMO the whole bathroom. It's only about 25 square feet. We have another bathroom. It has two sinks.
Oh and side note. I will also have to re caulk the shower because the rubes didn't use anti microbial, bath/kitchen grade caulking. So it was white and now has spots of mould underneath it through out our whole walk in shower.
I promise that I don't live in a dilapidated piece of junk. I swear it... My home really is pretty nice and clean. Honest

!
So... White cabinets- no more than $1000.00 (i'm hoping like 500)
Black shimmery quart counter or something like it- no idea yet
tile on the back niche to the ceiling, very dark grout- $165.00 for tile, grout/thin set will be around $50.00 bucks or less
big framed mirrors- already have these, they are white, may be painted for $20.00
inset vessel sinks- Own them already
the faucets from above- Own them too
New thicker, better, true white moulding (since mine is half covered in grout and won't be reusable)- I think a contractor pack is $75.00 or less? Should be more than enough.
Two new door handles (in brushed or satin nickel)- $65.00 or less
new paint- $40.00 bucks or less
I also an having the BF convert the 1 can light in the ceiling into a large pendant. It's in the direct middle of the room. I want a skinny pendant, with a BIG BLACK drum shade on it. That is going to be the other focal piece in the room. I am also thinking I will have him link that existing power and switch to an added champagne flute style pendant that will hang over the bath tub. There is power up there, I am thinking it'll just take some re wiring, a whole in the ceiling and a new electrical box. Who knows... let him worry about it.

There is a down side to all of this gorgeous bathroom talk.
If I spend this money... I am not going to be able to go to MACNA. While I am sad... I think it's for the best. We have to spend quite a bit to get there and by doing so, we will have no money to shop when we get there. And I know I am gonna be insanely envious of what I see and want it all. Besides, I think the money is better spent on our home, that needs it. If the TODO list gets any longer, this house really will become a huge mess. I am sad that it has the issues that it does already. It was so nice when we moved in...
I have two tanks. I am happy with them, ATM. And I have a bathroom I hate... Priorities. Oh how I hate you.
Going to scoop out some flooring today and some more options from cabinets. Keep your fingers crossed that I find a good deal on something that I will love and am willing to pay for!
I am looking for the tile that looks like wood, in a dark black, brown color. I've wanted it for ages and That is what I want through the whole house! It looks AMAZING! It has little to no grout and it's fantastic for people with dogs. No scratch marks, unlike wood. And it's a breeze to clean, not to mention no upkeep like wood. It's what I want and I WILL HAVE IT!
Any input... please. Lay it on me. I feel like I'm excited drowning at the moment with this BIG project.

 

[rlablan]

Oh and for giggles, here is the living room.
I put up this tile, and then painted. The moulding was something we added when we first moved in but I pulled the blues from the tile and painted over the old scheme which was olive green and sage.
The carpet is the only other thing to go away in here. I want the same flooring in here as the M bath, through out the whole house. I am undecided if I want to do a floating piece of carpet in here, or just do all tile and put down an area rug. As you can see, I use one already. I love the way a sofa and rug go together. Feels homey. We'll see. That's for much, much later. Hammond decided to grab all of his toys and photo bomb me. lol

 

[kiefers]

JMO........ all your ideas and work is making me need a vacation. Hire HGTV to come in and do it

 

[rlablan]

Hahahah yeah. My bf says that my project stress him out. I love projects. I grew up in the DIY house where there was a huge project every weekend. He grew up in the "hire someone and never touch it again" house. We are from two different places. Haha

 

[novahobbies]

Oooh, HOME PROJECTS!!

I'm a geek, I love home reno projects as much as I love tank builds. There's something immensely satisfying in being able to DIY home renovations. I just finished my floors a couple months ago, and I'm currently adding wainscotting and moulding to our guest bedroom. That one is going to have a faux raised ceiling and molding added as well. That room and the guest bath are getting a northern beach cottage theme to them....whites and blues.
I love those vessel sinks. You said you're keeping them, right? Hope so...they look fantastic.
As much as I love doing work myself, there is one thing I will not do in my new home: I need two new ceiling fans and a nicer entry way light. My ceilings are vaulted, and I have a mild ladder phobia. Anything over 10 feet and someone else can do it.

