Running a fish tank without arms or legs

[kpiotrowski]

have you checked for a loose bulb?

 

[dexter]

no but i haven't but i will. it's now been almost a week. the frogsspawn is closing up. any ideas

 

[kpiotrowski]

you can soak the frogspawn in muriatic acid for 45 minutes and have a cool little coral skeleton to put on your mantel. or figure out some lights. ( HEY you ask for any ideas)

 

[Skimmy]

do you have any other light you can temp. put on the tank??
i have a fixture you could borrow but i have no way to get it to you,
and dont know if it will fit, its a 24" t5 fixture. i live in s. everett.
pm me if u want it.

 

[dexter]

Okay, so it's not the light being loose. It's definitely the switch. No Bueno

 

[kpiotrowski]

Okay, so it's not the light being loose. It's definitely the switch. No Bueno

Seriously? You have an urgent situation you are asking help for and it takes you 3 days to check for a loose bulb....but yet you cry for help? If I adivise you that the next step is to check, and how to check to see if its the ballast how long will it take?

most things are not as simple as your definate conclusion of it being a switch. but if it is that simple it could be a very simple repair.

I very much apprectiate your situation being dependant on others but, straight out if you insist on staying in this hobby and want anyone to take you seriously then you have to do them the respect of making it look like you are taking it serious by not taking 3 days to respond when YOU are asking for help for an URGENT problem. and if you cant get to the computer, or somehow maintain that communiction with the people you are asking help from due to your disabilty...then for that I am truly sorry that you don't have better people in your support sytem. If you remember I have much experience with people with your level of disabilty...and even more disabled. and I have NEVER seen anyone who did not have many, many people surrounding them that would'nt be completly willing and happy to help you with maintaining that communication.

 

[dexter]

Yes, I haven't had a caregiver that understands English in the last five days. The agency that I'm dealing with is being terminated by my insurance company right now and I'm transitioning to somebody else. There's a lot more complications involved in my life than you realize. I am having a lot of difficulties dealing with deeper issues. You don't understand my situation. I have messaged oceanic two times with no response at all. I'm in a **** situation all around and when you gives me hard times over something that I can't do myself it's not cool at all.

I'm sorry that this upset you but I'm trying to fix a problem and you definitely didn't help out. Just frustrated me more. It sucks.

 

[kpiotrowski]

Yes, I haven't had a caregiver that understands English in the last five days. The agency that I'm dealing with is being terminated by my insurance company right now and I'm transitioning to somebody else. There's a lot more complications involved in my life than you realize. I am having a lot of difficulties dealing with deeper issues. You don't understand my situation. I have messaged oceanic two times with no response at all. I'm in a **** situation all around and when you gives me hard times over something that I can't do myself it's not cool at all.

I'm sorry that this upset you but I'm trying to fix a problem and you definitely didn't help out. Just frustrated me more. It sucks.

sry dude, not gonna let you play the crippled card. not when I have a son in a wheel chair of his own and have been a nurse for 20 years.

and as far as my suggestion "definately not helping you". this will be that last time you hear from me. pretty ungreatful attidude man!

 

[dexter]

I'm sorry man. Living alone and having to deal with just this recently has been very tough. I'm sorry you have a crippled son and I think it's great that you're a nurse but you still don't understand the situation I'm in and what I have been dealing with lately. And I'm not claiming any handicap card. I'm just telling you exactly what's going on. I'm not ungrateful at all. I'm just trying to figure out how to get a life to turn on. That's it. if you don't help me and just give me a hard time that's fine.

I e-mailed oceanic a third time today and finally got a response. They said that they will send me a new switch now. Hopefully it will be here soon.

 

[Krish]

Dexter...You are in a tough spot here. If in fact you are having a lot more to deal with in life a part from us knowing you have paralysis from the neck down and are in a wheelchair, I think (just a thought now) maybe a reef tank is something probably not suited for you right now. This is not to say just because you have a disability you should just give up and quit doing what you want because I'm hardly that type of thinker. I will never let anything in life hold me back from doing what I want or need to do as I'm not a quitter and also I'm a very determined person. However, if you are at the mercy of others to help you maintain a system...A system that people who have full use of all of their limbs have trouble with maintaining themselves sometimes, I think a better option would be to have a tank (probably a FO) that requires little to not much attenion at all. This way, you wouldn't need to depend on others too much as well as it will give you more time in life to focus on the more important things you mentioned we know nothing about.

Just my personal opinion. Not hating on you and you can do whatever you want that makes you happy, but just keep in mind that some people will not take your approach to this hobby as lightly as you may take it so therefore some may not agree which as you cans ee they will voice their opinions. Our tank's inhabitants rely on us to give them the best environment possible so any hiccups that can't be sorted out quickly sometimes can result in the loss of some livestock.

 

[dexter]

Dexter...You are in a tough spot here. If in fact you are having a lot more to deal with in life a part from us knowing you have paralysis from the neck down and are in a wheelchair, I think (just a thought now) maybe a reef tank is something probably not suited for you right now. This is not to say just because you have a disability you should just give up and quit doing what you want because I'm hardly that type of thinker. I will never let anything in life hold me back from doing what I want or need to do as I'm not a quitter and also I'm a very determined person. However, if you are at the mercy of others to help you maintain a system...A system that people who have full use of all of their limbs have trouble with maintaining themselves sometimes, I think a better option would be to have a tank (probably a FO) that requires little to not much attenion at all. This way, you wouldn't need to depend on others too much as well as it will give you more time in life to focus on the more important things you mentioned we know nothing about.

