Paul B's thread

So a weird thing happened yesterday. I think we sold the house and should go to contract in a day or so. That is not the weird part. A half an hour after we made the deal, about 6:00 PM our door bell rings. It was a very pretty Asian lady in her late 40s. My wife recognized her as one of the people who came to the house a few days ago to an open house. At that time she breezed through the house and sort of rushed out without saying much so I figured she wasn't interested. We already had over 60 people looking at the place and we were holding out for the price we were hoping for.

Anyway, this Lady has a shopping bag with her so Instantly figured she had a bundle of cash with her. But the bag wasn't big enough so I thought I may be wrong. Of course I was. She spoke very little English and the only Asian words I know is Bruce Lee and maybe Sushi. But she was Korean so those words probably don't count and I didn't want to mention the only Korean word I know as that is Kim Jun Ung.

She kept apologizing for bothering us (which she was not) so we invited her in. I offered her wine, plum wine, Scotch, Rum, beer, chocolate milk and tea all of which she declined. She gave us the Mandarin Oranges that she had in the bag (instead of cash) She was extremely nice and kept apologizing for coming here. She was dressed like she was going to a really nice night club but my house doesn't have any neon signs outside so I am sure she didn't make a mistake.

After taking off her coat and sitting on our couch she told us she was an artist and loves the house so much that she can't sleep. (she said that about 5 times. ) She said to my wife, your house has so much love in it and your Husband (Me) smiles so much as he showed me the house and his art work, I can tell he put so much love in the house and she is also an artist, (she said that multiple times)

She was going on about my Japanese garden and my Asian flair I put into the house and how much she loved my art etc. My wife and I were kind of baffled because I asked her a couple of times how much she wanted to bid on the house. Or even if she wanted to make an offer, But she didn't seem to know. She told me that besides being an artist she has some sort of Google like business and if she could speak English better she could make more money and such. Her husband is Japanese but I am not sure what he does as he could be a Sumo Wrestler or Toyota Dealer, I couldn't figure it out. I asked her how she got married to a Japanese mas because she said she doesn't speak Japanese and both of them don't speak much English. Maybe he has a Japanese/Korean translator thing or they know sign language.

She stayed about an hour which didn't bother me because as I said she was very nice and did I say Pretty?
She asked if she could be our friend even if she couldn't buy the house and if she could visit us in our new home so she can paint the ocean. We said OK, thats fine but my wife and I kept looking at each other as we couldn't figure out what this visit was for. She also said she was going to bring us some Korean food I guess we have a new friend.

Then she thanked us a few times and left. It was a very interesting experience but I am in a fog as to what it was about.
 
All still immune here, all is well. I took down my blackworm tank for the move. I think we sold the house and their inspector is coming over today to inspect things. Even he will find my fish immune although all the outlets and "creative" electrical work he may not appreciate or understand.
clear.png

But I will try to convince him that all of that will be gone when I take everything out of the tank and attempt to move it 60 miles.
This will be a good test of immunity because I am buying a new tank and filling it with NSW from the beach near my home there and will just warm it up before I throw in any fish and coral that survive the move.
clear.png


They will go from very old water with 160 nitrates to very new water with no nitrates which may upset their stomach a little. I will add some of the old water to keep some of any bacteria and parasites that are in there just for kicks.
clear.png

The water will come from here. I suppose it will warm up a little before then or my powerheads will make a lot of noise.
 
Yes they will, but I may warm it up a little for them.
Thanks. Their inspector came today to inspect my house. He crawled through crawl spaces, squeezed behind things, searched in places i didn't even know I had. When he was finished he said to me. "I never saw a house like this, I can't find even one thing to write, everything is perfect". I was very happy because he said the same thing to the prospective buyers. He also said, He would buy this house if he could. I was an electrician most of my career but I was also a plumber so i did everything myself including raising the dormer and building the bathrooms, kitchens and all of the built in furniture. I also put in new plumbing, boiler, solar panels, central vacuum, alarm system, wiring and everything else. I didn't think he would find anything wrong and I am very proud of that.
clear.png

In a few days we will go to contract. But my fish are getting very nervous as it is still very cold here and they have no sense of humor.
eek.png
 
The inspector also has a fish tank so he understood my thousand outlets.

