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ghiggi

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Posts posted by ghiggi

  1. Also I did a big water change and they don't seem to have come down much at all. Maybe a bad test kit?

     

    Have you tested your make-up supply water. That's the first thing I would suspect with not much of a drop after a big water change.

  2. I'm in Portland now. I'll be heading south sometime in the late morning. (8/17 around 10 or 11am)

     

    Or, if we can't work it out that soon, I'll be coming back up on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

     

    Text me @ 541 five four three 3268

     

    Glenn

  3. I need a good quality skimmer for my new 155g bow front.

     

    I have several things to trade:

     

    Martin Cougar 11 compound bow and arrow package - $200

    Men's motorcycle leather jacket - $100

    Men's standard leather jacket - $75

    2-ton folding engine hoist - $125

    Large 20mm ammo can - $40

    Wood lathe - $45

     

    I can send pictures and descriptions of any item.

     

    I'm centered in Eugene, but I travel between Ashland and Vancouver on a regular basis.

     

    Thanks,

    Glenn

  4. Not much to update at the moment. I kinda put everything on hold for a few weeks while I rebuild the engine in my truck. That takes priority over everything else right now.

     

    I do have some of the DIY rock curing now. I made most of the pillars already. I just cut the pvc pipes in half and held them together with a few wraps of twine. I tried using rubber bands, but when I went to pack the mixture in, the rubber bands would stretch alittle, seperating the two halves. After it sets for a day, I open it up and the pillar comes right out. It took alittle trial and error to get the consistancy just right for the look I was going for, but I finally got it close enough.

     

    I'll try and remember to get some pictures the next time I do a complete water change on the curing tank.

  5. Oregon Revised Statue states:

     

    98.810 Unauthorized parking of vehicle on proscribed property prohibited. A person may not, without the permission of:

     

    (1) The owner of a parking facility, leave or park any vehicle on the parking facility if there is a sign displayed in plain view at the parking facility prohibiting or restricting public parking on the parking facility.

     

     

    The question will be, was there a sign posted in "plain view". You will have to get someone to define "plain view" as it refers to posted parking signs. Does it mean a sign has to be clearly viewable from any parking space; clearly viewable from the routine entrance(s) to the parking area; or just a sign clearly viewable to the general public? Different courts have different rulings, and being that I am new to Oregon, I don't know what the Oregon court rulings are.

     

    If there is a sign posted that meets the "plain view" definition, what are the restrictions posted on the sign? Are they time limit restrictions; customer use restrictions; or permit requirements?

     

    These are some of the questions you will need to get answers too.

  6. I've only used it in my hot-tub, not my aquarium, but here is an article that has some really good information:

     

    Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 1: Chemistry and Biochemistry

    Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 2: Equipment and Safety

    Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 3: Changes in a Reef Aquarium upon Initiating Ozone

     

    WARNING: This is a highly technical article with more information than you ever thought you needed to know about ozone in an aquarium. ;)

     

    There is a section in Part 2, Ozone Reaction Chamber: Suitable Materials, that gives details on compatibility issues.

  7. Started working on the stand this week. I borrowed the design from someone off another forum and made some changes to match the materials I had on hand. The framing is complete, now I just need to start adding the skin, trim and doors. I haven't decided if I am going to finish it in oak or mahogany. I have a bunch of oak trim laying around, so it will probably end up being oak.

     

    The framing is all kiln dried 2x6 and 2x4. I used wood biscuts, glue and deck screws to hold everything together. The overall dimensions are 72 1/2" long x 29" tall x 26 1/2" deep. I wanted it deep enough that I could put the stand right up against the wall and still have all of the piping contained in the stand.

     

    I made it a little shorter than most stands for two reasons. One, with the 24" height of the tank, the shorter stand allows me to easily clean the tank without a stool. And, two, I am putting the tank in my home office where I spend the majority of my time sitting in a chair, so the shorter stand will put the middle of the tank at my eye level while seated.

     

    standfront.jpg

     

    standside.jpg

     

    I'm leaving the back portion of the top open for all of the piping and wiring. The side opening is large enough to slide the 40g sump through.

     

    When it's finished, the front will have 4 doors and there will be one door on each end. Eventually, it will have a matching canopy.

     

    Next I start working on the sump/refugium.

  8. In 1999, a friend of mine had a toddler that loved climbing on things. The first time he found him standing on a chair with his hand in the tank, he decided it was time to get rid of it before the kid pulled it over on top of himself. So, I inherited his complete 135g FOWLR setup. No cost. He just wanted someone he knew would take good care of his fish. Last year I started upgrading everything in order to start the switch over to a reef. Now I'm in the process of rebuilding the whole system from the ground up.

