etannert

Well, you inspired me, Ian, so I took another look, decided I was smarter than some PVC, and managed to get it all fixed. Basically the needle wheel cover (inside the skimmer body) is attached to some kind of nozzle/cover/something or other (outside the skimmer body) that wasn't coming off. Since I was swapping the dead pump for the same variety, I decided to try to just put the old needle wheel cover on the new pump. I'd tried this before and failed, but this time I managed to get it on and put the rest of the skimmer back together without too many false starts or extra parts. Thanks for the inspiration, Ian!

Just want to give a big shout-out of thanks to Chris and his guys at GPS. They have done numerous custom projects for me and the high school guys and have always exceeded my expectations in both quality and pricing. Chris has even been willing to take products home and let me pick them up from him at his home waaaaaaay after hours, which has been a godsend.

Check out his latest project on our behalf: static cling decals for our drums...

which match our props and custom bass drum heads. (The drumheads are from Remo.)

He's also done our drumline t-shirts and a slew of custom stickers for us.

If you need ANYTHING printed, Chris is your man!

That's all the progress I've made for now. I've got to replace the pump in the skimmer, a BM NAC6A, and I've run into a touch of trouble getting a PVC plug off part of the old pump; haven't had much time to work on it (this being the time of year I regularly pull 70-80+ hr weeks at school), but neither hot water nor good old-fashioned tugging have gotten the job done. I'm open to suggestions. Maybe I'll post pics later.

We don't have a contest this weekend, so my goal is to get all the hardware and plumbing installed and mocked up this Saturday. I'm a little nervous about putting water in it until after contest season is over (Oct. 26) since I'm not home much these days and if there was a leak or some other problem, it might be later in the evening before I'd discover it. But since this build has taken many months so far, I guess there's no reason to be in a hurry!

The other little thing I had to do was add a handle to the stand. I didn't like the standard hardware, so Jake got the company to ship it with no hardware. I picked up a handle I liked much better at IKEA for about $5. Jake warned me to measure many times before drilling since once you go through the wood, there's no making it look good again, and the last thing you want is a crooked handle gracing your custom stained stand!

I think it came out okay...

The next thing to do was to get going on the plumbing. Here I ran into a bit of an issue because the tank and the stand were purchased separately; the trim of the stand was blocking the bulkhead for the return. Solution: small cheap hack-saw from Lowe's and cutting a small notch out of the trim. I don't think this will have hurt the structural integrity of the stand, and it made the perfect amount of room for the bulkhead.

First I traced out the space I needed to notch out. I did this by standing on a chair, reaching down the drain, and literally tracing through the drilled return hole.

Then I started out sawing along the angle I'd need.

Finished product!

Fits perfectly.

Waitaminute, that doesn't belong...

Then I went to work on the sump.

Same process: lay out...

weld...

and done!

I constructed the ATO reservoir first. Smaller, and therefore a little easier to manage.

First I just laid everything out to make sure I knew what was getting welded to what and how.

Then I started welding, and...

voila! Finished product!

Time to update....

A few weeks ago I got inspired and constructed the custom sump and ATO reservoir. At first I was really nervous about doing my own acrylic construction, but after doing it, it wasn't that hard at all and everything looks beautiful. I haven't water tested anything yet but one can check the seams just by eye (you will see spaces where there are air bubbles or the acrylic did not weld) and everything looks good.

First, the schematic:

So just because I'm easily confused... are we supposed to all show up to your house at 5:55pm Saturday with wads of cash and Ziploc baggies? Or are we supposed to be hitting refresh on our browsers like crazy? For once I don't have a band contest so I'd like to not screw this up!

Pics?

Sherita - what is your set-up for Scolys? I can't seem to keep them... not sure if it is too much light or what. I have a Solana 34g with a 150w metal halide.

Yep, reproduction, aka coral food! yay!

Congrats! They're all beautiful! And no doubt precocious and sassy...

"Scofflaw"... what a great word.

Then there was the night I picked up a baggie of chaeto that had been left for me on someone's back windshield under cover of night... yeeeeeaaahh, nothing suspicious going on here, officer...

