175g Bow-Front + many beers and tears (many pics)
- Thread starter scmountain
- Start date
We had a blast at Reefstock! My wife has always liked the fish aspect of this hobby more so than the corals, so to see her excited about corals was awesome!
It was great to see some of you there and share a beer or two. Nerding out and learning so much is always done best when you are wearing a fish head!
Picked up several items but there were 3 things on our list before we entered the building.
A gold torch has been on our list for months... The two working the booth originally quoted a price that had us pull the trigger, but then when they rang it up, they said "uhhh... oops... that was a slip up haha" I was pretty peeved, but seeing that they weren't the owner and this is all to support the hobby, we didn't press the point. I think the fact they laughed at their mistake vs apologizing brought me back to my days of being a retail manager.
I bring this up more as a teaching tool. If they say 1 price, and it is a good price, buy right then, don't keep looking at other frags in the tank!
From Aquatic Art
The wife LOVES plate corals... Reef-licious out of NM. These guys were super fun to hang out with and had some awesome corals.
lastly... The pic says it all!!!
Eating ramen for the rest of the year but so worth it!
It was great to see some of you there and share a beer or two. Nerding out and learning so much is always done best when you are wearing a fish head!
Picked up several items but there were 3 things on our list before we entered the building.
A gold torch has been on our list for months... The two working the booth originally quoted a price that had us pull the trigger, but then when they rang it up, they said "uhhh... oops... that was a slip up haha" I was pretty peeved, but seeing that they weren't the owner and this is all to support the hobby, we didn't press the point. I think the fact they laughed at their mistake vs apologizing brought me back to my days of being a retail manager.
I bring this up more as a teaching tool. If they say 1 price, and it is a good price, buy right then, don't keep looking at other frags in the tank!
From Aquatic Art
The wife LOVES plate corals... Reef-licious out of NM. These guys were super fun to hang out with and had some awesome corals.
lastly... The pic says it all!!!
Eating ramen for the rest of the year but so worth it!
We had a blast at Reefstock! My wife has always liked the fish aspect of this hobby more so than the corals, so to see her excited about corals was awesome!
It was great to see some of you there and share a beer or two. Nerding out and learning so much is always done best when you are wearing a fish head!
Picked up several items but there were 3 things on our list before we entered the building.
A gold torch has been on our list for months... The two working the booth originally quoted a price that had us pull the trigger, but then when they rang it up, they said "uhhh... oops... that was a slip up haha" I was pretty peeved, but seeing that they weren't the owner and this is all to support the hobby, we didn't press the point. I think the fact they laughed at their mistake vs apologizing brought me back to my days of being a retail manager.
I bring this up more as a teaching tool. If they say 1 price, and it is a good price, buy right then, don't keep looking at other frags in the tank!
From Aquatic Art
The wife LOVES plate corals... Reef-licious out of NM. These guys were super fun to hang out with and had some awesome corals.
lastly... The pic says it all!!!
Eating ramen for the rest of the year but so worth it!
It was great to see some of you there and share a beer or two. Nerding out and learning so much is always done best when you are wearing a fish head!
Picked up several items but there were 3 things on our list before we entered the building.
A gold torch has been on our list for months... The two working the booth originally quoted a price that had us pull the trigger, but then when they rang it up, they said "uhhh... oops... that was a slip up haha" I was pretty peeved, but seeing that they weren't the owner and this is all to support the hobby, we didn't press the point. I think the fact they laughed at their mistake vs apologizing brought me back to my days of being a retail manager.
I bring this up more as a teaching tool. If they say 1 price, and it is a good price, buy right then, don't keep looking at other frags in the tank!
From Aquatic Art
The wife LOVES plate corals... Reef-licious out of NM. These guys were super fun to hang out with and had some awesome corals.
lastly... The pic says it all!!!
Eating ramen for the rest of the year but so worth it!
Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk
So I picked up the trident after talking with Terence from Neptune Sytems, he wanted to sell full kits. Trident, Apex, etc, etc...
