You know your a reefer when.......
 

The first thing you do in the morning and when you get home is check the tank.

What are you if you sit beside it all day, every day??????

Your a reefer with a good job. :mrgreen:

Ya my idea is keep your tank in your office. It's where you spend most of your waking hours. Glad I'm not still a mill worker, that wouldn't work too good.

Yup, my computer desk is 8 feet away from my reef tank:biggrin:

I have my 120 g in my office foyer, definately a hit with all the clients and it's great in the day time when you need a few minutes.Plus it is a tax write-off.:mrgreen: The biggest drawback is I can't do any lights out predator hunting unless I plan on spending the night sleeping on my office floor. I also try to be here as little as possible on the weekends.
I've come in to my share of surprises on Monday morning though.

Mathew

You know your a reefer when.....
 

Your wife (if she hasn't left you) actually knows what you are talking about all the time.

- When you compare funny dog/pet related smells to what your skimmate smells like.

- When the first thing you do while house hunting, is figure how big of a tank you could have.

- When you sit in a hardware store for hours on end debating how to plumb up your tank.

- When you cut your grocery & entertainment budget to purchase a new fish, coral, or equipment.

- Everytime you come upon a sale you think of how you can use the items for your tank.

- When you compare funny dog/pet related smells to what your skimmate smells like. Not Guilty

- When the first thing you do while house hunting, is figure how big of a tank you could have. Guilty

- When you sit in a hardware store for hours on end debating how to plumb up your tank. Guilty

- When you cut your grocery & entertainment budget to purchase a new fish, coral, or equipment. Guilty

- Everytime you come upon a sale you think of how you can use the items for your tank. Not Guilty

3 out of 5. Time for therapy

Guilty of all of the above. :redface:

I'll add to the pile (just what I can come up with right now, I'm sure there are others):

- You live in a place like Calgary (where we call 10% relative humidity "rain") and yet you own a dehumidifier, because your tanks evaporate so much. You get strange looks at Sears/Hardware Stores/etc. when you ask for a dehumidifier because NOBODY needs one of those.

- Your dehumidifier can't keep up, so you don't bat an eye at dropping a couple grand on a HRV to keep the humidity down in your house. Hey, it's this or give up the tanks. So it's a no-brainer! Credit cards and line of credits whoohoo!

- You daydream at the prospect of upgrading your ballasts to HQI. Nobody around you knows what you're talking about but you even say "HQI" in a hallowed whisper due to the fact that they're sacred.

- You can't function at work without checking your favourite boards every 10 minutes. 10 minutes of productivity, 20 minutes of downtime. You convince yourself that because of that 20 minutes of downtime, your far more productive in that 10 minutes you are productive, than you would be in the same 30 minute period without checking the boards (actually, this might be true, because you'd be thinking "I wonder what's new on the board.")

I'm guilty of the dehumidifier!
Also guilty of the repetative board checking, although I do it while studying, and in class. Horrible horrible habit.

You know you're a reefer when you decide to buy the place you're renting instead of risking moving the reef tank & risking casualties.

Anthony

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!

Then you decide... Well since I own the place I can get a bigger tank and move your corals any way. :wink:

um tell your g-friend or wife that you're goin out for a walk with the dog but actually visit all the lfs to see what's new. (this also works with takin the kids!)

Sit infront of your tank for countless hrs staring wishing you had a bigger one with one of everything.

Come home from work just to feed your tanks say hi to the fishies and then double back shush don't tell my boss:lol:

- You've taken a sick day to look after your tank.
- You've arranged your vacation, or off days, around which LFSs you can visit, or when they are bringing in new stock.

... your last few vacations for the past 5 years were going:

to Calgary to pickup a tank with your buddy & driving right back to Vancouver in a 23 hr round-trip.

to Powell River to visit a fellow reefer, drop off corals & pick up corals.

to Port Alberni to visit another reefer.

to Powell River to build another reefer a 75g sump.

to Nanaimo to attend a frag meet/bbq.

to Keremeos to visit a fellow reefer.

(get the picture:redface: This is what happens when you're a reefer AND an obsessive-compulsive personality!!!)

And never going for more than 4 days for fear your tank will crash in the meantime.

- Your favorite Sunday shirt has salt stains on the sleeves

- You don't blink an eye about using your last clean towel to wipe up a water-change spill

- People look at you strange in a restaurant when you try to get a siphon going using a straw between two cups of water.

- You go to a Sushi restaurant and consider taking a doggie bag home for your fish.

