Little update - for my own giggles. I want to look back on this in a year or two and remember how stressed and frustrated I was at this time in my life -- and hopefully thanking God above - that I'm in a better place at that point.
I'm packing it up and getting ready to move it 2,000 miles.
I jumped back into the hobby in 2018 and started with a 180g. I couldn't find a spot to put it without a major home renovation and a lot of plumbing, so we scaled back to a 40g breeder. Sold the 180g before I ever put water in it. Lost $800 selling a new tank for 1/2 the purchase price. Oh well. Nothing you can do about it. I just got all the equipment and started building the 40g breeder when I lost my job on January 14th, 2019.
My wife and I moved to Florida in March/April 2018 and closed on our first house together on May 7th, 2018. We've spent a year painting the inside and changing out all the lighting fixtures, fixing pool equipment so it functions properly (darn nice pool BTW), and just maintaining the home so it would be easy to sell. My wife jokes that we moved into a bag of Skittles candy. One yellow room, 2 snot green rooms, a pink bathroom, a powder blue bedroom, camel hair bathroom, and faded blue jeans shag carpet. We've painted all the ceilings flat white again. All the walls are an off-white (light cream) color now. Replaced the carpet with a light tan that matches everything well. The ceiling fixtures looked like 13 different trips to Home Depot.
We replaced every light fixture in the house - focusing on making sure we bought the same style and design for all the fixtures in the common areas. The entry chandelier, kitchen chandelier, living room ceiling fan, laundry room, breakfast bar pendants and dining room fixture are all the same manufacturer and style. The house looks like "normal" people live in it now.
I interviewed for a job and accepted an offer back in Colorado Springs. It's a huge pay bump (34%) and a big increase in responsibility. I'm headed back on March 25th to get started. My wife and I will have to split up for a little bit, but she's not far behind me. We're already working with a realtor in Colorado to find us another home. We're putting this Florida house on the market on March 15th. It should sell in a day or two. Hopefully it sells in HOURS. When we bought it, we were the 2nd couple to view it and we made an offer 6hrs after it went on the market. Fingers crossed for a similar event when we sell.
The equipment is easy to pack. I kept all the original boxes. The tanks -- not so much. Not sure what to do with those. I've got this sitting in my office and no idea how to pack or move it.
I'm thinking about putting the tanks in my wifes Honda Pilot. That vehicle will be on a car hauler trailer with all 4 wheels off the ground, since it's an AWD vehicle. The stands can go in side the u-haul and I can pack aquarium related boxes under the stands. The stands are typically built to handle quite a load, so I have no issues stacking household boxes on top of them for the trip. I think I can get all 4 of the major tanks into the Pilot with the seats laid flat and some padding here and there to prevent glass/glass contact on the trip.
If I HAVE too, I'll take my bulkheads and plumbing parts and leave the 20H, 40g breeder and the 55g tanks behind. They're cheap enough and easy to get. The 20XXH that is to be my display refugium is expensive to replace and I've done a lot of work to it. Kinda want to keep that one. We shall see how it all loads into the Pilot.
