Be wary of rumors

Paul B · Feb 14, 2015

Do a search for undergravel filters on any forum. You will find nothing but bad things about them. They are a nitrate factory, they clog, they crash, they cause global warming and psorisis on Supermodels. Virtually none of those people used one in reverse as I have been doing and suggesting for 40 years. It is probably the longest running tank on here so I am not sure how all those rumors persist. I am not advocating everyone use that system. I like having the oldest tank with the least amount of problems. :smokin: But it is all rumors unless you tried the thing, (which you should not) I also don't have a sump. People ask me why. I have nothing against sumps, they were just not invented when I started the tank and I abhor (that means hate) drilling holes in a tank (or boat) If I did have a sump, I would make something that would work without a hole. Holes can cause problems and that is not a rumor. Black worms is another one. I have no interest in worms, I don't make money on them, don't have any worm friends and don't eat them myself. But so many people tell me that they are fresh water creatures and can't be any good. Most of those people come from Wyoming and can't get live worms so I am not sure how they came to that decision. I usually give them my 24 year old fireclown's E Mail so they can confer directly with him. He may not answer because he is still spawning even though he has eaten blackworms every day of his life as has his 16 year old teenager girlfriend. I post pictures of spawning mandarins all the time and say how and why they are always in that condition where many people can't even keep them. I suggest a feeder filled with live new born shrimp. But there are so many threads about training them to eat pellets, frozen food, Mrs Pauls Fish Sticks, pancakes etc. Do those "trained" mandarins ever spawn? I would like to see pictures, especially of the ones eating pancakes, which is what I am going to do right now with my wife of 41 years.
Happy Valentines Day

Humblefish · Feb 14, 2015

Excellent as always Paul! I don't always feed my fish live blackworms; but when I do their colors are more vibrant, the fish get feisty, and the mandarins get frisky. :tape:

Paul B · Feb 14, 2015

but when I do their colors are more vibrant, the fish get feisty, and the mandarins get frisky.

Yeah,I wonder why?

Paul B · Feb 14, 2015

Me and my dive partner are trying to decide on some new dive gear.

Paul B · Feb 15, 2015

A lot of people should not read my book because I try to dispell some of the rumors that have been around since the hobby started. I stay away from many threads now and the list is growing because of all the arguments. There is little I comment on on RC any more as it starts arguements. My book is about my ideas so if someone disagrees with it, they may have to write their own book telling how wrong mine is. Of course it will give more credibility if they have an old tank and not one started last Tuesday. Also if you have an opinion about a hippo tang, mandarin or black tip reef shark, it would be nice if you kept more than one of them for a few years. All fish will live in a tank for a few weeks, even if you don't feed it. If you keep it ten years, that is a success with "some" but not all fish as fish like tangs and clowns live a lot longer than that and if it dies from anything other than old age, we failed. Fish should "never" get sick after they are in a tank a while. New fish are sometimes sick because they are stressed but after a few weeks, nothing should happen to them except jump out because healthy fish often jump out. What can I tell you. I personally have never seen a fish that has been in a tank for a number of years get sick. If you keep a type of tank where you definatwely have to quarantine everything, and there are plenty of such tanks like that or a tank where the fish are not in breeding condition or where they are fed dry food every day. Then the fish can (and will) get sick all the time. My book tries to explain how to eliminate fish getting sick. Many people will not believe that because they feel they take great care of their fish evenb though some of them die early from something. Now I realize half the people reading this (both of you) are saying, this crazo old Coot has no idea what the freek he is talking about and should go and stick a sea urchin spine in his ear. You know who you are. Many people are happy if their fish lives for five years. I am not. There are simple ways to get fish into such condition where you never need to keep medications. I don't have any except copper and that is for the infected fish I buy for practically nothing and cure in a couple of days so I can give them away. Just look at these forums, they are all about disease, why is that? This hobby is 43 years old and there is just as much talk about ich now than there was in the 70s. Why? I know why. But many people refuse to do a few things to keep their fish healthy. Maybe they like to post in disease forums. :violin:

Rybren · Feb 15, 2015

Paul,
You really need to learn to open up and let things out. Keeping all of your thoughts and emotions bottled up inside you is not healthy. It causes your hair to fall out, gives you ich, and you'll never get into spawning condition.

