Novahobbies official 110g rebuild thread

snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
the $5 out of my fun money is going towards saving up for aquarium stuff... bigger things that I can't buy on a weekly basis. I pay $1.75 for water each week for my tank. The $5 a week savings is going towards an RO Unit in the near future when we move. Hopefully I will get washer and dryer hookups so that I can attach the RO Unit to it instead of the pipes.
Money is definitely tight. But, hopefully it won't be like that for long. Deer season is coming up soon and I'll be getting back to work. I also have some money coming to me through my college... and I did that stand refinish which I am getting paid well for. I'm also selling the 110g tank this Sunday as well as the 240g tank sometime next week. So... it's all coming together.
Just two more years of this and I'll have a career and it won't be so hard. But, I understand that right now while my wife and I are still young, we will struggle a little bit while we get things going.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
We're holding down the fort down here....the storm isn't so bad on the east coast; I hope my west coast (of Florida!!) friends are all safe tonight. We're getting heavy rains and winds in the 30mph area right now, but very little damage, and no power outage yet.
Aquarium stats!
The dreaded diatoms are starting to show up!

Today's water test shows almost no ammonia left (not quite 0, but not even .25 anymore), and a nice high nitrite count of between 5 and 10. Nitrate is starting to show up, around 5ppm right now. I'm feeling pretty good about the pace this is proceeding at.
Equipment updates: First, my return pump has really quieted down. Thank goodness. I suppose it just needed a couple days to get back in the swing of things after being dry for so long. Seth, I still owe you an email....I'm very seriously toying with the though of getting that Mag9 from you anyway. Just in case, you know.
My DIY ATO kit should be here on Tuesday or so. That's definitely worth a
. I still need to get some tubing so I can it up and running, but I haven't decided if I should use my spare aqualifter as the ATO pump or if I should get a little Rio for the job. The aqualifter has the advantage of being HERE and FREE....and I really don't think I need more power than that to run the ATO.
My first set of Cheap Chinese Knockoff LEDs will be here sometime by the end of the week or beginning of next week. I'll post a review of them when they show up. I'm going to "test" this fixture on the seahorse tank, and in the meantime I'll move the 150w MH from the horse tank over to the big tank so I can get a little more light in there. It will still look unbalanced....150w MH on one side, 130w PC on the other, LOL....but at least I can get some light punched down to that rose coral before it tries to die out on me.
I'm definitely ordering SOME fish this week, once the storm passes. Just not sure what yet. Those Bartletts are really pretty.
WOW. Just had a HUGE gust of wind. There goes more of my screens. Thankfully they're really easy to put back together.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Yeah. I heard they are evacuating parts of baton rouge and new orleans earlier today. I hope everyhing goes well.
Glad everything is going well. Er' well enough.
I might keep my mag 9 afterall. Im probably going to set up a 55g and ill need it to run a couple reactors and the tank. Im down but not out!!
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
That's the spirit!
Honestly, with as much as you have piled on your plate, I would understand a little "break" from the aquarium grind. Just until you're back in a place where you can really enjoy the hobby. Take a step back, pick an easy to maintain tank (55 sounds good to me!) and enjoy the one tank while you work through school, etc. That's more or less what I had to do when we left our old place and lived with my aunt those months while we waited for the new one....and even then you've seen how long it's taken me to get this bad boy back up. Heck, there was a time when I wasn't even paying much attention to the horse tank, since it was over at another person's house being "fish-sat." It's a bummer about the 110, but I know you're gonna come back and wow us with something beautiful when you're able to.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Wow. Looks like my first light may be here today. Of course. It's pouring out, wind is blowing all over, so why shouldn't a $200 light be left at my doorstep? Heh....
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
OK, well DHL actually didn't deliver it - they needed a signed auth. I'm actually glad, what with this weather. Silly thing might have been blown halfway down the street by the time I got home!
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Wow. I didn't want to say anything until I got it, but...wow. Talk about customer service...and I've never heard of this in a delivery service before.
So, I mentioned that DHL had come and gone from my house. Ok, no problem. I was going to sign the slip and have it delivered tomorrow, no biggie. BUT....around 5pm, I got a PHONE CALL from the driver. He said he was heading back to my area, and wanted to know if I was home!!!
I wasn't. "But," I said, "I'll be home in 20 minutes if you're in the neighborhood!"
He said he would make a couple other late deliveries and if he had time he would slide by and make the drop off. I figured I had a 50/50 shot, and I wasn't going to be upset if it didn't show. Heck, these days, even the phone call is a courtesy you don't normally see!
So I got home by 5:30, futzed around the kitchen....and sure enough, 6pm rolls around and the dude pulls up! Delivered to my door, 2nd attempt same day. THAT'S service. I was really impressed. I'll have to see about DHL from now on.
ANYWAY. I've got it open, and I've played with it a little. It's pretty bright! I'm going to have to modify the horse tank a little before I can install it, but I promised a few people an honest open-box review of this fixture on the DIY forum, so I'm going to take a couple days to play with it and open it up before I install it in the tank. My first impression was this: Solid exterior construction, fans run quietly, dimmers do their job but the blue light dimmer seems harder to tune than the white. I don't see much difference on most of the blue dimmer until the voltage drops a good amount, then it suddenly drops off.
I'll snap a couple pics tonight if my phone charges up enough.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Just got home. Long day at work, but...my ATO kit was at the door when I got home. Excellent. Now I get to play with electricity this wee so I don't have to &^%* with topping off the big tank every other day. I call that a win!
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
I did, I know. I'm sorry, these evening have been a little hectic. Spent most of last night cleaning up the porch and re-screening the ones that got blown in (AGAIN!! ARGH...)
Truth to tell, this week is going to be....fun....due to the office move. Not sure how much time I'm going to get to play with the lights until Saturday night. The actual move is on Saturday, which effectively kills any notion of a three-day weekend.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
LOL I'm glad you know my pace......SLOOOOW......but it'll get there.
A FL online site (sadly, not my favorite forum site!!) has some frelling amazing sales right now. I'm going to see what awesome sales my LFS throws down for the holiday weekend, but I warned Michelle we just may need to break out QT tank no. 3. LOL. She's gonna divorce me if she sees one more tank hiding in the house. We had words when she found the 12g running in the guest room, despite my insistence that I told her about it earlier. I really did, too........
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top