Our main export is crippling depression...

Nice, Not only did is this cover way better then the original version, their hot too.

Well its been 9 days since I last posted about my new aquarium, in that post I said I would wait a few weeks before putting something alive in it. Well I was wrong, after testing the water, and having the ammonia go down to barely readable levels after a spike followed by a small water change, I decided the aquarium was ready for something.

Besides green slime algae started appearing already, so on Friday night I brought home about 5 little blue leg hermit crabs --- those are cool little buggers by the way. They are already roaming all across the tank and the live rock scavenging away. I still only have the two T5 Power Glo bulbs, which really probably aren’t emitting much beneficial UV rays as they are the same bulbs I’ve had in their for over a year when it was a fresh water tank --- but in addition to the (bad) green algae, (good) purple coraline algae is developing as well.

I noticed some Aiptasia sprouting from one of the live rock pieces, as well as this little bugger pictured below. It’s hard to make out in this picture because it looks just like a piece of the live rock --- but directly in the center of the picture, centered below the two hermit crabs is some sort of little slug of some kind, that waited almost three weeks two come out of whatever little crevice he was hiding in.


Tomorrow night, or at some point this week I’m going to hopefully pick up a couple snails to take care of the green algae before it gets out of hand. Then its time to start thinking about fish. I was going to start off with a couple false percula clownfish, but now I’m thinking maybe a copper-banded butterfly, instead.

After spending the majority of my life growing up around the freshwater hobby/tropical fish business --- with this first saltwater tank, its like everything is new, and keeping fish is fun again.

Here’s a couple more pictures, once again, they are not the greatest as I took them with my Iphone.

I grew up around the tropical fish hobby/pet business, I have been keeping, and raising and mostly selling freshwater fish my whole life, but never really got into the saltwater segment of the tropical fish hobby. Not that I haven’t wanted to, I have always found the color as well as behavior of reef fishes to be an amazing thing, just never got into it because sometimes being on the business side of the industry takes away from your enjoyment on the hobby side.

Well I have finally taken the plunge and decided to step into the world of marine fish and creatures. For the last few weeks I have been reading every article I can find on the internet and every printed piece of material I can find on marine aquariums, supplementing what I already know about freshwater tropical fish, with the many differences in keeping marine life forms. I recommend ‘The New Marine Aquarium’ by Michael S. Paletta, as almost required reading for anyone planning to enter the world of marine aquariums, or even those who may have been keeping marine fish for a few years now.

Last Saturday I stripped down my 180 Liter Bow Front Aquarium, which used to house freshwater discus, removing it of everything. I filled it back up with water, added some tap water conditioner, waited until the temperature reached 75°F then added some Instant Ocean sea salt.

I let the tank run for two days, removing all the media from my Canister filter, allowing the salt to mix properly, then added about 20lbs of live rock. The following day I added a mixture of 40lbs CaribSea Indo-Pacific Black Arag-Alive and 20lbs of Estes black marine sand. Tonight I just added about 10lbs of red lava rock and positioned it underneath the live rock in hope that in a few months down the road the lava rock will essentially become “live rock.”

I’ve been testing the water and keeping an eye on the nitrogen cycle, in about a week or maybe two I will add either a couple of damsels or a couple of clown fish, see how it goes from there and then a few weeks later start adding some invertebrates.

I don’t blog that much, but I’ll try to keep track on the goings on in my new aquarium here.

Current set up:
Fluval Vicenza 180 Liter Bow Front Aquarium w/2 T5 Power GLO bulbs
Fluval 205 Canister Filter
Hydor Koralia 3 circulator pump

The pics not the best, it was taken with my Iphone, but there really isn't much in the aquarium either.

Blogging is going to be a little light for a while, though its always a little light for me. But now its will be just a little bit tougher to blog, one handed until the pain and swelling goes down.

Rolled my ATV, can't believe its not broken.

Image by Roby© via Flickr

While driving in my truck the other day, I flipped the radio over to AM --- something I rarely ever do anymore, and heard a Nirvana song on the radio. It got me thinking how I used to be a huge Nirvana fan when I was in High School, but rarely listen to them that much anymore. It was my Junior year in High School when Kurt Cobain died and it hit me so hard that I went through a mourning period where I wore the same Nirvana shirt never taking it off day in or day out for a little over a week.

Looking back on it now, It was pretty stupid and If I could go back I’d probably smack my 16-year-old self across the face for being a dumb ass and mourning the loss of a singer in some band who killed himself.

While jamming out to the music coming out of my speakers, a realization hit me like a ton of bricks --- I’m almost six years older then Kurt Cobain was at the time of his suicide and haven’t really accomplished much in my life.

Now being a self-medicating through drug use, emotional wreck of an idiot who takes his own life is not really my idea of having accomplished anything in life, though sixteen year old self may beg to differ --- at least Kurt Cobain took a chance with his life and attempted to reach his dream. The biggest risk I’ve taken recently is trying a shot of Patrón with a slice of orange instead of a lime.

Say what you will about Nirvana’s music, but there is no denying that after leaving this world at the young age of 27 Kurt Cobain left a musical legacy that has touched a countless number of people.

I don’t know If I’ll ever make that sort of impact, but maybe but maybe its not to late to try and take a chance and chase that dream.

In a related note, today I came across this mash-up video at another website, and I have to say whoever it was that mixed Rick Astley with Nirvana didn’t do a bad job at all, the song actually sounds pretty catchy.

Trucks, I mean...

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. (AP) — One southern Wisconsin homeowner is probably not in love with the Oscar Mayer wiener. The famed hot dog's Wienermobile crashed Friday into the deck and garage of a home in Mount Pleasant, about 35 miles south of Milwaukee.

Police said the driver was trying to turn the Wienermobile around in the driveway and thought she was moving in reverse. But she instead went forward and hit the home. It sat in the driveway as if it were stuck in the garage Friday afternoon.

No one was home and no one was injured. No citations were immediately issued.

Both the home and vehicle suffered moderate damage, which Oscar Mayer spokeswoman Sydney Lindner says insurance will cover.

Police hadn't been able to speak to the homeowner as of early Friday evening.