Please, for the sake of your health, open up and let it all out.

Paul B · Feb 15, 2015

You would be amazed if I spilled all I would like to. :fear: I would probably get flogged. We don't see much flogging these days and that is a shame. People who add cleaner shrimp or feed garlic to cure ich may have to be flogged. OK maybe hit with a bag of feathers as I am not a violent person. I am also not a liberal which puts me on the hate list for half the aquarists and 90% of college grads. Maybe 98.6% I am not sure.
I also think I have PTSD. I didn't think so but someone gave us a DVD about this story of these girls who went to entertain the troops in Nam. It was the same year I was there and when they got attacked, I had to leave the room. My wife didn't know what happened. I almost went nuts. That hasn't happened in many years. I guess some things stay with you forever. I think I will go and eat some garlic to calm down.

tigerdragon · Feb 15, 2015

Great thread paul. I too have gone against the grain with keeping fish. I was always told you could not keep multiple large tangs, triggers and angels together. I have kept 3-4 large angels in the same tank, same with triggers, and tangs and not always in the extremely large tanks. Currently i have 3 tangs in my 90 all getting along fine and growing. So i too dont always listen to the norm because i have had success going against the norm

Paul B · Feb 15, 2015

I don't exactly go against anything. Everyone else does because when I started, my way was the only way. There was no one else in the hobby and no one to talk to. No computers, no nets (except fish nets of one type or another) no I phones, no I Pads, no DVDs or MP3 players, no ASW, no DSBs, no LEDs, no UV sterilizers, no sumps, no live rock or even dead rock, no live coral, no vibrator air pumps, no PC lights, no ozone, no Myley Cyrus or Lady GaGa, no SUVs, no Dancing with the Stars, no reality shows, no wavemakers, no RO/DIs, no bottled water, no Smart cars, no refractometers or swing arm hydrometers, no bacteria in a bottle, no Reef 2 Reef, in other words, no nothing. Then someone invented the internet, probably Brian Williams, and all this easy stuff changed. Now with unlimited information, everything is a problem. If I say LED lighting is great, 746 people will disagree with me, even if I didn't ask them. If I say live blackworms are the best thing since slice bread, 864 people will disagree. If I would dare to say, I don't have to quarantine because my fish are immune, OMG the sky would fall. All the people who started a tank last Tuesday would be all over me like a cheap suit, talking about time bombs, how could I be so cruel to my fish forcing them to live with parasites, I should be reported to the better business bureau for cruelty to animals. I should be driven out of the hobby. This is what it has come to which is why I decided to write a book. Whoever disagrees with it, can just not read it or use it to clean up after their dog. I am not going to get rich writing a book and I never even thought about any money. I will probably break even, I don't care. I do however care about this hobby as I have been in it longer than anyone else except for maybe Martin Moe who started the same year as I did. Julian Sprung is a Noob.
I love this hobby and most of my fish die of old age or at least live long enough to collect Social Security. I have never posted on a disease forum and there is a reason for that. It is in the book. There is nothing earth shattering in the book, all of the information in it was posted on these forums at one time or another, it just goes into more detail because as you may have discovered, i am long winded. :blah:

tigerdragon · Feb 15, 2015

I also started into the saltwater hobby when undergravel filters were the norm and trying to keep corals were out of my reach due to cost of everything. I can remember making my own reverse flow undergravel filters out og egg crate and mesh screen. This was at the time no one ran sumps we all used hob filters or huge cannister filters with pwr heads pushing water down under sand bed. I got out for many years due to military and moving got back into a couple of years ago and boy had things changed. Only been the last year that i have gotten into corals. I am one to try things because everyone says you cant. I have had success in that way and some failures but i prefer to try as much as natural as i can.

