I totally agree with you I want too see it happening not after its happened

This is what I've decided and the risk I'm ok with taking. Judges please dock points as you deem necessary just please don't completely eliminate me and remove my journal.

Ok just got some clearer clarification

Apparently I'm ok and good to go :cheer2: and http://www.elliotcowanchat.org/images/smilies/whew.gif

My ATO
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps464c4a0b.jpg

:lol: it's me using a cup

Clearer pic's
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps3f8bcc9d.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps187d55ed.jpg

Just read this: (which follows along with the original rules but somewhat contradicts the simplified rules post I posted above)

I'm ok with loosing points as long as I can do it how I want to and share what I want when I want to.

To make it easier for judges I will go back in my journal and post the appropriate pic's when they should of been posted on they day the were supposed to have been posted.

But honestly I want to share my updates as they occur not try to remember weeks later what happened and the order they happened in and fake my updates to make it look like I did them on the dates they were supposed to be done. IMO if you're ahead of the game and holding back pic's to make it seem like you're following the rules when really you aren't it's stupid. If the point of not posting pic's of rock in tanks yet is to make it fair for others who haven't started yet (so ideally we're all on the same playing level) but then you go ahead and add the rock now, cause technically you're allowed to just don't show pic's to let others know how ahead you are, just seems ridiculous to me. People are going to go at their own pace regardless of the rules, most will just hold back pic's and post them when the time comes to post them so they look like they are doing everything by the book. They may be way past that point and their final pic might reflect that, but because they didn't post pic's it's ok and they won't loose points for it????? :rolleyes:

Anyway like I said I'm cool with loosing points but I'm not going to hide my progress or pretend it didn't happen when it did just to lie about things and make it look like I'm following the rules when I'm not. Judges can figure out my points however they wish but know I'm not hiding or holding anything back or pretending things aren't happening if they are happening.

lol the ato looks to be the same device i'm using except its me with a red cup lol, good thing the office has unlimited amounts of filtered water lol

Simplest ATO I've ever used to figure out how to get it working :lol:

ATO with a red solo cup...I feel a country song in the make...might infringe on Toby Keith's copyrights, though!!
Just hoping that no one goes on a few days worth of "vacation", like my hubby likes to do, it can be a nightmare to get house sitters to fill such a tiny tank. Mine just dumped the whole amount that has been evaporating for the past few days all at once, on the day before us getting home, and then wondered why things died...

hi laurie.......relax lol


the timeline is posted as are the rules, everyone can take it as they see it but its now final and will not be changed for any reasons, and all decisions will now be made up to the judges.


like i said i believe your journal is fine, according to the official timeline and how i read it, for the most part everyones is fine.


the judges are going to look at more than just the timeline guys so relax and just do the best you can on your nanos and let the judges worry about who gets points and who dont:)


ps....tank looks great btw;)

:lol: everytime I see that cup I think of that song, in fact as I was topping it off I was singing "red solo cup I use you for my top off" :lol:

Thankfully there are no trips planned right now. Other then going to visit Doug's mom for her birthday in Calgary for a weekend in Oct. My mom is going to look after all my animals while I'm gone and I give her very explicit directions on what to do with my tanks so hopefully it'll be ok as she's been good at following the fish tank directions to a T in the past.

Ok ok I'll chill out now. I know I went on a bit of a :rant: (rant) yesterday and :sorry: 'bout that, I just felt the need to state my opinion

Do you have any plans to try to hide the hose from the skimmer?

I did notice that it's kinda ugly sitting out in the open, but I'm not sure how I could hide it. I'll have to think about it some more.

