The 180gal Family Project

[nikkipigtails]

The tank didn't get drilled this weekend. Mark ordered the drillbit on Monday and it was supposed to be here by Thursday, but it never came in. He's supposed to be checking on it today to see what the deal is. In the meantime, I'm going to finish the sump this week. We bought a Nautilus skimmer with a mag-7 so I'll have to get that cleaned up too. I'll keep everything posted.

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by BarbMazz

[color=#9932cc]And, yeah, I'm sure the Man Reefing thing is geographical. There's very little reefing around here, and what there is, is man dominated. The times John and I are at a store the talk is always directed at him. He'll point to me and say "talk to her, I don't know anything about this stuff". But the attitude is there with the LFS staff.

LOL...that's what Tommy's started doing. He's figured out that he can't BS his way through a lot of it. It's easier to just say "talk to her".

[BarbMazz]

Originally Posted by nikkipigtails

LOL...that's what Tommy's started doing. He's figured out that he can't BS his way through a lot of it. It's easier to just say "talk to her".

An interesting thing happened here Saturday. There were four guys (including John) working in the basement... three on aquarium stuff. Time came to lay out the vinyl flooring so John calls me over. One thing that comes easily to me is pattern stuff; maps, architectural drawings, etc. so I can immediately see they have the flooring laying the wrong way. I tell them it needs to be turned, so they turn it. And they decide that I'm wrong.

They turn it back and I am ignored. I know I'm right, but I am out-numbered by all the Man Smarts crammed into a little space s they won't listen to me anymore, even though I continue to try to make my point. Okay. Whatever. This is in the basement so I don't REALLY care, other than by now I'm feeling pretty insulted.

Yesterday, John and I go to lay out the second piece, and he's talking to me like I'm an idiot once again. I set him straight, very nicely. Once the second piece is down he sees I am exactly correct, and while the floor looks perfectly fine, it's 1-1/2 feet short of where we wanted it to fall. Had they listened to me on Sat. it would have been exactly how we wanted it.

He told me it was my fault that I didn't press my point more the day before. I would have had to shriek like a shrew to make my point and I wasn't about to do that, at least in front of those other three guys. I thought maybe the guy who's known me for 30 years would have stopped and paid attention for a second because he KNOWS that I know this kind of stuff really, really well. But, I guess because there was a PACK of them doing Man Stuff that he just couldn't hear me?

Sorry for this horribly long ramble about nothing, but it's in the little details that explains exactly what happens in these instances! If I had forced my point I would have been called a ***** for sure, even though I was correct!

[nikkipigtails]

LOL...luckily Tommy listens to me when I interject. It's just making him and whoever is talking shut up long enough to interject. I think that the more Tommy starts to help with the biuld the more he realizes that I know what I'm talking about so he needs to listen in order to keep from getting in over his head by himself, wasting money and looking like an idiot.
When the glass guy came over Saturday to look at the holes that needed to be drilled he said I did a really good job measuring them out and drawing them on so that made me feel good.

[BarbMazz]

Originally Posted by nikkipigtails

LOL...luckily Tommy listens to me when I interject. It's just making him and whoever is talking shut up long enough to interject. I think that the more Tommy starts to help with the biuld the more he realizes that I know what I'm talking about so he needs to listen in order to keep from getting in over his head by himself, wasting money and looking like an idiot.
When the glass guy came over Saturday to look at the holes that needed to be drilled he said I did a really good job measuring them out and drawing them on so that made me feel good.

It's good he listens... it could be a generational thing with us!

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by BarbMazz

It's good he listens... it could be a generational thing with us!

Nah...I've worked very hard to train him.

[goldenmean]

Originally Posted by nikkipigtails

Lowes is officially on my ****list. I finally got the energy to start putting the baffles in the sump today. Imagine my surprise when I go to put one in and it's 1/4" too small. That means that I have an 1/8" on each side to fill in with silicone. I tested the other baffles and they are all either 1/4" or 1/2" too small. I was baffled (ha ha ha) as to why they were too short. I pulled out the cut list I made and triple checked my measurements. I even drew a picture of the plexiglass for the guy showing him the way I wanted him to cut it. Too bad I'm breastfeeding...I need a stiff drink right about now.

I just read your entire thread. I cant wait to see it up and running.

One note on the acrylic baffles on a glass tank.
When I was researching my DIY sump. I read that if you are going to use acrylic baffle you want them cut small and placed with lots of silicon. Silicone will expand and if it is placed tight in a glass tank it can actually break the glass. I have read it is always best to use glass baffles with glass tanks.

btw Olivia is just too adorable!

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by goldenmean

I just read your entire thread. I cant wait to see it up and running.

