Weetie's Zen Learning Experiment, Random Stuff

[Needreefunds]

14 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Thanks so much!!

When I started it, I figured half the people would think I was nuts for trying to turn a cheap-ish Betta setup into a Reef Pico, but I was too excited about the possibilities to let that stop me. 

Half of us are nuts. Isn't that how we all wound up here with you?

 

Also, since nobody else has asked, which compartment will be for the Hippo Tang? 

[Weetabix7]

41 minutes ago, Needreefunds said:

Half of us are nuts. Isn't that how we all wound up here with you?

 

Also, since nobody else has asked, which compartment will be for the Hippo Tang? 

 

I'm not entirely certain how to take this, lol. 

So I'm like a Pied Piper for Nutballs? 

 

Also, I was still deciding between Kole and Hippo. 

Stop rushing me!!

[pappadumplingz]

45 minutes ago, Needreefunds said:

Half of us are nuts. Isn't that how we all wound up here with you?

 

Also, since nobody else has asked, which compartment will be for the Hippo Tang? 

I'll one up you on that one, which compartment is for the Megaladon?

[Needreefunds]

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I'm not entirely certain how to take this, lol. 

So I'm like a Pied Piper for Nutballs? 

 

Also, I was still deciding between Kole and Hippo. 

Stop rushing me!!

 

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I'm not entirely certain how to take this, lol. 

So I'm like a Pied Piper for Nutballs? 

Let's not get crazy here. This may be your bus but it's CM's route. 

 

Also, I was still deciding between Kole and Hippo. 

Stop rushing me!!

Not rushing, just asking. 

You haven't had your coffee yet have you?

 

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

 

[Weetabix7]

You know me too well!!

 

Ok, I have Coffee'd a little but might need just a touch more. 

I was sitting here trying to be all healthy & drink a bunch of water while browsing, 

  but I think I'll mosey back on over to the Nespresso Machine now

  (also known as the Magical Dispenser of Coffee from Heaven). 

[Rain24]

6 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I'm not entirely certain how to take this, lol. 

So I'm like a Pied Piper for Nutballs? 

 

Also, I was still deciding between Kole and Hippo. 

Stop rushing me!!

 

What? The Powder Blue isn't a contender for your waterfall tank?

 

Ooooh, you mentioned coffee. I think I need coffee before I tackle putting in the air line in my reef jar. Do people really put the pump above the tank??? I wasn't planning on it.

[Weetabix7]

1 minute ago, Rain24 said:

 

What? The Powder Blue isn't a contender for your waterfall tank?

 

Ooooh, you mentioned coffee. I think I need coffee before I tackle putting in the air line in my reef jar. Do people really put the pump above the tank??? I wasn't planning on it.

 

The reason some people put it above the tank is to prevent a back siphon if power is lost. 

To prevent water being sucked back into the pump, in other words. 

Also, Coffee is Awesome. (this is the exact first sentence I taught my 2 yr. old nephew to say).

[Rain24]

I am currently too lazy to go out for coffee, so it'll have to be whatever I find around here. LOL...grooming the next generation of coffee lovers, are you?

 

If I have a check valve, is that good enough to prevent a back siphon if there is a power loss?

[Weetabix7]

45 minutes ago, Rain24 said:

I am currently too lazy to go out for coffee, so it'll have to be whatever I find around here. LOL...grooming the next generation of coffee lovers, are you?

 

If I have a check valve, is that good enough to prevent a back siphon if there is a power loss?

 

I honestly don't know, sorry I'm not more help. 

[got2envy]

Yes a check valve should serve the same purpose

[Rain24]

36 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I honestly don't know, sorry I'm not more help. 

It's okay. I've never had a FW tank, so this whole air line business is new to me.

 

1 minute ago, got2envy said:

Yes a check valve should serve the same purpose

 

Thank you! Whew. Glad to know that it'll do. We have power outages often enough here.

[got2envy]

No problemo! 

[Lula_Mae]

10 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I'm not entirely certain how to take this, lol. 

