ReefGrammie's 90-Gallon Reboot

[ReefGrammie]

------> Must...stay...away...from...live...sales...<---------​

you did see my local, Cherry Corals, has one going the day after Christmas. just trying to be helpful.

STOP IT!! ;Hilarious CC happens to be one of my top vendors, just so you know. Hmmm, day after Christmas sale....;Joyful

 

[ReefGrammie]

Yesterday was interesting. Over the years, I've had many tank conversations with plumbers, electricians, construction people, and horrified parents, whose kids on Halloween push their way inside my house and head straight for "Nemo."

I finally had my window film installed to help with the sunlight in the front of the house. Two guys showed up, I'd say 30-something-ish youngsters. The first guy walked in the door and his jaw dropped. The second guy walked in the door and his jaw dropped. They both stood there staring at my tanks, which are in my office in front of the house. Well, it ended up being a whole day of partial window film installation and mostly fish/tank talk. The guys have 3 saltwater tanks between them. They inspected the sump, asked tons of questions about my equipment and setup, asked about specific corals, what salt mix I used, asked about my LED fixture and everything in between. It turns out we knew a lot of mutual people in the local "fish" business, and I even got a few more names.

One of them even told me a story about his young son pouring chocolate milk in his sump and his wife having to do an emergency w/c!!! I have the same fear with my grands, which is putting me on high alert to install some handles and lock my sump cabinet! My acrylic ATO reservoir also has a flip top, so I need to come up with something to lock it. Any ideas would be appreciated!

The window film turned out great, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to those guys....social distancing, of course. I'm just glad I was paying them by the job and not by the hour! ;Joyful

 

[sfin52]

Yesterday was interesting. Over the years, I've had many tank conversations with plumbers, electricians, construction people, and horrified parents, whose kids on Halloween push their way inside my house and head straight for "Nemo."

I finally had my window film installed to help with the sunlight in the front of the house. Two guys showed up, I'd say 30-something-ish youngsters. The first guy walked in the door and his jaw dropped. The second guy walked in the door and his jaw dropped. They both stood there staring at my tanks, which are in my office in front of the house. Well, it ended up being a whole day of partial window film installation and mostly fish/tank talk. The guys have 3 saltwater tanks between them. They inspected the sump, asked tons of questions about my equipment and setup, asked about specific corals, what salt mix I used, asked about my LED fixture and everything in between. It turns out we knew a lot of mutual people in the local "fish" business, and I even got a few more names.

One of them even told me a story about his young son pouring chocolate milk in his sump and his wife having to do an emergency w/c!!! I have the same fear with my grands, which is putting me on high alert to install some handles and lock my sump cabinet! My acrylic ATO reservoir also has a flip top, so I need to come up with something to lock it. Any ideas would be appreciated!

The window film turned out great, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to those guys....social distancing, of course. I'm just glad I was paying them by the job and not by the hour! ;Joyful

Thats me with even thr smallest fish tank

 

[TriggerFinger]

Yesterday was interesting. Over the years, I've had many tank conversations with plumbers, electricians, construction people, and horrified parents, whose kids on Halloween push their way inside my house and head straight for "Nemo."

I finally had my window film installed to help with the sunlight in the front of the house. Two guys showed up, I'd say 30-something-ish youngsters. The first guy walked in the door and his jaw dropped. The second guy walked in the door and his jaw dropped. They both stood there staring at my tanks, which are in my office in front of the house. Well, it ended up being a whole day of partial window film installation and mostly fish/tank talk. The guys have 3 saltwater tanks between them. They inspected the sump, asked tons of questions about my equipment and setup, asked about specific corals, what salt mix I used, asked about my LED fixture and everything in between. It turns out we knew a lot of mutual people in the local "fish" business, and I even got a few more names.

One of them even told me a story about his young son pouring chocolate milk in his sump and his wife having to do an emergency w/c!!! I have the same fear with my grands, which is putting me on high alert to install some handles and lock my sump cabinet! My acrylic ATO reservoir also has a flip top, so I need to come up with something to lock it. Any ideas would be appreciated!

The window film turned out great, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to those guys....social distancing, of course. I'm just glad I was paying them by the job and not by the hour! ;Joyful

How does the window look? Any pics?
also, chocolate milk in the sump could very well be my future ;Hilarious

 

[ReefGrammie]

How does the window look? Any pics?
also, chocolate milk in the sump could very well be my future ;Hilarious

I'll have to post some pics of the windows....I absolutely thought about you and the chocolate milk!!! ;Hilarious

 

[ReefGrammie]

Santa is bringing me a nice present this year (no, it's not another tank)! Information to follow. I'm stuck at work for a few hours first... ;Meh

 

[ReefGrammie]

Work is done and I'm off for 4 whole days!!! I'm so excited about my present.