So I found an evil aiptasia (top circle in pic) on the top of one of my rocks :evil: I've also discovered my tank has balls! Ball anemones (bottom circle) that is :lol:

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps759d1373.jpg

The ball anemones are kind pretty so I'm leaving them alone for now, but I puttied in the evil aiptasia and said "Die aiptasia die!!!!!" as I applied the putty :lol:

Goodbye aiptasia....and no you won't be missed
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps393e3381.jpg

EDIT: Ok for some odd reason the circles I made on the pic's in photobucket (that show up on the photobucket page) aren't showing up here. Not sure why but hopefully you can tell where the aiptasia and the ball anemone are in the pic.

hahahahahahahaha....NIIICEEE!

I just found a little aiptasia on a frag I just got, so I stuck it with a needle full of Mag. Worked great!

Also noticed this hitchhiker astra starfish. I know some people think of them as pests but I've never had problems with them so I'm leaving him in.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...psfaec2faf.jpg

Also noticed that my tank seems to go down to 75 at night (and its not that cold yet) so I'm going to have to figure out some sort of heater soon. Unless.....dwarf seahorse maybe???? Not sure if the tank is big enough for one or not.....also not sure if I can keep such a small tank stable enough for one. I'll have to do some reading.

Thanks, I was hoping people would get a laugh out of that :big grin:

Mag. does work well, but if it spews before you get it all, it has the potential to send out spores that spread like wildfire.

It does detract a bit from the aesthetics of your tank. Could you simply turn it a bit and run the tube behind the tank?

The hose is just long enough to reach the bucket on the table right beside the table the tank sits on. If I put a longer hose on the skimmer I could run it behind the tank onto the floor. I have extra hose laying around but I'm not sure if they're the right size or not. The other issue with that is that I have a cat and small dog who go under the table and it would suck if they knocked over a bucket of skimmate. I'll have to look at what I have when I get home and see if I can change it. That or just take closer up pic's of the tank or photoshop the hose out :lol:

Decisions decisions *sigh*

FYI
The circles around the aiptasia and ball nem are there :smile:

Wouldn't it take you less time to remove the hose for pics, rather than the whole photo edit thingy ? :wink:

Nice lookin' contest build
Can't wait to see the new light strip additions

I vote just take closeups of the tank. :)

:doh: Ok sometimes simplest is best. Spent some time thinking about running a longer hose into a bucket under the table to discover the extra hoses I have aren't the right size. So I thought oh well I'll just take close ups. Then this morning Doug says "Just turn the top part of the skimmer a bit and run the hose behind the light and tank, and leave the bucket where it is". :doh: Wasn't 100% sure it would reach or make much of a difference but it does reach and it does look way better. Have to admit I feel pretty stupid for not having done so in the first place :redface:

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...psa6e354f1.jpg

Yea! That looks better. :) It is still noticeable, but it isn't "front centre" like it was. It is much more discreet now, and doesn't draw my eye.

Ya it's strange on my one computer the circles show up but on the other one they don't, no idea why :noidea: You're right it would take less time to remove the hose, thankfully Doug mentioned turning it a bit and it worked out.

The light additions should be cool, I'm just waiting to hear back from Martin at modular led to figure out what all I need to order to add two more strips. Then I'll just have to wait for Grizz to deliver the goods :mrgreen:

[quote=fishoholic;747631]My ATO
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps464c4a0b.jpg

:lol: it's me using a cup

after my vacation in NY this past weekend and the rage of this song this pic reminded me of i had to share.. looking good btw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMEtqj2Fa4s

So I was doing some reading about dwarf seahorses and debating if I wanted to try them or not. I read up on them and they are pretty tricky to keep and you need to keep the tank around 68-74. Even without a heater my tank only went down to 75 so I wasn't sure if I could keep the tank cool enough for them. I also talked to Ken at blue world (he knows a breeder) but he said the guy was trying to breed them again right now but so far it hasn't happened yet, so it would be awhile before they would be available. Then he mentions that his darwin clownfish breed and that some of them are dwarf clowns.......so that got me thinking.......now I'm leaning towards doing a maxi mini tank with sexy shrimp, anemone crab, maybe an anemone shrimp and one or two (not sure if the tank is big enough for 2 clowns even if they are very tiny) dwarf clowns. Ken also mentioned he had a tiny rbta that I might take a look at. I also like the idea of a reef tank with a flaming prawn goby, but they are expensive and it was 2 years ago that anyone last had them so I'm not sure if I could get one or not.

