Paul keep your eyes out for the old Tunze 6100 pumps with controller they are brilliant if old pumps that can be rebuilt. They tend to go on for ever and can be bought cheaply.
Tank birthday, 47+ years
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Paul B
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I found this on Facebook which I never go on but accidentally fell on there. I wrote this 2 or 3 years ago and don't even remember it. I also started a new thread on it:
This morning my wife and I were discussing how we lived when we were much younger and how the world has changed. My Dad and her Dad had retail stores. My dad had a fish market and just like her dad and everyone with a food market there was piles of saw dust on the floor. The cutting boards were wood, the knife handles were wood and the fish, and meat came in wooden crates as plastic was not available then. I am talking about the fifties.
I used to play in the back yard of our fish market and shoot flies with a rubber band. We also had live carp and eels in old bath tubs.
At the end of the week my Dad would sweep the floor and throw out all the old, fish scale infested sawdust and put down clean sawdust. Every night he would clean, using soap and bleach the knives and cutting boards.
Today, you are not allowed to use saw dust, wooden handled knives or cutting boards probably because of lawyers. I am sure someone, some where got sick and saw dust was blamed just like coffee can't be hot any more.
But it was the saw dust, cutting boards and wooden knife handles as well as numerous other things that enhanced our immune systems.
I was always an out doors kid and cut myself many times. I would rinse it off in a puddle or pond and go about my business never thinking about it.
I had an uncle that worked at the docks in NYC, one of the roughest places on Earth at that time. He got stabbed in the belly twice when 3 guys tried to mug him. (the muggers didn't fare very well) My Uncle wrapped the wounds in the same rag he cleaned eels with and lived to be about 90 never seeing a doctor or dentist in his life.
When my Mom would get a cold as a kid, her Mother would make her sleep in the horse stables thinking the smell of horse poop would cure her. (my Mom was born in lower Manhattan in 1910) My Mother lived to be 99 years old, she died of old age and was never sick and never even took an aspirin. How many people today could say that?
The point of this is that today how many kids do you know with allergies? How many kids are allergic to peanuts? How many kids are home from school with colds?
How many people in their 60s or 70s can you name with allergies?
Probably very few. As a kid no one in my school had any allergies and we all ate peanuts. I always got an attendance award because I was never out sick. I think in the 40 years I worked as a construction worker in Manhattan I was out maybe 3 or 4 times from being sick and never for having a cold, allergy or anything else except maybe a broken bone or disk problem.
That is IMO because I was brought up in a natural environment surrounded by bacteria and never having access to that silly sterilizing hand spray that people today feel they have to take baths in.
I still almost never get a cold, flu or any silly infection.
The little kids in My Grand Daughter's school almost all have some sort of allergy. My Grand Daughter is allergic to everything and half the kids in her school are allergic to something. Peanuts are outlawed in many restaurants and schools.
Kids today, (Like fish) get all sorts of things and in some homes it is an adventure waking up to see if the kids have some sort of infection.
I feel this is a big problem in our fish tanks and the biggest cause of all the posts on disease threads.
This is also why I go to a muddy bay and collect mud to throw in my tank. If I didn't live by the sea, I would throw regular dirt in there as I did when I started my tank.
I also feel we have to start thinking of bacteria as a good thing instead of a bad thing.
Just my thoughts of course and not meant to be taken as fact. Just an observation that is obvious to anyone who is a lot older than most fish people.
This morning my wife and I were discussing how we lived when we were much younger and how the world has changed. My Dad and her Dad had retail stores. My dad had a fish market and just like her dad and everyone with a food market there was piles of saw dust on the floor. The cutting boards were wood, the knife handles were wood and the fish, and meat came in wooden crates as plastic was not available then. I am talking about the fifties.
I used to play in the back yard of our fish market and shoot flies with a rubber band. We also had live carp and eels in old bath tubs.
At the end of the week my Dad would sweep the floor and throw out all the old, fish scale infested sawdust and put down clean sawdust. Every night he would clean, using soap and bleach the knives and cutting boards.
Today, you are not allowed to use saw dust, wooden handled knives or cutting boards probably because of lawyers. I am sure someone, some where got sick and saw dust was blamed just like coffee can't be hot any more.
But it was the saw dust, cutting boards and wooden knife handles as well as numerous other things that enhanced our immune systems.
I was always an out doors kid and cut myself many times. I would rinse it off in a puddle or pond and go about my business never thinking about it.
I had an uncle that worked at the docks in NYC, one of the roughest places on Earth at that time. He got stabbed in the belly twice when 3 guys tried to mug him. (the muggers didn't fare very well) My Uncle wrapped the wounds in the same rag he cleaned eels with and lived to be about 90 never seeing a doctor or dentist in his life.
