Lo49Merc

Hi there, Thanks for taking a look. I've had a spinal cord injury and fish became my hobby. My obsession has grown to a sweet 240 reef. My younger brothers built it all for me, but I need some who can help me with the fine tuning. Is there anyone who is experienced setting up calcium reactors and kalkwasser reactors and the Neptune Aquacontroller II. My bro fell in love and moved away, so it'd be a big help to find another reefer who can give me two working hands for a few hours. :P Kirk

Hello to all, Twenty two years ago I suffered a cervical spinal cord injury while competeing in a bicycle road race over in Mclean, Va. The injury has paralyzed most of my body and hands but my arms remain pretty strong and mobile. I use a wheelchair and get along pretty good. My condition would be classified as quadriplegic, but most folks think I'm a paraplegic because my arms are functional. After my rehabilitation in Colorado I flew back to Montgomery County and moved into a new home, a modest condo in Gaithersburg. My family installed a 29 G. freshwater tank in the dining room for my pleasure and relaxation. After visiting with Jim K. at Tropical Fish World here in Gaithersburg I became interested in the marine and invertebrate aquariums. In 1991 I purchased a 75 G. tank and my friend Micheal Richardson of Tanks for Your Business helped me build my first reef tank. It was run with a wet-dry and a bare-bottom design. My youngest brother helped me maintain that reef for many years and through three rebuilds with newer techniques each time. All these years I had been reading various books and lots of websites such as reefs.org and reefcentral.com. As I read and learned better husbandry I began to dream of a bigger reef. This must happen to all of us. Recently, 2007, I was able to buy-out a fellow with a 10 foot tank which had failed and flooded his living room and his wifes laudry room. I got a few tunze pumps, lights, power heads, etc. Now I have a custom Glass Cages 240 G. with all the rock from my 75 G. I've included a 65 G. refugium and an 30" ASM skimmer and some nice LED lights. Some chat friends at reefcentral where I'm known as Lo49Merc built me a calcium reactor and a kalkwasser reactor which I've placed in my auto-topoff system. At this time I've got a pretty nice system up and running, though I havn't learned to run my reactors. My brother has fallen in love and moved away so I'm left without a helper. I would like to find a new friend in the club who has experience with reefs and calcium, kalk reactors who would be kind enough to visit my home once in a while to help me refine my operation and finish my dream set-up. Any volunteers? Kirk Simon