Tank birthday, 47+ years

[gettaReef]

Wow, that's great news, looking forward to its release (I'll pre-order a copy lol). Happy boating

 

[Gatz22]

Very cool to have a tank for that long. Congratulations man!

 

[Paul B]

Thank you. I was on my boat all day today and last night. I needed to devise something to hold wine bottles. We go through cases of wine and there is no real good place to put wine bottles because they break if they bang into each other in rough water and the bottom of some of the holding compartments are hard fiberglass. I built a nice rack out of cardboard shipping tubes. The bottles fit perfectly in them and are cushioned. I have it set up so that it is very easy to remove the bottles and they swing out of the way. I love designing boat stuff especially if it involves wine. We have big trips planned this summer.

 

[Paul B]

I spent about an hour on my tank today which is much more then I ever do. I decided to remove half of the screen in the algae trough because there was no algae growing just tubeworms and corals which completely filled the trough almost preventing the water from getting through. I had to pry up the screen with a large screwdriver because it was completely cemented to the bottom with coral and coralline algae. Underneath the thing looked like a bristle worm farm. I removed those as they were large and I am sure on the side I didn't touch there are dozens more. The stuff I removed would have made a great starter culture for a new tank. I threw it behind the rocks in my tank because I didn't have the heart to dump all those tube worms and brittle stars.
The part I cleaned I replaced the screen with a new one but this time I placed a cotton cloth on top of it. I have been experimenting with cotton cloths for a few months by draping a cloth over the side of the trough so that just a little water gets wicked up into the cloth and drips into the tank. That experiment was a huge success and that cloth is covered almost 1/2" thick with algae.
When I get time, probably in the winter I plan on taking advantage of that experiment and completely removing my algae trough and re-designing it so that the algae is not submerged. I just want water spraying on it but I want it to be exposed to the air. I think this is going to have a fantastic outcome.
Just my opinion of course.

 

[Paul B]

Today my wife and I did a little boating as we always do in the summer and I took the dinghy to shore to do a little collecting just before the storm rolled in. We just made it back in time but I managed to get a bucket full of amphipods. This is the first collecting of the year and I hope to go again this week depending on the weather. I like to dump thousands of amphipods along with some mud in the early summer. My tank depends on it.

 

[Hernan]

My sincere respect for your trajectory Paul. B.

 

[Paul B]

Because of salt creep and some defective LEDs I had to take my fixture apart and re do a lot of the solder joints, drill and tap about 50 holes and replace the fans. I really should have put a splash shield on this thing when I built it. If I ever get time, I will build another fixture.

 

[Paul B]

After about 16 years one of my fireclowns feels he must bond with an anemone. I don't have any anemones so he is using a very large (and expensive) Duncan for a host. The Duncan is not amused and has not opened in a couple of weeks. I would like to spear the fireclown but probably would miss and make a hole in the bottom of the tank. Her 24 year old mate just looks at her and laughs. I am glad he doesn't need an anemone and just stays in his cognac bottle.

 

[Paul B]

