Thanks everyone. The encouragement is helping my patience
Tony, you're too humble.
I'm glad you guys like the print. I have to keep it 'cause my dad printed it. He was even at the photo shoot - lucky bugger.
Yup, that's an A/C unit in the window. We have another in the Master. When it's too hot I leave the furnace fan running and they cool the whole house. I usually put them away for winter but got lazy this last fall.
Ya, I'll get some detritus under the skimmer stand, but I figured it's worth it. If I had the socks before the skimmer I'd lose too much return area which is why I decided to incorporate them with the bubble trap. The trade-off will allow me to do up to about a 20g running water change.