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Anthony's spoke at the a club meeting in Southern California last summer, and then the following day at the Reef-a-Palloza event. Since those meetings I have been focused on building out a small garage based RBTA farm. I have had several set backs since last summer, the least of which was moving 2500 miles to Tampa Florida.
In January I started building my 77sqft anemone farm. I will have 500 gallons of production water and 240 gallons of saltwater mixing barrels available to me. Well enough of the talk... here is where I am.
My Garage came coated with epoxy, that is nice, and I have painted the walls with 2 coats of oil based primer/sealer and then a coat of a very hard oil based enamel. the Enamel was so hard and slow drying that each coat would take nearly 72 hours to dry. Crazy stuff, but is sure cleans easy!
I have my 2 BIG tables built, 80" long, 40" wide and 47" tall. Each will have a 110 gallon tank on top and under, and a 60 gallon barrel on top and under.
Here is an early construction picture:
4x4 posts, doubled up 2x4 upper frame.
And here is a completed stand (still needed paint on the plywood at this point)
...and here you can see both the big tables
I am now working on my electrical, plumbing and climate control. I will post pics as I make progress.
I still need to build the 2 level table for my 55 gallon tanks that will be the final 100 gallons of the system.
****
This design will not be the easiest to work on.
I have to lean under the table to work on the lower tanks, and stand on a stool to reach the top tables.
Given the 77sqft that I have to work with, it is the best I could do.
****
I am also working and tweaking my Business plan weekly, and have consulted with an accountant and the Florida State Agriculture department. I plan on making some money with this, and as a result I am making sure I am compliant with state and local laws, and have all the necessary permits and certifications.
Anthony, thanks for helping me take my hobby to a whole new level, both my wife and I are very excited about getting this going.
--Bryan
-- Bryan
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| I am grateful that you are sharing this with us and look forward to watching this thread develop! Kindly, Anth-
. Anthony Calfo
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| Bryan, Would you mind sharing your source for the 60 gallon barrels? Thanks, Mark
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[quote]Mark (3/7/2007)
Bryan,
Would you mind sharing your source for the 60 gallon barrels? Thanks,
Mark[/quote]
They come from Vigo Foods near Tampa International Airport. The food distributor uses them to import Greek Peppers and once the peppers are repackaged they consider them trash, and as a result, sell them for a very reasonable price.
There are stores all over the Tampa area that buy them and resell them for $15.
-- Bryan
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those food barrels are available in most every city that has more than 5 restaurants in town  Find your wholesale district (the place where restaurants go to buy produce/meats... fishmarket, etc and you will find the same folks that import olives, pickles, etc in those barrels. They get so many per week that they often give them away for free. $15 is very retail (though still a good price).Also look up in your yellow pages to see if there are any food packers in your area (Heinz plant, Bellvue, Vlassic, etc). They do the same and have a surplus of these barrels to keep your local town supplied with pickles and olives
. Anthony Calfo
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Also if you have a Coca-Cola (or similar product) bottling plant in your area, check with them for plastic barrels. I've heard they have large ones they sell cheap, that the syrup is shipped in. I keep meaning to ask the one in Raleigh but never can remember to do so. :/
-Sonja
---
TANSTAAFL
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Group: Forum Members
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| I have been working hard on getting this thing off the ground... I have lots to update but here is what I feel is a key for me to move forward... Filters, Ani/Kati in production 
Note the triple ZREOs on the out bound TDS reading. It is interesting, my inbound TDS will range from a low of 45 to a high of 200. That has to be a comment on the water softener and the resins they use in it, I would guess. Prior to getting to the Ani/Kati my water passed through a 5 micron sedimate filter, a Water Softener and then a carbon filter. I can only imagine what the TDS must be of the water coming in before all that filtering. I have made 55 gallons of fresh water so far, the TDS is pegged at zero. I am having some issues with the water pressure, and controlling the flow rates with that ball valve. I need to find a 1/2" OD John Guest or similar fitting valve to put in line right after the 1" ball valve. Right now if I open the ball valve too much it will pop the tubing off the DI canisters, but fine control with that valve is not easy. The pipe entering my sink to the right of the faucet is my drain line, all water changes will be pumped through that, although water may have to be treated with Chlorine prior to allowing it to drain, I have to wait for an answer from the Aquaculture Division of the Florida Agriculture Department on that. I will post more as I get around to getting the pictured off the memory card.
-- Bryan
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Looking real good.I hope to build up my set up to where you are starting at 
Im very interested in Ani/Kati,but am having a problem finding a source for the chems to recharge,it seems lye is illegal to sell here in Canada.I may have to try and talk to someone at a place like DOW and see if there is a way around that.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
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Lye is illegal in Canada? Can you not buy common household drain cleaner/caustic soda at the grocery store or hardware store (Red Devil is the brand that most of us use on these units down here).
.Anthony Calfo
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Anthony Calfo (3/29/2007)
Lye is illegal in Canada? Can you not buy common household drain cleaner/caustic soda at the grocery store or hardware store (Red Devil is the brand that most of us use on these units down here).It is being removed from many shelves just like Sudafed because the meth people use both to create their drugs.
Steven Pro, yeah that is my real name.
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