[scubadude]

Originally Posted by Amphibious

Hey Rocky Dude

Question, what the **** is this, "Heres to swimmin with bowlegged women!" all about??? You and miamiluis got somthin goin that I ought to get in on?????

LOL....Its a quote from Jaws the movie, and I just thought it was funny :P I knew someone would bite on it. Sorry to hear about your house problems did you still have to pay the excavator? Man that just aint right!

Ok I finally got the new top on, and you will notice the one thing I did do different with this greenhouse is before I put the top on I put approximately 20% shadecloth over the whole greenhouse, I do feel shading the whole greenhouse will be more effecient and I wont have those sloppy shadecloths in the way of the tanks like in the first thread :-)

[Soltaker]

Thanks for the update Scubadude!

I like the idea of placing the shadecloth on top of the greenhouse. Not only is it better looking for all of us, but it is going to be much easier for you to work inside.

[scubadude]

Originally Posted by Soltaker

Thanks for the update Scubadude!

I like the idea of placing the shadecloth on top of the greenhouse. Not only is it better looking for all of us, but it is going to be much easier for you to work inside.

Yes I agree, the only thing I didnt like about doing it that way is algae will grow on the plastic top after 6+ months (usually its on the top outside not inside, but there is some inside) and it will make it hard to clean the algae cuz the shadecloth will be in the way...but as cheap as the plastic tops are I will probably replace every year. I can also cut some of the shadecloth if need be.

I am thinking about adding more shade cloth inside the greenhouse If you notice the 3 long poles that connect all the bows near the top that run the whole length of the GH I would run shade cloth from them....I do think Im gonna do this...Its probably hard to understand it the way I have explained it....If I do it I will just take a pic of it Just wanna get the inside lights wired and some elec. outlets in there, and plumb my sink in there then I should be ready to do the rest of the shade cloth.

[Soltaker]

I understand what you are talking about. Do you think you will need that much shadecloth?

[Poseidon]

WOW your kickin' arss and taking names aren't you?? I didn't realize you were in Fort Pierce!!! I lived there with my cousin, Julie and her 2 roommates, Janet and Jennifer for a summer. It was the best summer ever!!!! That was before I had the reef bug this bad, but I did go snorkling off off the coast a couple times. I must have been in the wrong place cause the "reef" was about 75 yards off shore, I'd swim out there and all I saw was URCHINS!!! Seemed like thousands of them. the UGLY ones too, thick almost blunt spines brown in color... just nasty. I can't remember what the name of the beach was, I just remember we drove through "the hole" ( a big sand pit) to get there. Supposedly this is where all the teenagers partied at night. .............Bringing back some good memories, being 22 and SINGLE bar hoppin' with the roomies and being able to down 8-12 shots of Cuervo Gold and get up and go to work in the morning with no ill effects.... LOL if I did that today I'd be ill for a week!!!

Great progress going on there!! If I visit ny cousin this Summer I'll definately have to check in on you!!!

[scubadude]

Originally Posted by Soltaker

I understand what you are talking about. Do you think you will need that much shadecloth?

Well I think I could get awesome results w/very little or none at all w/some of the sps/clams which I will be able to moderate but since you mention that, my thoughts are to shade the greenhouse as much as possible/needed then cutaway certain sections where I want more light to shine through. My theory behind this goes back to cooling. I want to put as minimal geo-thermal underground as possible so thus I will have to cool the greenhouse other ways and my last greenhouse I only had shade cloth over the tanks, thus the rest of the greenhouse was probably heating up the tanks. I know I had some SPS that where in my softie system that where doing great though and I had 55% shadecloth over that so I want to utilize the sun as much as possible but in the same aspect I dont want to overutilize it if you catch my drift.

[scubadude]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

WOW your kickin' arss and taking names aren't you?? I didn't realize you were in Fort Pierce!!! I lived there with my cousin, Julie and her 2 roommates, Janet and Jennifer for a summer. It was the best summer ever!!!! ............If I visit ny cousin this Summer I'll definately have to check in on you!!!

LMAO Mike,
Lemme see...If I lived near the beach with my cousin and two other girls for a summer yeah I think that might qualify for the best summer too I dont live in Ft. Pierce, I think you are referring to Dick aka Amphibious he is building a house there and a greenhouse eventually too, but by all means if your down in that area look me up because its nothin for me to swing over there (about 2 hrs) would definately give me an excuse to go diving.

