Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

and that is where some of the disasters happened.

Stussyhat actually I never lost interest in the tank. Three times my water company added chemicals to prevent corrosion in the pipes, most of that is zinc orthophosphate and if I change my water just as they add that, it kills everything.
The first time I didn't even have resins or a RO unit. I just used carbon. Thats whi I changed to RO/DI water. The second and third time I did have those things but that chemical just exhausts my resins and I guess enough gets through my RO to kill the corals.
Once I was away due to a family emergency (my Mother ended up dying) but some of the fish were in a seperate tank because I was re aquascaping and stirring up the gravel. When I do that every few years I remove some rock and fish.
I had to leave for a couple of days and something must have died in that spaer tank with no filtration. I lost a 18 year old cusk eel, 5 year old moorish Idol and numerous other old fish.
These things happen if you keep a tank long enough. 3 or 4 accidents in 40 years is not that bad. I try to plan for all things that could go wrong but I am not perfect and things happen. It is all part of the hobby.
Have a great Day
Paul

 

[carlosR]

Very impressive. Glad to see some other old timers still keeping fish. I've been keeping fish for 54 years, ever since I got my first goldfish and just started a reef tank 1.5 years ago. You are an inspiration.
Oh yeah I remember those watch bands, cool.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Nothing beats "old school" experience (no pun intended)!! What strike me most was your mention of our water system being too sterile nowadays ... and with all the additives and liquid supplement being added almost daily ... to the point of absolute madness to achieve the best reef system (artificial steroid) instead of looking ahead to the long term survivability of the captive inhabitants.

In regards to the local city water ... I have a relative living in a apartment in Manhattan and we were there to celebrate New Years Eve at Times Square but we got "persuaded" into doing some quick reno work and I ended up replacing three toilet sets!! What got me :neutral: was the "tar like" substance stuck at the bottom of the reservoir. Tried every method to scrub and rinse to no avail .... it reminded me of the think black mud stain from a tropical mangrove swamp!! We ended making it down to Times Square in good time too!!!

Thanks for sharing your 40++ years of reefing!!

Paul

 

[Paul B]

and with all the additives and liquid supplement being added almost daily ... to the point of absolute madness to achieve the best reef system (artificial steroid) instead of looking ahead to the long term survivability of the captive inhabitants.

I don't really add suppliments except home made calcium which is Dowflake ice melter and some Luguls Iodine whenever I remember every week or so. I am not sure if the Iodine is needed but I bought a large bottle of it many years ago and I am determined to use it.

and I ended up replacing three toilet sets!! What got me :neutral: was the "tar like" substance stuck at the bottom of the reservoir. Tried every method to scrub and rinse to no avail .... it reminded me of the think black mud stain from a tropical mangrove swamp!!

I had to work many times in the water tanks on top of buildings in Manhattan. All buildings over about 5 floors need a roof water tank because city water preasure only goes up to 6 floors.
Some of those tanks are 80 years old and full of pidgeon bones, feathers, pizza boxes, and other things too disquesting to mention.
Obviousely no one cleans them and most are made from wood with the rest made of iron.
I had to work in the one in the Plaza hotel once and the top of the tank had rotted off. There was just some corroded steel beams going across the top of the tank covered in dead pidgeon parts. Of course most of the pidgeons just died in the tank.
That tank is the drinking water for the penthouse that cost, at the time $17,000.00 a night.
Now the place is renovated and I "assume" they replaced that tank but I can't swear to it.
So if you have a fish tank with one of those tanks, I would do something to treat that water.

 

[meisen]

Good to see you over here Paul, glad your tank is still going too

 

[Paul B]

Thanks Meisen. The thing is still running.

