Quote:
Originally Posted by
Siptang http:///t/392906/snakes-75g-build-thread/380#post_3505094
Sounds like you have a full day today Seth.
Awesome for being able to build something for you and for your family Seth, I wish I had your skills.
I work retail so it's hell for me. I go to work around 8:30 and get back around 11:30pm.
I won't be able to monitor my tank until xmas afternoon.
I will go home and test the alkalinity again tonight though to see if things didn't go whack again... crap who knew that acros will suck up that much alk and calcium??? Jeez.
So you are going bare bottom now Seth?
Yeah, busy busy. But, I have gotten a lot done to that stand today. I got the rest of the trim on and it's all primed in except for one end. I'll be happy when that project is over with. Though, I did have inspiration on how to do the doors while I was at the pizza place for dinner. Maybe I'll have some time on Monday afternoon to work on it some and possibly get the doors done.
I really enjoy building things. I haven't come across something that I am not good at - as long as it requires intelligence. Although, I suck at sports - I just don't have the natural athletic ability. But, when it comes to pretty much anything else, ... I can do whatever I want. lol. I thought about med school at one point, but I just don't want to be in school that long.
. I love to use my hands and my mind - and carpentry - especially building furniture is one of those "creative" things that allows me to do both. Plus, I absolutely love tools and equipment. I guess that is one of the reasons why I like the equipment side of saltwater aquariums so much. lol.
That sucks that you are so busy! But, I bet your getting paid pretty well for all of the hours that you are putting in. At least I hope so. Yeah, SPS corals in general suck up a lot of calcium and alkalinity - especially when they have adequate light and nutrients to grow!
No, I'm not going barebottom at this point. I think I am going to do a 1" to 1 1/2" sandbed at this point. I like barebottom tanks - but I think I am going to add the sand that I just bought to the tank and see how it does over time. If my corals don't seem to be doing well, I'll just remove it, rinse and start over. lol.
Tomorrow, I have my sights set on buying a pillow case at Wal-mart so that I can rinse my sand and add it to the tank tomorrow afternoon or even evening. We will just have to see how that pans out.
The good news is that I have another 4g of water mixing overnight - so that will give me some water to pull the last remaining sand out of the tank. The powerheads were repositioned early this morning so that they would blow the sand over to one side of the tank and pile it up. So, I'll go ahead and get as much as I can out tomorrow morning and see if there is too much left or not and decide if I need to do one more siphoning or not. We will just have to see...
I have wood for a temporary canopy - but I have money to buy a full calcium reactor setup at this time. I don't know what I want to do. I probably should go ahead and purchase the HQI metal halide bulbs that I need, and probably the reactor only and wait for the CO2 system as money comes in - and save some money back to buy some actual solid red oak for a decent canopy build. I may end up just buying a sheet of red oak ply and getting it over with - since the stand that I have is built out of ply anyways - it will all match. I dunno. lol.
Before I go and start putting SPS in my tank here and there, I need to finally come up with a decision for how I am going to dip all of my new incoming frags. I have been doing some research on the big forums about dipping with Bayer Advanced Insect killer from Walmart or Home Depot. I have seen many, many people do this method and have said that their corals look really good and were not affected by the dip. In the world of SPS corals - it's either that you dip NOW or you will dip LATER. I would rather dip now instead of later, personally. So, I think I may try this insect killer and see what all the hype is.
I can't wait to start adding some decent corals to the tank again! There are quite a few SPS coral frags at my LFS that come in on a regular basis - I'm itching to start adding some of these frags to my tank. The problem though is that freakin' canopy. lol. Oh well, it will all happen sooner or later. I'm making progress as quick as I can. Especially after all of the work and stress and projects that I have to do and get done this time of year.
