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Suggestions for temp housing of tank inmates :)

malulu

NJRC Member
Carlo,

thanks for the kind words. we are ok now, but still thinking of her (Cindy) from time to time... hope you can hold on and back to normal soon.

-David
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Carlo, Sounds like you've had one heck of a Wednesday. My deepest sympathies to you and your family for your loss. 70's too young.

My brother was arrested for DUI after blacking out while driving. Turns out he had a problem with some blood vessels on his brain that required brain surgery to correct. He's fine now, but if they hadn't found it when they did he may not be alive today. If you're not sure why you passed out make sure you get tested every which way.
 
I'm still waiting for things to get better. Seems my "bad streak" is still going pretty strong.

The day of the viewing and my closing I found out at the closing that the amounts they gave me were not correct and I had to go back to the bank to get another certified check. Got the check and when walking out of the bank I got hit by a car backing up. Mind you I was walking and not in a car. Messed up my right knee. Because I needed to get the closing finished and get right to the funeral home I couldn't get it checked out. Found out on Wednesday I might need surgery on my knee (tendons).

I finally got in my new house Wednesday evening and got my Internet and TV service turned on today. I check my email for the first time in a few days and find out one of my largest vendors stuck me for over $150K which I won't go into. Worse yet is that half that amount is owed to customers of mine which I still need to pay to "save face" so I'll be out about $225K in a month. Maybe God is telling me to cancel the Lambo order and get back what I can on it. :)

Man I thought things were bad when the corals died! I wish that was all.

I hate to see what's coming next but I think I'm at the point where I can just about handle anything anyone decides to throw my way. I've always been an optimist but this last week I'm turning pessimistic! Atleast I don't stress at stuff or I'd probably have had a heart attack by now. :)

On the bright side of things. I got my dog back. It's my weekend with the kids. My dad is going to visit for a couple of days. The house is coming along pretty good as I'm getting things unpacked. I've got water filtering for the new 265 tank I set up and so far the 30 fish in the 44 gallon tank are pretty healthly and eating well. It's funny but I've had less of a nitrate problem in the 44 with a light dusting of sand as I did with 300lbs of liverock in the 120 with the crushed coral (bad stuff as far a nitrates and phosphates go). No question about it but I'm going very, very light on the sand bed (1-2mm) in any new tanks I setup.

I'll be starting to pick up some corals again soon so if anyone is fragging or you see any nice pieces (mixed tanks) let me know the lfs.

Thanks for the kind words and support,
Carlo
 
I did look at that thread a couple of times and have almost said sold but my problem is that I think I want to wait about a week until I get the plumbing done on one of the 265 tanks. Since I'm not in the apartment anymore I really want to do this setup better and utilize the basement. So I'm planning on having a few tanks feed/overflow into the basement where I'll house all the "central" equipment.

I've got a bunch of powerheads so I'll just use them for circulation until I get around to working a closed loop into the system. I thought about drilling additional holes in the 265 for a CL but decided I don't want to wait. :) I was thinking of utilizing the 2 corner overflow areas and putting a mag pump in each corner with PVC pipe and building the closed loop that way. I could easily retrofit/drop it into the tank and experiment to get the circulation where I want/need it with the tank full of water. The only downfall I see to this approach is that it might be too much "draw" on the overflows. If so I could move the pump out of the overflow area and draw the water from the main tank or even go over the back with 1 or 1.5 inch PVC. I'll figure that out later. :)

I'm still unpacking and have a lot more unpacking to do but it's killing me to look at the empty tanks! I've got water going through the RO/DI unit right now filling up brute trashcans but I only have about 100 gallons so far. My "target" is to get the tanks up and running on Easter Sunday which will be a new milestone for me and hopefully a change of luck. Easter is my favorite holiday so I can't think of a better way to celebrate "new life" under the circumstances then to officially get the new reef systems up and running on that special day.

Yesterday, my 2 kids, Dad and I went to All Aqautics. I purchsed several nice corals which they are holding for me. If you go there you'll see "Carlo" all over the tanks. :) I plan on taking a trip down to ILC on Saturday and picking up some more corals from Ed. I still have the 120 running in the Garage (fixed heater electric/voltage problem) so I'll house the corals there for a day to kick off the new tank on Easter. My kids are excited beyond my imagination at the new setup and my 72 year old Dad is getting into it too. My Dad has a nice koi pond so I wasn't surprised that he liked the marine fish but he's getting into the corals now too. He's been asking me if I have any "extra" tanks laying around so I think he's getting hooked!

Carlo
 

malulu

NJRC Member
seems exciting...!!

i - myself also, many times - wanted to post to that thread as sold!! but, i just don't have time to hang feed those corals everyday... (it is not easy to control the buying urge!!)
 
