Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

According to Wikipedia, Bangai cardinals only live one to two years in the sea and a little longer in captivity which I assume is the reason one of mine has the beginnings of cataracts. I have them longer than that and will hope for the best.

Quote:
Unlike many other species of marine fish, the Banggai cardinalfish lacks a planktonic stage in its life history.[4] The species has a short life span, reaching around four years in optimal conditions in captivity, and perhaps 1 to 2 years in the wild.[4]

 

[Paul B]

I am happy to report I found my clingfish. No, not dead and dried up on the floor like a prune, but happy and healthy near the place he used to hang out. After I removed a large rock that he used to call home, I couldn't find him for over a week.
But I fed the tank some clams today and he couldn't resist. I saw him dart out for some sushi. Now he settled in in a spot where I can continue target feeding him as he is to lazy to hunt for food himself.

 

[Paul B]

I test my $5.00 swing arm hydrometer by first buying an airline ticket to the tropics, get on the plane to the place. At the place in the tropics, rent a car and go to a boat rental place to rent a boat. Take the boat to a place where you see the same fish you have in your tank. Put on your Speedo and Jump in the water with your hydrometer, (or refractometer) read the thing and using a permanent marker, draw a line on it where it is reading. Get back in the boat and go back to the rental place to get back your deposit. Get on the plane (after changing out of your Speedo) and when you get home, use that line you drew on the thing for all your readings. If your water is below the line, add some salt, if it is above the line, add some fresh water....Simple. :beachbum:

 

[SpartaReef]

 

[Paul B]

I have too many bristleworms and too many big bristleworms. They are not normally a problem unless they crawl into bed with you but they are a problem to certain invertebrates. Especially ones that shed like crabs and shrimp. I also have lost baby clams to them many times. My large arrow crab recently shed and I still can't find him, but I know it was bristle worms as I can tell by their smile. The worms wait behind a rock and trip the helpless crab when he walks by.

I designed a few traps for the worms and I normally catch 4 or 5 a night. But now most of my tiny hermit crabs grew into golf ball size creatures and if I look at my tank at night I find 4 of them with the bristle worm trap on their shoulders carrying it around the tank. This is annoying because the trap only works when it is on the gravel. The crabs are all fighting with each other, taking turns trying to get the clam bait out of the trap. Now I am looking for a bowling ball I can use as a weight to keep the crabs from carrying the trap. AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

 

[SpartaReef]

What about a small cage around the trap... let the worms in but keep the crabs out... or put up a tiny sign...

 

[Paul B]

The sign may work. I barely have room for a trap I can't fit a cage, but it is a good idea

 

[Paul B]

Tank is doing well, everything is happy and healthy. Cleaning the algae scrubber every couple of weeks is a pain and a little time consuming. The water cooled LED lights are still functioning as I expected.
Clingfish and bangai cardinals seem happy.
The biggest feeder is by far the copperband. That thing will eat all the food I put in there by himself if I didn't target feed everything.
Almost all the gorgonians are growing out of the water and if I get time I will trim them and glue the pieces someplace.
I am also thinking (not to seriously) of removing the algae trough and scraping it out. There is no algae in it as it is filled with small corals and tube worms. I would assume it is a great nursery for the numerous amphipods I have in there. I only collected amphipods twice this year and I hope to go collecting maybe once more. If not I at least want to collect some more mud, but I can get that from the shore anywhere without going to a tide pool.
The reverse undergravel filter is the oldest thing in the tank and was in there from the start. I still think of that as the heart of my system and if I started a new tank tomorrow (not likely) I would add a reverse undergravel filter.
What's not to like? Of course I doubt I could still get dolomite.
I wonder what will happen to this tank when I finally take it down. It has to come down at some point because I am not exactly 16 any more.
I was also thinking (again not very seriously) about removing my skimmer temporally to fill with vinegar and clean. That has only happened once many years ago. It is bolted to my stand so it is not really a five minute job.
Recently I re-designed and re-built the venture valve and this new one (which costs about a buck) works much better. I have 3 air pumps running my skimmer because it is about 5' tall and there is to much back pressure for the venture to suck enough air in so I supplement it with air pumps and I couldn't find one strong enough. I also use it with Ozone but I run it full power and removed the sensor from the tank as it wasn't doing anything anyway.