After a lengthy discussion, I was able to get him to break down one of the "kits" but I had to buy the ATK with the trident (he also threw in a 2 month supply of reagents.) all for less than what the tridents are going for on Ebay. I think the real negotiation power came from me wearing the Nemo head hahaha not sure how he could keep a straight face the whole time!
Set up the trident so it can start to find my baseline numbers for about a week before I worry about dosing.
in the meantime, I couldn't stand the horrid cable mess I had for my Apex. So I built a cabinet for it.
APEX Cabinet build
Measured my wall-space and then headed to Goodwill looking for a glass picture frame that would be the right size and I could use for my "door"
found a perfect one for $5. It was slightly smaller than my maximum limit by an inch or 2.
Next, I laid out the template pieces for my build to confirm the size would work
Built the cabinet in the "total depth" so I could float the back panel with enough room for cords behind it. (I was too lazy to make mitered joints since I was using construction grade lumber)
panel fits in with 1" behind it for cord hiding
ensured the frame/door fit the cabinet
double-checking the fitment and marking out holes, I must admit the templates were quite useful with recommended clearances and other good tips!
Shot it black to really hide the cords as best I could. I kinda wanted to do accents colors to make it "cool," but the sole purpose of this is to hide black wires... so I painted it rubberized black for the maximum cord camo. All measurements seemed to be on the mark so install was easy
Laslty, installed the door
I am making a wire "loom" for all the cords coming out of the bottom and going into the sump. I am not finished but it's getting there, I still have to run the dos tubing once I set them up. The damn ATK came with such short cords I know I will end up splicing in and soldering longer pieces, but that is the last thing I want to do!
After a lengthy discussion, I was able to get him to break down one of the "kits" but I had to buy the ATK with the trident (he also threw in a 2 month supply of reagents.) all for less than what the tridents are going for on Ebay. I think the real negotiation power came from me wearing the Nemo head hahaha not sure how he could keep a straight face the whole time!
Set up the trident so it can start to find my baseline numbers for about a week before I worry about dosing.
in the meantime, I couldn't stand the horrid cable mess I had for my Apex. So I built a cabinet for it.
APEX Cabinet build
Measured my wall-space and then headed to Goodwill looking for a glass picture frame that would be the right size and I could use for my "door"
found a perfect one for $5. It was slightly smaller than my maximum limit by an inch or 2.
Next, I laid out the template pieces for my build to confirm the size would work
Built the cabinet in the "total depth" so I could float the back panel with enough room for cords behind it. (I was too lazy to make mitered joints since I was using construction grade lumber)
panel fits in with 1" behind it for cord hiding
ensured the frame/door fit the cabinet
double-checking the fitment and marking out holes, I must admit the templates were quite useful with recommended clearances and other good tips!
Shot it black to really hide the cords as best I could. I kinda wanted to do accents colors to make it "cool," but the sole purpose of this is to hide black wires... so I painted it rubberized black for the maximum cord camo. All measurements seemed to be on the mark so install was easy
Laslty, installed the door
I am making a wire "loom" for all the cords coming out of the bottom and going into the sump. I am not finished but it's getting there, I still have to run the dos tubing once I set them up. The damn ATK came with such short cords I know I will end up splicing in and soldering longer pieces, but that is the last thing I want to do!
New phone and I still cant take good tank shots...
What started with 1 large RBTA... is now about 3 feet of 3 massive coral murdering, walking, nightmares
a little further out, and you see 3(4 total) other nems on the right. Rainbow nems that hitchhiked into my tank and continue to multiply
Most of my main rock structures I pre-assembled with rods and epoxy, so moving rock is pretty much impossible.
The big nem was fine for months, and then one day boom! I have messed with flow and lighting too many times. I have accepted my fate and now will just try to give Mural a run for his money hah
What started with 1 large RBTA... is now about 3 feet of 3 massive coral murdering, walking, nightmares
a little further out, and you see 3(4 total) other nems on the right. Rainbow nems that hitchhiked into my tank and continue to multiply
Most of my main rock structures I pre-assembled with rods and epoxy, so moving rock is pretty much impossible.
The big nem was fine for months, and then one day boom! I have messed with flow and lighting too many times. I have accepted my fate and now will just try to give Mural a run for his money hah