When my Mom would get a cold as a kid, her Mother would make her sleep in the horse stables thinking the smell of horse poop would cure her. (my Mom was born in lower Manhattan in 1910) My Mother lived to be 99 years old, she died of old age and was never sick and never even took an aspirin. How many people today could say that?
The point of this is that today how many kids do you know with allergies? How many kids are allergic to peanuts? How many kids are home from school with colds?
How many people in their 60s or 70s can you name with allergies?
Probably very few. As a kid no one in my school had any allergies and we all ate peanuts. I always got an attendance award because I was never out sick. I think in the 40 years I worked as a construction worker in Manhattan I was out maybe 3 or 4 times from being sick and never for having a cold, allergy or anything else except maybe a broken bone or disk problem.
That is IMO because I was brought up in a natural environment surrounded by bacteria and never having access to that silly sterilizing hand spray that people today feel they have to take baths in.
I still almost never get a cold, flu or any silly infection.
The little kids in My Grand Daughter's school almost all have some sort of allergy. My Grand Daughter is allergic to everything and half the kids in her school are allergic to something. Peanuts are outlawed in many restaurants and schools.
Kids today, (Like fish) get all sorts of things and in some homes it is an adventure waking up to see if the kids have some sort of infection.
I feel this is a big problem in our fish tanks and the biggest cause of all the posts on disease threads.
This is also why I go to a muddy bay and collect mud to throw in my tank. If I didn't live by the sea, I would throw regular dirt in there as I did when I started my tank.
I also feel we have to start thinking of bacteria as a good thing instead of a bad thing.
Just my thoughts of course and not meant to be taken as fact. Just an observation that is obvious to anyone who is a lot older than most fish people.
All rings a big bell with me Paul but then you and I are the same age.
When I was on the tools I hardly got a cold. I recall one site in the early 70s I was working on fitting windows in the middle of a very cold winter in a large block of flats. It was little more than a emoty concrete shell. My was it cold. You couldn't wear too much as it inhibited your freedom of movement. I never got cold then.
Later in my life I moved up the chain and became a building project manager in and out of offices mainly with the resulting cold that would follow me. As kids we would play in anything get covered in muck and eat with dirty hands often. We hardly ever got sick. We never thought about bacteria good or bad just dirt. But dirt was common then. We got bathed once a week in a tin bath, it was a toss up who got in it first. You could have been 3rd 4th or whatever to use the same bath water and you were lucky if it was mildly warm.
When the road surfaces were being retared we would be sent out to breath the fumes of the tar. Not sure if that was a good or bad thing but it didn't seem to do any harm. We lived in a smokey city so the tar fumes were supposed to aid clear your chest.
My fish never get cold it seems nor bacterial infections etc yet there must be lots of bacteria both good and bad in there.
When I was on the tools I hardly got a cold. I recall one site in the early 70s I was working on fitting windows in the middle of a very cold winter in a large block of flats. It was little more than a emoty concrete shell. My was it cold. You couldn't wear too much as it inhibited your freedom of movement. I never got cold then.
Later in my life I moved up the chain and became a building project manager in and out of offices mainly with the resulting cold that would follow me. As kids we would play in anything get covered in muck and eat with dirty hands often. We hardly ever got sick. We never thought about bacteria good or bad just dirt. But dirt was common then. We got bathed once a week in a tin bath, it was a toss up who got in it first. You could have been 3rd 4th or whatever to use the same bath water and you were lucky if it was mildly warm.
When the road surfaces were being retared we would be sent out to breath the fumes of the tar. Not sure if that was a good or bad thing but it didn't seem to do any harm. We lived in a smokey city so the tar fumes were supposed to aid clear your chest.
My fish never get cold it seems nor bacterial infections etc yet there must be lots of bacteria both good and bad in there.
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Paul B
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This discussion is continued here
www.reef2reef.com
About infections in us and fish and how it used to be.
This morning my wife and I were discussing how we lived when we were much younger and how the world has changed. My Dad and her Dad had retail stores. My dad had a fish market and just like her dad and everyone with a food market there was piles of saw dust on the floor. The cutting boards were...
www.reef2reef.com
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This reminds me of a story. There was this Cathedral. They needed a guy to ring the bell as the last guy retired. A guy showed up but he had no arms. The Monsignor said, I would love to give you the job, but with no arms, how are you going to ring the ball.
The poor guy really needed the job and said, Father, I can do it, I have been practicing and I will show you.
So the guy backed up about ten feet and ran into the bell with his head.
The priest was amazed but said, OK, you have the job.
The next day the priest waited and at 9:00am precisely, he heard the bell ring. Every day the bell rang.
After a week, the bell was silent and he couldn't find the guy.
He called the police and they came and asked the priest the guys name.
The priest didn't know.
So the police showed the priest a picture of a missing person with no arms.
He told the police I don't recognize these pictures but his face rings a bell.
