teenyreef Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Lol, this is almost exactly what I just posted about last night in my 30g thread Looks like you're doing it right, but, wait, no Apex controllable return pump? 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 11, 2017 Author Share Posted February 11, 2017 Lol, this is almost exactly what I just posted about last night in my 30g thread Looks like you're doing it right, but, wait, no Apex controllable return pump? Return pump is just going to be plugged in to the apex power bar. I don't really see a need to "control" it, just switch it on and off for feeding/maintanence. There's an MP10QD that hasn't been purchased yet which will be the flow workhorse for the tank. 2 Quote Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 So is it just going to sit between now and May? 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 So is it just going to sit between now and May? that's the story my husband tells himself 2 Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 what happened 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Came here after seeing your hilarious sig on a different thread. Looking forward to seeing how this tank develops! And that purchase total made me go lol 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 what happened The previous 2 and 1/2 pages... I don't know what you're asking. Came here after seeing your hilarious sig on a different thread. Looking forward to seeing how this tank develops! And that purchase total made me go lol Yeah it made me do that too. lol Next month's not going to be much better... Well, we shouldn't go over $1k. So I guess that's a little better. Pics of the wet tank! We just got that painting framed. It was a $5 goodwill find. It will be interesting to monitor with humidty as well as the lighting effects I'm sure the NanoBox will do. We got this framed too. My grandfather is a WWII vet and he painted this shortly after the war. You know, Japan was on everyone's mind. I think it looks great over the fish room fireplace. 2 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 The previous 2 and 1/2 pages... I don't know what you're asking. Yeah it made me do that too. lol Next month's not going to be much better... Well, we shouldn't go over $1k. So I guess that's a little better. Pics of the wet tank! We just got that painting framed. It was a $5 goodwill find. It will be interesting to monitor with humidty as well as the lighting effects I'm sure the NanoBox will do. We got this framed too. My grandfather is a WWII vet and he painted this shortly after the war. You know, Japan was on everyone's mind. I think it looks great over the fish room fireplace. Yay water! The fireplace is gorgeous, and I love the painting! How nice to have a piece of your family history like that! Yeah, I guess $1k is a little better than, what was it, $1.4k+? Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 That's a beautiful fish room! Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 14, 2017 Author Share Posted February 14, 2017 That's a beautiful fish room! Thank you, I love our new home! So, judging from the evaporation rate, I think I need a bigger ATO container. IM came out with a really cool one. http://www.innovative-marine.com/auqa-gadget/ti-reservoir.html Its $100 I dont like the price tag, but I like the convenience of not needing to pull it out to refill it. I am going to look into some other options as well, we have plenty of time. But It is pretty cool, isnt it? It also should fit in the stand (what its designed to do) 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 17, 2017 Author Share Posted February 17, 2017 Finally got the tank cycling today. I've been putting it off. I wanted the rest of the equipment to get here first but that won't happen until the 20th. I also wasn't happy with the aquascape. Still not sure about this new one, trying to go for minimalist with lots of swimming room. The previous felt out of balance. I just suck at scaping. lol We'll see how I feel about this. And I have no idea how much ammonia is in the tank because my kit isn't here yet! lol We're flying blind until I can get measurable nitrites. 2 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 17, 2017 Author Share Posted February 17, 2017 So, one of the things I really love about this hobby is the personality of the fish and just how intelligent they really are. I'm washing some stuff off in the kitchen sink after working in the salt tank and I get this eerie feeling some one is watching me. I look up, and this is who's there: His name is Mizuchi. He's my kids betta fish. Okay, he's really my betta fish but I tell myself that so I can deny to my family that I have a fish problem. But he loves checking us out and watching when we're working in the kitchen. If we're watching tv or someplace he can't see us, he chills in his spirit house. But as soon as he spies someone, he has to dart out to see what's going on. (he lives in a $20 Fluval Edge I scored on CL) Pretty boy. 4 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 On 2/17/2017 at 4:12 PM, lkoechle said: So, one of the things I really love about this hobby is the personality of the fish and just how intelligent they really