I have absolutely no business starting a 100g reef tank. I've never had a tank of any kind, ever. My judgment is highly suspect. At home I'm not even allowed to choose paint colors for the walls. My closest friend is my cat, Fluffy, and even she seriously doubts the success of this endeavor:
Still, I've wanted a tank ever since I saw a baby cowfish in a pet store tank 30 years ago, and it's time. I doubt I'll ever get a cowfish, but perhaps I can manage a fish, or God willing a cow. Time will tell. I ordered an eSHOPPS Mariner 100 tank from FishTanksDirect for $2,499 shipped, with no tax. Part of me worries that the IRS (or somehow the FBI) will one day execute a no-knock warrant at my door, and I'll end up serving 15-to-life for tax evasion, like Al Capone.
The tank and cabinet arrived in a truck the size of a nuclear submarine, causing much excitement among the neighbors, who peeked from their caves like yellow gobies. The driver was kind enough to move the massive box into my garage, where I rushed to open it and check the tank before he fled. All was well:
The glass on this tank is 5/8" thick, so it weighs approximately 13% less than the Chrysler Building. It'll stay in the garage until Christmas, when a bunch of my ungrateful kids will be home to pay me back for everything by moving it inside. In the meantime I've been working on the cabinet, which goes together much like a piece of IKEA furniture but seems beefy enough:
While I'm pleased with the progress, Fluffy remains unimpressed:
I understand that many people believe capitalism has negatively impacted the reefing hobby... that we're lured into buying stuff we just don't need. Part of me is absolutely swayed by that thinking; I sometimes consider dumping my iPhone and going with an old-school flip-phone with no apps at all. That's when my wife looks at me and says, Yeah, right. She knows the truth: I'm a hopeless gadget freak.
I just love technology, even though I do believe (seriously, I do) that A.I. will ultimately kill us all, a la Terminator or any number of other doomsday apocalyptic scenarios. Sure, I'm a hypocrite, but let the next generation deal with existential killer robots. I'm Gen X, and we had to deal with our own demons, like Richard Simmons and Whitesnake. I want me some tank tech.
I'm super drawn to the Hydros ecosystem, and I've set up a Collective-- all I can think of is the Borg--
with a Kraken and Launch:
Now all I need is the tank.
And some fish I suppose.
To be continued....
Still, I've wanted a tank ever since I saw a baby cowfish in a pet store tank 30 years ago, and it's time. I doubt I'll ever get a cowfish, but perhaps I can manage a fish, or God willing a cow. Time will tell. I ordered an eSHOPPS Mariner 100 tank from FishTanksDirect for $2,499 shipped, with no tax. Part of me worries that the IRS (or somehow the FBI) will one day execute a no-knock warrant at my door, and I'll end up serving 15-to-life for tax evasion, like Al Capone.
The tank and cabinet arrived in a truck the size of a nuclear submarine, causing much excitement among the neighbors, who peeked from their caves like yellow gobies. The driver was kind enough to move the massive box into my garage, where I rushed to open it and check the tank before he fled. All was well:
The glass on this tank is 5/8" thick, so it weighs approximately 13% less than the Chrysler Building. It'll stay in the garage until Christmas, when a bunch of my ungrateful kids will be home to pay me back for everything by moving it inside. In the meantime I've been working on the cabinet, which goes together much like a piece of IKEA furniture but seems beefy enough:
While I'm pleased with the progress, Fluffy remains unimpressed:
I understand that many people believe capitalism has negatively impacted the reefing hobby... that we're lured into buying stuff we just don't need. Part of me is absolutely swayed by that thinking; I sometimes consider dumping my iPhone and going with an old-school flip-phone with no apps at all. That's when my wife looks at me and says, Yeah, right. She knows the truth: I'm a hopeless gadget freak.
I just love technology, even though I do believe (seriously, I do) that A.I. will ultimately kill us all, a la Terminator or any number of other doomsday apocalyptic scenarios. Sure, I'm a hypocrite, but let the next generation deal with existential killer robots. I'm Gen X, and we had to deal with our own demons, like Richard Simmons and Whitesnake. I want me some tank tech.
I'm super drawn to the Hydros ecosystem, and I've set up a Collective-- all I can think of is the Borg--
with a Kraken and Launch:
Now all I need is the tank.
And some fish I suppose.
To be continued....
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