Alright, despite the setbacks here are some pictures of the other progress that has been happening. Last week I set up my skimmer - nothing special, here are the pics.
It's an old PM Bullet 3 skimmer.
You can see the auto top off in this picture, it's nothing fancy. That Kent float valve came with the sump. It's hooked up to my RO/DI. I do have an electronic ATO system and I might use it but I'd have to find time to make an acrylic float switch holder. I don't know if I want to get fancy with all these extra backups. We'll see how I feel down the road. This works for now.
For some reason everybody always like the foam pictures.
And I got an Aqua Controller III so I hooked it up tonight. I love it. I can control my pumps and heaters down in the basement from upstairs. I wasn't gonna get a controller but I picked this one up for cheap with the two DC8's. Endless possibilities. I'm not a computer guy so it took me a little while to program it.
Under the stand:
In the basement:
Other updates. My 40 gallon frag tank is full of fresh salted and heated water, so tomorrow I'll go and get another fish to see if it's the salt that's causing my problems. Enjoy.