Thank you Bobby and Veriann!
Thanks for the umbrella to keep the black bird of misfortune from, ahem, you get the picture.
I looked in my cabinet and I've got a small leak going on from one/ or both of the bulk heads again. Not sure if my trying to repair the tower changed the pressure and caused the leak again or not. No, the guy from the
LFS was here the whole time (3 hours 1 day to do the plumbing and came back a few days later and primed it and let it run for 1.5 hours) and saw the water running down the main drain line from the bulk heads and just added some glue and said that it's normal for them to leak for a while and it was ok because it was running straight into the
fuge. (Oh yeah, I really believed that one and Toto don't like doggy biscuits either.) He said that the salt build up would seal the leak and that he would come back the next day or day after that to make sure everything was fine as he couldn't do anything else that day as it was getting late. You know the scenario, you call, complain, etc. Just beating a dead horse at this point. Thank you for telling me about the gutter guard and egg crate. I'll zip out tomorrow and pick some up. I am thinking that if I can continue to do improvements to my tank, the more confident I will feel and more comfortable. After all, I did make my own mixture of sand for my
DSB and feel good about my aquascaping job.
I had another question also. The top of my tank is reinforced all the way around with a center cross bar also. I thought about cutting 2 clear plates (plexiglass or some other medium) as a cover to cut down on evaporation. I also thought about taking the last 3" on each piece and cutting ventilation holes that would run the width of the sheet to let air still circulate and not hold too much heat. What are your thoughts on this or other suggestions? And if so, what thickness? I do not have a lighting system into play yet as I am still planning out what type of environment I'd like to create for corals and the types I would like to keep. (deep water, tide pools, shallow reef, etc.. As you can see there are still many decisions that I must make yet and I know that my lighting set up will play a major impact on how my tank handles heat from lighting. I also know that using a cover with my lighting when I get it will have it's output cut due to having to penetrate this medium and will alter the spectrum of light, or light that enters the tank and also that reachs the bottom of the tank. (Or at least that is my miniscule understanding of all the informative documentation that I have had the oportunity to read.)
I have a camera, not a good camera, but it's all I have so beggers can't be choosy, especially when they are spending every extra dime they have building a tropical paridise with 145g of salt water.
Nothing like wearing headgear with magnifying glasses with your head pressed up to the glass of your tank just staring into that paridise for hours. Makes people really worry about you sometimes.
I'll try to post some pics soon of the
DT and the S/F. My cabinet turned out nice I thought. I bought an oak kitchen base cabinet and had a carpenter reinforce
the interior with braces to support the extra large weight load. I came out $200 cheaper than what the
LFS tried to sell me so I am very pleased.
And hello Carmie Jo! I live on the coast, Charleston. If I had to move away from the ocean I would dry up and blow away. There is a reefers club, but it's sponcered by guess who? Needless to say, we won't be going there.
