Progress!...slowly
Yesterday while watching/listening to the cricket I tore down both nano setups and saved what I could. I've got about 20 turbo snails of various sizes (started with 2!) and about the same for Trochus. I was able to save some nicer mini colonies of zoas and have all my scolly's, lobos a good hunk of favia and my green bubble tip that are all currently enjoying a rubbermaid tub under the Par 38s until the 4 foot is ready. Pretty well the temp tank will be treated like an actual aquarium, water changes weekly etc.
The live rock was overrun with Algae, aipista and other grossness. I have some marco rocks as well from Reef and River and will undoubtedly pick up some more this weekend or next. I love the stuff, it's got great shapes and the idea of a pest free setup is quite lovely. So I collected it all and put it in a large tough tub or whatever their called in the garage. 1 part bleach to 10 parts water, a quick stir and leave it over night. I just got in this morning from checking it...all the hair algae, bryopsis and bubble algae have turned white and fallen to the bottom of the tub. The rocks themselves are starting to whiten as well and I reckon by tonight or tomorrow they will be entirely ready. Then a good wash with the pressure washer, a rinse of the tub and another soak in water and prime for 24 hours and a second pressure wash. Then dry in the garage until the weekend. The combination of prime and drying the rock out will break down any bleach or chlorine residue and once completely dry, the rock will be ready to go.
Which means this weekend we will be prepping and varnishing the old cabinet, installing two RCD outlets into the wall (sparky friends rule!) and getting the back of the 4 foot painted. It's alot thinner than I thought so I'll have to change the dimensions on here, but it's also quite a bit taller. Quite a neat little tank.
Eddie has been collecting some steel tubing and will weld me up a frame/light rack for the light unit which will be coated black and look all sleek and such (rigger/boilermaker husbands also rule). Light itself will be suspended from 4 chains so we can raise/lower as needed and I can just raise up the front real quick if I need to get into the tank for something other than weekly maintenance.
We are making the current office the baby room and the second living room is now the office, which is actually probably better...more room for my drawing table etc. My parents will be coming over for at least a month when I'm closer to popping out this kid and my father is a carpenter by trade (now retired)...he wants to come over a few weeks before mom and build the bub's nursery from scratch. Talk about lucky.
I'll add some photos when I can find my Camera battery charger...Now to start sussing out some Vanderbilts...
The live rock was overrun with Algae, aipista and other grossness. I have some marco rocks as well from Reef and River and will undoubtedly pick up some more this weekend or next. I love the stuff, it's got great shapes and the idea of a pest free setup is quite lovely. So I collected it all and put it in a large tough tub or whatever their called in the garage. 1 part bleach to 10 parts water, a quick stir and leave it over night. I just got in this morning from checking it...all the hair algae, bryopsis and bubble algae have turned white and fallen to the bottom of the tub. The rocks themselves are starting to whiten as well and I reckon by tonight or tomorrow they will be entirely ready. Then a good wash with the pressure washer, a rinse of the tub and another soak in water and prime for 24 hours and a second pressure wash. Then dry in the garage until the weekend. The combination of prime and drying the rock out will break down any bleach or chlorine residue and once completely dry, the rock will be ready to go.
Which means this weekend we will be prepping and varnishing the old cabinet, installing two RCD outlets into the wall (sparky friends rule!) and getting the back of the 4 foot painted. It's alot thinner than I thought so I'll have to change the dimensions on here, but it's also quite a bit taller. Quite a neat little tank.
Eddie has been collecting some steel tubing and will weld me up a frame/light rack for the light unit which will be coated black and look all sleek and such (rigger/boilermaker husbands also rule). Light itself will be suspended from 4 chains so we can raise/lower as needed and I can just raise up the front real quick if I need to get into the tank for something other than weekly maintenance.
We are making the current office the baby room and the second living room is now the office, which is actually probably better...more room for my drawing table etc. My parents will be coming over for at least a month when I'm closer to popping out this kid and my father is a carpenter by trade (now retired)...he wants to come over a few weeks before mom and build the bub's nursery from scratch. Talk about lucky.
I'll add some photos when I can find my Camera battery charger...Now to start sussing out some Vanderbilts...
