Another Build Thread You Won't Read

OP
OP
Devisissy

Devisissy

Kiss My Wrasse
View Badges
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
758
Reaction score
1,146
Location
Inland Northwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Friends? No reason to pooh-pooh over them. You're way past that. You're in the baller's club now. Wave that $450 lid around like a trophy and tell those so called friends to eat their avocado grain-free toast and shut up. Also, how's Thompson and his various enterprises?
Thompson stole Anne's chickens last week and tried playing chicken train on repeat by the Ozark Mountain Boys to get them to lay more eggs. He saw an article about how eggs are the new big seller and he thought he could make enough money to get the astro van back up and running. That van is his pride and joy even though he tried to sell it to me once with no title and a missing rim. The chickens made their way back home come dark when they realized they were not going to be fed. Thompson's backyard is dirt and used car oil. Chickens ain't that dumb.

I was told this hobby wasn't for me again. That's twice in one week. This time my confusion over the moonshine handbook, which is horribly written and long winded, and which tests they are selling. Simple question, if I buy a test from the website what brand is it? To which a guy I think I've seen here went on and on and on. I was like nevermind dude I got it.

I think English is a second language. I mean I speak autism so it's not that. Anyone who says this hobby isn't for you are the same people who's tanks will crash like JJ's self made car port in a wind storm, but while their tank is crashing tell others what they need to do for a successful tank.

Can't troll a troll.

I started the skimmer earnestly and to my surprise is making some decent skim. Algae scrubber on and lights on 24/7. I'm going to hook up the reactor tonight. I'll send in my first icp test in a week or two. I'll order from stupid moonshiners and get what I get.
 

TangerineSpeedo

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 8, 2022
Messages
2,281
Reaction score
3,162
Location
SoCal
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The last time I drove an Astro van I ended up doing some 360's on some black ice. It was the middle of January, bout 2am in Ohio... Somehow kept it between the lines but ended up facing the wrong way on a two lane hi-way.
I turned to Jesus, my obvious passenger and said. "Don't worry its a rental..."
 

Mhamilton0911

BitterSalty
View Badges
Joined
Jul 8, 2021
Messages
4,635
Reaction score
22,624
Location
Idaho
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My favorite is going into a new store and being totally ignored but then my husband comes in looking for me and he gets offered help right away.

Sometimes I know more about the fish I'm staring at than the minimum wage dork behind the counter.

I've left a few places empty handed and I wonder if they'd realize their mistake if I were to drive my lifted diesel truck over thier crappy 80's something Honda while flipping the bird.....
 
OP
OP
Devisissy

Devisissy

Kiss My Wrasse
View Badges
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
758
Reaction score
1,146
Location
Inland Northwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My favorite is going into a new store and being totally ignored but then my husband comes in looking for me and he gets offered help right away.

Sometimes I know more about the fish I'm staring at than the minimum wage dork behind the counter.

I've left a few places empty handed and I wonder if they'd realize their mistake if I were to drive my lifted diesel truck over thier crappy 80's something Honda while flipping the bird.....
As long as it isn't my Honda Prelude!

Our stores here are pretty rad though. Some of the country's best are in this state. So I am super lucky. However, in my job, I get this a lot. My employee who is a man can tell them word for word what I just said and then all the sudden it's OK. Part of the reason I never wanted to be a professional mechanic. I just do it for fun now. When it comes to fish tanks though, I know nothing, you could help me for sure!

The astro van is pretty amazing. Not Thompson's though. The rats made a nest in the velour and the paint is peeling worse than Mee Maws skin after she went on vacation to Florida.

astro.PNG


I can pick up your mom in this.
 

Mhamilton0911

BitterSalty
View Badges
Joined
Jul 8, 2021
Messages
4,635
Reaction score
22,624
Location
Idaho
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
As long as it isn't my Honda Prelude!

Our stores here are pretty rad though. Some of the country's best are in this state. So I am super lucky. However, in my job, I get this a lot. My employee who is a man can tell them word for word what I just said and then all the sudden it's OK. Part of the reason I never wanted to be a professional mechanic. I just do it for fun now. When it comes to fish tanks though, I know nothing, you could help me for sure!

The astro van is pretty amazing. Not Thompson's though. The rats made a nest in the velour and the paint is peeling worse than Mee Maws skin after she went on vacation to Florida.

astro.PNG


I can pick up your mom in this.
Double relate. I met my husband by taking a job in his auto body shop. I then learned how to paint a car. Really well. Got a lot of experience real quick doing car lot contracts. Me and hubs fixed all the cars for a major used car dealership on Sprague, back in the 2000's.
 

JoJosReef

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 27, 2021
Messages
8,081
Reaction score
23,944
Location
Orange County, CA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
As long as it isn't my Honda Prelude!

Our stores here are pretty rad though. Some of the country's best are in this state. So I am super lucky. However, in my job, I get this a lot. My employee who is a man can tell them word for word what I just said and then all the sudden it's OK. Part of the reason I never wanted to be a professional mechanic. I just do it for fun now. When it comes to fish tanks though, I know nothing, you could help me for sure!

