Pastey's 200DD

[Sonicboom]

looks like he lifts the plumbing out a few inches and unscrews the union

 

[Pastey]

^^ What he said. I just open the lid, unscrew the union underneath and then remove the lid with the upper portion of the plumbing.

 

[ca1ore]

Love that you put 'not a trash can' on the lid. Would be totally useless in my house though, as my kids never read that sort of thing ..... LOL

 

[Pastey]

My friends and I like to drink beer and play ping pong in the garage. Forget the fact that I have 2 garbage cans in there...they'll throw beer bottles in anything remotely resembling a trash can. Last thing I need it to be carbon dosing my tank, inadvertently, with Fat Tire/Corona/Abita/Yeungling. Not sure how that would play out but I'd prefer to never know.

 

[worm5406]

Well that would be partial vodka dosing... LOL...

Put a zip tie on one part to help keep the lid close, otherwise they will still lift the lid before reading the sign, if ever.

 

[Pastey]

As it sits now, it's pretty hard to get the lid open far enough to put anything in. There is just a small enough gap for my hand to undo the union to take the lid completely off. That labeling was on there before the plumbing went on. If any of my jackwagon friends mistakes that for a trashcan (irony?) now, I'll kick them out for being retarded.

Still haven't had a chance to do the water change yet. Tonight is the night. Will update as to it's success/failure.

 

[dave.m]

Jackwagon? :lolspin:

Dave.M

 

[austings]

Nice tank! I really like the red plumbing (my favorite color). you really took the time to make everything nice and neat.

 

[Pastey]

Weeeeelll I went to do the water change. Transferred water into the Brute, plugged in the Mag pump aaaaaand apparently I ordered a Mag9.5 impellor to replace the broken one because the previous owner told me it was a Mag9.5. As you can guess, It's not a 9.5...it's a 12. Soooo....I'm dead in the water until I can get an impeller for a Mag12. Figures. Strangely enough, the volute is the same so that part worked with the 12 even though I ordered one for a 9.5.

 

[Pastey]

Built my screen tops:

Added a little protection for my return pump from snails or other foreign objects:

 

[Pastey]

Picked up a 10 headed colony of frogspawn and a 4" frag of pagoda cup last night from a local reefer who was tearing down/parting out his tank:

Untitled by deadwrx, on Flickr

 

[Sonicboom]

those look fantastic, great score!. I can't tell exactly the placement from the angle but to me it looks like the frogspawn is too close to the pagoda. Also are those screen tops a kit from Lowes or HD?

 

[Pastey]

They aren't as close as they seem. The ledge that the pagoda is resting on angles away . I'd say there is a 6" gap between them. The placement isn't permanent. I'm ordering new lights so I'll be able to place things a little differently.

The screen top frame stuff was all from HD and the actual 1/4" screen was from BRS. I picked up 2 framing kits that had (4)48" frame lengths each along with the rubber spline and (4)corners. It was stupid cheap compared to BRS's kit. I just couldn't bring myself to pay $80 for something that costs $30 at most.

 

[Sonicboom]

nice, I will be getting that this week! i'll try and find the actual screen elsewhere.

 

[Pastey]

I had read in multiple places that the big box stores didn't carry that 1/4" clear mesh so I bought a small roll from BRS when I was ordering some other small things.

 

[Sonicboom]

yea i may have to do the same when i restock my GFO.

 

[Pastey]

Apparently, marine cuisine is the Marvin Gaye of marine fish food for starfish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVjCzQttOrA

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Apparently, marine cuisine is the Marvin Gaye of marine fish food for starfish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVjCzQttOrA

You'll never find...
A spawning session like mine..
Its called mariiiiiine cusine...
And I like it like sheee doooooo.

 

[Pastey]

Disclaimer: Showing your gf/fiance/wife this video will not incite your own, personal spawning session. It get's you a look of disgust. Mileage may vary.

In other news, small setback with the water change setup. After replacing the Mag12 impeller (and with no previous issues), my pump is now tripping the GFCI which leads me to belive the best course of action is to chunk it. I have another Mag12 running my saltwater mixing barrel that works just fine on the same outlet so I know it's not my home's circuit. I had to do a 20g. water change the old fashioned way and will do so until I get another pump to run my water change setup. Le sigh.

I added some base rock rubble to my refugium with the intent to add a few different types of macro in the near future. My chaeto is not really thriving but my nitrates are so low (barely detectable) that this does not surprise me.

I need to decide what fish I want next and what order I want them in but this all requires that I finally get off my butt and set up my old JBJ 28 as QT. As I near the 6 month mark, I will also begin a hunt for a h. magnifica which will need a light from my current lighting setup which means I need to quit pinching pennies and get those replaced. So much to do......

 

[Pastey]

Ordered some new equipment today. It was either this stuff or a Reefbreeder Photon48 light. The lighting upgrade will have to wait for now. Almost bought an EB8 to go in this order but I held back for now since it's more a luxury to consolidate my wiring.

Does anyone run dual thermometers with their Apex? One in the sump and one in the DT? I considered ordering a 2nd thermometer as a fail-safe but talked myself out of it. Is it worth the redundancy?

Pre-Ordered
Neptune AFS

Ordered
Neptune PM1 (for PH probe)
Standard PH probe
Red Sea Pro salt (175g) - I'm basically down to no salt left from the 2 buckets I bought.
NLS sinking pellets (300g) - wanted to try them since they're pretty popular.