Blind Girl Reefing: 90g Uniquarium Rehab Build

[BadFish619]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Sako338]

Welcome aboard, my mom lost her sight as well, she could see if a person was standing in front of her but not the expression on their face. She never slowed down she was an inspiration and so are you! This is a great forum, glad you are with us!

 

[c.poindexter]

That is awesome that you are getting back into reefing. Great start.

 

[siggy]

Welcome back, I get the feeling we will learn more from you.

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks for sharing ur story and wish u the best of luck with ur build.

 

[Katrina71]

Being visually impaired, do you rely on touch for your tank? Textures? I'm curious how you have overcome your limitations. I certainly like your attitude!

 

[boacvh]

Welcome! Following, very curious to see progress pictures, I looks good already can't wait to see more

 

[Lorenzo Angotti]

Welcome LisaMarie, and I can see by your dedication of revamping a used and worn tank that the journey has started and I’m sure our fellow reefers will be looking forward on it’s progress.

 

[HunterW]

I am brand new to the forum and excited about starting a "not so new" journey. I've been reefing since the late 90's but this will be my first build since losing most of my vision (not totally blind, but legally blind). It might sound crazy to build a reef that you can barely see, but there's more to reefing than what meets the eye! I miss the smell of an ocean in my living room, light dancing on the walls, and flashes of moving, living color in my life (I can still see light and make out shapes fairly well).

I'm starting with an old 90g acrylic uniquarium that I picked up on Craigslist for next to nothing. She was in pretty bad shape....scratched beyond belief and top cracked badly. I figured we would both go back into reefing together. I spent two weeks wet sanding and buffing her free of scratches. A little acrylic glue did wonders for the top. She's not perfect, but neither am I. We're a good team.

The stand was included, but the canopy was built from scratch. I had no detailed plan for the canopy, so it's a hodge-podge of ideas picked up from the internet. I know canopy's aren't currently in vogue, but I'm an old school kind of gal. It took a few evenings of hard work (and one finishing nail through my finger before I figured out how to use the nail gun competently....ouch!) but I think it turned out great.

I'm a retired school teacher (Chimistry and Biology), and I run a small business on the side. I left teaching after losing my eyesight, so I figured I'd have the time to focus on trying a new reef build. Two of my three children are grown and married (only the 16 year-old still at home) and I have two grandchildren and one expected to arrive any day. My husband isn't into reef building, but loves the look of a tank in the house (I started a 75 gallon cichlid tank about a year ago just to see if I could still manage an aquarium). His passion is motorcycles. Mine is reefing. It works for us.

I call this my "rehab build" because I'm rehabilitating a tank and maybe myself along the way. I've been away from reefing for several years so it's going to be an adventure.

Hi LisaMarie! So glad to have another reefer gal here like myself, coming back after a little time off. Tanks are so therapeutic for sure, and hope your finger will be in healed condition and not hold you back one bit!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Welcome to R2R! Cannot wait to read more!

 

[Eva Rose]

Welcome to R2R! With your Chemistry & Biology background you will be a valuable asset to R2R. Glad to have you. You are off to a great start!

 

[LisaMarie]

Looking good so far, welcome back.
Curious about your vision and different lighting spectrums, can you see better under certain spectrums?

That's a great question that I hadn't really thought about. I do see much better with lots of contrast so I'm looking forward to finding the answer to that myself!

 

[LisaMarie]

Being visually impaired, do you rely on touch for your tank? Textures? I'm curious how you have overcome your limitations. I certainly like your attitude!

Touch and texture have become invaluable to me. At first I really couldn't "let go" enough to trust them.....I would just struggle to try to see things closer using magnifiers and other gadgets and get really frustrated. Once I learned to trust my fingers and what I could feel, things became much easier. I labeled all of the cords in my power strip with "bump dots" so I could tell what I was plugging in and unplugging. I installed "push magnets" in the top of my canopy so that all I have to do is push down and it opens and holds itself with piston hinges. Even little things like trying to screw in one of the hinges is actually much easier if I don't even try to look at it. It's really amazing what can be accomplished through feel! I know there will be many more challenges along the way, but that's why I joined this forum. Everyone here has been so welcoming that I know if I post a "stupid question" I'm not going to get any flack lol.

 

[LisaMarie]

Disappointing light update....the Aquamaxx Nemo lights died within 10 days of placing in tank. I think they were faulty from the get go because I never could get them to program. Yesterday, they flickered a few times and completely died. Thankfully, I'm able to return them. I just ordered 2 viparspectra "black box" lights. Maybe I'll have better luck with these.

I've ordered parts to put together some automation/monitoring using reef-pi. We'll see how that goes! I'll document my progress in a DIY thread once all the parts arrive.

On a much brighter note...I've got my Seneye up and running. After shelling out the $200 for the Seneye unit, I wasn't about to shell out another $250 for the web server, so I made my own. They say necessity is the mother of invention, but in my case, being a cheapskate is the mother of invention. I bought an old Microsoft Surface off of ebay for $20 and hooked the Seneye up to that. Now I've got a wifi server and a display!

 

[HunterW]

Womanpower in action! Thanks for feedback on lights. Thete

 

[Blutspitze]

Sorry to hear that the lights went bad so quickly; loving the innovation using the tablet in lieu of the server, though! Looks great.

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r and back to the salt life! Looking great!

 

[tdlawdo]

Welcome and quite an inspiring thread! Can’t wait to see the progress and the stocking plans.

 

[MrsBugmaster]

Welcome! Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[LisaMarie]

There's finally life in the aquarium. Added 5 green chromis and some frags that I picked up from a recent live sale! It's finally starting to look like something. My niece and grandchildren call it my "ocean". I think they are just as excited about it as I am.