The astro van is pretty amazing. Not Thompson's though. The rats made a nest in the velour and the paint is peeling worse than Mee Maws skin after she went on vacation to Florida.

astro.PNG


I can pick up your mom in this.
You can pick up anyone in that. That van is HOT.
 
OP
OP
Devisissy

Devisissy

Kiss My Wrasse
View Badges
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
758
Reaction score
1,146
Location
Inland Northwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Double relate. I met my husband by taking a job in his auto body shop. I then learned how to paint a car. Really well. Got a lot of experience real quick doing car lot contracts. Me and hubs fixed all the cars for a major used car dealership on Sprague, back in the 2000's.
I just dropped 12 grand on my prelude. The rust was insane. It was beyond my abilities. Full paint. She looks so good. Any day now they should be calling for me to come get her. As you can see, there were some issues.

Before.PNG
 

michealprater

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
503
Reaction score
645
Location
Highland IL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awesome build, very funny and informative. Great way to hook people in to actually participating in it. I gave up on a participatory thread and proclaimed mine as a personal journal. Sure isn’t like the old days on RC when it was tough to keep up with the comments on your build thread.

As far as moonshiners, I have certainly looked into it as well, but I am in the group on facebook and the entire group answers everything with “read the book” like that commercial from the 80s. And “the book” is quite annoying, god I wish they would let you rewrite it. Anyway, I been looking into Captiv8 aquaculture’s Reef Blueprint system and I am quite intrigued. They don’t poo poo on any icp test and their calculators are pretty slick. Plus you can buy a kit of the basic traces and an icp for under 50 bucks….. try that with the moonshiners. Might be worth looking into for you, might not.

Keep up the good work! I am following even though I know you don’t want me to .
 
OP
OP
Devisissy

Devisissy

Kiss My Wrasse
View Badges
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
758
Reaction score
1,146
Location
Inland Northwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awesome build, very funny and informative. Great way to hook people in to actually participating in it. I gave up on a participatory thread and proclaimed mine as a personal journal. Sure isn’t like the old days on RC when it was tough to keep up with the comments on your build thread.

As far as moonshiners, I have certainly looked into it as well, but I am in the group on facebook and the entire group answers everything with “read the book” like that commercial from the 80s. And “the book” is quite annoying, god I wish they would let you rewrite it. Anyway, I been looking into Captiv8 aquaculture’s Reef Blueprint system and I am quite intrigued. They don’t poo poo on any icp test and their calculators are pretty slick. Plus you can buy a kit of the basic traces and an icp for under 50 bucks….. try that with the moonshiners. Might be worth looking into for you, might not.

Keep up the good work! I am following even though I know you don’t want me to .
See now, I knew it wasn't just me. The handbook is complete word salad. You probably saw my post then when I was like, what the heck is Oceamo? The simple answer is, "The company we use to do our ICP testing." Instead dude answers a five page essay about god knows what. It's very weird and just I dunno, bothersome. I have heard of Captiv8. I might look into it again. My LFS was using Moonshiners. He said he dropped over 2 grand on it, but finally when life happened had to give it up.

I like tank builds. I hardly comment but I follow. But yeah it's slower nowdays.
 

michealprater

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
503
Reaction score
645
Location
Highland IL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
See now, I knew it wasn't just me. The handbook is complete word salad. You probably saw my post then when I was like, what the heck is Oceamo? The simple answer is, "The company we use to do our ICP testing." Instead dude answers a five page essay about god knows what. It's very weird and just I dunno, bothersome. I have heard of Captiv8. I might look into it again. My LFS was using Moonshiners. He said he dropped over 2 grand on it, but finally when life happened had to give it up.

I like tank builds. I hardly comment but I follow. But yeah it's slower nowdays.
Oceanmo is overseas as well. I personally would like my ICP to be domestic, as close to me as possible. They are all going to talk about accuracy, but lets face it, nothing is going to be perfect. Good chance it will be far more accurate than we can test by hand, if its even possible to get a test kit for the element you are measuring. I dont want to bash moonshiners, because it works, the proof is in the pudding. However, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and more economical ways to skin one as well. Doing any type of granular reefing like this is light years beyond what most people do anyhow. I cant stand to see the moonshiners bashing other brands and other chemists. Just rubs me the wrong way and is an overall bad look for the company.
 