One note on the acrylic baffles on a glass tank.
When I was researching my DIY sump. I read that if you are going to use acrylic baffle you want them cut small and placed with lots of silicon. Silicone will expand and if it is placed tight in a glass tank it can actually break the glass. I have read it is always best to use glass baffles with glass tanks.

btw Olivia is just too adorable!

Thanks. I guess it's a good thing the baffles were cut too short then. We were going to use glass baffles but we've figured out a way to build the stand so that we can disconnect the plumbing and roll the entire sump out in case something insane happened and we needed to get to it all or take something out. The plexi weighs less than the glass which is the only reason why we went with it.

[nikkipigtails]

I think it's official...I have insomnia. I haven't slept for more than 4 hours a night (never all at once) since I got pregnant. It doesn't matter how tired I am, as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm wide awake.

So...I took the opportunity to work on the sump a little bit while Olivia's sleeping so I won't have to worry about leaving her in the house alone. There's definately not room in the garage with an 8' pool table (which we're trying to sell by the way), a 75 gallon sump on a stand, a 180 gallon on a stand, cabinetry, a band saw (I'll get to that one in a second)...

As you know, the guy at Lowes cut the acrylic and it was off...by a lot. So I had just taken left-over pieces of acrylic to fill in the space. I took them all out (they were just squares and weren't all the same size so they were irritating me) and cut strips of acrylic with Tommy's band saw to fill in the gap. So...at 11:00 at night I was using my husband's band saw (he's going to kill me when he finds out) to cut strips of acrylic to work on the sump. I'm about to go clean the skimmer we bought this weekend and, hopefully, I can try to get to bed before Olivia wakes up for her 4:00 feeding. If not, oh well...I'm used to operating with very little sleep.

I need to get some more silicone (I used a lot because of trial and error - at least it's easy to scrape off with a razor blade if you need to make corrections) tomorrow and, hopefully, I'll finish the sump tomorrow and do a water test by Friday. I want to finish it before Tommy comes back home and surprise him with it.

[thelastmucci]

your something else Nikki...I gotta hand it to you...and don't worry your not alone in the insomnia dept...although I do have an early doc apt. Maybe I'll talk to you some more tomorrow

[tbittner]

You have a lot going on and it's difficult, if not impossible, to quell a busy mind. I'm the same way. I lay down in bed and things start running through my mind and it's hours before I can get to sleep.

How did the band saw work for cutting the acrylic? I had considered getting one when I made my first sump but opted for a table saw instead. That worked great but it left a rough edge to be sanded down.

And silicon is cheap. Better to have too much than not enough.

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by tbittner

How did the band saw work for cutting the acrylic? I had considered getting one when I made my first sump but opted for a table saw instead. That worked great but it left a rough edge to be sanded down.

And silicon is cheap. Better to have too much than not enough.

The band saw worked pretty well. You just have to remember that the cut you're making is only as true as what you're using to guide the cut. Ours has a guide on it that rotates so you can make angled cuts and ours was off a bit. I should have gotten a step stool over there so I could see it better. The strips aren't perefectly even, but they're not off by too much. The other thing is that the saw part is bendable so you have to have the speed high and not puh it through, just guide it through otherwise the cut is off a bit. It was easy enough for me to use and the extent of my power tool experience consists of power drills, drill presses and soldering tools. You just have to look at which one will be the most versatile for you.

Sleep...ah...sleep. I got about 3 1/2 hours. I was exhausted this morning but I managed to go to the movie store to get the movies that came out today, go grocery shopping, clean the kitchen and eat lunch. I friggin rock!

I just realized that we need a head banging rocker smiley.

[nikkipigtails]

I dedicated the rest of today to finishing the sump. I have all the baffles in place but I need one more tube of silicone to reseal everything. There isn't anywhere around here to get aquarium silicone so I'll have to have Tommy pick up a tube on his way back in town. I think I'm commiting silicone overkill but I'm paranoid about making sure everything is sealed properly because the acrylic was cut too short. Oh well...as long as it's sealed I guess.

I promised myself that I wouldn't post any more pictures of Olivia because this thread is about my tank, not my perfect little girl, but I'm breaking my promise. Since today was "sump" day, Olivia wore her "Fishey Friends" dress we just got her. She found her voice today and has been babbling all day long. I just looked over and she's playing in her little gym (she lays under it and there are all kinds of toys hanging over her and when she kicks or pulls something, a sun lights up and plays music) and she's discovered how to hold things...she's never held anything other than a finger before. She had a FIRM grasp on one of the toys shaking it like crazy to make the music play...talk about growing up in the blink of an eye.

She's watching her fish tank here.


"Hi Reefsanctuary!"

[Frankie]

What a cutie pie!

[thelastmucci]

oh shes so adorable...wish I had one of my own *sigh*