 

[rlablan]

lol I think my ceiling are 15 feet... IN EVERY ROOM. Even in the laundry, baths and closets. lol I've gotten over heights. It's good in AZ though, give the heat somewhere to escape to.
Things are going well. The BF is jack hammering the last few spot of thin set from the floor, as we speak.
We just finished removing the cabinets and are going to start some simple sheet rock (simple, she says) repair. I removed the backsplash and counter that I put up. My boyfriend said, and I quote, "Why do you have to do everything SO well?!?!?!" Because That tile was on there so well, as well as the indestructible countertops that it took all of the sheet rock and some of the cabinets with it. lol If we lived in tornado country, I would still have counters after a storm. hehe
Yes, we are keeping the sinks. We I purchased those a few years back, they were a MAJOR score. They were discontinued displays. They were gonna give us the displays for 10 bucks each and just forgot to charge us for them. I spend so much at those stores, I figure a 20$ freebie will keep me coming back lol So they were free. and the faucets, they forgot to charge us for one of those. And then they sold us a display. It was set up... but never displayed. So it was new. sweet. Open box discount and also free. Those faucets were supposed to be a custom order too... I think one was a display, and the other was in back or something. All I know is.. both sinks and both faucets were less than 150-200 bucks. I am keeping them forever. Even when I move. MINE!
Here are some pictures of the destruction.
initial tile removal.
after all the tile was removed, but thin set still remained. It's all smooth and silky now.
the water closet, after removal of the tile.
the "wood look" tile. I love the color. And the price was not bad either. for 100sq ft, it was 160 bucks... SSSSAAAAWWWWEEEETTTT!!!!
After removing those awful, useless, waste of space, cabinets. I beat the crap out of those suckers. I am so sooooo excited they are out. Now, to cut out the sheet rock with thin set on it and sand and replace... mud. All that crap.
And the BF got a new saw. I told him "men love power tools". haha he was happy but he would have rather had a new computer or car part. He's not huge on tools. I heart tools. They make me happy.
That's all for now... I'm getting back to work. So far, it's been about 22 hours of work and the bathroom is totally cleaned out and we are ready to start making it awesome.
And also... the fish are fine.

 

[novahobbies]

Looks great so far! I'm diggin' the faux wood look tile. I saw that at Floor&Decor, and we were tempted to use that for the bathrooms, but it wouldn't jive with the flooring in the rest of the house. Can't wait to see what you do with it in the new bathroom. Sweet deal on those sinks...holy crap. Best I ever got was a $200 fan for $20.00....someone messed up a decimal when they were entering prices. Heh.
Good to know the fish are fine.

 

[rlablan]

Thanks nova! I like the look too. I saw this stuff ages ago, before it was all over the place and it was only special order. I knew I would have it in my home at some point. It's great for bathrooms, and also for people like me who like the look of wood, with out the upkeep. Plus, my dog's nails would RUIN wood floors.
I did this little mock of of my color scheme and what cabinetry I would like to have.
Lemme know what you think!The grey might be a hair darker but the doors and moulding will be bright white. and then imagine the small glass tile above the cabinetry, in the little nook. ) I kind of lover it.
I decided on the counter top. FINALLY. I decided no on the stone. It's too expensive and I have become addicted to bargain hunting. I refuse to pay the prices that all of these people are asking for... silly for something so small. And I have BIG plans for the room and others. That mean I am stretching my budget like crazy!
I came up with a fabulous idea. I love the look of butcher block. I always have. I am a chef at heart. lol. So I thought... if you can seal a deck for the out of doors... you should be able to seal some wood for inside? I want to find either butcher block that I can stain with some minwax or whatnot to match the flooring and then seal it off with some tompsons deck seal or the like. THEN I am going to the local glass place up the road and I am going to get them to cut me a piece of glass, about 1/4'' thick and have them cut some holes out for my vessel sinks to sit in... voila! One of a kind, eye catching wonderful counter top. I LOVE the way it looks in the mock up. I tried stone and tile and all kind of other ideas. I wasn't crazy about them and I hated the price.
Do you all think that the water seal and a full sheet of glass will be enough to keep this counter top okay for...lets say... at least 5 years? I can deal with having to maintain it that often... but I won't be happy about doing it every season. lmao.
Also, if I don't go with the butcher block, it'll be some type of reclaimed wood or a really knotty, grainy, gorgeous piece of wood I will find... somewhere... and I wil cut it to fit, stain it and seal it and then put it under glass.
Thoughts?
Also... can you just imagine how amazing those vessel sinks are gonna look over this counter top... just resting on that shiny, new glass!!
I am also so excited at the thought of cleaning this bathroom... I could scream. I am making sure everything is easy to clean! Notice the risers... the lack of grout lines... (1/16th inch!) and the new moulding will be thick and modern, but free of all the ridges and nooks and junk that become catchalls for dog hair/dust/grime. And then the counter! Just clean with windex!! YEEESSS!!!
On tomorrow's agenda- finish the sheet rock, and then seal the hairline crack in the concrete with an isolation membrane. See you bright and early!

 

[novahobbies]

I'll be honest, I'm more interested in the reclaimed wood theme than the butchers block. But either way I'm sure it's going to pop!

 

[smallreef]

You can get cheap butcher block top from IKEA if theres one close....and yes if you seal it with an oil based sealer AND put glass ontop you will be golden.... you should only have to deal with the side that is facing you not covered by glass...