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I really should go and collect some water as it has been a while and it will be in the 60s today which is weird for the middle of January.
As a kid we never saw this weather and in the winter the lakes would freeze and we would ice skate until April. Now we can plant tomatoes in February which isn't good for many things.
The pesty insects don't die nor do the infectious bacteria's and viruses. The birds forget to fly south and we get all sorts of tropical fish here (which isn't a bad thing)
Trees start to grow, then with a quick cold snap, they die.
The killer bees and fire ants which we can live without are moving north. We would rather you southerners keep them.
Near my friends house about 20 miles from here there are hundreds or thousands of tropical parrots that escaped from some pet thing 10 or 20 years ago and they have been breeding like crazy.
It's very cool but they are noisy and I have no idea what they eat in the winter as I have not seen one near a McDonalds.
When it snows now, which is very very rare, it melts the next morning when it gets to 50 degrees.
Ski resorts are teaching polities and macrame.
Sled manufacturers took up stamp collecting.
They used to have horse drawn sleigh rides around here, now the horses pull Toyota's.
I love warm weather but this is not right. ;Bucktooth
I will like to collect water but my knee re replacement is in a few weeks so in anticipation of that, my knee is trying to talk me out of doing it. But if I don't do it now, it will be many more months before I can carry any water.
Yesterday we were invited to a Valentines Day dance. I wanted to go until my wife reminded me that that is 3 days after my surgery and dancing would not be prudent at that time as my knee would probably fall out and roll across the dance floor. Thats true "Break Dancing" ;Wideyed
As a kid we never saw this weather and in the winter the lakes would freeze and we would ice skate until April. Now we can plant tomatoes in February which isn't good for many things.
The pesty insects don't die nor do the infectious bacteria's and viruses. The birds forget to fly south and we get all sorts of tropical fish here (which isn't a bad thing)
Trees start to grow, then with a quick cold snap, they die.
The killer bees and fire ants which we can live without are moving north. We would rather you southerners keep them.
Near my friends house about 20 miles from here there are hundreds or thousands of tropical parrots that escaped from some pet thing 10 or 20 years ago and they have been breeding like crazy.
It's very cool but they are noisy and I have no idea what they eat in the winter as I have not seen one near a McDonalds.
When it snows now, which is very very rare, it melts the next morning when it gets to 50 degrees.
Ski resorts are teaching polities and macrame.
Sled manufacturers took up stamp collecting.
They used to have horse drawn sleigh rides around here, now the horses pull Toyota's.
I love warm weather but this is not right. ;Bucktooth
I will like to collect water but my knee re replacement is in a few weeks so in anticipation of that, my knee is trying to talk me out of doing it. But if I don't do it now, it will be many more months before I can carry any water.
Yesterday we were invited to a Valentines Day dance. I wanted to go until my wife reminded me that that is 3 days after my surgery and dancing would not be prudent at that time as my knee would probably fall out and roll across the dance floor. Thats true "Break Dancing" ;Wideyed
Rybren
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It was 46 degrees here yesterday, it's normally 5 degrees.
Before I retired, this is how I would get to work.
My office was in the building on the right with the square windows.
This winter, people are swimming to work.
Before I retired, this is how I would get to work.
My office was in the building on the right with the square windows.
This winter, people are swimming to work.
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Paul B
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It's over 60 degrees here and I almost went swimming as I just came back from collecting water which is 40 degrees.
I am diatom filtering it now because it is full f seaweed. It was very windy and the pump didn't want to stay underwater in the surf so it kept coming back on to the beach.
I also couldn't back up to the water so I had to pump it into five gallon jugs and carry it back 100' to my Jeep.
Sometimes when I put all that weight in the Jeep I almost get stuck as the sand is very fine.
I am diatom filtering it now because it is full f seaweed. It was very windy and the pump didn't want to stay underwater in the surf so it kept coming back on to the beach.
I also couldn't back up to the water so I had to pump it into five gallon jugs and carry it back 100' to my Jeep.
Sometimes when I put all that weight in the Jeep I almost get stuck as the sand is very fine.
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Today I took my wife for her MRI and on the way home I always stop at an LFS near there.
The place is really going down hill and they never have anything anymore.
I go in there with a pocket full of money and can't buy anything because they have the same old common stuff.
I ended up with a bunch of emerald crabs just because I felt like I had to buy something even though I will never see emerald crabs in my tank. I bought 8 of them.
I want a dragon faced pipefish, another possum wrasse, another Janss pipefish, a male mandarin, a male bluestripe pipefish and another sunburst anthius.
I don't need no yellow tangs, blue devils, wrasses or other common fish. ;Bored
I ended up with crabs. ;Bucktooth
I can't even get a stinkin gorgonian. Nothing. How do these places stay in business with no livestock?
The place is really going down hill and they never have anything anymore.