Well heck, sign me up. I have experience with education, advocacy, and large group management.

Austin is severely lacking in quality public attractions. If you compare us to other medium and large cities, it's really a joke. We don't have any zoos, aquariums, museums, etc. that could possibly be considered equivalent to what you would find in most cities. Based on the reviews of the other aquariums, I don't want Austin's representation of an aquarium to be the same as those.

...It should also be pretty clear why Austin was a good candidate for a private aquarium. We have over a million people, a great economic environment, and absolutely no competing attractions within at least an hour....

Fantastic point. Who do we have to talk to in city government to get some motion towards better public attractions? I've been to what masquerades as a zoo in Austin, and it's pretty pathetic. I'm back in my hometown of Knoxville, TN, today, and I had forgotten how small it is, compared to Austin. But there's a great public zoo here, a planetarium, a decent art museum, and of course the world-famous Tennessee Aquarium is about an hour's jaunt south in Chattanooga. We have some great performing arts in Austin, and I know Sea World is right down the road, but seriously, Austin can do better than it is right now.

A few thoughts...

1. I think comparing hobbyists to professionals is a specious argument at best. Saying that we as hobbyists have killed fish and engage in cycling via fish, so them doing the same shouldn't matter, is an inaccurate comparison. I don't think any of us here would compare ourselves to the good folks working in the Sea World coral reef section, nor should we; and if I can accurately compare my knowledge and experience to the folks running AA, then they shouldn't be running a public aquarium. Hence my earlier point about the need for degreed and experienced biologists and zoologists on staff.

2. Cycling with a fish is unnecessary and cruel. Declawing a cat or snipping the vocal cords of a dog is also cruel. People do all these things, and they do it for the same reason: convenience. It's the same reason we go to McDonald's or Whataburger even though we know it's horrible for us, it's the same reason I can't be bothered to put on sunscreen even when I'm outside at marching rehearsal for 4 hrs every afternoon (and yes, I know it's stupid, but there you go). I'm not passing judgment on anyone for doing it, and I have no knowledge of whether it's less cruel in freshwater than saltwater (because I've never kept freshwater beyond a goldfish when I was in college), but we know that there are better ways to cycle saltwater tanks. And I do think that we should reasonably be able to HOPE that an organization that purports to be educational in nature would use the most humane methods currently available.

3. I have no idea where this talk of burning bridges came from, but it's incendiary and off-topic. I would LOVE for there to be a fantastic public aquarium in Austin; it would save me driving to Sea World, which I never seem to have time to do. I would love for my friends, students and coworkers to know what it is I'm talking about when I say I keep saltwater reef tanks. I just want to know that when I send friends and family there, I can do so knowing the husbandry is of a high quality. If they are truly looking out for the best interests of the animals, they won't mind that we are doing the same.

Thanks for all your work on this, Richard!

I don't believe octopi exist.

Pot stirrer...

An oldie but goodie - and hopefully less controversial than the last thread I started...

http://sciencefriday.com/video/08/05/2011/where-s-the-octopus.html#path/video/08/05/2011/where-s-the-octopus.html

I'd be up to get in on a group order, though I'm usually only good for $20-40. Deadline?

EMT

You can put the extra live rock in buckets with water. As long as there is a powerhead in the bucket, the rock will be fine.

FWIW, if you have an ATO on the 20 and it's in a climate controlled area of the building, the tank will go a week at a time without a problem. Once a week you'd need to feed the inhabitants and refill the ATO. Although, between summer school and the fact the band only takes about 5-6 weeks off, it seems to me like you'd be able to access it pretty regularly.

http://www.petco.com/product/104922/Petco-Water-Bottles-for-Small-Animals.aspx?CoreCat=MM_SmallAnimalSupplies_DishesFeedersWaterers

It's one of these, unfortunately the wire cage is not shown but you can get an idea of the process to set it up. I had the biggest one (which usually lasted 6-7 days) and when I moved this summer it wouldn't fit properly in the new space, so now I have one of the smaller ones and it last about 3 days.