[miamiluis]

Yo Dude!!
I'm very excited to hear about all your progress!!
I check your forum like I watch Sportscenter!! Hoping to catch the latest Greeenhouse Highlights!!!
Don't even get me started about frags!! I can't wait to see what kind of crazy stuff you're cooking up over there! Of course!! I would very humbly accept any frag from an SPS Grandmaster such as yourself!!
Alright Rocky, keep on kickin butt!! Sure can't wait for you to be online again, so you can post all those deliciious new Coral pics!!
We Love you man! We'll bring the beer!!

Miamiluis and Carmen!

[goldenpheasant]

Hey Scubadude,

I am in Pt Charlotte, and I met you while looking at your 130 you were selling. I didn't buy cause I was in the new house building thing, you know how that goes. If you need help on your greenhouse, I can give you some elbow grease.

I am finally building my new house. It has taken awhile.

I have been diving since 1988, and have spearfished for 15 years. Well anyway nice to see your livin life large. I liked you old greenhouse just fine.

I will gladly buy from you to stock my reef when I set up in the new house.

mark

[scubadude]

Luis,
Thanx for the kudos bro ;-) Hope everything is going good for you.

Mark,
Please refresh my memory for some reason I cant remember you. Not really living large anymore...I live out in Arcadia now, so life is a bit different, however I do like it out here, I just had to make some sacrifices. Glad your getting your house built, you gonna do an In-Wall tank? Easy to do if your still in the building mode, if you need some help with figuring out your setup let me know, and thanx for the offer of Elbow Grease....My next step is to rent a tractor to dig my u/ground geothermals for the tanks...I did just setup a 200g recently and its cycling but its still to cold for livestock.

[DukeDog]

Hey Rocky
Lookin Good !!
I didnt realize you moved that far out in the country. I wish my tank was doing better but maybe when you get everythng going I'll be ready to make a run out to see ya. By the way what did you do with your old GH ?? Please keep the pics going
Jeff

[scubadude]

Originally Posted by DukeDog

Hey Rocky
By the way what did you do with your old GH ?? Please keep the pics going
Jeff

Hey Jeff
I still have my old GH...I tore it down and have all the parts still (well most of em...i used some of them on my new GH) I may eventually setup the other GH but that im sure will be much later down the road. Ill try and post some more pics soon, still doing some electrical work on the GH.

[MacnReef]

Well Scuba, I followed your thread over here from RC and now I am a member. I have been reading your original gh post since last week, I must have read it 3 times. It is truly amazing! You have done an excellent job!

I am considering starting a small prop system for myself and a few local friends. I am starting small with two tanks either 72"x36"x24" or two tanks 48"x30"x15" (I already have the tanks) but in the area I want to put the tanks, I really don't have much more space for sumps if I use the 72" tanks. But I noticed that you do no use sumps, your only filtration seems to be some sd sand, BIG skimmers, and a little liverock that you use to support the egg crate....is this true?

I am going to be running an AM3000 but was wondering if I should even worry about a sump or just put it on a closed loop? The tanks will be in a small building that is added onto my house so, I can heat or cool it as needed. I plan on using some 150W HQI for lighing on the systems for now...do you feel that is addequate? They will have an adjustable height so I can adjust for the corals.

Are all of the new tanks going to be seperate and are they going to have sumps? Since I will be able to control the ambient air I am not going to be using the geo therm...but that is an excellent idea that I may use if I need to move it to a larger area.

Mike

[Lunchbucket]

Scubadude - are you CRAZY INSAIN OR INSAIN CRAZY?????!!!!!!

dang man this is gonna be a SWEET ride
Lunchbucket

[Poseidon]

Hey Scuba, I KNOW you have made some progress... How about an UPDATE?

[smaug]

Read the other thread last night. i have to say great work. I have a suggestion for you not sure where the debate is on the UG loop being used as a heater in the winter but i think you could prove/disprove it simply by placing a temp sensor in the pipe going to the loop and the other sensor in the pipe coming out of the loop. by doing this you could also optimize the flow rate to get the most benift from the loop. Have you thought about using solar heating during the winter.

Smaug

[scubadude]

Sorry I havent posted in a while.