 

[Paul B]

I know I have been saying this for months but I really need to remove all of the rocks and re aquascape. Due to some of the spawning fish and the dragon wrasse digging holes and re arranging everything all of the entire structure moved almost all the way to the front glass and I am having a hard time cleaning the glass or positioning the corals. The gorgonians are jammed against the front glass and I don't have room for anything. There is plenty of room in the back where I don't need it. I know I should have done this in the winter as now it is boating season and this will take all day.
If I ever do it I can also remove the dragon wrasse and give it away as it has grown too large and he has become a pain in the wrasse I will also stir the dolomite and clean it.
One problem is that I really like the aquascaping now and I know I will not be able to re create it. I always have a bunch of rocks left over when I do this. I also need to find tanks for all the corals. I guess I will also collect some water, pods and bacteria the next time I take out the boat as I have not added any of that since last year.
Oh the joy of reefing.

 

[JackoChang]

How far out do you go to collect water? Do you run it through filters to take out nasties? I'm not at all familiar with NSW, as I'm landlocked in CO

 

[Paul B]

In Colorado you would have to walk about a thousand miles (I was stationed there for a few months, loved the place)
Here In NY I walk out about to my knees and pick up water. It is the same water at the shore as out farther, as long as it is a sandy and not a muddy beach and you collect on an incoming tide.

I may just filter it through a coffee filter to remove the many tiny jelly fish and floating algae but you really don't have to do anything to it except heat it up and add some salt. Our NY water is weak for some reason.

 

[Paul B]

This weekend I will be going out to the east end of Long Island and while I am out there I will collect some water. The water out there is very clean and I have used it for decades.
This week I also ordered LED lights for my reef. I will start building the fixture tomorrow. It was a no brainer because my MH lamps are almost due to be replaced and that costs about $125.00 so for another $200.00 or so I can build a 36 light LED system that will have the same 14,000K as my MHs plus put out 25% more light for one quarter of the electricity. and probably a quarter of the heat. The electricity saved will pay for the system in less than a year.
I am very energy concious which is the reason I have an extreamly efficient gas boiler and solar panels on my roof.

 

[JackoChang]

Paul, I think you will get more heat reduction with the switch than you expect. I'm patiently awaiting your fixture.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Paul B]

I also think it will be much less heat. Of course I recently invented a chiller for the tank that hardly uses any power and if the tank stays cool with the LEDs I can't test my chiller. Figures
My lighting has always been under par which is one reason I can't keep certain SPS corals. There are probably other reasons but for now I will blame it on my Plaza Hotel lights. I am running 2- 150 watt MH lights. My 6' tank really should run 3-150 watt MH lights.
But the heat would be too much. I like the way LEDs look and I like saving energy. The royal blues will come on first then the whites.
Today I bought some square tubing to mount the lights on. The tubes will be cut to 5' lengths and run parallel to each other. The LEDs will be mounted to the tubing and a fan will be installed in the center of the fixture which will force air through all 3 tubes for the heat. It will also be on a pulley system so just a touch will raise this entire thing up to the ceiling of the enclosure so I will have two feet of clearence to work on the tank. Then they will settle down about 8" from the water.
It should only take a couple of hours to build once I have all the parts.

 

[LegoZ81]

Awesome that your tank is in the process of moving to LED! I've read some of your threads over the past 5 or so years and still amazed how well things work long term for you and you have basically crushed every "old tank syndrome" timeline ever created

 

[Paul B]

Whats Old Tank Syndrome? :wink:

The LED fixture is completed, now I just have to wait until the LEDs arrive, probably tomorrow.
This fixture is purposely made very light because it will be on pulleys and it is in a closet so you won't see it. The aluminum tubes are of course cut under the fans so the fans will pull heat through the tubes there by cooling the fixture.

 

[LegoZ81]

super simplistic design, I love it!

 

[Paul B]

Thanks, can't get any simpler than that.

 

[subielover]

Always fun to follow your progress Paul. I say you mentioned that NY water was weak (salinity wise), what do you typically measure salinity at?

 

[johnanddawn]

wow talk about a journey through a hobby

from the first store with salt water fish to LED lighting

pretty cool - congrates

 

[Paul B]

Paul. I say you mentioned that NY water was weak (salinity wise), what do you typically measure salinity at?

Sometimes it is lower than the scale on my hydrometer. I almost always have to add salt.
When I take it from the ocean beaches on the east end of long Island I can add it as it is.

 

[YOUNGBLOOD]

wow 40 years old