What we're doing for Macna 2011

[gooch]

This is an unfired picture of the Pillar we will be putting into the tank. I decided to step it up a little. Phil's Structure is awesome. But it just didn't fit this tank well. I tried to doctor it up and put it on legs but we are better than that. I fired the first piece of the pillar and it is at the store. The rest will be fired next week. This will look nicer in the cube. I had to make it into three pieces. Since it will be "LIVE" and have corals on it already I had to make it so we could transport it in water. So I will have it in three seperate containers when we transport.

[gooch]

I got an e-mail from Craig at GIRS and it sounds like the school board is looking for a place to put this tank. There are also enough volunteers to help maintain it. So hopefully we will know where it's home will be soon.

Scott

[gooch]

I know these pics don't look like much but it is progress. It would of gotten farther but the store got in a fish shipment and we had to take care of that. Tank is about half full of water and it should be online on saturday. You can see the half pillar in the tank. The tank dimensions are 30x30. You can also get a good look at the color of the Orphek lights. I only adjusted the picture size. No color enhancing at all. They are powerfull. We are definately going to have to acclimate the corals slowly.

[gooch]

The tank is finally online. I had a kiln break down so I haven't finished firing the rest of the pillar. Parts should be here soon. I hope to have it in the tank by friday. We are still waiting on the pumps. I did take a pic of the Tubs Galaxia that was donated by Exotic Frags. This is what it looks like under the Orphek lights. No photo editing other than resizing.

Scott

[skinz78]

The tank is looking awesome! I can't wait to see it filled with life!

[BlazinNano]

Gooch I can't believe I did not see this thread earlier. You and your wife are two of the best people in the world. Not to get personal but you story actually made me get a little choked up. My little brother has alot of problems as well I basically have been taking care of him his whole life as my parents have had to work full time jobs. He had his first brain surgery when he was 3 days old. I wont go into details with everything that he has going on. My parents, my fiance, and I know that there will come a time when my parents will not be able to take care of him as he lives with them and always will. When that time comes he will live with me. Hearing your story makes me realize that there truly are people out there who care. Please send me a PM I want to see if I can get my local club out here Orlando to help. Please get a hold of me.

Thanks
Andrew

[SeeingGreen]

If you think this is pretty in the pictures, you should see it in person.

Great job thus far, and even greater because of its end use.

[gooch]

Gooch I can't believe I did not see this thread earlier. You and your wife are two of the best people in the world. Not to get personal but you story actually made me get a little choked up. My little brother has alot of problems as well I basically have been taking care of him his whole life as my parents have had to work full time jobs. He had his first brain surgery when he was 3 days old. I wont go into details with everything that he has going on. My parents, my fiance, and I know that there will come a time when my parents will not be able to take care of him as he lives with them and always will. When that time comes he will live with me. Hearing your story makes me realize that there truly are people out there who care. Please send me a PM I want to see if I can get my local club out here Orlando to help. Please get a hold of me.

Thanks
Andrew

Andrew,

One of the best things to come from this tank is hearing about all the stories of the caring people stepping up to take care of people with needs. Every story touches a heart. I know my daughter goes in for another surgery on the 24th to redo a surgery on her foot that didn't heal properly. It seems like every year at least one member of our family has to have something done.

Your offer to help is very generous. But to be honest Reefs and I have it pretty covered. But by all means do not pass on the opportunity to help others. If the Orlando club wants to do something organize a special project. Put a tank up in a school in your area. I am sure if you pool your resources you could do something that rivals what we are doing here. I wish more clubs would do stuff like this. I get 25-30 requests minimum every month from clubs looking for donations or club sponsorships. We are such a small business that if I gave to every club I would have absolutely nothing left over to sell. So instead of trying to give to every club that asks we decided to do one big donation this year. It was as much as we could afford to do. My ultimate goal is to give a yearly donation to the Make a Wish foundation so someone can fufill a dream. Some day we will get there, I have no doubt. But until then things like this will have to do.

Scott

[gooch]

We have run into a few snags with the updating of this tank. Seems we will have to go a different direction with the lighting. I really loved the look of the lights but we have run into some issues behind the scenes and will have to put different light over this tank. I am really getting frustrated with this set up. It shouldn't be this difficult. I have also been waiting on a kiln part for three weeks now. Hopefully it will get here on tuesday and I can finish this aquascape.

[gooch]

Here is a mini update. I finally got my kiln repaired. Only took two and a half weeks to get it repaired. I replaced darn near everything that could be replaced.

These pics are without lights on. I had lights but due to some issues I would rather not get into I had to take them off the tank. Now we are lightless. I haven't decided which way to go yet for lighting. What ever I do it will have to be quick. Reefs thankfully has a fixture I will be able to use on the short term. They are going to hang it on thursday. The aquascape turned out awesome. You do not see much of it in the pictures but it looks cool. Once we get some light on it and it clears up it will look awesome and I can get some better pics. We just put a couple of powerheads in there until the Tunze Streams arrive. There was a bit of sediment build up with just the flow from the return line. The powerheads kicked up a bunch of stuff. It will be crystal clear by morning.

So sorry for the poor quality pics. Gary Parr will be at shop on Saturday so I hope he gets a couple good shots of it.