Blog Comments

You really need to get these freight guys to give you a break as you are doing more and more. That sump style seems to be over taking the model F nowadays :-)

That criss-cross idea sounds like a great idea. I'll get that done. Limiting the chain length should hopefully prevent the trailer from slamming into the back of the vehicle, suspending it as you said - right?

The trailer hitch system connected to the bumper has two loops. The safety chains were hooked on those steel loops, but with the bouncing it must have made them break free. One was bent wide open, the other looked pretty close to normal. I'm planning on looking at each point to see what needs to be replaced to avoid this in the future.

Wow...very luck...could have been much worse.

A friend of mine with whom I used to camp and hunt, who's quite a bit older than I (sort of like a second dad), taught me a neat little method to avoid the trailer tongue hitting the ground and to be able to keep the trailer somewhat under control, should it ever come off the ball or the ball come away from the hitch. If you cross the chains under the tongue, with the chains long enough that they don't impede turning, but short enough that they don't drag on the ground and connect the chains to the part that is mounted to the vehicle, the chains will catch the trailer tongue and cradle it until you can bring the vehicle safely to a stop.

Just a general FYI to anyone out there that may need to haul a trailer from time to time.

Not to imply that you didn't have your trailer chains hooked this way. Sometimes freak things happen (like the whole hitch coming off).

Glad everyone was okay.

No, that's all yours. I used it to protect the 400g during our storms, but for you it's just additional padding. You can use the tiedown straps for future stuff as well. I'll send you an email with tracking number - it will be in your area on Wednesday or Thursday.

It's 385 lbs of filtration.

wow. weird that the safety chains don't attach to the vehicle. Looks like in this case, that was the better option!

Im so glad your ok!

Oh, by the way are you gonna need that tarp back Marc?

I have a 300 g tank, it will be running two reeflo darts reef dynamics skimmer, nextreef reactors, calcium reactor, and carbon. The acrylic hinges look awesome, I didn't realize they were produced.

Wow Marc, so the pin came out or broke? Do your chains not hook to the vehicle, instead hooking to the drop down hitch? On most vehicles I have had there were two points of failure needed for that to happen. I am glad the trailer is still in good shape and that no other cars or people were injured including you and your passenger.

what size Marineland tank is it going under?
and do you have any specs or dimensions of the sump and equipment thats being used on it?
(i always ask, because i like to compare it o what i have and know whats a good option for future upgrades) or to replace my current setup.
thanks!
and looks great!
(and amazing shipping again)

I get them from my supplier Phil. It's a really clean look on those ATO Reservoirs.

Nice! I like the long refugium section. Where did you find the acrylic hinges? Or did you make them too, there pretty cool.

OK, I'll add that to my list. I was looking at a 40mm AF-S for aquarium macro work. My camera came with an 18-55mm. I played around with it a bit last night, but didn't get any good aquarium shots. I definitly need a better tripod first and formost.

I have a Nikkor 105 AF/S lens. Does great when I pull out the tripod.

OK, one more photography question. I remember a couple years back you mentioned you'd gotten a new macro lens you really liked for reef photography, what was it again?

Thanks.
Phil

P.S. My D5100 will be delivered any minute now.

Purely familiarity. I'm sure if I stuck with CS5 I'd get used to it like I did 7.0.

From familiarity, or is there something you don't like about the newer versions? (I'll looking at getting CS6.0).

Phil

It wasn't really luck. Project SECORE is where some divers arrive during spawning season to capture the eggs and sperm in fine nets to settle out on frag disks. The corals grow out from that point, without taking any corals from the reef. Mitch Carl is one of the primaries on this project, I believe. Each year, they do more and this was from one of their dives.

PS 7.0 - I like it because I'm able to find the stuff I use frequently. I have CS4 and CS5, but default to 7.0 almost exclusively.