TDS meter arrived!

I finally got my TDS meter today!

What is a TDS meter ?

A TDS meter measures the"total amount of substances in the water other than the pure H₂O." What it really means for me though is that I can test the water out of my Ro/DI water filter and make sure that it is coming out with a reading of zero or at least close to it. The lower the reading the better the water is for the salt water aquarium. Tap water has lots of phosphates and other stuff that promote algae growth which I certainly would like to avoid as much as possible.

On a similar note I have the hoses clamped and with the help of Mark tonight I should have the ABS pipe I am using for my overflow all glued together (its like plastic melt / fuse glue) then fill it with tap water and let er rip!

as always more to come as they happen!

LAN weekend was SICK! (in the bad way!)

The LAN weekend in Kingston was a grand success! As always my Ontarian and American friends and I all stayed up late drank many a beer and tried to avoid Matts flatulence.

Unfortunatly on the drive down to Kingston I decided to not stop and have a bite to eat and instead wait till I arrived at my destination. This proved to be the stick that broke my immune systems back as not long after I got to Kingston I started not feeling to well. I thought it was just the hunger, but after some cheerios seemed to have no effect at all I questioned my early analysis. By Friday night I had popped an extra strength advil (thanks again Darren!) and as you may or may not know about me I rarely take any medication at all. The fact I asked for an advil to put me out of my misery speaks volumes.
Fast forward to Saturday and things were not all that much better, I woke up famished and despite eating a copious amount I still felt hungry... yet full... wierd feeling.
I decided to eat many carrots and drink plenty of water (and I admit pepsi!)

By Sunday morning I was in good shape but unfortunatly the weekend was already mostly over. We played a little Ghost Recon to finish off the morning then Trent had to go, this was the queue for the rest of us to start packing up as well, and withing an hour or so I too was on my way home.

more tools! and a LAN weekend!

This weekend I head off to the no mans land known as Kingston Ontario (why not Jamaica?!) There I am meeting up with fellow members of "The Purge" a guild of like minded gamers that I play World of Warcraft with. I have done 2 other events like this at Mike's Cabin and both times was a great time so I am anxiosly looking forward to the weekend.

That being said I also wanted to have water in the Aquarium by now, I need to clamp on the hoses and found just pulling the hoses on the spout ends of the pipe pretty difficult! I am going to head to Home depot during my lunch hour to aquire one of the best tools ever invented. The Vice Grip!

You may be thinking what is so special about this tool? If you have never used one you will just not understand. I am wondering now how I lived so long without one!

More to come as always ;)

Productive weekend!

So I finally got the stand I bought from Ikea drilled, and reinforced! I had put it off for a while but Sunday morning I did a quick trip to Home Depot got a 96cm length of 2 by 4 and some hose clamps and went to work.

Tonight I am planning to cut the hose to length and clamp them on. Also have to glue the ABS I have (finally) once thats done its time for a test run with tap water.

Let the salt water gods have mercy! ;)

First post!

My first post!

I finally caved in and decided to create one of these Blog thingamabobs. I am planning to first outline my adventures in creating my salt water aquarium!

more to come including pictures!