Trade Programming/Coding for Equipment

[awohld]

I'm getting back into the hobby and I need to get equipment. I can program and provide you with programming that'll far exceed the cost of the equipment in trade.

Here's what I need:

1 - Lighting fixture for 55 Gallon 48 inch long tank. About 240 watts total comprising of two 48 inch long fixtures or similar so I can have 240 watts during mid-day and 120 watts for morning/evening.

2 - CO2 injection system

3 - Canister or Sump Filter

4 - RO/DI water filter.

5 - Submersible 55 Gallon Heater

What I can do programming wise is this:
HTML Programming ( creating webpages )
Web Server Administration ( Apache/Linux )
Perl Programming ( programs for servers or interactive web pages )
MySQL Administration ( database )
DataBase Web Applications
WebSpiders ( automated sucking data off of the internet )
Data Mining - Analysis / Error Checking ( data analysis of large data stores)
CGI Programming ( interactive and dynamic webpages )
Automating mundane time consuming tasks

I'm outside Chicago, Illinois, USA.

 

[Pure]

Buy looking at your wanted list I'm guessing you are wanting to start a planted tank?

But why the need for an RO unit? What are you trying to keep that would need one?

 

[awohld]

I am starting a planted tank.

I'd like to eventually get some discus. But my local water is really hard, over 300 ppm and it takes a ton of acid to bring down the 8.4+ water.

My local pet shop that specializes in fish reccomend a RO/DI unit to bring down the hardness. My 3 week old fish tank is getting a bunch of crust at the surface edges. Our water is so hard we go through a coffee machine twice a year because it turns into a rock.

 

[Pure]

I can tell you with that water, your going to burn through RO membranes. You will be lucky if they last more than a few months.

 

[awohld]

Not good. What do you reccomend?

Maybe I should drive to Lake Michigan and get that that water. At my old house a few miles away we had Lake Michicagn water and you didn't even need to use a water softener.

I read you can collect rain water for soft water. What about collecting it off a roof, or are there really too many chemicals for that?

 

[Pure]

I wouldn't do either. I'm sorry but no telling what is in the water out of lake Michigan. But if you have a friend that is on the same water supply that you used to be then that would prob be your best bet. The rain water is a bad idea. It used to be done in the old days, but really with the amount of pollution that is in the air that the rain will collect I wouldn't drink it let alone ask my discus to live in it. You might get fin slapped. Not to mention discus need large water changes. I get by with only doing 50% weekly. Some people do that much every day or every other day. And trying to collect enough rain water for even 50% weekly will be next to impossible.

Sorry I don't have the equipment you are looking for. I need what I have. In my area we have hard water with a PH of 7.8 and go through membranes about every 6 months, and that is if I stay on top of flushing the membrane.

On a good note, you have perfect water for Africans..