Taking Donations

[BCOrchidGuy]

Okay I'm not to proud to ask for help. I've been on a disability for about 6 months, I'm trying to get back to work and my employer just "recovered" my first pay cheque since August, they say I owe them another $1200 for benefits I didn't pay while off (I got assaulted at work). They say they're going to recover my next pay cheque and maybe a portion of the one after that. I've cancelled my holidays for the year trying to get them to pay me out but they aren't sure they can do that.
I've been falling behind a little bit each month but this has hit hard, I pay child support etc and frankly I'm hurting. Once I get my crap together I'm planning a 15 gallon nano, 2x65 watt PC lights maybe 15lbs live rock (I may make my own) I've got a 50 watt heater so I'll just need a couple power heads and a pump. If anyone has any small frags they'd be willing to donate to my cause I'd really appreciate any help I can get. I know running a reef on a budget isn't always a good idea but once I get back to work I'll have the $$ to keep the suppliments up etc.

Any help would be appreciated (PS I'm starting a web site on setting up a ghetto reef) and I'll make sure to give thanks to the generosity anyone is willing to display. (hey at least I'm not threatening to kill a bunny if I don't get $50,000) http://www.savetoby.com/

[Jason McK]

Not to sound like an A$%. but maybe it's not the best time to try and get back into such an expensive hobby. It's sounds to me like focusing on your health and your standing at work maybe a better priority.

J

[BCOrchidGuy]

No worries I understand what you are saying. I'm okay at work, they understand it's just company policy to recover the union dues and health insurance premiums (they payed it while I was off) etc asap when you come back to work. I'm not planning on setting this tank up in the next week or so. I'm going to drill one of the 15s and build the other into a sump. I've got to get the lights etc together and like I say make the rock so I'm looking at 3-4 months before I put water in the tank. By then I should be back on my feet. I'm just hoping to save a few $$ on frags when it's all set up. Fwiw, when I got out of the hobby last time I gave away an acrylic sump, a number of power heads, two 250 watt Ebo heaters and some other stuff to people who were in need, not to mention some nice corals and a Black/Gold Maxima clam.

Doug

[Willow]

i can give you a couple of scoops of salt and you can truck home some ro/di if you want but it sounds like your a little ways from there.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Lol, thanks Willow, I think I'll be fine like I say I'm not going to rush it this time. Lots of DIY and most likely a few skinned knuckles and a few choice words... (who'da thunk it huh). I can get a bucket of salt for not much more than a cup of coffee at Starbucks (joke). I was planning on making my own live rock so I can slowly stock up my 90 gallon for when I'm back on track. I made some before and once it got the coraline aglae growing on it I really liked it. I'm going to try to keep a photo album and a log of stuff I do as I do it. I want to show people you can set up a reef on a budget. BTW I live in New West no need for R/O water here, it's RO out of the tap. (kind of a joke)

Doug

[trilinearmipmap]

Not to pry into your business but if you got assaulted at work your injuries should be compensable by WCB, just in case you haven't already filed a claim. This applies to any workplace injury whether or not the injuries were in the course of your work duties.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Yep Workers Comp was involved but through the process I still wasn't having my health care premiums deducted. So medical, LTD, STD and other stuff was accumulating waiting for my (suddenly not so) eager return to work. It's just standard policy that they try to recover the $$ owed ASAP, and as I said before, I'm not likely to be needing any frags for some time. Best guess would be the end of the summer but we'll see, maybe I can get a bit of overtime and through a bit more into things. As for Workers Comp I think I must be the only one who can say, they weren't unreasonable during the process. I've heard lots of horror stories and they were good with me.
Now I'm trying to get back to work, and like I say this little thing hit hard. With any luck they'll take my holidays and pay off the excess of what I owe in unpaid benefits then I'll just be starting over. With in a couple months I'll have some spending $$ but I'm not counting on things going smooth so I'm taking the project slow and easy. Drilling the tank next week, I'll build an overflow and start on the rock. Then I'll start the cabinet and go from there.
Long term project, no way to rush it.

Doug

[Willow]

my ex gf works for wcb. i used to joke with her that i was going to get her a gold embossed "DENIED" stamp when she gets her promotion. :mrgreen:

[BCOrchidGuy]

I heard, no idea if it's true or not so please don't sue me.. well go ahead, I've got nothing... anyway.. I heard they have a plaque on the wall proudly stating they've denied 98.5% of the claims submitted to them.

Doug

[Ryan7]

What exactly does a Ghetto Reef entail?

Sounds like a reef tank with a sub par environment. I don't think many reefers would condone a website suporting poor quality ways to keep a reef.

Isn't the general idea to move out of the Ghetto?

[StirCrazy]

What exactly does a Ghetto Reef entail?

Sounds like a reef tank with a sub par environment. I don't think many reefers would condone a website suporting poor quality ways to keep a reef.

Isn't the general idea to move out of the Ghetto?

Ryan think of it as a reef using cheep alternatives to acomplish the same end, instead of using acrylic tube for the skimmer, it can be made from PVC or ABS pipe and work just as good but cost 1/10th of the price for material. instead of using wood to make a nice stand a few cinder blocks and a board to make the top.. using 5600K light bulbs that are cheep instead of 10000K bulbs, both grow coral great but one looks better than the other.. ect...

Steve

[BCOrchidGuy]

Thanks for the input there Steve, Ryan what I want to do is set up a reef that is well kept but on a budget. We have people on this board who don't skim, don't use MH light and who don't even do water changes and yet they have pretty darned nice tanks.
Myself I do water changes, I've gone skimmerless and had a nice tank but then I put a skimmer on and it pulls a ton of stuff out of the water but I don't notice anything growing better or better polyp extention.
So I'm claiming we can have a nice reef with out 250w DE HQI bulbs on electronic ballasts, with out a Tunze skimmer or a Ca Reactor. We can have a nice reef on a budget, I've done it before and I'm going to document it.
In the reef club here people were always generous, frags where traded and donated and just plain shoved to people who liked the frag or needed something to fill a space. All I'm asking is, once I have the reef set up, if people have something they are fragging, please keep me in mind. I'm not asking people to give up their Tunze streams (but.. ya know).
Ghetto just means budget, low cost.. if you do a search in here you'll see a number of references to ghetto reefs and darned if some aren't very nice.

Doug

[Murminator]

<<<-------Ghetto reef and proud of it :mrgreen: