Posts like that are so cruel. I took it hook, line and skimmer.

Tony hurry up. Your evil twin grows impatient.

I guess technically the next step is I have to come back into the country. I'm currently in South America on a work trip! (Hola from Buenos Aires. Isn't it grand to waste international bandwidth on surfing one's favourite reef discussion forum??) Anyhow, it's, ah, slowed me down a little at the moment.

But I guess as far as recent progress goes, the last couple of weeks have been a question of moving livestock out of my 75g into my 110g cube so I can shut the 75g down. Why not just finish the 280g and move them into there straight from the 75g you may ask? .. I'm not sure. I guess mostly because I want the 75g out of the way so I can do the electrical for the 280g. And also to help defray the costs some more of recent purchases. Kinda disappointed that I see hardware I was hoping to use one day, listed for sale at great prices, and completely unable to buy them because I'm flat out broke. :( But also just in that I get to a point where all I can see is "obstacle" (in this case, the 75g) and maybe a more creative person could find a way to workaround said obstacle, I just become obsessed with removing the obstacle, .. which tends to cost me time. What's weird is I'm noticing the same pattern in my work as well, so it's clearly a bit of a mental thing. :neutral:

If ya need a hand with anything(Ya know like babysitting clams or coral:mrgreen:... More seriously, moving stuff.) Tony let me know.

Same here...and I'm close by. I'm broke two so maybe we can both have a laugh and a reasonably-priced beverage over that.

I'm always happy to help too, Tony.

I'll offer...again LOL.

Sheesh, with everyone willing to help Tony you should be able to get this tank up and running in no time!

:redface: Uh, thanks..

What I really need help with is babysitting!! The last few people who came to get stuff from me can attest to what a gong show my house is with two boys. (Only 2, but can feel like 12.)

In a couple weeks time I'll need help with the sump, I'll be sure to bug you guys then. Thanks!!

I WOULD HELP, but i have seen that sump and there is NO way.:twised:
Just kidding if you need a hand (and i know you will as i have seen the sump) just drop me a line.

I'm also in for lending a hand Tony. I'm so glad for you that your making some great progress :cool:. Makes me want to move on, but right now I feel like folding.

Oh no, what's up? Sorry to hear that, hope it's just a temporary thing.. :(

thanks for the offer though!

*cough* ..... *echo of a cough*


:razz::razz::razz::razz:

I chased you here yet again. I fear the wrath of Tony will be upon us =)

I'll try to get some pictures up in the next day or two. :redface: I've been working on stuff, although more of it is trying to find the basement floor. I'm pretty sure I left it there somewhere under the massive strata of junk. On a totally unrelated note, I was somewhat dismayed last night to find that I've kept some 500-600 plant pots from my orchid and African violet growing days. Does, ah, anyone want some? Because I fear they are directly responsible for sapping my mental health, so I've got to get them out of my basement. Honestly. Who keeps this many empty plant pots? Hooray for Green Gate and their recyling bin of plant pots, I'm about to make a huuuuuge donation.

Just so I can say I've talked about the tanks, I've been slowly emptying the 75g into the 115g so I can hopefully take down the 75g soon and frame the wall that needs to go right where that tank is standing. A FTS of the 115g will be soon, it, ah, is starting to look slightly full. Apparently I have a thing for gorgs and clams because right now it is a "gorg and clam" kind of a tank. I did lose a clam in the transfer, it was one I had moved before I left so I was sort of surprised it went under last week after looking really good and settled for a few weeks. Just one night it spawned, the next night it looked pretty rough, the next day it was a total goner. :( I also had a bit of a problem on Monday with a powerhead suddenly tripping a GFCI. Of course it first tripped about 5 minutes after I had gone to bed the night before and so in the morning the water was kinda cool, fish were OK but the last cleaner shrimp I had didn't make it. I had been trying to catch him to get him out of the 115g because I will be moving my flame hawk next and well, didn't want to get eaten, but unfortunately I guess I don't need to worry about that happening anymore. :(

And just so I can say I did talk about the 280g, my t5 reflectors and sockets arrived the other day so the next hardware project is trying to shoehorn them all onto the lighting rack. 8x24w's mounted perpendicular as per Michika's/KrazyKuch's tank and suggestion, but I'm not sure what I'll be mounting the sockets onto just yet, I need some aluminum plating about 2" wide or something like that.

If you've got any of the water catcher tray thingers that go under the pots I could put em to good use. They're nice and shallow so the tortoises can get in them and drink easily....

Congrats on more progress Tony, and I'm sorry about your clam that didn't make it.

Do you still need help with the sump?

Finally caught my sixline wrasse and moved him over to everyone's temporary home now, the 115g cube. Hope to start stringing some wire this weekend. It will be closer to next weekend before I can shutdown my 75g. It's an odd feeling: I'm a little sad I'm shutting down a tank I've had running for nearly 8 years. But I'm also excited and eager because it means I'm moving onto newer, and bigger things.

Here's a FTS of everyone in their temporary home:
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/P2210059.jpg

I didn't get a chance to clean the glass after letting the wrasse in so there's a few salt streak lines. Whoops. And of course you can't see him because he has the ability to morph into solid rock.. but otherwise everyone seems to be getting along just fine and everyone seems to approve of their new digs..

