melev

An official check in to let you know I'm still around... I'm always around actually. I don't start new blogs up too often because a lot of people are subscribed to my blog and don't want to clutter up their inbox with minor chatter. I do check the blogs daily to see what you are posting, and if there's any SPAM to deal with. Reef Addicts is about to get another software update. It's already set up on a test site now, awaiting a little time to make sure all is running as it should.

September's MACNA kept me very very busy, and October was almost as busy filling orders resulting from the show. Sumps have been built, shipped, picked up and delivered. One was a huge install, and that will be a future article because there is value in knowing what you are dealing with when replacing current gear with new gear. The write up is a work in progress, and I'll have plenty of pictures. I've been busy with SCUBA classes, so check the front page if you've not seen the latest articles yet. In 10 days, I'm off to Glen Rose to do my open water dives, and then around Thanksgiving I'm in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii. This is my first trip to Hawaii, and I'm excited to go. Jessy shipped me her GoPro 2 to use, so I'll have some video to share, but this is family time together, not a dive trip per se.

No news on the 400g, but frankly I'd prefer if it arrived after my vacation. December is perfectly fine, and with that in place on the steel stand, aquascaped and full of water, then I can move the livestock over. I have a 60g cube aquarium in the back of my vehicle which will house the anemones and clownfish. The 400g will be a mixed reef again, without anemones burning an area of corals. The 60g will be tied into the same water so filtration will be the same as what is in place now.

I tried out the medical grade dosing pump last month at the suggestion of a recent visitor, but within 24 hours it had chewed its way through the tubing I didn't trust. I'm going to have to find some dialysis tubing, probably. Lance, another club member, used RO/DI tubing before and after his dosing pump and that sounds like a great option, especially since I have so much of it.

During MACNA, I had a special RO/DI system hooked up at the Sheraton to provide water for all the vendors that wanted to top off their tanks with RO/DI water. After the show, it was boxed up and sat unused. Not wanting that stagnant water to breed bacteria within, I hooked it up. My personal RO/DI system is probably approaching two years old, so I ran this one to decide if I wanted to use the new one for myself and sell the old one as a used unit. The new one has double membranes and the pressure gauge is brighter. Once it was tied into the red tubing, I turned it on and wow was it quick. Then I thought, "what if I ran both at once side by side to refill the 265g poly tank?" and I turned my utility room into a science project. The flow literally made 'my cup runneth over.'

I have to say I'm so impressed, especially after I watched it produce ~250g of water in 14 hours. That's more than 16 gph, compared to the usual 36 to 48 hours I've experienced previously. For now, it is still on the washer or dryer in my way, where I have to move it back and forth during laundry time, but I'm relatively sure I'm going to affix the second one to the wall have just have faster on-demand water. Call me spoiled.

Regarding the newer version of my other site, it's still in a holding pattern but I hope to get that resolved as well in the coming weeks. The biggest hurdle has been the fedex shipping module that isn't adding up the rates correctly. Since I ship almost all of my wares, it has to work correctly before I can flip that switch.

My reef is doing well over all, although the big maze coral got nuked by the rose BTA. Over 50% is gone, but you never know if some of the tissue survives to the point that it regrows new tissue once more. I've watched other corals do so, and I'm just going to leave it alone. The yellow tangs are fat and happy, and Spock constantly watches to see if I'm nearby. The Skimmer Swabbie's motor had to be replaced after nearly two years in operation, but the new motor started making noise and stopped rotating. I took a peek at it, didn't know what to do with it, and shipped the entire lid to Avast Marine for them to figure it out. I still had the original Euroreef lid, so I'm using that for the time being. I have a new I/O breakout box for the Apex, but haven't used it yet and don't even know what I'd connect to it at the moment. A friend got one for each of us when he ordered recently. The frag tank is doing very well, don't worry I still have plenty of valonia in case you were worried. hehe The Acans look amazing, and have really grown in the past year. They will look stunning in the 400g 2.0.

Daylight Savings Time just kicked in today, and while all my clocks are wrong or blinking, it automatically made the correction and the lights are on the same schedule that I want. After a very long week, it was nice to just enjoy the lazy day and recover... including taking a nap.

I want to thank you reef addicts for the posts you make, and the way you do so. We never have drama, and this allows us to enjoy the exchange of information freely. As we head into the colder months, I'd predict our blogs will pick up more steam as does our hobby when we are trying to stay cozy while tinkering in our tanks. Most of us are lucky; many tanks were surely lost during Hurricane Sandy due to the extended power outages. Those that lost their entire homes to wind, fire, trees or flooding have way worse concerns to deal with, with another storm looming ahead.