I will be ordering a new 125 gallon tank soon but I am still torn if I want a new fangled sump yet. I am not sure if I want the thing drilled with that overflow in the corner. I know I will be trying to fish my bluestripe pipefish and clown gobies out of there every two days.

I am planning to add a lot more small "interesting fish" like I have now rather than boring angels and tangs although I need to add at least one Naso tang for all the people who say it won't live there because of all the parasites. :cool: The things we need to do to prove things. I just hope I can catch it to give it away after it gets a foot long. :rolleyes:

I bought the redwood to build the stand out of but we still have snow on the ground here and my radial saw is covered with parts of the "industrial bed" I just built so I don't have room to work yet. It should only take a few hours to build. I also have to build it so I can take it apart to fit in my car so I can get it out there.
 
Most of my tank build will be me hauling buckets of water out of the ocean. If I get time (I am waiting for varnish to dry now on the "guts" of the bed I built before I can put on a second coat)



I want to make a 12 volt bilge pump with a FIFTY FOOT hose on it along with a wire to connect to my car so I can throw it in the ocean and pump water into buckets in my car. I can back up to here and be just about in the water but it is rough so I will have to walk out on this little pier to collect.

The last time I went here to collect Dorothy Hammil was taking up all the room skating in figure 8s. (Google her)



I will need some time to warm that water up or else I will have to wrap each fish in bubble wrap to stay warm and they frown on that.



I also want to build a large "rock" support the 6' length of the tank to support my entire reef structure off the bottom. I don't see me getting that time and I also would have to soak it in water for a while. If they would let me I would put a rope on it and throw it in my boat slip to cure, but that also ain't gonna happen.

I am planning on losing most if not all of my corals. In my new place in the tank space there is no heat, almost no electric, no water, no drain so I have a little work to do before the tank will be functioning semi correctly. But before I do anything with the tank except put water and fish in it I need to do a lot of other work in the place like install lights. i didn't want the builders lights, I built my own along with the bed and some of the furniture so I have to put in all that stuff. I will also be putting in an elevator as my condo is above the workshop and garage and my wife has MS so she doesn't do stairs well. That is why I doubt I will have corals left.



I also have no tank light except for my present water cooled LEDs which are to small for that tank but for a while they will have to do.



 
Last edited:
Everything is a battle which is why I never hire anyone for anything if I can help it. I am trying to get this contract to sign to sell my house and I want to sell and the buyers want to buy but the lawyers make a big deal out of everything and complicate it to no end. There is no need to have any lawyers around when you buy a house. You should be able to go there with an M-11 wheelbarrow full of cash, dump it on the lawn and move in.

My real estate guy is from India and it is very hard to understand him. The buyers are from China and their real estate agent is from Hong Kong. Their lawyer is also from China and can't barely speak English. When these people get together with my lawyer who has no communication skills so the conversation, if you can call it that goes backwards, so much so that I can't tell If I am selling my house, buying my house or setting up an aquarium to raise Godzilla larvae.

We were supposed to get this contract 2 days ago but there was something written in there, probably in French that both lawyers had a problem with. So they called each other and now I am not sure where I am or if we will go back to the cold war.

My neighborhood here in New York is a mix of every nationality and culture and it is becoming mostly Asian and Indian which is fine. It's kind of interesting that I can go into the stores and buy stuff from all over the world. One of my Neighbors was born in China and he translates stuff to me that I sometimes find written in Chinese. My other neighbor is from India and he takes care of my house when I am away. The people behind me are from Sicily which is where my family is from and he barely speaks English so when we all get together on the corner to chat, it's like the league of Nations but we are all good friends. I love it.

But it doesn't help sell a house. :confused:
 
No snow day for me! A dusting already melted away on pavement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Not to good. I think I am going to fire my elevator contractor and get someone else. This guy doesn't give me much faith.
 
We were on an interesting tiny Caribbean Island last week and I started a thread about it in the Lounge or whatever they call Off Topic here.