  9. So I got the tank drilled and installed the bulkheads today.

     

    tankdrill1.jpg

     

    tankdrill2.jpg

     

    The overflow drains are 1 1/2" and will use Stockman pipes. The returns are 3/4" to match the outputs on my modified SCWD. It took me about 15 minutes to drill each hole. It's 3/8" glass. You can see in the first picture, the wood block I used to steady the bit until the cut was deep enough to hold it. I cut it so that I could use it as a measuring guide to make sure all of the holes were the same distance from the trim.

     

    Next is to get the overflow walls installed and then start working on the aquascaping and the new stand.

  10. It sounds to me like it is just a 3-stage water filter and neither a RO nor DI unit. Considering it is an older equinox unit, I would guess the first stage is their standard 5 micron prefilter, the second stage is probably their special blend of activated carbon for organic compounds and the third stage is probably their blend of activated carbon and ceramic media for non-organics (lead, chlorine, etc.)

     

    While using it would be better than using non-filtered tap water, it's not going to remove nearly as much as an actual RO/DI unit. But, depending on your tap water, it may be enough. I'd test the tap water and the filter output with a TDS meter and test for nitrates and phosphates to see what the difference is. If the output comes up clean, then I'd say use it. Or, you could always purchase just the RO and DI chambers to add to it for less than a whole new system.

  11. While it's not my style of aquarium decor' date=' it looks like a lot of fun to build. [url']http://www.hirstarts.com/[/url] sells silicon molds for tabletop wargaming terrain; they're usually cast with plaster, but I'll bet you could get something going with portland cement if you experimented a bit. It might be worth checking them out (particularly the Roman Temple mold set #62, http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/molds.html). Have fun :)

     

    EDIT: Just realized they're probably too small for your needs :( You could always sculpt your own then make a silicon mold of it -- there are lots of kits out there to do it...

     

    I figure I'll just piece it together as I go. It doesn't have to be terribly accurate. Hopefully it will all get overgrown somewhat and eventually hide any flaws that may show up. After all, how pristine should a 10,000 year old sunken city look?

     

    I'm experimenting with the aragocrete mixture now to get just the right texture for the buildings. Something that has definition and yet shows decay. Something like this:

     

    greek-pillars.jpg

     

    more or less.

  12. How well does the concrete come out of the PVC? I would think that it would stick in there pretty good.

     

    Other than that, I think the idea is unique and cool. Are you going to use white portland cement so the pillars look like white marble? I think that would be really cool (until the coraline takes over).

     

    dsoz

     

    Yea, the first couple of tests it stuck in there so tight, I pretty much destroyed the pillars getting them out. So I just cut the pipe in half and made a two piece mold that I just rubberband together.

     

    I couldn't find any white portland (didn't look very hard though) but I would if it was readily available. Do you know where I can get a bag?

  13. Have you noticed the other fish picking on him since you added him? He may just be hiding out from them. My tangs would play hide and seek all the time. They would find the smallest possible crack they could wedge themselves into and just sit there, but usually not for more the 30 minutes. They do the same thing at night when they sleep.

     

    Good luck. Keep us posted.

  14. Okay,

     

    I'm finally ready to start rebuilding my 135g reef. It's going to be a complete rebuild from scratch, but using much of the same equipment from the last setup. I have the following to start with:

     

    135g all glass main display (72Lx18Wx24H)

    40g all glass sump/refugium (48Lx12Wx18H)

     

    2x400w MH SE 14K

    2x96w PC 420nm actinic

    2x96w PC 460nm actinic

    1x36w CF 6500K (for refugium)

     

    Mag 18 return pump

    SCWD wavemaker (modded for 1200+gph output)

     

    2x 1 1/2" drain lines (1 in each corner overflow)

    4x 3/4" returns coming off the SCWD

     

    RO/DI filter ATO system connected to home tap water

     

    So, that's what I have on hand at the moment. I am planning on doing all of the aquascaping myself using only DIY aragocrete and a little bit of live sand for seeding. The refugium will have both live sand and natural live rock.

     

    I have always wanted to do something different than just having a pile of LR or two in the middle of the tank. Here is a concept drawing of what I have in mind:

     

    tank-design.jpg

     

    Now, this is just a concept drawing. It is not quite to scale and not nearly complete or accurate. I am going for an ancient greek/lost city of atlantis theme. One side of the tank will have a couple of ancient buildings in various states of decay. The other side of the tank will have a mountain of rocks that seems to be burying the city.

     

    I have been playing around with the aragocrete and have made a couple of pillars using pvc pipe as a mold. It seems to work pretty good. I just have to get the aragocrete mixture adjusted so I can get the surface texture of the columns correct.

     

    In all, it should be an interesting experiment. And, if everything turns out okay, I should end up with a pretty cool display.

     

    I will start posting pictures once I stop playing around and actually start working on the actual components.

     

    Until then, any comments or suggestions are always welcome.

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