So I'm like a Pied Piper for Nutballs? 

 

Also, I was still deciding between Kole and Hippo. 

Stop rushing me!!

My grandmother says our family tree is full of nuts.

 

Why not a unicorn tang?  That little horn on the head is legit!

[xAyanex]

Coffee is the nectar of the Gods.

[HammerLover]

On 3/8/2017 at 11:34 PM, Weetabix7 said:

Here's a pic from another angle, showing the compartments fit together and flow into each other: 

 

 

The individual compartment covers cut down on evaporation significantly. 

It took a day and half before I had to add any topoff and even then it wasn't much. 

I have this handy little window in the base that helps me keep an eye on water level in the system:

 

Such a witty and nifty tanK! I need to have this sooon!!!

 

[Weetabix7]

On 2/18/2017 at 8:14 PM, Weetabix7 said:

I had been waffling over the idea of starting a new tank over the last few days, when completely out of the blue my son loudly galomphed into the room, looked me in the eye and said, "Just do it!", and ran back out. 

 

Ok Universe, I hear ya. 

 

I will be approaching this very differently from previous tanks I've done. 

In the past, I have started tanks with a very specific idea of what I wanted to create, proceeded with the plan, run into obstacles, done everything I could to MAKE that tank vision a reality in spite of the obstacles, then given up in frustration when I was unable to do so. 

 

I've had a lot of life lessons thrown at me since my last tank. I am currently in the midst of learning to pay attention to & trust what God/Life/the Universe (hereafter to be called GLU) brings to me and to follow where it leads me, as opposed to trying to MAKE things happen according to my ideas of how they should be. 

 

So..... I have a few very basic things I am starting with, and I am simply going to take one step forward at a time and see what I can create as I do so. I have no idea what the end picture will be, probably something completely unexpected, but I am betting it will be pretty cool. 

 

Sometime over the next couple of days I will start a For Sale thread in Classified to try to raise money for the next step. I have some powerheads, some plumbing parts, some frag plugs, as well as a few more fun & unique packages I plan to offer. Keep an eye out for that, I will post a link to it on this thread as well once it's up. What I do next will depend on how much I am able to raise from that sale. 

Thread: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/380517-weeties-return-from-the-dead-dry-goods-sale/

 

 

So.... this should be an interesting ride, but I'm excited to see where it goes!! Grab a fresh drink & some snacks, hop on the bus, and let's see what we can create!!

 

It's been less than a month, but this has already proven to be a very positive journey. 

At the beginning, I had A LOT of unknowns and nervousness, but I just took a look at what I DID have and started from there and stepped out. 

You know what's been really cool? 

Like, super AMAZINGLY cool??

Every single time I took a step forward, I received what I needed to take further steps forward. 

It's always been provision that has followed me taking the first step though. 

I just wanna say thank you to all of you. 

Thank you to the fellow Travelers on the Zen Aquarium Bus, thank you for the fun, the encouragement, the snacks, the banter. 

Thank you to those who have gotten Coralline Starters and Dry Goods from my f/s threads and made it possible for me to keep moving forward. 

You guys ROCK!!! 

[StinkyBunny]

Pfft, you need a Gem tang in there, they're on sale right now. Only set you back a paltry $1800.

[xAyanex]

45 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

Pfft, you need a Gem tang in there, they're on sale right now. Only set you back a paltry $1800.

*Googles gem tang*

 

Wow those are super neat!

[teenyreef]

1 hour ago, StinkyBunny said:

Pfft, you need a Gem tang in there, they're on sale right now. Only set you back a paltry $1800.

See, every time there's a need, someone generous steps forward 

[StinkyBunny]

I would have to be drugged up from the time I placed that order till the time it got here with that sorta money in the hands of the airline buffoons. I'd be worried sick until I got it in my possession. That's a lotta doubloons.

[Weetabix7]

14 hours ago, xAyanex said:

Coffee is the nectar of the Gods.

 

Greetings, fellow worshipper at the Caffeinated Throne!!

