Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

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Welcome to the club. The gallbladder free club. I had mine removed back in October 2008. Unfortunately I was having attackes for a couple of years. My doctor diagnosed me with IBS and told me to watch what I eat. That worked for the most part, but the attacks kept getting worse when they would occur. Eventually I went to a specialist and got the right diagnosis. And I also went through plenty of Mylanta tablets, and a bunch of other stuff. :)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14497654#post14497654 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
It took me a while to find my thread...

To get everyone up to speed, the road trip was a lot of fun. I got home Monday morning at 5am. Of course, as soon as I walked through the door, I checked on my reef and did a bunch of minor tweaks to adjust things they way they needed to be.

By 7pm that night, my stomach started hurting. I ran up to the store to buy some Mylanta tablets, and chewed up 5 of them over the next few hours. Since this was the fourth time in a month that this pain had occurred, I felt I better go to the hospital. Plus, that evening I was watching a recorded episode of Grey's Anatomy, and the woman had stomach cancer, so at 3am I threw on some clothes and drove up to the hospital. Within an hour or two, they told me I wasn't going anywhere for a few days.

I was diagnosed with acute Pancreatitus, which was a symptom of gall stones in the gall bladder. The bloodwork told the doctors that I had elevated enzyme counts (somewhere around 6600 instead of a mere 68), and I was put into a private room and got my required IV drip. No food or drink was allowed as surgery was imminent, and that included even ice chips. They medicated my pain, and watched my bloodwork daily. Within 24 hours, the enzymes had dropped like a rock to around 200, and my surgeon was eager to get in and remove my gall bladder since the opportune time was upon us. Surgery went well, and with four small incisions, they removed the gall bladder. I believe at this piont, I've had all of my back-up organs removed, and have to rely upon whatever is left in my body. ;)

The next day, I was given a good bill of health and by evening got to go home. As you can imagine, I'm still very very sore, but at least I'm not paying the hospital for another day or two to stay in their room. I'm going to be resting up for the next few days, because even sitting at the computer long enough to pay bills is too much at the moment.

The Aquacontroller 3 and my iPhone have been one of the best purchases I've made in a long time. I've used it often to make sure my tank is okay, including yesterday when Fort Worth was unseasonably hot (84F).

feb_temp.jpg


Over the next few days, I'll be working on the magazine as my body allows, but won't be too active on RC.
 
Wow sounds like the vodka is really working for you, is this the lowest your nitrates have been in some time?
 
Thanks for the input, Dan. I appreciate it. :)

mdaybowls - I guess I got lucky in diagnosing it correctly on my very first visit. Did your doctor do bloodwork or just base his original theories only upon your symptoms?

bholke - yep, this is another milestone in the progression of dropping the nitrates of this tank. Only once before (Dec 2007) was it 2ppm, which was after dosing my tank with AZNO3 for three months.
 
Well, maybe I should drink some of it, after my 30 day dry-out period prescribed by my surgeon.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14538178#post14538178 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Well, maybe I should drink some of it, after my 30 day dry-out period prescribed by my surgeon.

I know you dont buy the good stuff for your tank but splurge on yourself and get the goose to celebrate on your 30 day green light :)
 
Now that's a really good idea. And a bottle of Crown Royal. Might as well burn up $100 that day, right?
 
by the time you have been dry for 30 days you might as well just keep going.

thanks for the Lanthanum Chloride info. my PO4 is now 0.01-0.03

Carl
 
Marc, did you notice that your calcium has dropped by 100ppm this past month?
 
Glad it helped, Carl. It is such a simple solution for people that run a skimmer (or very fine filter socks).

Nathan - yes, I did. I've had some calcium reactor issues. Both Alk and Ca are lower than what I tend to keep them at, and part of the reason is the faulty solenoid. I've had to dial the reactor in so as not to rely on that solenoid (that never closes). With the improved water quality and the coral growth, I'm going to have to buffer up the Calcium level manually for a bit.
 
Just found a new app for the iPhone: Aquarium Abbreviations

It's free, and if you don't know your acronyms, this apps for you. :)
 
Hey Marc:

I am getting ready to build a sump from my new setup in my new house. I was wondering where you usually go to get the best price on 4x8 1/4" acrylic sheets, and how to know if I am getting a good price. Any help would be awesome!