A little history first. After I set up my first reef tank, the very next summer, we had some terrible storms here and people lost power for days. I found out after the fact about a friend who lost everything in his reef tank. I'm sure there were many others. That Christmas, I asked Santa for a generator. We shopped around a good bit. I really wanted the Honda portable generator, but it was pricey and we settled on something else. It wasn't so portable and had to be dragged out of the garage, through the fence, up the sidewalk, and up 4 steps to get to the back outside outlets. It was on wheels, but it was very cumbersome. I couldn't even start the thing! Fortunately, we didn't have to use it often other than an occasional winter or summer storm.

Fast forward to an 11-year-old broken generator that no one would recommend fixing. My husband asked me to check around and see what I could find. I looked at Costco and Lowe's, thinking there had to be more competition years later in the portable generator business. I read tons of reviews and a number of them kept coming back to the same conclusion..."I settled for this generator, but wish I had bought the Honda." Ugh. What to do. So, I told my husband what I had found. He looked around some also and finally told me to just get the Honda. I actually found a little special going on at Northern Tools where if you spent a certain amount, you got a gift card. The husband needs a new lawnmower, so buying the generator there gave him $200 towards his lawnmower.

Anyway, 11 years later, I got my Honda! I guess I'll have to buy him a new stick or two so he can chase that little white ball around for 4 hours! ;Happy

No one is allowed to laugh at my wimpy tree....well, maybe a little. I put up a wimpy tree because it's been a wimpy kind of year (I have other words to describe this year, but we'll stick with wimpy for now)!

I'm sure a generator isn't in the top 10 of most Grammie wish lists....but since when I have I ever claimed to be a "normal" Grammie? ;Joyful

 

[najer]

I got a no name cheap gas generator when I had my last power outage, someone stole my Honda a few years ago.

 

[ReefGrammie]

I got a no name cheap gas generator when I had my last power outage, someone stole my Honda a few years ago.

That's terrible, Simon...I've heard the same thing so many times with the Honda generators. People can be awful...which is probably why I tend to avoid the human species anyway...even before that virus.

 

[ReefGrammie]

Well, no generator tinkering today. It's in the 30's with the temperature dropping, wind blowing, and snow showers on the way. Nope. I'll wait until it's a little warmer.

I did finally set up the Kamoer pump, though, to dose calcium. It really wasn't too bad. I just hope my calculations are right! ;Nailbiting I have it sitting on top of my ATO reservoir right now, which isn't its permanent home. It will eventually go in the sump on a little shelf or rack and plug into the power strip in the back of my cabinet. I just don't trust it yet and want to keep a good eye on it! I have my phone set to check up on it today and will check my calcium levels regularly at the same time for a few days.

I do like that you can put the total amount of solution in the app and it tells you how many days you have left before it needs to be refilled. The 3:00 dose went off as programmed....so far so good!

Out of the box, "dosing" tap water! I made sure I ran out all the tap water before adding calcium to the container...I even ran out some of the calcium just to make absolutely sure! I always do my experiments on the kitchen counter, including coral fragging...drives my husband crazy. He cleans his golf shoes in my kitchen sink, so I consider us even.

On top of the ATO, where I can make sure it's behaving properly.

 

[sp1187]

STOP IT!! ;Hilarious CC happens to be one of my top vendors, just so you know. Hmmm, day after Christmas sale....;Joyful

they are in my neighborhood. I never score in these live auctions. too slow in checkout. so I just wait for the unsold after sale.

 

[sp1187]

Work is done and I'm off for 4 whole days!!! I'm so excited about my present.

A little history first. After I set up my first reef tank, the very next summer, we had some terrible storms here and people lost power for days. I found out after the fact about a friend who lost everything in his reef tank. I'm sure there were many others. That Christmas, I asked Santa for a generator. We shopped around a good bit. I really wanted the Honda portable generator, but it was pricey and we settled on something else. It wasn't so portable and had to be dragged out of the garage, through the fence, up the sidewalk, and up 4 steps to get to the back outside outlets. It was on wheels, but it was very cumbersome. I couldn't even start the thing! Fortunately, we didn't have to use it often other than an occasional winter or summer storm.

