16ANA 240G starfire mixed reef (1 Viewer)

[Taklu]

Some ocean pics, beautiful and sad. Pics taken at a small fishing village on the eastern coast of India. We made it a point to travel gadget free, but work required me to have this one gadget called iphone - all pics on a iphone 4s

this side of India's coast is also home to a large population of wild turtles that nest on the beaches.. this one is one of them. this turtle didnt make the cut; locals do not interfere with them most of the time.. tourists are more likely to cross the lines. although at first look this may look like one of those cases, the piece of wood floated there later. there were no injury signs on the turtle

turtle nest

turtle nests

sand patterns, most of the marks made by sand burrowing crabs

I convinced some of the denizens to pose for me -

 

[geovanii]

The beach. I love the beach. Got to get out of the snow.

 

[NorthSide Reef]

Man, looks a hell of lot nicer than Bangalore lol. Spent way too much time there. Tried to take a picture of the traffic. pictures don't do it justice. It is something that has to be experienced. The word chaos doesn't even come close.

Sorry man I had not looked back at your tank. I hope that's the worst of it. Best of luck!

 

[reef.saltwater]

Man, looks a hell of lot nicer than Bangalore lol. Spent way too much time there. Tried to take a picture of the traffic. pictures don't do it justice. It is something that has to be experienced. The word chaos doesn't even come close.

Sorry man I had not looked back at your tank. I hope that's the worst of it. Best of luck!

Lol... Have you ever been to Mumbai ? Or Delhi ? Well I have spend almost 6 hrs and 20 min to drive only 25 to 30 miles. It's once in a while but yes, that was one long day for me.

 

[NorthSide Reef]

Yes both. the funniest parts are when a train is going by and traffic is stopped. when the train is gone all lanes are full on each side all the way across and facing each other.....
If there is an open spot on the road it is fair game regardless of what side of the line it's on.

I try to describe the traffic like this. If you had a bag of marbles and a funnel you can easily pass all of the marbles through the funnel if you do it at a uniform pace. But in India they take the whole damn bag jam it down the funnel and than smash it with a hammer and try to force the marbles through. It works for them though lol. Sort of.

 

[Taklu]

Man, looks a hell of lot nicer than Bangalore lol. Spent way too much time there. Tried to take a picture of the traffic. pictures don't do it justice. It is something that has to be experienced. The word chaos doesn't even come close.

Sorry man I had not looked back at your tank. I hope that's the worst of it. Best of luck!

you Sound like a real corporate tourist lol if someone sold you that B'lore or some of the other tourist traps are what India is about he/she is real good salesperson.

There is quite a bit to see in Bangalore also esp for a first time person lots of history/culture and art in that city.. dont be carried away by the crowds (pun intented) or chaotic streets; if there is a next time chose your guide wisely.

Also if you are into nature.. there's atleast 5 national parks within two hours drive that has some of the best wildlife in the world, atleast one of them is a biosphere reserve.

Back to reef's if you are ever in India again and want to go diving.. check out India's underwater national park.. close to the last big Tsunami source..so you better be brave it was out of bounds for general public until very recently and has pretty strict controls on what can be taken to the islands. In the interest of the environment and the chance to experience real natural beauty I would easily comply with restrictions.

 

[Taklu]

Yes both. the funniest parts are when a train is going by and traffic is stopped. when the train is gone all lanes are full on each side all the way across and facing each other.....
If there is an open spot on the road it is fair game regardless of what side of the line it's on.

I try to describe the traffic like this. If you had a bag of marbles and a funnel you can easily pass all of the marbles through the funnel if you do it at a uniform pace. But in India they take the whole damn bag jam it down the funnel and than smash it with a hammer and try to force the marbles through. It works for them though lol. Sort of.

a better description of traffic in India (and in the far east in general.. same in NY to a limited extent) is like air... if there is an open spot (aka vacum) it has to be filled. if there's too much air it WILL find its way out, no hammer needed :tongue:

 

[NorthSide Reef]

you Sound like a real corporate tourist lol if someone sold you that B'lore or some of the other tourist traps are what India is about he/she is real good salesperson.

There is quite a bit to see in Bangalore also esp for a first time person lots of history/culture and art in that city.. dont be carried away by the crowds (pun intented) or chaotic streets; if there is a next time chose your guide wisely.

Also if you are into nature.. there's atleast 5 national parks within two hours drive that has some of the best wildlife in the world, atleast one of them is a biosphere reserve.

Back to reef's if you are ever in India again and want to go diving.. check out India's underwater national park.. close to the last big Tsunami source..so you better be brave it was out of bounds for general public until very recently and has pretty strict controls on what can be taken to the islands. In the interest of the environment and the chance to experience real natural beauty I would easily comply with restrictions.

Hard to say if I will ever get back there. I have two systems up and running there for Pentair. But I can do most work on them from my desk here. I went with a group from Pentair to a religious campus on our last visit. we had a weekend to kill and our guide thought we would like to see the country side and check this place out.

