Some quick equipment shots from yesterday:

It is not every day that Microsoft comes out with something having awesome possibilities - Surface

Last week Tuesday Exotic Aquariums delivered the newly rebuilt tank to my house. It has 3 bases like I said, each 10mm thick. The side panels are all 12mm thick. The square tubing frame is much stronger too.

After the usual struggle it has been moved in to its old spot - over the sumps which I have joined together in the mean time.

The 85kg of coral sand I had was not nearly enough for a DSB, and I'd go broke if I were to buy enough. The standard price is about R40 per kg... So I purchased 150kg fine crushed coral sand and another 120kg coarser crushed coral. It took about 6 hours to wash all that sand, but eventually it was clean and ready to go in to the new tank.

For the first time in my daughter's life (she is 3 years old now), she taught me something I did not know.

She kept on saying the word "Miscreants" and I kept on telling her I know no such word - that she must have misheard it (she claims she heard it whilst watching Ice Age 2). Well, much to my surprise when my wife just showed me there is indeed such a word - it means "a person who behaves badly or in a way that breaks the law".

I guess this is the start of a great new kind of relationship... Next time I better listen and learn!

We went to Namibia during the last week of April, and something terrible happened. I have filled the 480g to the max with RO/DI prepared saltwater, in order to have the live rock complete the curing process while we were away.

Well, two days after we left I got a phone call from my security firm - telling me my power has tripped. So I sent some people over to have a look - and there it was. 480g of saltwater on my living room floor - flooding everything. The tank cracked its double 10mm base lengthwise - a 2.7m long crack. It took a couple of minutes for all the water to leak out.

When I got back Exotic picked up the tank to fix it. They replaced the broken base with 3 x 10mm panels. Extra bracing was added to the square tubing stand, and the metal is both thicker and bigger. Hopefully this time it will hold that water. I am expecting it to be delivered early next week.