I posted this someplace else and decided to put it here, because I like it. If you don't want to read it, I think Oprah is giving away free Cadillac's to homeless cats.
I have killed so many fish that I probably have helped with the extinction. Why do you think we thought Coelacanth's were almost extinct? It was me. When the hobby started (and I have written extensively on it and dedicated a chapter in my book about it) aquarium keeping was a challenge, but it was a challenge that was good for the hobby as that was when much of the critical knowledge was gained as there was no internet, so no wrong information. No information at all as a matter of fact but what we did know, we learned from trial and mostly error. Very early in the hobby, so early that it was in my fresh water phase, or "bait" as I like to call fresh water fish, I learned the biggest secret of the hobby. The secret that overshadows all other things in the hobby. Much bigger than Obama's college records or where Brian Williams gets these stories. The secret (which I have also written about ad nausea) is still helping me today and it is the one thing that is so important that everything else in this hobby falls by the wayside. No one wants to use my secret so I stopped mentioning it. People would rather take a fish from the sea, put it in a small, bare quarantine tank for 72 days. Try sitting for 72 days in a small room with no friends and not even a Supermodel or reality show to look at. So in 72 days the fish is so stressed that it is thrilled that now it is put in a tank of creatures it has never met and we feel it is just going to forget what we did to him and go about his business of living a happy healthy life.
Unfortunately that fish in many cases will be fed a diet of flakes, pellets and frozen whatever that is supposed to keep him healthy. Of course many times, in spite of all that quarantine time it comes down with parasites and we read:
OMG, I quarantined everything including my Old Aunt Ester, put my quarantine tank 157 yards away from my reef so the ich didn't get in from osmosis and the fish are still dropping dead from the disease. You know I am right as you can easily search and find dozens of those threads right on reef Central. Now why is that? Maybe 72 days isn't long enough, maybe we should quarantine for 3 years. Maybe we shouldn't have reef tanks, just large quarantine tanks. Would that stop the dreaded ich?
DSBs, SSBs, no sand bed, reverse UG filter, starboard, Dutch Mini Reef, Jaubert system, the fish don't care and it doesn't matter what type of substrate we have. There are all sorts of successful tanks and it has nothing to do with substrate. Yes, I do joke around (a little) because, to me, this is a hobby and supposed to be fun. But all we hear is problems. Why is that?
It's because many people don't use my secret. No, I am not lucky. My fish don't live long enough to get social security because they are lucky. It's not even because of my UG filter although I would like it to be. It is not because of quarantining or not quarantining (but that does have something to do with keeping fish healthy and not because of what you think, just the opposite)
I don't go on so many threads on here any more because of the arguments and I am old and tired. It is so simple but people refuse to take the time to do it.
The secret is live worms.
That's it. Live worms every day will keep the fishes immune system so fine tuned that you could put the fish in a meat grinder and he will come out fine. OK, maybe not. Now I realize many, or most, OK, "all" of you think it can't be worms. The old guy is nuts. He is senile. Maybe so. But I am right now looking at my tank. I am watching the 24 year old fireclowns playing with each other and the other 15 or 20 fish that have never been quarantined, have no DSB, have never even had a headache but all of them eat some live worms every day with their regular meal of mostly clam. They also know I don't have test kits or a hospital tank and they are not worried. They know that if they are in my tank, most of them will die of old age.
I bought them all and after a little acclimation, threw them in my tank (gently). Even if they had parasites because they are a non issue. Even in spite of the mud, amphipods, flounders, worms, crabs, shrimp and seaweed I collect from a bay and dump in with no fanfare.
I wrote an article about slime and the fishes immune system but I am not allowed to link it here. It is in my book that is not out yet but I probably can't link anything from it here either. But the main thing is live worms. Not bloodworms, not freeze dried worms, not mealworms but blackworms (or earthworms). If you remember your fresh water days, if you wanted to spawn fish the first thing you read was to feed live food. Many of us forgot that bit of advice. We prefer to read the ingredients on a can of flakes and see all the wonderful things they put in it (before it was processed, baked, dried and canned) Live worms have one ingredient, worms. That's the secret. Take it or leave it.

 

[gettaReef]

Well this is good to hear! Since seeing you suggest black worms, I saw my LFS sells them, and I began feeding them everyday (as well as freshly hatched brine shrimp). All my fish love them, tang, clown, chromis, basslet, etc... Thanks for the advice! They are becoming fatter than ever now

 

[Paul B]

They will also spawn

 

[gettaReef]

How do you keep your black worms? Do you breed them? If so, how? My LFS sells them to me for 3$ an ounce (pretty cheap for the amount I get for my small 75g), and instructed me to keep them in the fridge, and wash them in a strainer once a week with tap water that has been treated (like with keeping freshwater fish...or bait) that's at the same temp. Do you advise this process, or have any other advice? Thanks Paul

 

[Paul B]

Most people keep them in the fridge. I don't. I built a worm keeper that I am sure is on here someplace. It's in my book also

 

[miller175]

Happy Birthday Tank

 

[Paul B]

I couldn't find my male bluestripe pipefish or my male ruby red dragonette for a week. I am not sure if they went on vacation together or just out for a bite to eat. But now their back, and with no explanation. They won't let me know where they were and I am sure I will never know.

 

[Paul B]

Today I went down to my boat to do some important stuff (relax).

I noticed plenty of grass shrimp around the boat and I collected a bunch. After looking at the expression on their faces I could tell that they would rather stay in the marina than my tank so I said good bye and set them free. They are happy.
So I had a beer, and read the newspaper before going in the cabin, turning on the air conditioner and pondered the universe (took a nap).
Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain I will take my Grand Kids to my favorite tide pool to do a little collecting.

 

[calvo15290]

This needs a update to 44 lol

 

[Paul B]

I would set up a tank in my boat, but I think the fish would jump overboard.

 

[gettaReef]

Beautiful life

 

[Paul B]

I try to have a good attitude as well as I can. Life is full of problems, disease and all sorts of things and we can dwell on that, but I try not to which is why I think I am a happy person. :D

Of course, having your best friend for a wife helps a lot.