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Gumbies R Us
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Welcome to the Reef and back to the obsession
OP
OP
**** Warning ****
Only a rambling follows. If you are looking for useful information I won't waste your time. You can skip this post.
My first large tank was a 70g used aquarium. It was what my parents could afford at the time and being an older aquarium it was built like a (insert pun) tank with super thick glass, and metal frame including cross member. That was fun keeping from rust when I went salty.
It was a Christmas gift.
Those were fun years. My mom and dad always got our biggest gift from Santa. Only they always had fun with it. That year we had to guess what we got based on a representative gift. My brother got one of those transparent guns that shoot sparks from a flint rubbing on a wheel spinning when you pull the trigger. He didn't figure it out. It was a "ghetto blaster." Some may understand the reference and figure out what his real gift was. It was 1983, I think. My sister got just a cup of water. She got a waterbed that she had always wanted. We all got a combined gift with of a half-eaten apple. I figured that one out right away.
My gift was equally puzzling. We all had to wait until everyone was up and ready. Once the 'all clear' was given I scurried out to see what was under, around, or even near the tree. You never knew if maybe finding it was part of the plan. My siblings spotted theirs right away. I would have too except some things are so obvious you miss them. Right there with a label on it, "To: Brian, Love, Santa." The tag was on a piece of 2x8, a cinder block, and some pea gravel (I think). Hmmm, lots of head scratching. I don't know how long it was but I remember that I tried most of the morning to figure it out. My impatience was only surpassed by my stubbornness and pride in having to figure it out. I don't remember ever figuring it out which means I must not have. I would remember besting my parents well thought out plan. The wood and cinder blocks were for making a super simple, inexpensive, stand and pea gravel for the aquarium. I don't think I ever got all that dust out after many times rinsing. At least it was brobably cleaner than what you get from a roadside drainage ditch.
Probably a longer response than needed but it brought back good memories. Likely it is why I try to do something fun with presents for my children.
After a long winded reply, I don't mind used aquariums and looked for some. But living where I do there aren't many that come up for sale. My default on almost everything is thrifty but thankfully I don't have to anymore. It is only out of habit and choice. My build is definitely not going to be thrifty but there will be parts as I go that I find ways to save, like the battery back-up I'll be building. Not wanting to be tied down to the house and frequent loss of power there will probably be as much expense in making is self-sustaining as in the tank itself.
kevgib67
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Welcome, glad you were here! Great post I could picture it all in my head as I read!
OP
OP
Nope. Not a gun. That would have been too easy and it may help that maybe ghetto blaster was a midwest term in the early ‘80s.
- A pass for you though - 50 gal water change! I’m trying to get up the nerve to drill a whole through my concrete radiant floor, hoping to miss the pex lines, so I can set up auto water change in the laundry/boiler room directly below where the tank goes. And I’m only looking at <90gal total water. I’m blaming it on the idea that a water change is NEEDED when we are out ️. But….. in reality I’m wanting to be lazy.
And yes to the IIe. At 1.023MHz we opted for the massive 64Kb upgrade to boost speed and run our very first computer game which was ….
Never mind this is a reef forum. I’ll try to keep it more on topic.
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ShepherdReefer
5000 Club Member
Hello there, and welcome to the channel.
Jedi1199
2500 Club Member
Wow.. I'm old....
Ahhh... 1983... parachute pants, break dancing and Michael Jackson truly was the King of Pop!!!
And THIS is a "Ghetto Blaster"!!
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OP
OP
I got my QT going today after installing the water filters.
my wife was kind enough to let me place my 45 minute scrap wood stand and tank in her workout room. She calls it her she-shed but let’s not tell her it’s just the formal dining room with exercise equipment. She might want to take part of my 2.5 car shop so I call it her she-shed.
I will start a build page but until I at least place the order for a main tank I feel like it isn’t real yet. Remembe… life happens.
I’m still working on stand height and size. Tonight is mocking up the plumbing.
my wife was kind enough to let me place my 45 minute scrap wood stand and tank in her workout room. She calls it her she-shed but let’s not tell her it’s just the formal dining room with exercise equipment. She might want to take part of my 2.5 car shop so I call it her she-shed.
I will start a build page but until I at least place the order for a main tank I feel like it isn’t real yet. Remembe… life happens.
I’m still working on stand height and size. Tonight is mocking up the plumbing.
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