Altohombre's 46 Gallon Showcase Showdown!

[fatman]

My real name is David, but I do not have friends so most people just call me hey *sshole. I really am pretty antisocial. I have spent the majority of my adult life in Alaska (34 years), with no neighbors for many miles (18 years). Just a lab, a plant room and aquariums. However, I move into the city to go back to school so I try to make efforts at being a human being albeit with very limited social skills. Vinegar and water make a very good non toxic glass cleaner. Vinegar contains a low concentration of a natural acid (acetic acid). Most Windex contains ammonia and antifreeze. I use crumpled newspaper to polish the glass surfsce after cleaning it with vinegar. The glass seems to literally glow. Is that poetic or what?

[Melonbob]

I use a wet rag, no soap or anything. then I polish with one of those fake chamois. Works like a charm. I tried the windex too, spraying it on a towel first, but it smears like hell. I think the windex can't handle the saltwater.

[Melonbob]

Oh, BTW I am running a 46gal too, take a look at my pics in the build thread

[yote]

Originally Posted by Altohombre

thanks for the cleaning tips. Yote is that as in coyote? or just yote?

Some hunting bubbies started calling me Yote after I called in a pack of coyotes using my natural voice one night.It stuck like a tick on a dogs ear.

[yote]

I should have though about the newspapre trick David.Use it to clean the windshield in my truck.

[Melonbob]

Yote, you wanna hunt, you have to come up here.......Gods country I tell ya!

[fatman]

Oh I forgot to explain the simple chemistry behind the use of vinegar. Calcium carbonate is dissolved by acid, hence the vinegar. That white stuff you generally see on your glass is calcium carbonate, just like you get around water fixtures if you have hard water. Most organics break down right well in acids too. That about covers anything that came from your tank that gets on your glass. Cigarette smoke and that kind of filth doesn't get around my tanks. I would have to put the sucker who smoked around one of my tanks up against a wall and shoot him! Yeah I quit smoking years a go. I also quit drinking, drugging and marriages, but I would allow those things around my tanks, as long as they things being done by me.

[Altohombre]

Any recommendations for the next fish to add in like a months time. I would like a full spectrum of colors and I enjoy active fish like most of us do. I have an interest in a diamond goby to sift the sand and give action to the lower region of the tank. I also have interest in the Coral Beauty, but I am finding that its not as beautiful as people say it is. The colors are somewhat dull instead of vibrant like I would expect. However I do like its overall shape.

[fatman]

I like the Bicolor Blenny as it spends a lot of time out in the open and is brightly colored (blue/light blue).

[Melonbob]

The coral beauty really does "pop" with colour under the right lighting