I go in there with a pocket full of money and can't buy anything because they have the same old common stuff.
I ended up with a bunch of emerald crabs just because I felt like I had to buy something even though I will never see emerald crabs in my tank. I bought 8 of them.
I want a dragon faced pipefish, another possum wrasse, another Janss pipefish, a male mandarin, a male bluestripe pipefish and another sunburst anthius.
I don't need no yellow tangs, blue devils, wrasses or other common fish. ;Bored
I ended up with crabs. ;Bucktooth
I can't even get a stinkin gorgonian. Nothing. How do these places stay in business with no livestock?
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One of my 30 year old powerheads croaked last night so my skimmer and algae scrubber was dry. No water was going into the reverse UG filter either.
I took the thing apart and repaired it with some shrink tubing which is the repair they need every 30 years.
I think this was made in Germany and I really don't want to buy a pump from China so I am hoping to get a few more decades out of it. If I can find another piece of stainless steel for the shaft, I will change it.
I think I have 5 or 6 of those old pumps, most of them still running but you need to watch the old ones as they sometimes stop.
They are not doing anything important so nothing will happen. You really don't need a skimmer, under gravel filter or algae scrubber running 100% of the time.
I took the thing apart and repaired it with some shrink tubing which is the repair they need every 30 years.
I think this was made in Germany and I really don't want to buy a pump from China so I am hoping to get a few more decades out of it. If I can find another piece of stainless steel for the shaft, I will change it.
I think I have 5 or 6 of those old pumps, most of them still running but you need to watch the old ones as they sometimes stop.
They are not doing anything important so nothing will happen. You really don't need a skimmer, under gravel filter or algae scrubber running 100% of the time.
reminds me of George Carlin skit talking about germs and growing up swimming in the east river
Its George so some bad language use ear muffs
Its George so some bad language use ear muffs
It's a Hagen Aquaclear Paul. Possibly the 400 model. Not sure where they were made. My first powerhead were Aquaclear 200s running my first ever reverse flow UG filter. Prior to that my tank was run with 4 uplifts and a large noisy Japanese air pump that would shake the fillings out of your teeth.One of my 30 year old powerheads croaked last night so my skimmer and algae scrubber was dry. No water was going into the reverse UG filter either.
I took the thing apart and repaired it with some shrink tubing which is the repair they need every 30 years.
I think this was made in Germany and I really don't want to buy a pump from China so I am hoping to get a few more decades out of it. If I can find another piece of stainless steel for the shaft, I will change it.
I think I have 5 or 6 of those old pumps, most of them still running but you need to watch the old ones as they sometimes stop.
They are not doing anything important so nothing will happen. You really don't need a skimmer, under gravel filter or algae scrubber running 100% of the time.
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Hard to believe George eats with that same mouth...well maybe not since he uses the same brush on the 4 areas to clean! Not sure how George was selected as the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine....
George wasn't Ringo was the voice of Thomas the tank engine.
Hi, Paul.
Have another question on the RUGF.
I am in the process of laying my plumbing to know what parts to buy.
What would the best way to plumb the RUGF, use (1) valve off of the main return line to the manifold or (1) valve for each uplift tube?
See the attached diagram. Sorry for rough pic.
Thanks
Have another question on the RUGF.
I am in the process of laying my plumbing to know what parts to buy.
What would the best way to plumb the RUGF, use (1) valve off of the main return line to the manifold or (1) valve for each uplift tube?
See the attached diagram. Sorry for rough pic.
Thanks
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Paul B
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I don't think so. You need to build a manifold above the water with the tubes coming out of it. You can use one tube for each plate, you don't need 2.
The manifold could be any plastic container with the holes coming out the bottom to the filter plates. The way you have it you will get much to much flow and it won't be even no matter what you do.
You don't want to the pump pumping water under the gravel, you want it gradually going down there using gravity.
There can be an overflow in the container to let the excess water go back to the tank.
You only need about 150 GPG down each tube, no more.
I can't load a picture now. the thing isn't working, but it never works when I want i to.
I think there is a picture of it in my book. But don't buy the book for that. I will try to post a picture later.
The manifold could be any plastic container with the holes coming out the bottom to the filter plates. The way you have it you will get much to much flow and it won't be even no matter what you do.
You don't want to the pump pumping water under the gravel, you want it gradually going down there using gravity.
There can be an overflow in the container to let the excess water go back to the tank.
You only need about 150 GPG down each tube, no more.
I can't load a picture now. the thing isn't working, but it never works when I want i to.
I think there is a picture of it in my book. But don't buy the book for that. I will try to post a picture later.
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Paul B
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This was my old manifold. The three tubes come out of the bottom. The thing is fed from that tube on the left and the other tube on the bottom left is the overflow that lets the excess water go back to the tank without going under the filter.
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