Interestingly we see what looks like a monk or I priest and people are just going crazy over the sight of him. He comes to our group and our guide looks like he is going to wet himself, all of us shake his hand and smile I have no clue who this dude is. Later our guide tells us we just met Sri Sri Ravi. I had to google him. I felt pretty dumb afterwords because I had no idea how important this guy is.

 

[reef.saltwater]

well this video describe India not even 10%. even though it's fun to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEtWxIL_b2U

 

[reef.saltwater]

FTS ?

 

[Taklu]

Patience my man patience. I finished cleaning three sides only last night... one more glass to go. then I will check if the battery on the camera is charged, get my cup of hot tea and stare at the tank for a while... LOL then I will decide if its time to take pics. I think I need a good macro lens or underwater camera to up my foto qualities... some of the pics are doing a big injustice to some of the sticks

 

[Taklu]

Hard to say if I will ever get back there. I have two systems up and running there for Pentair. But I can do most work on them from my desk here. I went with a group from Pentair to a religious campus on our last visit. we had a weekend to kill and our guide thought we would like to see the country side and check this place out.

Interestingly we see what looks like a monk or I priest and people are just going crazy over the sight of him. He comes to our group and our guide looks like he is going to wet himself, all of us shake his hand and smile I have no clue who this dude is. Later our guide tells us we just met Sri Sri Ravi. I had to google him. I felt pretty dumb afterwords because I had no idea how important this guy is.

Important enough that my dad thinks highly of him and has attended some art of living courses. I'm a rebel doing something else.. reef tanks! haha

 

[Taklu]

Green slimer in my display tanks is really jinxed. try number 8 (spanning three tanks over ~5 years) ended in a failure again. looks like the frag got bumped also and is now fresh white bones. Really like this coral. maybe I will rest my thoughts about it and try again after a weeks time :biggthumpup:

 

[Bambam507]

is that a eel or whats that long snake looking thing?

 

[Taklu]

is that a eel or whats that long snake looking thing?

Thats a sea snake, there's a lot of those to be found in that neck of the waters. supposedly there's an area a little south of where that pic was taken where even naval divers try to avoid as there's just so many with sharp teeth

 

[NorthSide Reef]

You had to be tempted to take a handful of sand home with ya lol

 

[Taklu]

You had to be tempted to take a handful of sand home with ya lol

Getting through customs would be a nightmare, so I did the next best thing... brought some in the seams and pockets of my jeans and other ummm garments LOL

 

[NorthSide Reef]

There ya go. I would have done the same thing. Tell me it's going in the tank

 

[Taklu]

It did, I have a really Large tank something like a billion gallon tank with its own beach :rotflmao:

camera battery is now charging!

 

[Taklu]

Now the question. I'm looking to build a "room" around the sump/fuge in my unfinished basement to trap heat and contain humidity. so the frame is 2x4 lumber, which I already bought today. Need to skin the walls.. is dry wall a good choice? or what are the options?

I want the "room" to work as a buffer/heat trap/insulation in an unheated basement in the event of a power out if/when I'm on vacation. this way there is some breathing room and I'm not breathing down friends to get there asap.

second as moisture trap... I'm expecting condensation so I'd want the water to trickle down the walls, get channeled to a drain.. this is where I think the dry wall falls out of favor.. for an alternative I'm thinking a melamine ply board..its supposed to be fire resistant too?

Suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome!

PS I dont want to use any material that is a fire hazard or will cause the fire marshal to go ballistic. My first choice was expanded foam insulation sheet but the code says if its used anywhere in the building it must be enclosed inside a drywall.

Remember this? ^^

and this -
http://www.tcmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48744

??

Well this is what I did, isnt it nice n shiny :biggthumpup:

After a few trips to Menards, HD and Lowes I narrowed down my choices, this is a little spendy but is an insulator, super light weight, very easy to work with... it turned to be a one man job and in a few hours I was all done.

http://www.menards.com/main/buildin...eflective-foil-insulation/p-136971-c-5778.htm

The "room" is not sealed... I intentionally left the seams open at the top for warm air to escape. on three sides the bottom is open by 2-3 inches. the "front" side is open by about 12-15". The idea for leaving the front open was to provide some form of air circulation. air circulation/exchange is from the whole house circulation that blows air through the only vent in the basement. I wasn't sure if that would be enough but after a week of observation I concluded it worked nicely as there is zero condensation inside and it does not feel like a sauna.

Now for the best part, the temp difference inside and outside the "room" is about 6-10F ... cooler at the bottom warmer at the top. Here's the real part.. this is a reflective insulation which means the heat is reflected back making it even better. To know what it means you need to experience it. I will know how effective it is once I receive the next two electricity bills.

with only me working and working against the clock I did not get the chance to take pics as I had planned.