(lifts coffee mug in salute)

13 hours ago, HammerLover said:

Such a witty and nifty tanK! I need to have this sooon!!!

 

 

Lol, thanks!!

12 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

Pfft, you need a Gem tang in there, they're on sale right now. Only set you back a paltry $1800.

 

Um, it's gorgeous and all, but do you know what I could with $1800, aquarium wise???

Shoot, I could start a garage Aquarium Business with $1800!!!

[StinkyBunny]

Trust me when I tell ya, $1800 doesn't go very far in this business.

[debbeach13]

Time fly's it has been almost a week since an update on this thread. What's Up!  Oh and thanks for the info on the air plant terrariums.  I was ordering a ABI 12w blue and white bulb yesterday so I added those to have on hand.

[Weetabix7]

29 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Time fly's it has been almost a week since an update on this thread. What's Up!  Oh and thanks for the info on the air plant terrariums.  I was ordering a ABI 12w blue and white bulb yesterday so I added those to have on hand.

 

Thanks for coming by and checking in. 

 

It's actually doing quite well, I just haven't mastered pics under the blue leds yet, so I don't have pics to post, and was trying to work on that. 

 

I now have an RFA and a Maxi Mini anemone in the first compartment & have decided I would like to put a small amount of Macroalgae in there for vertical visual interest, plus 1 or 2 more RFA's and some shrimp. 

 

I have a mix of some small pieces of LR, 2 LPS frags, a Frogspawn frag, an Orange Yuma and a largeish piece of loose GSP mat fragged into 2 pieces distributed among the other 2 compartments. Everything is looking super healthy except that I just noticed that I think the orange Yuma may have gotten stung by a long feeder tentacle from the Maze Brain overnight. It's not severe, just need to move them farther apart. 

 

I can tell that aquascaping in this Waterfall will be quite challenging, so I'm doing some figuring on that, and rearranging, etc. 

 

I'm also working on finding a more permanent lighting fixture solution for the ABI Tuna Blue bulb. I really like the bulb, but it's currently housed in a fixture I borrowed/stole from my son's room and I want something I can raise higher. I've been window shopping on Amazon, lol. 

I really like the combination of natural sunlight and LED from this bulb, but I can tell I will need something that will allow me to raise it higher. It's strong and could easily light a much larger tank. 

 

Now I just gotta master photo editing, need to reread some of the photography links shared by others and mess around more with the Snapseed App. 

[HammerLover]

9 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Thanks for coming by and checking in. 

 

It's actually doing quite well, I just haven't mastered pics under the blue leds yet, so I don't have pics to post, and was trying to work on that. 

 

I now have an RFA and a Maxi Mini anemone in the first compartment & have decided I would like to put a small amount of Macroalgae in there for vertical visual interest, plus 1 or 2 more RFA's and some shrimp. 

 

I have a mix of some small pieces of LR, 2 LPS frags, a Frogspawn frag, an Orange Yuma and a largeish piece of loose GSP mat fragged into 2 pieces distributed among the other 2 compartments. Everything is looking super healthy except that I just noticed that I think the orange Yuma may have gotten stung by a long feeder tentacle from the Maze Brain overnight. It's not severe, just need to move them farther apart. 

 

I can tell that aquascaping in this Waterfall will be quite challenging, so I'm doing some figuring on that, and rearranging, etc. 

 

I'm also working on finding a more permanent lighting fixture solution for the ABI Tuna Blue bulb. I really like the bulb, but it's currently housed in a fixture I borrowed/stole from my son's room and I want something I can raise higher. I've been window shopping on Amazon, lol. 

I really like the combination of natural sunlight and LED from this bulb, but I can tell I will need something that will allow me to raise it higher. It's strong and could easily light a much larger tank. 

 

Now I just gotta master photo editing, need to reread some of the photography links shared by others and mess around more with the Snapseed App. 

Editing in snapseed makes my horrible phone cam shots look decent

 

i usually do this:

-set sharpness to 100

-set warmth to 50

-set tint to -20 or -30

 you can also play on the curve feature on snapseed to reduce the blueness of a pic