Dez' Tank Journal

[lastlight]

Worst case you replace the rocks and salt Dez! Sucks but that'd be a garantee! I need to see this one mature please power through!

[Dez]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Worst case you replace the rocks and salt Dez! Sucks but that'd be a garantee! I need to see this one mature please power through!

Ha ha, do you mean worst case remortgage my house? That'd be another $2000 in stuff. I probably spent that in electricity trying to keep that stupid rock alive. Should have dried it out....but who knew it would take 4 1/2 years to get the tank up.

Well....I've even stopped really updating this thread. I should put up pictures of the skimmer running at least to show some progress when I get home.

Thanks for the encouragement Brett (to spend more money that is).

[subman]

You can't stop now; it will be worth it when you figure it out!
(plus this is my favorite tank journal 'selfish ')

I would be worried about the salt as wells and I have no actual scientific facts for this but just a feeling. I know you'll figure it out and the guys at Marine Aquaria are awesome keep the faith it WILL get better!

[Dez]

Originally Posted by subman

You can't stop now; it will be worth it when you figure it out!
(plus this is my favorite tank journal 'selfish ')

I would be worried about the salt as wells and I have no actual scientific facts for this but just a feeling. I know you'll figure it out and the guys at Marine Aquaria are awesome keep the faith it WILL get better!

YES - BIG PROPS TO MARINE AQUARIA. I've known the owner since he was in high school. He's gone above and beyond for me. He's opened the store later at night just so I could get a bulkhead and plumb my tank. Last night he personally came to my house to pick up the "test" fish because I didn't want to kill it. He was closed but made a special trip to pick up the fish and bring it to the store. He has given me beer at the store (it was a plus 32 day last week). He has taken in my dying damsels. He even offered his freshly mixed store saltwater so I wouldn't have to wait for my R0/DI to fill. I declined cause I didn't want to take advantage of him. I know I could get some stuff cheaper online, but I like supporting local vendors. I know that he's worked his @$$ off to get to this point and taken on a lot of debt just to cater to us hobbyists.

Thanks for the comments about this build thread. Hopefully I'll get outta this hole and maybe you'll be able to see the tank in person one day since you are in Edmonton.

[Dez]

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.