430gal., L-shaped display

[michika]

I missed my chance to see it when I was last in Toronto. A couple of friends of mine went and said it was fantastic. I am really hoping to get another chance to see it.

I loath beige, white, eggshell, and all those tame or "builder colours". We went all out for our tastes, we had an ox blood red living room, green bedroom, and a few other bright colours throughout. We let our roommates, friends of ours, paint their rooms as well. I wish I had photos to offer, unfortunately all I have is post house selling reno photos to share. I am really pleased to see people live in their houses, and not live around it.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Too bad. It's a great show. My daughter made us buy the soundtrack (twist my arm) and listens to it all of the time. It made for great opportunities for teaching her about the moral ambiguities that abound in the real world....

I've never been entirely happy with picking paint colors for what I think the next owner will like. Brava for going with what you like! We are thinking about a blue for the main room that's actually pretty close to the blue in the separator rules on the RC pages. (Rule = horizontal or vertical line of any width on a page in typesetter speak.) A little less green than those, but you get the point.

 

[michika]

Nice colour! We ended up repainting the whole house a colour I affectionately call "fugly beige". The people that bought our house raved about how it was such a great colour and asked us to leave extra paint and paint chips for them. You just never know with some people. These are the same people that complained that we left stuff in the crawl spaces in the top of the house, demanding we come back to get it. Said stuff was insulation...

Are they going to build your tank on site still?

 

["Umm fish?"]

I'm impressed that you managed to cover up the Ox-blood.

The site super on our project told me a story about one of his clients. He came in one day to a note by the owner. Apparently, one of the crew had left a bottle in the crawl space and the owner required them to remove it. It seems, though, that the bottle was at the very far end of the crawl space, only visible after crawling about 40ft. on hands and knees. So, that jerk crawled his way down through the crawl space _and didn't bring back the bottle._ AND made someone else do the round trip just for that. Sigh.

I do believe that they are going to build the tank on-site still. The actual builder has built some nice tanks around town, including a large cube for my LFS and a ~450 gal. cold water trout aquarium that includes several small waterfalls to mimic their habitat for the Boulder Public Library. It's really cool, especially as the library straddles Boulder Creek at some nice trout habitat. It seems that tank also inspired the city to setup an outdoor trout education/observation station nearby. Anyway, he seems to know his stuff.

And, it's letting the construction crew move ahead on building the bathroom behind the tank. Since the tank guy is building right there, he can build to the real dimensions of the site instead taking lots of measurements and hoping, or building the rest of the room around what actually show up (which would set construction back by months at this point).

 

[michika]

Wow people! The guy sounds like a true winner!

I'm really excited to see how the bathroom comes out in relation to the tank. I think the idea is superb and has a lot of potential down the road once, like you've said, everything grows in a bit.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Time for an end of the month mini-update:

http://65.102.221.68/remodel.html

And finally, finally, something tank-related to talk about (and, just for Catherine, sort of bathroom-related):

While it's true that the normal person might call that something gauche like "tub deck," they'd be oh so very wrong. Wrong, wrong. That, my friends, is a cleverly disguised, entirely permanent installation of aquarium workstation! Ever had a tank where you had to constantly pull a step ladder out of a closet so you can reach the sandbed? Not me, not anymore. Or, at least, not once there are a few more supports and maybe some tiles to keep the water away.

 

["Umm fish?"]

A few new house photos: http://65.102.221.68/remodel.html

The masons are making their way up the house. Sorry, it's too late to do much in the way of inside shots, but the drywallers have finished up and are gone. Tomorrow and Thurday, the painters will be in to prime the walls. Floors start next week. The plumbers is in trying to figure out how to install the shower in the downstairs bath. (The one with the big closed-loop.)

Big news, the aquarium builder submitted a bid for the job and we approved it. It's still roughly the same price for the old aquarium, but 6" deeper. Only 130" long on the long pane, though, plus the length of the external overflow. But, it was only an extra $1,000 to make the whole thing in low-iron glass, so that's where we are heading. (Woohoo!)

 

[JCTewks]

nice score on the lowiron!!!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks! I'm pretty psyched 'cause I love taking photos of all of the beasties.

 

[michika]

That is nice progress! I can really start to see how the finished bathroom is going to look! Cute looking dog too!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, Catherine! Another pet photo from tonight, just for you...

Too much cuteness! Blech....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I put up some more photos: http://65.102.221.68/remodel.html

More masonry. The first coat of primer is on the walls! I'm actually surprised at what a difference that makes. It now looks like a house with ugly white walls.

And the plumber is working on the downstairs shower. Quite the closed-loop pump!

 

[michika]

Awe, very cute! I'm such a sucker for a cute animal.

Well there you go, white walls for a few days, now you'll get your fill and can move onto nice pretty vibrant colours!

 

["Umm fish?"]

The funny thing was that they had had a knock-dow, drag-out only about an hour before the photo. They're the two youngest cats (4 and 5 YO now, though), and boy do they play that card.

 

[michika]

The cute card is also well played in our house too. I only wish my dogs still slept together like that.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Dang taggers! Back again. This time they went to town on my fish room. Seems like some gang named Ampipion or something. Grr.

 

["Umm fish?"]

It's getting there. The masons are nearing the top. I found out today that the reason it's taking so long is that it's been so hot: the bricks suck the moisture right out of the mortar too quickly and it gets brittle. So, they are going slowly and trying to follow the shade. The floor guy is in and finished my daughter's room already! Actually, he's also already finished the master bedroom, closet, and part of the second floor landing. I think he's planning to be done by Friday. The first of the under-boards for the coffered went up today. And, the tile guy looks like he's just about finished with the support on the downstairs shower.

http://65.102.221.68/remodel.html

 

["Umm fish?"]

Oh, and for those who don't wander the fish breeding forums, I also had a bunch of baby bangaiis released yesterday. Some photos:

My first sight of them:

The frozen chunk you see is "Sally's Frozen Brine Shrimp." Already taking frozen food. What a smartie!

First, the whole photo:

A crop:

An enlargement:

 

[michika]

Cute! I love to see people breeding fish and inverts in captivity. It must be so rewarding.

 

[FUA]

can not wait to see the result of this build

 

["Umm fish?"]

Well, thanks y'all! It's very rewarding ... when it works. When it doesn't work it sucks big-time. I'm hoping to get more serious about it after the move. Bangaiis seem to be really easy so far. I haven't even had to hatch any brine shrimp. And I saw the first couple of fry start trying to decide whether or not they wanted to take food floating on the surface. That seems really early to me.

I don't have any new photos posted yet, but the floor guy, Andrei, just rocks. He's finished the upstairs and has most of the downstairs laid out in prep to nail down. Unfortunately (or fortunately as it were), the construction crew is laying down padding for protection as fast as he finishes the floors, so we won't really get the full effect until the finishing crew gets done. Right before we move in. Sigh. Should only be ~2 months more.... Hopefully.