Paul B · Feb 15, 2015

I still use my UG filter.
This tank is still running but I transferred everything to larger glass in about 1978
Circa 1972

Diesel · Feb 15, 2015

I guess I missed the better part but what is your title of your book called/named? This 40+ years in the hobby rookie likes to read for what I still can learn from.
And I believe that Europe was a few years ahead in this salty hobby so maybe 45 years, 3 months, 1 week, 2 days, 16hrs and a few min, LOL.
1969 the year I saw my first clown fish............. oh and yes I dislike clowns them self as you never know what's behind that smiling face, also the year of first walk on the moon, Federal debt: $365.8 billion, the Super bowl and World Series was won by NY teams in that same year (Jets and Mets), ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) goes online in December, connecting four major US universities. Designed for research, education, and government organizations, it is the foundation upon which the Internet will eventually be built, and I broke my right arm by climbing a fence as the neighbors dog was chasing me.

TJ's Reef · Feb 15, 2015

Long time listener, but not a first time caller by a long shot Paul..... Love It !!! as always brother. A bit of an 'Old Salt' myself though admittedly a little less 'crusty' as you, just a few weeks from my 33rd anniversary in Reefkeeping. I quite often find myself in similar mind-sets and tend to pick and choose areas of the site to help or share and mostly stay away from the "Mythical Hype" or or "$$$ Look at ME $$$" threads. Have offered it up before here and on other forums that it would be a whole lot of fun to have a gathering of us 'Old Salts' somewhere or to start a exclusive/reclusive 'Old Salts Reef Club' with a 25yr minimum entry level. I've offered up our Beach House as a gathering spot and will do so again as very close to a lot of water activity including cold-water diving, fishing, clamming, oystering (if that's a word), crabbing, bird watching (best in the Continental US, Google Hansville, WA at Point No Point) and some down right tasty quality local Macro Breweries and Distilleries to wash down all that FRESH Seafood with.

Now back to your Book writing my friend or even this 'Club' will be to busy and or crowded.

Cheers, Todd

Paul B · Feb 15, 2015

Diesel, I have not
decided on
a book name. Maybe I should start a book naming thread. Todd, I love it. I live on Long Island and practically live on my boat. I could not be far from the sea or sea food. I live on it.

Humblefish · Feb 15, 2015

Paul, let me know when/where I can buy your book. I'll use it as my manual when I someday setup my "Paul B tank." Won't have to ask you a million questions then. :wink:

Paul B · Feb 15, 2015

I am sure you will know when I do

Diesel · Feb 15, 2015

Just a thought, "Fifty Shades of the Marine Hobby"

Paul B · Feb 20, 2015

Fifty Shades of everything Is already
taken. I never thought about a title for the book but I will have to think of something soon. I have it on "word" as "Fish Book". So far it is 100 pages long. Many people will hate me for this book as it does not agree with a lot of current wisdom. Some of it does like, you need water in the tank, but I do get into my ideas about ich. Something I would not dare discuss here or on any forum for the hate letters I would get. Ich can be cured in a day but so much ink is wasted on it. Hypo salinity, I think is a ridiculous idea, (almost as silly as a DSB) but I won't say why here. :fear: It is the same with Hair algae, Change the water, yeah, that works. :loco: I don't go on those threads, ground probes, nope. Not gonna happen here. (Although this forum is much better than most and I would only get a few, very mild hate mails) I do like UG filter threads because no one but me uses them and no one knows anything about them. It's the same with diatom filters. A fantastic boon to this hobby, but most people never heard of them and just don't have a clue. Quarantine. No thanks, can't discuss that. It's in the book because no one can find me if they want to release locusts in my house or chase the Supermodels away. Supermodels are mentioned many times in the book as they are one of my favorite topics. I have worked with quite a few Supermodels and Victoria Secret models. I even tried to "help" to put their wings on, but I couldn't reach their shoulders.
I am writing the book on a mountain top in Tibet and a blind Sherpa is editing it for me. A Sherpa with a Supermodel secretary (with a pet Yak) :becky:
I asked Christie Brinkley to appear on the cover, I offered her two hundred bucks but she wants another four zeros added to it. But we are close to an agreement. :thumb:

Diesel · Feb 26, 2015

^^^^ HAHAHA^^^ Drop the fifty shades for the matter, Christie Lee Hudson (Brinkley) must be out for majority of us.
I would contract Kate Upton and call the book "Game of Reef", you might need some more zero's but we can work on that as the return of the sales of the book will record breaking if not that Microsoft will jump on the bandwagon and turn it into a bestseller for the summer of 2015 Xbox games.