280g Inwall - Page 27

Snappy · #**261** 09-17-2010, 06:42 AM

Nice to see you closing in on the final lap Tony. Let the fun begin.

lobsterboy · #**262** 09-17-2010, 06:50 AM

looking great Tony, cant wait to see rock and water in er.

lastlight · #**263** 09-17-2010, 07:00 AM

Some clean plumbing there dude the end is near. That skimmer is pretty massive. I'm still thinking you should go with a new pump or find a used one.

fishytime · #**264** 09-17-2010, 04:13 PM

Tony!......what are you gonna do when you finally get water in that thing???

.....think we all should throw you a "Tony's tank has water in it" bash!.....

so just the skimmer pump holding you back?

Lance · #**265** 09-17-2010, 04:59 PM

If it was me I'd stay with the Beckett and find a pump. I love my Beckett!

Rbacchiega · #**266** 09-17-2010, 06:43 PM

OMG OMG OMG OMG....Almost time for water. I've traveled the world (literally) only to return to this thread and watch and wait

Delphinus · #**267** 09-17-2010, 07:54 PM

Yeah, well ... you know. It's all about the journey or something. Just be content that no matter what adventure you go off on, you can always come home and read up on the latest misadventures on how I screwed up this, or do that wrong and had to redo it, or whatever. I give you at least that constant in this ever changing wondrous world. No need to thank me.

To me, things still feels a long way off. The next thing will be to work on will be the lighting. The rough frame is there and the halide reflectors are mounted but I have some mods needed now to the light rack so it can hold T5's. I mistakenly bought too many Radiums (I bought two initially, then bought one in a BRS bulk order a few months ago .. then forgot I had done so and went and bought ANOTHER one in the last BRS bulk order. I was CERTAIN I was going to find strainers that I thought I had bought in that BRS box and lo and behold it was ... oh ... a Radium. Score! ... too bad I only have 3 reflectors mounted. Technically I do have 4 ballasts though ... hmmmmm. And spare reflectors in my shelf of tank junk. Man I am an amazing packrat. You'd think this latest skimmer issue wouldn't be so bad but apparently despite all the junk I have hung onto, a lot of "what I really need right now" is STILL not in amongst it all. It's really similar to shopping at Home Depot. Wow, they really are big stores full of "stuff." I marvel at the number of times I go to one and despite how big the store is and how full of it with stuff that it is, not one thing of that stuff is what I happen to be looking for at the time. But, I digress.) Point being I bought too many Radiums and not enough T5's. I have the T5 reflectors and sockets though and was hoping to buy some T5's soon but the skimmer pump thing is going to eat into my ability to purchase new T5 lamps anytime soon. Luckily I don't need the T5's to at least get working on the aquascape but I'd at least like to get the light frame all finished up before starting on that.

After that I have to sit and stare at the wall for a while until inspiration hits me for how and where to put ballasts and etc. Then I'll end up redoing it because what I imagined would be awesome is never as awesome in reality and I come up with "gee, if I had only done THIS" type things. Maybe redo it once more after that. It's a good thing I don't pay myself an hourly rate.

I also want to repaint the floor. The last 8 months of construction and concrete rework has really taken a toll. I don't mind the painting so much but the prep work and cleanup afterwards is such a drag, I've been putting off this task but it's the point I can't put it off much longer.

The skimmer thing is an unexpected expense and it comes at time when things are very lean so it's a little annoying. At the very least there though, behind the scenes it seems as if a path forward has presented itself, so we'll see how it plays out.

Rbacchiega · #**268** 09-17-2010, 07:57 PM

ha ha you know I'm just bustin balls (hey Jersey talk!) I can't wait for this to continue moving forward Tony...going to be fantastic. If and when I'm in town and you need a hand shoot me a text or something on facebook (gets sent right to my black berry) and I'll do what I can!

lastlight · #**269** 09-17-2010, 08:05 PM

Tony I know you have a fishroom but I'm really a strong supporter of cramming as much as you can above your stairs. See my ballast?

Next task is to run a 1/2" drain and 1/2" return from that 20 gallon tank there thru the wall. My wife has noticed I keep making the hole in the livingroom wall a little bigger as time goes on lol.

Delphinus · #**270** 09-17-2010, 08:13 PM

No worries "Cash" at the speed this has played out I know I'm a huge target. Seriously if I had hired myself for this work I'd have fired myself eons ago. "Holy crap! You have NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE DOING, DO YOU!? Get out! Take your tools and get out! And don't even think about leaving that invoice behind I AM NOT PAYING IT!" Hey wait, I'm not getting paid for this. So there. In the fight of me vs me, I still win. Of course that also means I still lose. Weird. No matter what.. I can't actually win.

Wait. What was I talking about again? I have no idea anymore.

Brett - love it!

That is sort of the idea I was thinking (maybe minus the stairs). I wasn't sure how much clearance there should be above the ballast before the ceiling and how far they have to be from the tank. I can just see the inspector coming in for final inspection (he has to look at the plugs if nothing else), seeing what I've done, and just writing a big ol' "NO." on his inspection report.