Yea, tell me about it! Problem for me is that I CAN'T CONTROL it. Every time I walked into ILC I'd pick up half a dozen corals (or so). Same with a couple of other stores. I did this right up to the time I had absolutely no room in my main display tank or refugium which became a make shift "frag" and small softy tank. I finally stopped buying when there was no room left at all. At the time I wasn't worried about growout space since I expected to move them into other tanks within weeks but that is in the past now.

At least I have plenty of room now and get to do it over again! :)

Carlo
 

malulu

NJRC Member
well, just keep buying - if that make you happy!!!
;D

hopefully we can see you start to selling some cool frags when they grow too fast during some monthty meeting later on...
;)
 
Yea, I'll love to be at that point! I was just about there before the loss with some of my corals.

I think I'll probably buy enough corals to fill maybe 1/4 to 1/3 the tank and do frags for the rest and let them grow out. I'm impulsive so when I see a "must have" coral I typically purchase it so you never know. I guess it depends on the amount of frags I can get off fellow members too.

Time will tell.

I've got about 15 nice corals either being held at stores or that I've bought off fellow members but haven't picked up yet so I'm on my way. Now if I only had the plumbing done and had the rock and water in the tank I'd be in good shape. :)

Carlo
 
I'm off to court at 12:30 today for the charges mentioned in the above thread. Wish me luck as I'm going to need it. :( Hopefully I will only loose my license for 3 months and not up to the 24 months that is possible! Man this stinks.

Carlo
 
Good luck! If there's one thing I've learned over the years is you don't win in municiple court, you just sometimes lose less.
 
Not waiting any longer. After talking to the prosecutor 5 tickets were dropped and only the DWI stuck since I agreed to plead no contest. I got the minimum 3 months for it.

Since my car was totalled I turned in the rental today so I do try and sneak a drive in to the store or something. I don't need that headache and 3 months isn't so bad. At least it's good bicycle riding weather (for now).

Carlo

PS if anyone plans on any trips to ILC or Aquarium Center over the next 3 months and will be passing through Bordentown to get there, give me a headsup and I'll go for a ride with you. :)
 

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
Let me know when you want to go I'll give you a ride. Don't drive what ever you do. that would be a stupid move.
 
Carlo

Glad things worked out OK with this one.

The important thing is that you, or no one else, got hurt.

Things happen, mistakes are made and the best thing is to move on a learn from it.

I spent about 2 hours at your house that night I dropped the corals off. You have a beautiful home, a sweet tank setup and you are one hell of a nice guy. Not to mention your kids are adorable.

Take the no driving opportunity to stay at home and finish up the odds & ends on the tank. And dont forget to invite me over to see the finished product...you promised! (and I will take a ride in the Lambo once its ordered)

Josh
 
Thanks guys for the support. Yep I got off pretty easy all things considered. It almost seemed like the Judge "felt sorry" for everything that happened leading up to the tickets. For whatever it's worth he also made sure the record showed the DWI wasn't due to alcohol but a combination of prescription medications, over-the-counter medications and 1.5 beers combined with no sleep for 3 days and a pending death of an immediate family member.

He gave me the absolute minimum fines and penalties on everything. So things overall went as good as they could have went all things considered.

Since my accident I've been driving a rental car. It's being picked up today so I won't have a vehicle. I figured the best way to not "sneak a drive" in while suspended is to not have a car. Can't drive what you don't have! Otherwise the temptation might be too great. I can handle not driving for 3 months.

Josh, about 3 weeks ago when I knew my license was going to be suspended I checked with my insurance agent to see what the premiums were going to look like on the Lambo. They went through the roof. I was told that after 2 years of restoration they would fall to more normal levels and after 3 years would be the same as now (with 0 points). Because of this I cancelled the order on the Lambo and got a full refund since it hadn't went to production yet. The insurance on a non "exotic" car wouldn't change however (go figure) as that is covered by the NJ Insurance Surcharge program ($1000 a year for 3 years). I'll just find a normal car and go with that for a couple until the rates are normal again. It's the least of my "worries" right now and the money could surely be used for something else anyway (and probably should have been)!

The corals I got from you are still in QT but doing very well. I've got 15 or so fish in the 265 with another 10 in QT at present. After this bunch of fish get though QT there is another 15 or so waiting for QT (in 44g holding tank) before going into the 265. I've also got another 10 corals or so in QT (3 more weeks) destined for the 265 as well as a bunch of frags I got from Ed last week.

All the plumbing and equipment is up and running really well now (fixed those pesky couple of pain-in-the-but leaks) except for the trigger tank which is still in the garage. I was planning on moving it into the house this last weekend but my dad got a slight hernia and couldn't help me move it. I'll get somebody to help me move it at some point and then I can get it hooked into the rest of the system and setup with more live rock, fish, etc...

It's all coming together quite nicely and I'm taking my time and trying to do things right this time around. One thing is for sure, it's much easier to do things right when everything isn't squished together under the stand and you have room to work!

Carlo
 
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