I just realized my reef is 44 years old this month.

[Harry_Y]

I believe you are an inspiration to far more than you know.

Hard to believe it's 44 yrs old already

 

[Paul B]

just being the sarcastic guy that i am....

what was life like before dirt?

-lol had to

Not much around except Supermodels and Real Men. No Sissies or Girly Men. We Men knew how to fix anything, we didn't need help from anyone and we were tough and didn't need to spend time texting (there was no such thing anyway and our thumbs were to thick and muscular)
And if someone wanted to help us, we hit them in the nose. Because thats what Men do. We picked our teeth with cro bars and used axes as paperweights. We really had no use for paper but we needed a use for our axe. Cars were muscle cars and real Men American cars. No silly, wimpy, Girly men foreign cars except Volkswagons and we only had them because we needed something to laugh at. TV was black and white because those are the only colors Men need anyway. We don't see ecru or mauve. We can hardly spell it. If a Man shaved his chest or wore an earring, they had to move away, very far away. If you had a motorcycle, it was a Harley, not a wimpy, whinny, noisy rice burner. And we didn't need a helmet, if you fell, you died, because we liked it like that. Thats how life was before dirt. I miss those days.

 

[Paul B]

Beaslbob. I thought everyone had a picture of themselves in front of a fish tank in 1971

 

[Russ265]

Not much around except Supermodels and Real Men. No Sissies or Girly Men. We Men knew how to fix anything, we didn't need help from anyone and we were tough and didn't need to spend time texting (there was no such thing anyway and our thumbs were to thick and muscular)
And if someone wanted to help us, we hit them in the nose. Because thats what Men do. We picked our teeth with cro bars and used axes as paperweights. We really had no use for paper but we needed a use for our axe. Cars were muscle cars and real Men American cars. No silly, wimpy, Girly men foreign cars except Volkswagons and we only had them because we needed something to laugh at. TV was black and white because those are the only colors Men need anyway. We don't see ecru or mauve. We can hardly spell it. If a Man shaved his chest or wore an earring, they had to move away, very far away. If you had a motorcycle, it was a Harley, not a wimpy, whinny, noisy rice burner. And we didn't need a helmet, if you fell, you died, because we liked it like that. Thats how life was before dirt. I miss those days.

lololololol

you sir. are a card.

 

[Paul B]

Yes, but a Manly Card.

Thank you Reefer with Seahorses and Nana Reefer

 

[brandon429]

Paul one of the nicest parts about your tank and documentation is how getting the decades translated into specific things you had to repeat to get this far. no, you cant set up a tank and let it store up waste for 40 years or it will die, shocking concept. your details of thorough cleanings are the reality of the reef world to cut through setups that do it a few yrs and claim new ground.

what someone does to make a tank live 40 yrs always reflects basic reefing rules that nobody really breaks, any tank claiming to find new ground needs to surpass in maturity that of an exported tank to be valid in the claim. Export is truly eventually required in reefing. thorough export makes it live indefinately, tanks of all sizes. having a large tank go a few years with no export remarks nothing about the requirement of export, its merely buying time to algae dominance through dilution, even hands off nano reefs can get a few yrs before the dump lol.
B

 

[Paul B]

Brandon, I do export, just not as frequently as most people, but I probably do a better job of it when I do it. I am just guessing because guessing is the best we can do. There is no black and white here as you know. I can run a reverse UG filter and someone else may crash their car, motorcycle and house if they tried that. I am not sure why but it is what it is.
Very recently I wrote an article about a theory I have that I feel will change the way we run tanks. (only if people believe me anyway) I think I have discovered why my fish and fish in many tanks are immune from just about anything. I am hesitant to post that here, or anywhere for that matter. I certainly can't post it on Reef Central or they would ban me. They hate new ideas which contradict the current establishment.
I also did something I rarely do when I write an article and that is I added my references. They are all current scientific research which I quote from. (I am not sure I will get sued for that)
It is about immunity, how fish become immune, how to keep fish immune and why they become immune. As I said, these are partly my Ideas which I have known for decades but couldn't post because of the current thought processes. It is only touched on in my book because I think I will be spending time arguing about this theory even though most of it is proven scientific research. I may try it on someone I trust before I actually post it. Probably Albert Thiel, a friend of mine who started in the hobby just a few years after I did.

 

[Russ265]

Brandon, I do export, just not as frequently as most people, but I probably do a better job of it when I do it. I am just guessing because guessing is the best we can do. There is no black and white here as you know. I can run a reverse UG filter and someone else may crash their car, motorcycle and house if they tried that. I am not sure why but it is what it is.
Very recently I wrote an article about a theory I have that I feel will change the way we run tanks. (only if people believe me anyway) I think I have discovered why my fish and fish in many tanks are immune from just about anything. I am hesitant to post that here, or anywhere for that matter. I certainly can't post it on Reef Central or they would ban me. They hate new ideas which contradict the current establishment.
I also did something I rarely do when I write an article and that is I added my references. They are all current scientific research which I quote from. (I am not sure I will get sued for that)
It is about immunity, how fish become immune, how to keep fish immune and why they become immune. As I said, these are partly my Ideas which I have known for decades but couldn't post because of the current thought processes. It is only touched on in my book because I think I will be spending time arguing about this theory even though most of it is proven scientific research. I may try it on someone I trust before I actually post it. Probably Albert Thiel, a friend of mine who started in the hobby just a few years after I did.

i am interested in this theory.
+1 on new ideas at RC or my local
banned for dosing nitrate on a skimmerless system lol

ahhh it is what it is

 

[Paul B]

I asked Albert Thiel what he thinks. I don't need the arguments.

