THE 2007 REEF TOUR "BLOG" - EPILOGUE

DANG! so far I have recored "the blue planet" to have running on the tv, and I need to clean the glass better, although I do need to straighten up the cords.

snow, we had a couple of inches and my daughters made a full snowman.

I was going to take a photo the next day, but it warmed up and they smashed it.

The rain may slow the numbers a bit, but it won't bust the tour. You may want to buy an extra welcome mat for inside the house to avoid wet and muddy feet in your living room!

Thanks Linda! Everything will have to wake up early for the tour.

gizmond wrote: Drill in hand. Forstner bit installed, I cannot pull trigger on modifying cool cabinet hood. I am weak. Consult LFS. "Dude, it's a piece of wood, drill it and do a nice job. No-one but you (and possibly Dion) will care". LFS recommends I post a pic of a bunch of shavings and pile of splintered wood as a joke on Dion. Not sure if that would be wise. He knows where I live.

Dear blog......
No time to write.....

month ago bought a house
almost tore the house down and started from scratch....set up the new tank.....last week got moved into the new tank as well as the new house.....still plumbing new tank.....sump runs great....hood needs some work...and I don't have near enough rock to fill the tank....I also realized I have room for alot of new rock and corals.....got the new fish in after urban aquatics held them for about a month.....there were a few fatalities, but everyone that hit the tank is still great.......had a small cycle, but thanks to todd and some stability, only lost a four line wrasse....all the corals opened up and look great.....lost half of a birds nest because it fell into the sand and was covered for a day.....ok maybe two days.....

I still need to finish the hood{so I can take off the towels}and finish plumbing....I also still need to get a close loop pump......this will help.....

Well got to run and do some of my list....

Edited by EagleEyez5 - October 03 2007 at 8:21pm

Wednesday, 10 / 03

 

With just *** 3 DAYS *** until the REEF TOUR, today was the day to start work on the REEF TOUR SIGNS

 

I had several ideas on this...

 

First, a LARGE lawn sign. Basically, welcoming the Tour visitors and letting the neighborhood know what is going on. Plus, if I were looking for my house, the lawn sign lets me know I found the right house. And did I mention it was going to be LARGE ?

 

So, off we went for WalMart to get some supplies (markers, posterboard, etc.)

 

While in WalMart, the wife notices some 'banner paper' and says -

 

"Hey, you think you want to use some of this banner... Uh oh..." and then a look of regret came over her face that she had even said anything at all...you know, that look like when you are in the LFS and the spouse wants you to check out a "really pretty coral" and then realizes it's the one that's marked at like 200 bucks...?

 

So now I have a 75 FOOT LONG BANNER to make a lawn sign with (I guess it is no longer a problem fitting in everything I wanted to write!)...and, when I pointed out that it would be GREAT cause, hey, our entire yard is exactly 75 feet wide... 

 

So I spent some time at work going on MSWord and printing up 10 inch tall block letters that spell out "Coral Reef Tour Open House" , "Welcome Guests", "wwwUtahReefsCom" etc... and I burned through about half a $200 commercial ink toner cartridge, too (sshhhhh )

 

I know that we will 'compromise' on the Lawn Sign but at least I'm prepared...

 

Second, we are making at least 1 indoor display sign that would go right next to the viewing area. Describing the setup, a list of fish / corals /inverts, that kind of stuff. So people can look and just figure out "what is what" for themselves. Just emailed a "prototype" display sign back home for proofreading and format approval

 

Next, while in the store we picked out the refreshments - so come hungry

 

Even remembered that we have some reef-related "paintings" (color by numbers, don't get all excited ) the kids did, and a pretty big 'Reef' jigsaw puzzle my wife did and glued together awhile back (thanks, honey  )... those will make for some nice "ambience" around the setup... 

 

The only 'setback' today is I found out my daughters Laptop is having wireless connectivity problems... hopefully we get that back up before Saturday... thought it would be a nice touch to have the WMAS site up "live" at the refreshment table; to show any unfamiliar visitors just what the WMAS is all about

Edited by carlso63 - June 04 2008 at 1:16am

Robert,

back to the blog...

got the return wave maker installed....I am just working on the spray bars today, and hanging the shelf in the wet room....this will allow me to set the balasts on it completely above the tank in the other room.....no need for salt creep to get them......and the final thing to do is the hoods finishing touches....
oh and clean the house.....I will have a walk way set for people to walk around to the back door and straight down to the tank......{this should help with my wife's stress of unpacking the boxes of 'my crap' that still litter the front room....

also....could not get the aqua controller in before the tour ....but will be installing it after......

Thursday, 10 / 04

 

 

OK... we are down to the last *** 2 DAYS *** until the Reef Tour !!!

 

Time to start finishing all the prep work and getting everything in place for Saturday morning...

 

First order of business is those signs... have to say the indoor signs came out even better than I expected  

 

This morning we spent a good 2.5 hours cutting out large lettering that was basically 650 point font size (yes, 650 pt) on MSWord... pasted them very neatly onto the appropriate signage and came up with:

 

 - A 6 foot long by 3 foot tall "Welcome WMAS Reef Tour Visitors" banner to fly over my 6 foot long tank

 

 - A 3' "wwwutahreefscom" banner for the overhang of the refreshment  table

 

 - A 2' by 3' posterboard entitled "All About Our Reef Aquarium" that lists things like display / sump / fuge sizes, types of lighting systems, filtration / skimming systems, water parameters for the Reef - and a list of all the fish / inverts / corals within the Reef (beautifully accented with artwork by the missus )

 

 - various reef-related artwork including a 2' by 3' reef fishes jigsaw puzzle all glued together and now ready to hang

 

 About the only major piece left is the lawn sign. Probably gonna go with a "less than 75 ft long" banner  as I 'came to my senses' and realized that something that big won't hold up 5 minutes outdoors - especially if it rains

 

However, based on the wording of the sign - that I have already "commisioned" be placed on it - it should still end up somewhere between 6 and 8 foot long by as much as 5 foot tall. Pretty substantial, dontcha think?

 

And, before I forget, major kudos to "Mrs Carlso63" for all her help and ideas... especially the artwork and working on that lawn sign all by herself while I am stuck here at work... AND for putting up with all my "ideas-slash-demands" and "waywaywaaaayoverthetopness" on the whole 'Reef Tour' thing... 

 

 

 

Tomorrow:

 

Setting up the tables / chairs and putting it all together!