Thanks!
 
She, a physicians assistant, based the diagnosis purely on my symptoms. Apparently she has had it since her college days and she knew exactly what I had. As I was telling her where the pain was, she said, that's unusual, it's usually not that high in the adbomon, it's usually down in the area, as she was pushing on my lower adbomen. I guess I should have know at that point that I should have gotten another opinion.

BTW, I just finished up episode 29B of Reecast. I got an iPod Nano for Christmas and have listened to every episode from now till then. Usually on my drive to/from work. About 20 minutes each way. I really think you guys should put out a Blooper show. I crap up when you guys do that at the end.

Anywho, I know this is late, but PBITAWA!
 
Well, I guess that means there ain't gonna be no Reefcast for 30 days since you can't drink!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14538178#post14538178 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Well, maybe I should drink some of it, after my 30 day dry-out period prescribed by my surgeon.
 
There is always O'doul's. :beer:

I checked my salinity today after pouring in about 9g of hyper-saline water over the past two days, and it didn't budge. Still 1.023sg. :rolleyes:

I'd really prefer not to top off with saltwater, mainly because I'm too lazy to wash out those containers after it is back to normal. So for now, I'll just add 5g of saltwater a day, until the number is back up where I like it (1.026sg).
 
Do you give concern to your 24 hour PH swing and do anything about it?

I have been dosing 2 part and could not take it anymore so installed Ca reactor which was something I never worked with. During the day my PH is ok but I night I have been turning up my Kalkwasser reactor to help flatten the curve.

Have you installed the new Skimmer Pump?

When I want to increase salinity I find the furtherest point in my sump and drop in a rubbermaid container with a hole in it so it gets limited current but enough to break the salt down and let the salt find its way. But my flow in the sump does not go thru a lifely fuge, etc

Oh, And have a great A-free recovery
Nick

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14543428#post14543428 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
There is always O'doul's. :beer:

I checked my salinity today after pouring in about 9g of hyper-saline water over the past two days, and it didn't budge. Still 1.023sg. :rolleyes:

I'd really prefer not to top off with saltwater, mainly because I'm too lazy to wash out those containers after it is back to normal. So for now, I'll just add 5g of saltwater a day, until the number is back up where I like it (1.026sg).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14542527#post14542527 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mdaybowls
I crap up when you guys do that at the end.

You really should see someone about that! :eek1: :lol:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14543515#post14543515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnb
Do you give concern to your 24 hour PH swing and do anything about it?

I have been dosing 2 part and could not take it anymore so installed Ca reactor which was something I never worked with. During the day my PH is ok but I night I have been turning up my Kalkwasser reactor to help flatten the curve.

Have you installed the new Skimmer Pump?

When I want to increase salinity I find the furtherest point in my sump and drop in a rubbermaid container with a hole in it so it gets limited current but enough to break the salt down and let the salt find its way. But my flow in the sump does not go thru a lifely fuge, etc

Oh, And have a great A-free recovery
Nick

While I'm aware of the pH of the tank, for the most part I ignore it. It is what it is, based on alk, calcium and magnesium, as well as access to fresh air when possible. So at a glance, I just make sure it is somewhere consistent for the time of day, but don't really worry about it other than that. RHF will tell you there are plenty of pretty tanks with a pH of 7.9 for the high... we just prefer to keep it between 8.0 and 8.3 -- there are tanks that do fine from 7.7 to 7.9 each day too. My tank tends to run 8.1 to 8.3, but since replacing the AC2 with an AC3 and new pH probe, the number reads higher. I doubt it is even correct, but the numbers are still reasonable.

ph_for_month.jpg


A bucket full of saltwater dripping into the system does sound better than pouring it in a 1/2 gallon at a time. I'll have to see if I can allocate some space for a bucket or two.
 
A drip bucket probably is a safer idea(not that just adding the water all at once is perilous :lol:)

But if you wanted to spend money on something completely useless, you could buy a Kent Marine dripper for $30 :D
 
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