DIY projects

I want to start by thanking melev (Marc) for a great plumbing article and the follow up comments as well for helping me plan and begin the plumbing on my tank (finally).

Marc's article can be found here: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...o-it-correctly

Here's the tank and sump on the stand (yeah).


Here's most of the plumbing parts. Some of you will notice there's a single union ball valve in ...

I want to keep my project moving forward, but as I said in my last post the oil base floor and utility enamel is taking a long time to dry. Fortunately, I learned my lesson and started painting without thinning first. When I painted the remainder of the stand, it dried much faster and I've been able to get two good coats on the top and sides. I plan on moving ahead with the plumbing this week prior to putting the second coat on the underside of the stand.

For tonight, I decided to move ...

A very busy work week and cooler temperatures have slowed progress to a crawl this week.

On Monday I got the top on the stand frame and lifted the tank into place for a trial. I wanted to confirm the height would be about what I'd thought and get the wife's approval. Here's a picture of the tank on the frame with my wife (5'2") standing next to it. I thought I'd also gotten a picture with the sump in place once I'd completed the lower platform, but I can't find it now.
...

It is always a challenge to add new fish to an established reef, primarily because of territorial issues. Each fish in the tank has already picked out their favorite haunt, and they are not prepared to share space with a newcomer. As hobbyists, we always try to come up with ways that might work: dump them in and pray, add them after lights out, introduce many at once (shock and awe), or put them in a section divided off from the rest of the reef.

Several years ago, a friend of mine ...

For anyone who has not read any of my most recent posts (though most recent may still be a couple months old) I have been fighting with Caulerpa Toxifica and hair algae. I have done frequent water changes, water parameters check out good (with a test kit but I will hit on this subject again later), lighting is a few months old so still within spectrum, and I am close to hair falling out over the stress this is causing me lol. So now that everyone is caught up here is my thought process.
...