 

[Paul B]

I know I posted this but here is my tank just after I moved to this house in about 1979 or so. I was building the basement around it as you can tell by nothing finished. You can also see the white bleached corals we used in those days for decoration. I picked them up in the Caribbean or furniture stores where they displayed them on tables and such.


Here it is finished. I think this was a few years ago.

 

[Paul B]

all of my gorgonians are photosynthetic. Non Photosynthetic are very hard to take care of long term and I like my stuff to live forever.

 

[jason2459]

Still my favorite tank out there. I'm starting to get into some gorgonians myself. Any you suggest as being easier to keep over any other. Or just any photosynthetic kind will be just as good?

 

[Paul B]

Yes that is easy. The thicker, brown ones are the easiest to take care of by far. This one is an encrusting gorgonian and is years old and grows fast with no care.


This one to the right is the easiest to care for and I have some probably 15 or more years old. Very hard to kill.

The one to the left is a "slimmer" gorg and I just seen them growing like weeds all over the Dominican Republic. I fraged them all over the place and the ones that fell to the bottom are still growing.



The large one on the right is a slimmer and I had to trim it because it grew out of the water.


Stay away from any color besides brown, no yellow, blue, red etc. Also very skinny gorgonians are much more difficult.

 

[jaydogg76]

Where in long island do you get the pods

 

[Paul B]

Anyplace where there are large stones at low tide that you can lift. I can go to Bar beach or my favorite, Leeds Pond in Manhasset Bay



Here is a couple of videos

 

[Paul B]

This mushroom has been in my tank for years. I don't even remember how many years because it grew from another mushroom which grew from another one.

Yesterday I noticed it had all but disappeared for no apparent cause. One minute it is there, the next it is gone. There is still a little piece of it left but a tiny one. This mushroom would expand during the day to about 8 or 9" across and at night shrink a little.

Now it is almost gone but everything else is fine.

This is one of the things I find so fascinating in this hobby. How life can just appear and disappear after many years for no known reason. I am sure the mushroom knows, but I certainly don't.

Now I am not going to test the parameters, change the water or offer up tea leaves to the moon. It is what it is and sometimes creatures die. I am not sure if this one died or moved to the back of the tank because the parts that are left look perfectly healthy. This also gives me an excuse to put something else in that place where this guy was.
(PS. I just looked at the tank which is lit now only with a little red light and my mandarins are spawning again. I love this stuff)

Very cool.

 

[Chasmodes]

This is one of the things I find so fascinating in this hobby. How life can just appear and disappear after many years for no known reason. I am sure the mushroom knows, but I certainly don't.

Now I am not going to test the parameters, change the water or offer up tea leaves to the moon. It is what it is and sometimes creatures die. I am not sure if this one died or moved to the back of the tank because the parts that are left look perfectly healthy. This also gives me an excuse to put something else in that place where this guy was.
(PS. I just looked at the tank which is lit now only with a little red light and my mandarins are spawning again. I love this stuff)

Very cool.

This is why I love your tank and reading about it. I also like the fact that you've been successful incorporating local flora and fauna into your reef.

 

[Paul B]

I am not sure how successful I have been but I find it interesting. The amphipods, which I feel are the most important live and reproduce forever but the seaweeds, not so much. I just like them for the week or so they live.

 

[Chasmodes]

I think that if you enjoy what you add to your tank, and perhaps your tank benefits, then that is a success. Did you collect your clingfish too? What other fish have you collected and kept yourself?

 

[Paul B]

No, the clingfish is tropical. I did add this burrfish that I collected and these butterflies and crab. I don't collect our hermit crabs any more because they only live a couple of months.





I collected these seahorses and they are transferring eggs here. I raised the young.


Amphipods.


Grass shrimp I get by the hundreds.


These rock crabs are very common on the South Shore. But they get big.


Rock anemones are also common.


I also collected dozens of antique bottles while SCUBA diving

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I bought a new coral to put in the place where that mushroom disappeared. While gluing it in I found some of the mushroom. It multiplied into a bunch of quarter sized pieces which I also glued in because they were under rocks in the dark. Now I am going to have to many.