 
I have been packing for the move which is supposed to happen at the beginning of May. My tank looks particularly lousy as I have not touched it in quite a while. I have broken montipora all over the place and my nice large frogspawn has been shrinking. I can't remember when I added calcium so the thing must be starving. But on a better note, the fish are great, no ich, no psorisis, no nothing and the fireclowns still spawn whenever I walk in front of the tank in my underwear. :eek:



I just about finished building our new bed which looks like a huge industrial pallet with big steel wheels. I built the lights for over the kitchen Island and ordered parts to build the track lights over the rest of the kitchen. I really looked for lights I liked but can't find any. I prefer "different" and don't like the normal run of the mill stuff on Houzz, Amazon, Dirt Bags R Us or any other sites and Home Depot is way out of the equation. I go there for fertilizer.



Everything in the house will be industrial or steampunk looking and you have a hard time buying that stuff so you have to build it yourself, besides, I like building stuff.



I made most of the pieces for my new tank stand but I can't put it together because it won't fit in my car so I may have to assemble it there. I am not sure of the logistics of how I am going to move my tank as that all depends on the timing. I am sure I will lose the corals but I will try not to. If the fish don't jump out and they don't get a stroke in new NSW they may be OK. I have a huge room with one light in the center and one outlet 15' away from the tank. No drain and no fresh water near by so I will have to hook my RO up to a hose temporarilly. I don't think I will have more than a day to set it up, collect 125 gallons of water 20 gallons at a time, warm it, drive 60 miles, carry all my livestock, clean my gravel in the ocean and get it all in the tank. Remember I still won't have lights in my house and I have to assemble the bed and help my wife put away dishes, and everything else I accumulated in 40 years. Our boat is being moved there the same day but I can let the marina plug it in and wax it so I don't have to mess with that.

I will probably have to light my tank with a temporary something until I can manage to get my Water Cooled LED light over it. I will also have to put in a bunch of heaters because that space is not yet heated.



That will also be my workshop and that will take me about 2 years to finish building. I need to build my work bench, closets, storage and drawers all over it. I also will order 10 LED, "flourescent looking" lights from Amazon. I need to install a big exhaust fan, heat and AC the place, install a bathroom, water, electric. Before all that I wanted to install a floor (It's concrete now) but I may only have time to install it under the tank until I do the rest of the stuff.

My wife has MS and can't really help too much so we hope to have a few friends there to help.

If I had a week to work there before I moved, I would sleep there and complete all the important stuff but the builder won't let me there until I pay for the place and that can't happen until I get paid for my house and the people want to move in right away. I will get it all sorted out in time.

 
I started building my new stand today for the 125 gallon tank for my new house. I will probably start a tank move thread when it gets a little closer to the move which should be in a few weeks. I am building this stand out of red wood because it warps the least of all woods except cedar which is much to weak. Redwood is almost as strong as pine but costs a lot more. These 2X4s in redwood were about $15.00 each. In the summer they are much easier to find because no one makes decks here in the winter. The legs are regular pine, non treated 4X4s. The hardware is all hot dipped galvanized and it is also glued with Gorilla Glue as it is somewhat water resistant. It is bolted together with 3/8" X 6" carriage bolts and nuts.
The 2X4s are dadooed or grooved into the legs for additional support. I still need to put in the lateral supports and bottom shelf If I decide to use one. This stand will be behind a wall so none of it will be visible.
 
I finished the stand for my new tank in my new home. It is redwood but I also coated it with Thompsons Waterseal just for fun. The front 4X4 is doubled. The thing is functional, very simple and very strong and stable. Now all I need is the tank. In a few days I should get my Undergravel filter. They are rare now because of that "Nitrate Factory" thing. I hope to make the reverse UG filter manifold before I move and I decided there will be no sump so I don't need to worry about that. It will basically be the same set up as I have now in a little higher tank. I will transfer everything from the old tan to this one.
I think my water cooled lights will work with a little tweeking.

 
Stand looks good and sturdy. Hope the moves goes well for all your ridiculously old fish - good thing they are hardy as all get-out.
 
I thought about it but decided against it. Those 2X4s are also dadooed or grooved into the 4X4 legs and glued with Gorilla Glue. They can't move at all.
The bolted pieces on the bottom also provide some lateral support.
I tried to use as little wood as possible because the joints is where the water stays and the less joints, the better.
 
Upcoming Events

April 21, 2024
Paul B
Club Meeting

Back
Top