Smaug,
Most definately have looked at the approaches you are talking about, I have seriously considered (and still am) the solar panels used on rooftops of houses to cool swimming pools down here in Fl. and YES the geo thermal u/ground does somewhat heat the water in the winter time down here....basically the u/ground temp is approx 72-74 degrees all year round and if its 55 degrees up above then you will get a heating effect from the u/ground geothermal

Mike,
Forget about sumps, they just take up excess room. Learn to plumb your skimmer, ca. reac and any other accsys outside of the system externally or utilize part of the tank for that solely. Even rethink SB's Im going to try and do w/out them in my prop systems as they take up valuable real estate I have so much flow in my systems that they claimed many corals demise. Im not saying that SB's and Sumps are no good...they are great but your making a prop system...Functionality is KING remember that and forget everything else effeciency is part of functionality too Your shallow tanks would be great for high light loving corals. The 150w HQI should be fine. Close loop that AM! and try not to downsize yer plumbing think in the lines of volume not velocity. 2 - 1.5" intakes are much better than one, plus they are less likely to clog due to velocity. lots of flow is awesome but its worthless if its not dispersed


First off I will say honestly that I have had to squeeze every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears to make this property/transaction take place and even though it has happened it has consumed me financially and even taken me a little emotionally, needless to say Im a survivor baby! I setup a 1000g vat and moved my corals into there when I first moved into the new property and that leaked and I lost alot of livestock (this was over 2 mos ago) I picked up my pride and wat corals i could salvage (not many) and started up a 75g inside the house, after I did this a few freinds gave me some corals and I had it stocked before to long and really doing great and started setting up a 200g (w/out geothermal though) in the GH. I was working 2 jobs @ the time as well as trying to get the GH going so it was a real strain on me. The other day I came home to my 75g having a total crash due to over heating (fan stopped) and I had many prized corals that I had dearly loved for a long time. Right now I still have the 200g and put some corals in it last week (mostly some zoos that I collected) and the weather got real cold and I lost most of them....so I have had a bit of a bad streak lately and havent been real chipper lately, So let the truth be known that I am sulking, but will rebound....I just needed some time away to rethink my approaches and strategies, not to mention acrue some more financial stability. FWIW I did get access to a bunch of 20g longs that are used and drilled for $3 each The problem Im having right now is that I will have to rent my tractor/backhoe to dig my geothermals for all my systems and that will take 2 straight days in a row, and I dont have the time/money to do that yet but I assure you It will happen soon....the money pretty much isnt an issue anymore, cuz I have been workin like a dawg! but 2 days in a row are hard to find anymore I should have some pictures for you guys soon though.

[Lunchbucket]

Scubadude - sorry to hear about your bad luck but sounds like you have the right attitude. just stop, step back, take a few deep breaths and go at it like you ususally do. sometimes little setbacks are there to make us realize stuff or to cause it to watch out or slow down for a bit.

hang in there! if you need anything just ask
Lunchbucket

[Amphibious]

Hey Everyone following this thread

My wife and I were in FL this past ten days to see our house foundation being formed and the concrete poured. Whenever I've been in FL, since I met Rocky two years ago, I would take the opportunity to get together with him and Tracy. His enthusiasm for reefing is infectious and just being around him makes me feel good. I know any of you that have had the pleasure of getting to know Rocky share my feelings. So, this trip was no exception, we called and drove across FL to his place for a visit. What he stated above is from his heart.

Rocky has been knocked down but, he's not out. He needs time to recover financially from the purchase of the property and all the extra expenses that goes with that, in order to rebuild the greenhouse. Right now he's literally working three jobs to accomplish what he needs to do.

As expected, we had a great time with him and hopefully raised his spirits a little.

It's hard to understand and be patient with a guy who provided us with great knowledge and products. We just want him back in business.

Everyone loves you Rocky! So, do your best and if you need help there's a caboodle of friends who would love to help you. Am I right, reefers?

[miamiluis]

Wusssssssssup Rocky DUDE!!
Man Mucho Sucks to read about your bad times as of late Mucho pain me feel for you man!! Sorry about the whole thing!! But F%@# it man!! You get to Start all over!! Brand Spankin NEW!!! Yeah BABY!!!! And I'm sure that many ppl will hook you up man!!! No Stress dude!! Just get it up and walking about! It will start (your business, and coral diversity!) running on it's own!! Dumb crackheads like me will drive countless hours from all over just to drink a few cold ones with ya, and watch the corals play!! Remember, if you build it, they will come!!!! (hee hee!!) Just holla! And I'll be up there with zoos and some Pocillopora Verrucosa Ricky Martin Style!!! Say hello to the Mrs.(they put up with us!!), and wishing you and your loved ones always the best!!!
Miamiluis