Fantastic Tony! :cool: Everything looks so vibrant.


Now get to work on that 280!! :Banane26:

Man that sailfin is absolutely gorgeous.

sheesh...enough clams? You should give me one. I'll take the blue one riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight theeeere

Way to go Tony!!!

Cube has a nice natural look to it...and that sailfin is so boss! I was pretty sure the only tang in the new tank would be a kole...but that thing is gorgeous!

So the tank you're taking down is simply in the way of your new tank stuff?

reply
 

Hey Tony, where is the monster who used to reside in that cube? Sorry if I missed that info, but I haven't been around much lately.

Glad to see things are moving along! I'm sad that I won't be able to see the new tank in person now.......unless you host a reef meeting in the future.:wink: Then it would be worth while to drive back for a visit.

Nice clam tank! That is one huge maxima on the sand, how big is that thing?

High Tide - thanks, "Big Bertha" there is actually a squamosa. Had him/her almost 4 years now, was more like 5"-6" back then and is now easily the size of a football. At one point there actually was a commensal shrimp living inside, although lately I haven't been able to get a glimpse of it in a while - the way the clam sits in this tank, the inhalant siphon is facing away from the glass so you can't peek inside anymore. Here's a fuzzy picture I once was able to snap though:
http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/a..._squamosa1.jpg

Cash - yeah, apparently I have an addictive personality or something. Right now there are only 12 though, I'm sure Michika still has me beat! :lol: It doesn't help (or maybe, "it does help", I'm not sure, it depends on one's point of view), that I haven't been able to grow SPS of any kind to save my life for the last couple of years .. but clams have been doing well, so just started focusing on them instead. And next thing I knew I was sort of "uhhh, how did I end up buying so many of these things?" .. But I just love tridacnids. I love the textures and patterns and iridescences and colours .. so I guess that doesn't help either. :redface: Easily my favourite part of the hobby, followed by gorgonians.

Lastlight - thanks! Yeah, the 75g is sort of in the way of getting my electrical signoff, so in my mind it has to come down before I can progress on the 280g. It's sitting right where a wall needs to be framed up, and I'm just sort of hoping to have the permitation and inspection done once instead of a couple of times.

I'm really digging the look of the cube at the moment. For the most part the fish all know each other and seem to get along comfortably (touch wood). I was a little worried how the resident doliatus pair would take to the tang getting moved into their tank .. but it was a complete non-issue - actually, it's been good for them. (They're schooling behind him. "DAD! Wait up, don't leave us behind!!!") Suddenly they are less skittish, and they are coloured up more than ever.

Danny - I had to sell that thing. It was an enormous burden and the novelty of such a large anemone without being able to keep fish in the tank was grinding me down. Ironically, I meant to tear down and sell the cube within a week of selling it - but then Michika had a tank disaster and I ended up babysitting some fish for her. It was literally perfect timing - she needed tank space and I suddenly had an almost empty and perfectly cycled tank. Then by the time the fish went to their real home again I had already decided to use the 115g as a bridge solution for getting my 75g down before the 280g is ready to take on fish.

I hope I can host a reef meet by say summertime.. it's been a while since we had these things regularly so maybe that can be a goal??

That's cool Tony! I've heard of pearls in oysters; but shrimps in clams, that's a new one to me.

Yeah I was totally surprised especially given that the clams are (presumably) aquacultured, but I guess the ocean is still the ocean and anything goes! :) FWIW, it was suggested to me at RC that it could be Conchodytes tridacnae or Anchistus miersi (thread here, if anyone's interested: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=855961& )

That's awesome, interspecific relationships are wild! Nice shot of it as well! You're clam fooled me, that would've been the biggest maxima i'd ever seen!!! Beautiful display!

I'm glad it went over well, the 110 looks really good. I always loved the shape of that tank and the way you've aquascaped it.

Let me know if you need any wiring help today. Kevin is in town today, and again next weekend if you want. I also want to come and ogle your clams some more. For the record, I think I have 13 clams.

Yeah, yeah....well I have..... two :hat:

I got NONE......:sad:

I'd thought I'd give this a bump and see if you have any new progress of late. Its looking good so far.

cat poo > dog poo.

You know, my daughter turns two next month... and I am pretty sure I helped lift that tank up on the stand before she was even born :p LOL!

:rofl: man thats sad!!

Yeah, I pretty much have had about 3 weekends to myself since then that I can work on this. You'll all be sorry when I drop dead! At least that's what I keep telling my family and then they laugh.

You're staff though. Doesn't that like mean you have superpowers or something? Just get'er done! Everyone's in bed here by 10. That's when daddyTime starts!

we should have a side pot for who's tank gets saltwater in there first....anyone?

LOL, I have a tank in a storage locker, a new house purchased and have to sell my house before we take posession June 15. Then I have to tear down a wall, build a stand and get the tank on it and plumbed.

I STILL think I'll have water in mine before Tonys :razz:

Next time the old hag visits me at 2am, I'll send her over to you guys and then maybe she can unparalyze me and I'll work on this tank. It's time she starts harrassing someone else.

It's really not as simple as "just get 'er done." I wish it was, but it's not.

Ok, apparently that might be a bit obtuse. I'm not talking about my wife. Google it if you're wondering WTF I'm talking about. :)