are. I'm washing some stuff off in the kitchen sink after working in the salt tank and I get this eerie feeling some one is watching me. I look up, and this is who's there: His name is Mizuchi. He's my kids betta fish. Okay, he's really my betta fish but I tell myself that so I can deny to my family that I have a fish problem. But he loves checking us out and watching when we're working in the kitchen. If we're watching tv or someplace he can't see us, he chills in his spirit house. But as soon as he spies someone, he has to dart out to see what's going on. (he lives in a $20 Fluval Edge I scored on CL) Pretty boy. What a beautiful boy! I have a betta near the sink too, and anytime you walk into the kitchen or he hears/feels the water running, Bojangles (my husband's name for him lol) comes swimming up in a hurry from whatever spot he was dozing in and dances around for attention and to say hi. He also dances for food, wiggling his little fins for all he's worth. He loves attention and interacting with whoever's around. He's ridiculous and adorable and I love him for it. My husband just got his own betta (since our previous Petco rescue didn't fare well after more than six months in his cup at the store ) and the new boy is learning to beg for attention too. Silly boys! 3 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 So this happened and this happened because every time I make a big purchase my son seems to injure himself. This time he broke his femur right above the knee from tripping while running through the kitchen in rainboots (both of which are no nos). we get a real cast tomorrow. yay... he turns 3 on sunday. Happy birthday! 3 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Beautiful tank in a beautiful home! What did you buy? Your photos aren't showing for me. Your beta tank is stunning! Sorry to hear about your son's leg, ouch!!! Hopefully it heals fast and with not too much inconvenience. We dealt with something similar. The thing with kids is they have concerns about the growth plate being damaged. Luckily in our case, we were ok. I'm sure you probably heard mention of the growth plate, unless the break is nowhere near one. Quote Link to comment
RotaryReef Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Oh no! Sorry about your son. Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 1 hour ago, gena said: Beautiful tank in a beautiful home! What did you buy? Your photos aren't showing for me. Your beta tank is stunning! Sorry to hear about your son's leg, ouch!!! Hopefully it heals fast and with not too much inconvenience. We dealt with something similar. The thing with kids is they have concerns about the growth plate being damaged. Luckily in our case, we were ok. I'm sure you probably heard mention of the growth plate, unless the break is nowhere near one. Thank you! I bought about $1500 of apex stuff and it arrived today. This isnt our first rodeo unfortunately. He broke his leg shortly after I spent 2k on my 85 gallon reef. lol this one is a little close to the growth plate, his first break was on the lower leg a "toddler fracture". The kid plays hard man. He will skin his knee, bust his lip, and just shake it off and keep playing. Unfortunately, that means if he keeps complaining about something he is really in pain. Even know he is in good spirits. more annoyed he cant do what he wants than anything else. I hope he doesnt have to be in a cast too long. But we will find out tomorrow when the splint is removed and we get the plaster cast. 1 hour ago, NanoSteve said: Oh no! Sorry about your son. Thankfully he is in good spirits. He is like a timex watch. Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. lol he is my little tank. That almost makes it harder though to see him hurt because it really has to hurt for him to be bothered. 1 Quote Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Sorry to hear about your little boy. It would break my heart to see my little grandson injured like that-I just want to wrap him up in bubble wrap! Tank is certainly moving along. Looking forward to seeing it grow. 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Sorry to hear about your son. Sometimes it's hardest to see the ones that are so tough suffer because you know it must be really bad when they complain 1 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 6 hours ago, lkoechle said: Thank you! I bought about $1500 of apex stuff and it arrived today. This isnt our first rodeo unfortunately. He broke his leg shortly after I spent 2k on my 85 gallon reef. lol this one is a little close to the growth plate, his first break was on the lower leg a "toddler fracture". The kid plays hard man. He will skin his knee, bust his lip, and just shake it off and keep playing. Unfortunately, that means if he keeps complaining about something he is really in pain. Even know he is in good spirits. more annoyed he cant do what he wants than anything else. I hope he doesnt have to be in a cast too long. But we will find out tomorrow when the splint is removed and we get the plaster cast. Thankfully he is in good spirits. He is like a timex watch. Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. lol he is my little tank. That almost makes it harder though to see him hurt because it really has to hurt for him to be bothered. Sounds like a great candidate for playing football . That's one sport I didn't want my son to play. Oh....that must be some really nice Apex stuff! 2 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 9 hours ago, gena said: Sounds like a great candidate for playing football . That's one sport I didn't want my son to play. Oh....that must be some really nice Apex stuff! Yeah, my husband was that guy who was captain in every sport he played and was that guy who made all the newspaper plays and it looks like my son has inherited the same talents and fearlessness for both football and futbol. I forsee many broken bones in his future The apex stuff is pretty sweet. We got the brand new Apex. Unboxing photos will be coming this evening and maybe install photos if my husband is nice and helps me mount it tonight lol 3 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 UGH, this is not my week. Not winning. My sicce synchra is anything but silent, however sicce customer service is silent. Going to reach out to Marine Depot soon if I don't hear back from Sicce by Friday. AND I have to start the tank over. I was trying to figure out why my cycle hasnt started yet... Well, my ammonia has surfactants in it. I swore it didnt the first six times I read it. I am going to blame missing it on me spacing out from also watching a 3 year old and a 1 year old. So I have to tear everything down, scrub it all and set it back up. I dont know where an ace hardware is near me (since we moved) and used a different brand. I feel like a giant loser ATM and I feel like nothing has gone right with this tank yet. Very, very frustrating. Silver lining: at least its a nano and I only dosed once. So I am just giving everything a quick scrub down and hose down. Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Oh, yuck! How frustrating! Fingers crossed that things turn around and start going right for you soon! Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 So the tank is back up. Maybe my mistake was a good thing. I think I like this scape better and we had a deeper sandbed then we like so I didn't put as much back in. I also lowered the water level to have more of "drop" in the overflow area. So I was able to fix few things that are easier to do when its all taken apart. Overall it was a massive PITA though. I had to use a turkey baster to suck out the rear chambers. I didn't "rinse" the tank though. considering I only dosed 2.5 mL I figured a vinager wash would remove everything so thats what I did followed by a thorough RO wash. The tank stayed on the stand. I have a bad back and draining all the water, moving the sand and the rocks was really hard on it as is. So I didn't want to move the tank. The rocks and sand I did rinse out in the bath tub and same with all of the equipment. I did manage to tear it all down and put it all up before my husband got home, so it was a "quick" process. (if you count 7 hours as quick) In a strange way, its a good thing my son broke his leg because I would not have been able to do this if he was at his normal activity levels. lol So his being couch-bound was a good thing. New scape with more caves and "swim throughs" And then, of course, there's the 2016 APEX. We haven't mounted it yet. We are going to mount it on either melamine, formica, or plywood (we'll figure it out when we see our store offerings) and then affix inside the side the stand with industrial velcro. This way we never drill in to the stand and risk the structural integrity of the MDF. Our son's birthday is this weekend and we're taking him to the zoo Saturday and having a family party on Sunday so we probably won't get to mounting it this weekend. We might be able to do it one of the evenings, but I'm not holding my breath with how crazy this week has been. New boxing style That actually tells you what it is. I really like it. Thought it was sexy. Now, the 2016 apex comes with everything the "gold" package has so it automatically comes with the temp, ph, ORP, and salinity probes. The new apex also does not need a PM module for the salinity probe like the original Apex. With this tank, I will only need one additional module which is the WXM for the MP10QD. I plan on using the original BlueFish controller for the NanoBox lights so those will not be controlled by the Apex. The new "brains" of the APEX. I think the flip out feature is very interesting. It was a bit of a pain to mess with installation on the previous APEX and I had a really clean, uncluttered set up. So I can't imagine how other people working with less space managed it. And they're trying to label me. Not going to happen! Maybe... My son's in good spirits and now he can't run away from his baby sister's love! And he only has to be in his cast until March 9th. So everything's A-OK! That's it for updates. Hopefully, I'll be able to get to an Ace hardware soon to get the right ammonia. Maybe tonight or tomorrow. Ugh, how frustrating this week has been! I still haven't heard back from Sicce. But the Hydrofill ATO pump seems to be working just fine so at least there's that. Here's to hoping its smooth sailing from here on out! 2 Quote Link to comment
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