Agreed, thanks for pointing it out. Now that it's tucked behind it's definitely not as much of an eye sore anymore.

:lol: awesome

I don't know if they would work on your set up but you can get heating matts that go under the tank used for reptile tanks.

I had 2 dwarf seahorses awhile back that lived for about 1 1/2 years which I guess is about their life span. I didn't have anything special set up for them, a 10g tank with established LR, some kenya tree coral, fed them brine and selcon (mysis is too big for them to eat) and kept my tank at 75.

I had thought about a heating matt but I wasn't sure if it would work or not. I went to PJ pets and looked at the heaters there. I went back and forth between the fluval edge 25w heater and the marina 10w heater. I heard the fulval works well for small tanks but kinda thought 25w would be overkill for my tank since the 15w heater I tried raised the temp to 84. But since I couldn't make up my mind (I've tried the marina 10w on a 3-4g before and it didn't work) I ended up buying both. I figured I'd try the 10w one 1st and if it didn't work then I'd try the 25w one. So far the marina 10w heater is working perfectly. Keeps the tank at 77-78 consistently so far. I've only had it for 2 days but it looks promising so far.

pic's
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps9a32a561.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps208532a8.jpg

Sleek design and fits perfectly in the back chamber :thumb:

Have a read through this thread on Nano-reef if you're interested in some ponies (it is long, but she's had success in a 3 gallon).

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...owtopic=301292

Your tank might work.

Thanks for the link, it would be cool to try (maybe one day) but right now I just want to make sure I can keep the tank stable never mind everything else that comes with keeping seahorses. Also I have ball anemones on my rock, which I kinda like and think are pretty, but unfortunately they could kill a seahorse. I was reading about some stuff you can use to treat the rock for hydroids and pest anemones (to make the rock safe for seashores) that is supposed to not effect the beneficial bacteria on the rock, but I don't know where to find it.

I'm also not sure if I could even find any dwarf seahorses to buy so I decided to do a maxi mini/coral tank with anemone crabs, sexy shrimp and Ken's dwarf darwin clownfish.

So I thought I'd try to be good and attempt to follow the rules from here on out, but that lasted for a whole 30 sec's, and really who am I kidding, this is me we're talking about :lol:

So I took some advice from old blue eyes himself and I'm going to do it my way :mrgreen:

Frank Sinatra: My Way
http://youtu.be/Aht9hcDFyVw

have to admit that song still can give me chills it's so good :biggrin:

I've been busy the past few day's I have updates to share but have to wait until the lights go on to take pic's.

One update I can share now is that my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all at 0. Not surprising though since I stared with cycled rock from an established system. I also bought the prodibio nano kit and dosed bioptim and biodigest.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...psae29a1d3.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...psefaf5409.jpg

In the start up kit they also use stop ammo but AI and Red coral didn't have any, I'm hoping blue world will. They don't open till noon so I have to wait to call and find out.

Yay blue world! I got the stop ammo (already added it) :biggrin: Also got another cool thing, I've seen a few of them before, but none the colour I got :mrgreen:

What are the benefits of the biokit?

I know I saw it somewhere local rather recently, but I didn't check it out after I looked at the cost.

Here's a link were it's explained
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=62780

Thanks! It looks like it might be worth investing in. :)

Ok so I'm way further ahead then I should be but since there are a couple of others that are as well and they've posted pic's I'm going to finally download all the pic's I've been taking and update this thread already!

I should also add that I checked with my work (AI) and they should have the splitter and dimmer I need for the 2 extra led light strips I want to add and they are ordering the extra lights in for me :mrgreen: