The Craftsman’s Forge

You would have probably guessed that things have been super busy for me at work. I’ve had precious little time to update, plus there are easier update methods like Facebook and Twitter, that blogs don’t appear to be as good an update medium as before. Nevertheless, I will try and update as much as possible.

It has been 15 months since I joined my current company (even though it was an internal transfer). It’s been a very clear direction for me to take up this role as the door was opened directly for me as I prayed over it. I was informed last Thursday that I got my promotion to Grade 2.

The entire compensation structure for a Grade 2 emlpoyee is different, I hear, and I will have to review the benefits to get a clearer idea how much more I would benefit, but, I am happy to note that it’s finally here, and really has been a long time coming.

More importantly, I need to understand God’s plan in relation to this new role and responsibilities, as I will likely take up more regional responsibilities in the coming months.

Gosh… my last update was in January! Time really flies.

In the last 3 months, I have been extremely busy and caught up at work. From January, things at the office pretty much went downhill. Not so much for me, but the logistics operations at my company went into a massive failure at one of their distribution centres. Also, the timing and bedding in of a new customer went horribly wrong. The two events caused the logistics operations to go into a serious tailspin.

I was called in, and my team had to help bail out the operations. The last 3 months had not been easy, and while one of the distribution centre operation is now back into stability, we still have a lot of work to do in helping put in place key IT interfaces and systems to ensure a proper and systemised manner of doing things.

Days are now on average 14 hour days. On good days, I’d finish up everything by 6, but I find myself working through the night while the family sleeps.

The strange thing is that while I’m tired, and sometimes (actually…. often times) frustrated with the amount of work coming my way, I’m actually quite happy that I’m contributing positively to getting the business back on track. I’m also frustrated that we don’t have enough good people in the logistics operations to ensure that things are managed well. Sigh…. I’m not sure how long more this will last.

The next 6 months would definitely still be hectic, though…

Some progress photos on the tank…

December 1st

December 19th

January 9th

Not going to write much today. Just some photos which will do the job of a thousand words….

Full Tank Shot

The right side of the reef…

Some Close ups…

The chiller is finally in today. Because of space, the only choice I have for the chiller is to host it on an “L” bracket above the tank. Steve helped me put this together. Thanks Steve!

Heres a closer look…

The “Auto Top Up” is also finally done…. :D

Refugium is running! Just a small area, but its better than nothing!

After putting in my Koralia 5, I noticed that the water flow within the tank can still be further improved, so I went out to get some additional kit…Hopefully it would be enough for a while.

The guys from Aquamarin came by at about 4:30pm, after battling a tire puncture. The fact that they are still so cool…

The obligatory equipment and accessories “show-off”. I don’t have any top-of-the-line best-of-breed items, so, this actually makes me feel a little embarrassed.

Elbows, ball valves, t-joints, etc…

Marine Environment Salt

Live Sand from Nature’s Ocean

This is a local Singapore Skimmer. Its been doing very very well, and is widely used in Asia, Australia, etc. I thought I’d support the local Singaporean company. From what I’ve been hearing, it would give Deltec a run for its money. The Skimz Monzter 180…

A closer look…

For those who like to know the technical specifications…

Technical Data:
• Skimmer pump: 2 AquaBee 2000/1 needlewheel
• Power consumption: 40W
• Air intake: 900 l/h
• Method of feeding: Gravity or feed pump
• Feed rate: max. 1200 l/h

Dimension:
• L 345 x W 326 x H 608mm
• Feed inlet Ø (mm): 16/22 flexible hose
• Return outlet Pipe Ø (mm): 50
• Skimmer body Ø (mm): 180

For Aquariums:
• Normal stocking - 1200 litres
• Heavy stocking - 600 litres

Another view…

ok.. enough about the skimmer already. Now on to the Phosphate Reactor… Also a product from Skimz… The Skimz FM100 Fluidised Reactor

Capacity:
• For aquariums: up to 600 litres
• Media: 200 – 400g of SORB-4 or 400 – 800ml of other media
• Flow rate: 600 – 1000 l/h

Dimension:
• L 180 x W 135 x H 465mm
• Reactor body Ø (mm): 100

Aquabee 5000, my return pump.

Aquabee 2000. This powers the Skimmer.

This small Ehiem powers the Phosphate Reactor.

ok.. enough with the equipment. Tank is finally ready for the water!:AddEmoticons04246:

It’s almost dark! Steve working on the FM100…

Tank’s full… time for the salt….

A look at the sump with almost all the equipment in. My ATO and Refuguim isn’t ready yet…

A close up of the Phosphate reactor. Terrible camera shake… :AddEmoticons0429:

Close up of the skimmer in action…

Can you believe this? In less than 5 minutes… its picked up stuff already!

Piping. The overflow pipes by gravity feed.

Runs horizontally to the left side of the sump.

Did a quick aquascaping of the rocks and finally decided on this…. Unlikely to change for now. Looks nicer with more depth than I could capture on the photo….

Another view

In went the sand after I was satisfied with the scaping, and everything blurred up….

After a day, I decided that a little more rock would make the scape nicer, so I headed out to the LFS to get some. Came back and did a slight rescape… ended up with this..

Angled from the right side..

From the left front

Angled from the bottom up. You can see that there are lots of nooks and crannies for the fishes to swim.

Some closer shots at the rocks.

Last weekend, while world leaders were busy flying into Singapore for the Apec summit, I was busy with my little own tank summit. My tank arrived on Saturday, and it was a busy Sunday!

The tank makers came in the morning….

Heres the sump, all wrapped up and nice…..

Another view from the side.

Heres the “Auto Top up” tank… will be kept to either the side or front of the sump, to create more space in the cabinet. Hmmm…. I asked Steve (Aquamarin for a refugium compartment, but can’t see it. Will ask him about it later when he’s here.

Sorry for the crappy photos. They’re all taken from my iphone. The guys bringing in the sump. Nice black oyama on the back of the tank.

Bringing it to the balcony.

Relatively easy to put this into the cabinet. Its super light compared to the tank that is to follow.

The “Auto Top Up” tank with its glass cover. I like it!

The overflow compartment in the sump with the glass cover. Good way to keep salt creep to a minimum.

Heres how the cover opens up…

ok… after the sump, the display tank’s turn. This is going to be heavy and tough due to the restricted space I have on the balcony.

Heres the tank… you can see that it’s braced at the bottom of the tank too… Will show another picture on this later.

They wanted to push the tank in using their trolley, but I said no as I’ve got parquet floor in the house, and the wheels would damage the floors if they are dragged across the floor. Chris would kill me. So, they had to carry it in… feel so bad…

Ready? 1, 2, 3 go!

Can’t get it up. The space is really tight such that it doesn’t allow maneuvering around the tank. Guys taking a pause to think through how to get it up.

ok… one more try…

Some more difficulties… change places….

ok.. hold on…

Argghh… have to find space. I got really nervous when one of the blokes decided to climb up the balcony parapat….*eeek* He better not fall…

Finally using the suckers to carry the tank from this awkward angle.

Almost there….

Finally in!!!! But in the process, they damaged a little of the underlying foam beneath the tank. Not a big problem, really….

Immediately, set one of my princesses to work….

Heres a view of the bottom brace as I promised earlier.

Heres a view of the internal overflow compartment…

Thats it for now….

My cabinet was delivered 2 days ago.

The cabinet was real heavy… and the space is a tight fit…

Cabinet finally in its place. I’ve got to remove the small acrylic roof to make space for the tank soon…

Almost done….

And finally done! So Shiny! Lovely! Wah… the thinner fumes are incredible! Feels like glue sniffing…. getting high….