-when your arms and hands look and feel like a dead animal hide that has been baking in the desert sun for the last five years.

-when you are on a first name basis with the chopper pilot who hovers over your house weekly taking heat emission readings.

-when your electric bill resembles your mortgage.

-when you had to put 3/4 inch bolts on the electric meter to keep it from spinning right off the house.

-when you construct a play castle in the yard for the kids constructed completely out of empty salt buckets.

-when you replace drywall on a monthly basis.

-when guests put on their sunglasses after they enter your house.

- You know that the most foul, most vile smell in the world is that of a dead snail.

- You know that the most foul, most vile smell in the world is that of a dead anemone.

- You know that the most foul, most vile smell in the world is that of your arm, after a leather coral has slimed you.

- You know what "coralfinger" means.

- In fact, you know all manner of things you've never imagined you'd ever smell!!

Actually, on the topic of smells ..

- You can tell how well your tank is going by giving it the sniff test.

mine too :)

Don't know if it makes me a reefer but... I trust my kid with our nanny but not comfortable about her looking after the tank when I'm away.

when you sleep on the hide-abed at night so that you can be closer to your tank:biggrin:

You know you're a reefer when....
 

You're so tired you can't remember where you put your purse but you take the time to check all the tanks you own and then canreef before heading to bed.

When you have a reef tank in your house.

Oh wait, that's too obvious, right? :wink:

You know you're a reefer when...and addicted to canreef when...
 

You go to work early in order to check canreef before you have to start. You notice an item that you want/have to have:wink: for sale. You go to pm the person who's selling it when you realize (crap) you don't have time, you have to start work. You start work and tell your co-worker all about this item you just have to get and they roll their eyes at you and actually tell to go ahead and message the person (probally just to shut you up:lol:) You (in my case) run upstairs to the office where the computer is in order to message the person and... you run into your boss:eek: You quickly tell your boss all about this item you want and she smiles and actually gets off the computer so you can message the person!!!! Heaven forbid your not the 1st in line for the item you want:lol: This is based on a true story and I admit I've done this more than once:redface: I might also add that I have the best boss and co-workers ever!:mrgreen:

Don't you mean the "sniff and gag" test? :razz:

Oh and heres another one.

- when you're thinking about taking the ferry back home (3h return trip same day cuz you can't miss work) so you can check on your ca reactor because you suspect there is something restricting it making the pump work harder and generate too much heat (we're talking 90-100F here)which is going into your tank but you really need to keep it running because annoying reactor media won't melt so your tank parameters for mg, alk and ca are off by a country mile and unplugging the reactor would make it worse. Or would it? :wink:

*sigh*

When you get a rash in your armpits due to the remnants of salt creep on the hairs

WHen there is one plug in the house you use for your vacuum with a real long extension cord, JUST so you stop blowing breakers.
or is this just me?

Bwahahahah, nope thats me too :biggrin:

- You go to the Servpro equipment sales day to see if you can score a deal on one of those carpet-cleaning vans. You leave in disgust when you realize it doesn't come with the actual carpet cleaner.

You know your a reefer when you organize your freezer, fridge, and living space all around your tank and its needs.

Us too:redface:

You know you are a reefer when:
- You have one deep freezer for you food and one for you fish food
- You can spot your house several blocks away by the glow coming from your living room in broad daylight
- You dream of covering your roof with solar panels just to help suppliment the electircal needs of your lights

You know you're a reefer when you go to bed, tired, anticipating a nice sleep. A small, unbidden thought, however, comes to you: "I wonder if my starfish is melting away? It IS missing part of an arm. Starfish. Stars. The moon. I wonder if I could somehow harness the moon's light with a series of mirrors, to create a realistic moonlight effect? And, oh! Do the same during the day, with the sun. And supplement it with some blues...some actinics. Blues. Hmmm, I need to add some blue to my reef. A linkia? No, it will melt away. A sponge? Hmm. Perhaps. Sponge. I wonder if it's that white, weird sponge that's causing my awesome pink paly's to shrivel up. Can sponge do that? Ooh, that purple sponge on HiddenReefs would look great in....in....WHAT'S THAT SOUND?! A LEAK!!....no, no...just the skimmer....doing...its....zzzzz...."

bwahahah and I thought I was the only one that had those random type of thoughts. :razz:

ha ha ha ha ROTFL Der Iron Chef...that was too funny and good God too true!

When you are going to pick up frags off of a fellow reefer and you dont bother writing down the address, just get the general direction and area. You can always spot the place by looking for a glowing blue window.

- your alleyway is now sandy beach.