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mFrame

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Blog Entries posted by mFrame

  1. mFrame
    Sept 13, 2012
    I've had my 90g tank for just over 3 years. Though I've loved it, and loved having it set up as a peninsula tank between my living room and breakfast nook, there have been some things I haven't liked about it.
    I custom built the stand for it and always expected to have a matching 2' wide X 7' tall accessory cabinet to go along with the tank to hold all my reefing equipment/tools/controllers/etc. So we left a 2' gap between the tank and the wall. Focus on the tank took priority over woodworking, and then a family heirloom 2' butcher block table ended up filling that gap. It's constantly cluttered with reef equipment, food, wires, and salt overspray. I credit the abuse the table is taking with my wife okaying me to upgrade the 90g to my new 226g, as long as "we can rescue the butcher block and not have a gap between the tank and the wall" she said. That gave me plenty of room to play.
    So our new story begins...
    I was able to pick up a great custom aquarium stand from a member here. It's solid oak, 7' x 2' x 36" tall.
    - read the original post 226g Build Thread
  2. mFrame
    Nov 5, 2009 (copied from our original entries at http://livingroomreef.blogspot.com/)
    So with my habit firmly in check, I convinced Laura that we needed a bigger aquarium and that it would be the perfect opportunity to finish the aquarium stand that I started building almost six years ago. In my last house I had a 29g freshwater aquarium much like our current setup but had decided to upgrade it to a 75g tank. Live got in the way, though, and after cutting out most of the pieces for the new stand I ended up shelving all the pieces without assembling them. Apartment life and fish aquariums don't make good partners so the pieces languished away in three garages before finally seeing the light of day again this past June.
    Ah, the clash of hobbies. If I'd know when we bought are new larger aqaurium that it would take me almost five months to finish the stand I probably would have just bought one at the same time. Instead, I'm now happy to unveil our new 100% Michael Frame, hand-made, cherry and oak aquarium stand.
  3. mFrame
    April 23, 2009 (copied from our original entries at http://livingroomreef.blogspot.com/)
    After diving the Great Barrier Reef on our honeymoon last month, we've decided to get back into aquariums. Stephen is handling the tropical fish side and beginning his experiment with breeding Blue Rams. Meanwhile we've been working on setting up a 29g (30x12x18) reef aquarium in our living room. We got a great deal on it used from craigslist, and it came with a stand and Emperor 400 filter.
    So far we have painted the back blue (outside of course), installed a Tunze powerhead, and added 15 lbs of live sand and 15 lbs of live rock. We hope to add more rock this weekend to the tank and some rubble into the Emperor (it's acting as our fuge). After allowing the aquarium to cycle, next on the list is lighting, a battery backup to deal with power outages, and introducing our cleaning crew. 
    Follow along as we try to establish our own little section of the great reefs of the world. 
  4. mFrame

    Where it started

    By mFrame,

    Like many of us I had my first aquarium as a kid.  Fish from Walmart or local fish stores were the norm, but usually fell away due to neglect.  I got back in the hobby around 1998 running an African cichlid tank.  That lasted for about four years, and I miss the days of hitting all the fish stores in Austin to pick up new fish and exotic plecos (one of my favorites).  I was always too nervous about running marine tanks due to the perceived complexity.  
    That all changed several years later when I dated a woman who was running two small saltwater tanks in her apartment. I saw the tanks and loved them.  Conversations with her, and a subsequent MAAST meeting held in South Austin that we attended together, convinced me to give it a go.  I bought a 6g eclipse and was sure I would run it as saltwater.  Uncontrolled temps lead to failure, but I now wasn't intimidated to try again.
    Jump ahead to 2009.  I had gotten married in 2008, and we went to New Zealand and Australia on our honeymoon the following Spring. We scuba dove for the first time on the Great Barrier reef, and I knew when we got back that I had to have a piece of the reef at home.  My wife agreed, and we bought a 29g tank that occupied one corner of our living room.  I spent every night up to my elbows in the tank, moving things, adding corals, and generally disturbing everything.  
    The little tank quickly became crowded, and I think within about 6 months we planned the upgrade to our 90g tank.  The obsession grew, and in the meantime I took over running the Austin Reef Club.  As I met more members and saw more tanks I felt an upgrade was in order.  I convinced my wife that if she let me upgrade the big tank that I would get rid of several smaller ones around the house.  She agreed, and we ordered the 230.
    In the next few posts I'll replay the various tanks I had to get me up to the current day, and hopefully I'll keep this maintained from this point on.  Hope you enjoy the ride (and learn from some of the various mistakes I've made).
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