Fast forward to an 11-year-old broken generator that no one would recommend fixing. My husband asked me to check around and see what I could find. I looked at Costco and Lowe's, thinking there had to be more competition years later in the portable generator business. I read tons of reviews and a number of them kept coming back to the same conclusion..."I settled for this generator, but wish I had bought the Honda." Ugh. What to do. So, I told my husband what I had found. He looked around some also and finally told me to just get the Honda. I actually found a little special going on at Northern Tools where if you spent a certain amount, you got a gift card. The husband needs a new lawnmower, so buying the generator there gave him $200 towards his lawnmower.

Anyway, 11 years later, I got my Honda! I guess I'll have to buy him a new stick or two so he can chase that little white ball around for 4 hours! ;Happy

No one is allowed to laugh at my wimpy tree....well, maybe a little. I put up a wimpy tree because it's been a wimpy kind of year (I have other words to describe this year, but we'll stick with wimpy for now)!

I'm sure a generator isn't in the top 10 of most Grammie wish lists....but since when I have I ever claimed to be a "normal" Grammie? ;Joyful

we just bought the house, be 4 years in May. I convinced the mrs. we needed a full house generator before I put the tank in. convinced...... who are I kidding..... it wasn't that hard of a sell.

 

[ReefGrammie]

they are in my neighborhood. I never score in these live auctions. too slow in checkout. so I just wait for the unsold after sale.

I don't do as many live auctions anymore, but they are fun to watch, especially when a $5 coral comes up and everybody goes nuts...I used to have more of a life before this year. ;Joyful I usually just wait for the after sale most of the time. My last CC buy was 100% on the after sale, and they still had plenty of nice corals! I have a really nice Miami Vice zoa colony from them growing out in the BioCube now...my LFS owner is drooling over that piece....he can't have any yet!

 

[sp1187]

I don't do as many live auctions anymore, but they are fun to watch, especially when a $5 coral comes up and everybody goes nuts...I used to have more of a life before this year. ;Joyful I usually just wait for the after sale most of the time. My last CC buy was 100% on the after sale, and they still had plenty of nice corals! I have a really nice Miami Vice zoa colony from them growing out in the BioCube now...my LFS owner is drooling over that piece....he can't have any yet!

hmmmmmmm........ so you're the competition for the after sale.
watch for the CC Dragon Fur.

 

[TriggerFinger]

How do you like the window tinting so far @ReefGrammie? A family friend has been tinting car windows for years and he started doing residential and commercial windows within the last 5 years or so. He’s done really great work on a lot of our vehicles so the home windows probably look really great. I live in the middle of sherwoods forest so no need here;Bored

 

[ReefGrammie]

How do you like the window tinting so far @ReefGrammie? A family friend has been tinting car windows for years and he started doing residential and commercial windows within the last 5 years or so. He’s done really great work on a lot of our vehicles so the home windows probably look really great. I live in the middle of sherwoods forest so no need here;Bored

The previous windows MUST have had something on them because after we changed out the windows, we had sun streaming through big time, especially on my tank!! We had to change them because a huge window over the foyer was leaking and showing damage. After we changed the front windows, corals starting bleaching, I had an algae bloom, etc. We still have sun streaming through now, but at least my furniture/carpet/paint/etc. shouldn't fade now. We have a very tall foyer and the 90 is on a wall opposite those windows. I'm still perplexed by the whole thing since I've never had issues for 12 years with direct sun and tanks in the exact same spot... ;Sour Be glad you don't have that worry....you have bigger things to worry about....like chocolate milk in the sump! ;Joyful

 

[ReefGrammie]

You'd think after as long as I've been doing this, I'd no longer freak out....but this still freaks me out! The lights came on this morning and SHRIMP HEAD!!!

Thankfully, it was the usual molt and he was shiny and clean under his usual rock by the overflow!

 

[sp1187]

Dendrophyllia status: This is one of the more fascinating corals to me, so once I rebooted, I just had to have one. It was doing really well at first, low light, low flow, placed low in the tank. A while back, it just slammed shut. I thought sometime might have made it mad, but I pretty much had stopped Vibrant or any other additives. I'm only dosing alk, and calcium and magnesium as needed, along with performing a weekly 5% water change. I add ReefRoids about twice a week.

I did notice it would be wide open at night, so last weekend I moved my rock a little and tried to create a little cave for the dendro. It's under a little ledge now, and i noticed that it was opening back up during the daytime again. It has 2 large heads and a baby, so will see what happens down the road.

you spot feeding?

 

[sp1187]

annnndddddd alll caught up.

 

[ReefGrammie]

you spot feeding?

I was, but the the dendros stopped opening during the day again. I guess something made them mad. I'm still broadcast feeding Reef Roids a few times a week. I need to check them out at night and see if they're opening up then.