Just my personal opinion. Not hating on you and you can do whatever you want that makes you happy, but just keep in mind that some people will not take your approach to this hobby as lightly as you may take it so therefore some may not agree which as you cans ee they will voice their opinions. Our tank's inhabitants rely on us to give them the best environment possible so any hiccups that can't be sorted out quickly sometimes can result in the loss of some livestock.

Bummer. I'm not a quitter. It did fantastic before and will do it again. I am just taking it slow this time. I just need to change the agency I'm with to Another one that has people who speak English as first language. Like I said, I've been dealing with staff members that my agency sends me. They can barely get me up into my wheelchair, let alone take care of a reef tank.

 

[tat2z_21]

Listen, I do not believe that these guys are trying to tell you to quit. I believe that they are trying to tell you that sometimes in life you have to figure out priorities, and sometimes those priorities do not allow for extra chores that come along with having a hobby. So what I believe that they are trying to say is until you get the major things in life figured out then maybe time away from the hobby might be good for you. One less thing to worry about. I do feel for your situation, I do not live it, and I have been blessed with extremely healthy children, but my priorities are my children, and once the tank became more of a priority then I would get rid of it.

 

[Peppie]

Bummer. I'm not a quitter. It did fantastic before and will do it again.

If this is the case, then why did you need to start over?
Making the decision to set up a reef tank requires the discipline of a responsible adult to address and overcome any problems that the reefing hobby has to offer.
If that means asking advise from other experienced so be it. But you need to be willing to follow their advice.
If your return pump goes south, you need to be able to replace it with in hours!!!
If your heater goes out. You need to be able to replace it within hours.
If your lights go out. You need to be able to replace it within 3 days.
If you spill a container of flake food in your tank by accident, You need to be able to clean it out of there with in hours.

If you are not able to handle any of the above. Then you may not be able to responsibly run a reef tank

THIS IS JUST MY OPINION.

PEPPIE
,

 

[dexter]

Bummer. I'm not a quitter. It did fantastic before and will do it again.

If this is the case, then why did you need to start over?
Making the decision to set up a reef tank requires the discipline of a responsible adult to address and overcome any problems that the reefing hobby has to offer.
If that means asking advise from other experienced so be it. But you need to be willing to follow their advice.
If your return pump goes south, you need to be able to replace it with in hours!!!
If your heater goes out. You need to be able to replace it within hours.
If your lights go out. You need to be able to replace it within 3 days.
If you spill a container of flake food in your tank by accident, You need to be able to clean it out of there with in hours.

If you are not able to handle any of the above. Then you may not be able to responsibly run a reef tank

THIS IS JUST MY OPINION.

PEPPIE
,

Thanks for giving me your two cents peppie. If you dont have somethig nice to say please dont say anything at all. I would appreciate it if you wouldnt comment on my thread anymore. Please and Thank you.

 

[dexter]

well when the **** hits the fan it hits hard because my ballast just went out on the other light. now my fish tank is completly in the dark. Heres a pic.

So… I just decided to do it and I got myself some LEDs. I called a friend of mine at the Red Sea aquarium to ask him what he thought would be the best thing for me to do to still keep the price really low and get my tank to look nice again. He shot me a link for a 21 inch LED lighting fixture for under $100! I bought it right on the spot it should be here sometime in the next couple of days. Thank God I'm not have to listen to that noisy fan anymore. Here is a pic of my soon-to-be new LED fixture.

 

[Skimmy]

that should be totally good for zoas, mushrooms, soft corals, and the more forgiving lps corals.
no its not the best quality,
but you should get a couple years out of it,
so it will be worth every penny, and you wont have replacement bulbs to deal with.

 

[dexter]

that should be totally good for zoas, mushrooms, soft corals, and the more forgiving lps corals.
no its not the best quality,
but you should get a couple years out of it,
so it will be worth every penny, and you wont have replacement bulbs to deal with.

Cool, thanks for the approval.

 

[Skimmy]

np mango....
i hope your life gets easier asap.

i for one admire that you wont give up,
keep at it, you'll get it worked out.

the trick for you is going to be simplifying your regime for your caregivers, (so they dont fux up)
and at the same time getting the tank what it needs... not an impossible task at all...

i think a simple 2 part solution for weekly dosing would be gud, a monkey can figure most of them out
(2 bottles, add equal amounts from both bottles, a few minutes apart.)

get a britta (or the like) tap water purifier for top off....

and hopefully by the next time you have an issue, i have a car and can swing by to take a look.
in the mean time, maybe some other local reefer with a car is willing to step up if you have an issue???
im sure there must be a couple people on here that have some shytte karma they'd like to clear...

 

[kpiotrowski]

well when the **** hits the fan it hits hard because my ballast just went out on the other light. now my fish tank is completly in the dark. Heres a pic.



I have my opinions as I have used their t-5 on freshwater and am happy with them. but I simply don't know about this light.

So… I just decided to do it and I got myself some LEDs. I called a friend of mine at the Red Sea aquarium to ask him what he thought would be the best thing for me to do to still keep the price really low and get my tank to look nice again. He shot me a link for a 21 inch LED lighting fixture for under $100! I bought it right on the spot it should be here sometime in the next couple of days. Thank God I'm not have to listen to that noisy fan anymore. Here is a pic of my soon-to-be new LED fixture.

here they are for $50 and free shipping.

LED Reef Bright

 

[dexter]

here they are for $50 and free shipping.

LED Reef Bright

that one is a 18 inches