 

[brandon429]

when i mention non export isn't possible, im meaning only to preserve the non eutrophic state. we can easily let things go algae dominant and be alive 40 yrs just by adding replaced water, but for the look we want, work is involved eventually thats a nice reducible point of seeing something run this long.

given 40 yrs and a need for control of algae, aquarists will be doing generally the same things which includes export in some repeated manner, no real indefinite storing is occuring across long term successful tanks

 

[brandon429]

Paul is there any way you would run a po4 test on your local sea water and let me know id really like to know. preferably the place you collect your water for tank use, id love to know how our kits reflect on natural waters. or even those neat little tidepool areas, if ever possible.

 

[Eienna]

Congratulations, Paul. It looks beautiful as always <3 <3 <3 definitely an inspiration.

 

[Paul B]

Paul is there any way you would run a po4 test on your local sea water and let me know id really like to know. preferably the place you collect your water for tank use, id love to know how our kits reflect on natural waters. or even those neat little tidepool areas, if ever possible.

Brandon, that would be easy, but I don't have a test kit for that. I can only test for nitrate and the seawater here has none. I can also test for calcium and if I remember, it is very low here. The local salinity is also very low.

Eienna,thank you. I appreciate it.

 

[brandon429]

And thats still a critical detail anyway

tell me this

if your source water is testing zero no3, and Im assuming there are still grazers like the myriad snails and benthic creatures and fish you collect and photo, what are they feeding on? its said that zero nitrate and zero po4 w control algae in the reef tank, but how are the grazers you collect living in that condition i wonder?

how in the heck is algae growing in low nutrients out there! its magic, simply put.

a nitrate reading is just as helpful to know as the po4.

 

[brandon429]

During one of our many, many, lengthy "what causes algae" threads it was said repeatedly that having control over nitrates and po4 w stop algae, and Id mentioned that in many pristine reef settings grazers still graze.

I was not expecting zero no3 outside NY lol but thats awesome.

When I mentioned that mega pure waters will still grow algae in natural settings, that began to be completely ignored. So now i was seeking just readings from nonpristine places wondering if any were still quite low and still not limiting to the algae.

 

[Paul B]

The nitrate in my tank is 40, the nitrate in the sea here reads zero. There is no nuisance algae in my tank. That is the reason I don't go by the theory that high nitrates cause algae. I have never believed that and I have never believed that water changes would eliminate nuisance algae. Just the opposite in fact. That is a rumor that unfortunately has persisted for decades. If that were so, my tank would be a lettuce farm. Don't get me started in cooking rock to remove some obscure nutrients that will grow algae or nose hair. This hobby is full of rumors. I don't like to say a lot of things I have learned because the general consensus would be that I am nuts and would be pelted with half dead sea urchins while being tickled by a Supermodel wearing hip boots and holding a feather. I "am" nuts, and I like Supermodels so it may not be a bad thing after all.
Ich is another silly thing and no fish should get ich. I am tired of seeing that stupid chart of the lifecycle of the parasite. Our tanks are not taken over by Godzilla even though we know it's life cycle from movies. I really can't get involved in all that now but soon our tanks will not be plagued by those things any more. This hobby is still run exactly like it was in 1971 when it started with all the water changes for algae and all the quarantining for ich. But we still have the same amount of algae and ich. How many times do we read that an entire tank was wiped out by parasites even though everything was quarantined for 72 days. Just search for it and you will find dozens of accounts of that on every fish forum. How many people change water to control algae or cyano? Does it ever work? No, it doesn't. I am fed up to here. (My hand is under my chin) with rumors with no basis in fact. Just innuendo's, suppositions, hearsay, rumors and Jello. Now someone will say, well ich isn't the worst parasite, there is crypto, Harpo, Mombo and an entire host of worse parasites. Yes there are. The fish know all about them because they evolved right alongside them for millions of years. Why is it that my fish don't get sick? Like never. Hmmm, I wonder. I think like a lot of people say, I am extremely lucky. If I were that lucky, a Supermodel would be knocking on my door right now. But no matter how hard I listen, there is no knocking. So, it is not luck. It is something else. I wonder

 

[Russ265]

i concur.

i dose nitrate and wont get any algae.

i dose phosphate, turf algae, and hair algae will appear.

 

[Paul B]

If you take brand new ASW that you just made and put it in the sun, guess what will grow? Yes, algae. Why do brand new tanks with all new rocks, new water and new corals grow so much algae? Hmmm. Interesting isn't it? Why does it "not" grow in old, dirty tanks owned by old bald aquarists who don't spend hardly any time on maintenance or have test kits? I wonder. Why are new tanks with everything new not very healthy while old tanks are?
Why don't fish spawn in a new tank? Why are fish in a new tank so much more prone to get infected by, lets see, Just about everything? No one bothers to answer these things. I have all sorts of theories but I would rather save them for when I am croaking so no one will argue with me. Well they may argue but I will be croaked so I won't care.

 

[brandon429]

that is a neat way to look at ocean water, it both creates and uses a bioload in and of itself via respiration and photosynthesis all in the same soln, neato.

 

[beaslbob]

Beaslbob. I thought everyone had a picture of themselves in front of a fish tank in 1971

LOL

Thought that was before cameras.