OP
OP
Devisissy

Devisissy

Kiss My Wrasse
View Badges
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
758
Reaction score
1,146
Location
Inland Northwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Oceanmo is overseas as well. I personally would like my ICP to be domestic, as close to me as possible. They are all going to talk about accuracy, but lets face it, nothing is going to be perfect. Good chance it will be far more accurate than we can test by hand, if its even possible to get a test kit for the element you are measuring. I dont want to bash moonshiners, because it works, the proof is in the pudding. However, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and more economical ways to skin one as well. Doing any type of granular reefing like this is light years beyond what most people do anyhow. I cant stand to see the moonshiners bashing other brands and other chemists. Just rubs me the wrong way and is an overall bad look for the company.
Captiv8 is much much cheaper. It's akin to how planted tank people are doing it. Mixing an EI estimated index into two parts to prevent precipitation and dosing as needed. I'm guessing hundreds cheaper. However they want you to use kalk...I'm more of a two part gal. I wish they had a handbook.
 

michealprater

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
503
Reaction score
645
Location
Highland IL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Captiv8 is much much cheaper. It's akin to how planted tank people are doing it. Mixing an EI estimated index into two parts to prevent precipitation and dosing as needed. I'm guessing hundreds cheaper. However they want you to use kalk...I'm more of a two part gal. I wish they had a handbook.
It can be used with two part. Their website is super informative. I’m a kalk guy. I love my big PH though.
 
OP
OP
Devisissy

Devisissy

Kiss My Wrasse
View Badges
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
758
Reaction score
1,146
Location
Inland Northwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I didn't get much from the website. I clicked all over the place. Found the calculator but no real documentation. Found where to buy. Read through the FAQ. No real how to. I did find his political views on Ukraine though. Unfortunately not helpful for my reef tank.

Mobius is the worst app I have used in a long time. Was unable to get it to connect. Starting a new tank solved the issue.
Screenshot_20240212_211944_Mobius.jpg
 
OP
OP
Devisissy

Devisissy

Kiss My Wrasse
View Badges
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
758
Reaction score
1,146
Location
Inland Northwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0

I saw those videos. I didn't sit down and watch. I got three minutes in. Bored instantly. What I need is how to start a baseline, when to start it, and how to proceed. I'll probably do moonshine as expensive as it is. Or maybe when I get a chance read a bit more. You know what they need? A handbook.
 

michealprater

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
503
Reaction score
645
Location
Highland IL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I saw those videos. I didn't sit down and watch. I got three minutes in. Bored instantly. What I need is how to start a baseline, when to start it, and how to proceed. I'll probably do moonshine as expensive as it is. Or maybe when I get a chance read a bit more. You know what they need? A handbook.
All good, didn’t mean to bore you lol. Chemists and biologists aren’t the most exciting speakers. I am kind of a podcast junkie… something to listen to while I work my day job. Whatever method you choose, good luck. I know they both work.
 
OP
OP
Devisissy

Devisissy

Kiss My Wrasse
View Badges
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
758
Reaction score
1,146
Location
Inland Northwest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
All good, didn’t mean to bore you lol. Chemists and biologists aren’t the most exciting speakers. I am kind of a podcast junkie… something to listen to while I work my day job. Whatever method you choose, good luck. I know they both work.
I wish I had more time. They are way cheaper but I have no idea how to get started. Do I just do an ICP test then plug it into the calculator and hope for the best? How do they recommend I mix the dry goods? Lot's of talk on Kalk and how to work it into the calculator, nothing on two part. I need to streamline this build. Moonshine, even though it is written horribly, is laid out from start to finish. That makes it super easy for someone like me who is functionally stupid, to start the program. I did notice on the forum how they bash Captiv8 on their EI mixes. Which is nothing knew at all. I use EI on my planted tank. It blow's the moonshiners little minds that "GASP" you can mix certain elements to save time. I know it's life changing! But it is a estimate index I get that. Moonshiners mixes are sort of stupid too, Captiv8 has the right idea, where one drop treats 1000 gallons why would I need a 300 ml bottle of it! So yeah they both have strengths.
 

michealprater

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
503
Reaction score
645
Location
Highland IL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I wish I had more time. They are way cheaper but I have no idea how to get started. Do I just do an ICP test then plug it into the calculator and hope for the best? How do they recommend I mix the dry goods? Lot's of talk on Kalk and how to work it into the calculator, nothing on two part. I need to streamline this build. Moonshine, even though it is written horribly, is laid out from start to finish. That makes it super easy for someone like me who is functionally stupid, to start the program. I did notice on the forum how they bash Captiv8 on their EI mixes. Which is nothing knew at all. I use EI on my planted tank. It blow's the moonshiners little minds that "GASP" you can mix certain elements to save time. I know it's life changing! But it is an estimate index I get that. Moonshiners mixes are sort of stupid too, Captiv8 has the right idea, where one drop treats 1000 gallons why would I need a 300 ml bottle of it! So yeah they both have strengths.
I plan on using Captiv8’s Isol8 elements. I manage my alk, cal, and mag separately (method really doesn’t matter). I will send in my ICP and see where I am deficient. Then I plan on getting the Isol8 elements kit that comes in the 10ml bottles. I’ll punch in my numbers in my calculator and it will tell me my dose for the period of given time. I will then use the calculator (there are multiple tabs) to come up with the RODI solution with needed elements and set up my doser to do my daily doses. In a month I will send in another ICP. Seems rather simple to me, maybe not to others. Worst case scenario I have to email Chris Wood, whom I understand is very responsive.
 
Back
Top