Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

Thanks, I am on a hunt to find more materials to build something else

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Finished. The gate valve turns it on

thats sweet! we cant find those globes out here anymore. How did yo get the valve to work?

 

[sundog101]

Looks good!

 

[Paul B]

I screwed a reed valve into a nylon pipe that is hidden in the fire extinguisher. Then I drilled and tapped a screw into the gate so it does not close to far and crush the switch

 

[dan40b]

Wow, that paint job is amazing! It really looks like old copper. Great job! [emoji122]

 

[Paul B]

Thanks, thats the look I was going for. It takes four coats of different paint to get that look. I am still practicing.

 

[Paul B]

thats sweet! we cant find those globes out here anymore.

That "Globe" is the light bulb. Google antique light bulbs. It was only four bucks and I think it was a bargain. I also see that same bulb for $17.00. I don't know why. I could install a dimmer by using that brass ball which is a part of a Delta one handle faucet. I could add a dimmer to that. Maybe if I build another one I will do that and if I do, I will get a larger wattage bulb.
The stand on the bottom is from a 100 year old folding machine from my friend's printing shop.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

That "Globe" is the light bulb. Google antique light bulbs. It was only four bucks and I think it was a bargain. I also see that same bulb for $17.00. I don't know why. I could install a dimmer by using that brass ball which is a part of a Delta one handle faucet. I could add a dimmer to that. Maybe if I build another one I will do that and if I do, I will get a larger wattage bulb.
The stand on the bottom is from a 100 year old folding machine from my friend's printing shop.

Ive been in film and movie lighting my whole life. Generally we're called electricians, but only because we can plug in the coffee pot.

In Hollywood, back in the olden days, the bulbs had to be made round to allow the gas to circulate properly as it heated or it would blow up. Especially important for a 2000w 5k and 10k watt lamps. They also had a couple little carbon and metal alloy balls in the globes, and you shook and spun them to clean off the the vaporized tungsten and carbons from the glass to make them brighter stay the right color and stop them from blowing up. In the morning before Dorothy put on the Ruby slippers the, the electricians would go to each of tungsten lamps and "spin the Globes"
As technology and engineering got better, different alloys and gasses were used and different shapes appeared for all the tungsten, and then halogen, bulbs. But it's still our tradition today as "Electrician's" to call them "Globes".
History is Important IMO.

Sadly I gave my old 2k and 5k globes away before I moved back to California. It seems to be a tradition out here to throw stuff away so I haven't found any more.

 

[Paul B]

I have a couple of light bulbs I got from the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. One looks like a regular clear light bulb but it is over a foot long and 1,000 watts. The other one is sausage shaped with two large copper prongs at the bottom and is also 1,000 watts. In those days, if you needed more light they just made a larger light bulb.
My company used to be in charge of changing the light bulb on top of the Empire State Building. There is a skinny ladder on the antenna and the skinny guy we had climbed up there with a back pack especially made to carry that huge light bulb. I could barely fit up that ladder but used to eat my lunch at the base of the antenna.
There were cases of those bulbs in the Plaza hotel (which was built in 1907) They threw them all out and I could have taken them all home. I took a few and gave all of them away except two of them which I have on a shelf.
It was the same with the New York Playboy Club. We closed the club for 2 years for renovations and they threw out dozens of Bunny outfits along with cases of glasses with the Playboy Symbol on them. I too a lot of glasses and 4 bunny suits. I even have a picture of my wife with one of the suits on. (she was 19 then, no, you can't see it)
Now those costumes sell for $5,000.00 each. I only have one left (I don't remember where the others are) but it is deteriorating from age as they are over 40 years old

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I have a couple of light bulbs I got from the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. One looks like a regular clear light bulb but it is over a foot long and 1,000 watts. The other one is sausage shaped with two large copper prongs at the bottom and is also 1,000 watts. In those days, if you needed more light they just made a larger light bulb.
My company used to be in charge of changing the light bulb on top of the Empire State Building. There is a skinny ladder on the antenna and the skinny guy we had climbed up there with a back pack especially made to carry that huge light bulb. I could barely fit up that ladder but used to eat my lunch at the base of the antenna.
There were cases of those bulbs in the Plaza hotel (which was built in 1907) They threw them all out and I could have taken them all home. I took a few and gave all of them away except two of them which I have on a shelf.
It was the same with the New York Playboy Club. We closed the club for 2 years for renovations and they threw out dozens of Bunny outfits along with cases of glasses with the Playboy Symbol on them. I too a lot of glasses and 4 bunny suits. I even have a picture of my wife with one of the suits on. (she was 19 then, no, you can't see it)
Now those costumes sell for $5,000.00 each. I only have one left (I don't remember where the others are) but it is deteriorating from age as they are over 40 years old

how cool.
Back in the day, I was always the skinny guy.

 

[Guy3103]

Bottles, what bottles?

That's so cool! I had a spoon fall once in my tank but I took it out after 20 minutes or so :)

 

[Paul B]

You can leave a spoon in your tank if you like and nothing will happen except the hermit crabs may like to look at their reflection in it. Spoons are either silver or stainless steel, none of which I feel are harmful. I have numerous stainless steel screws in my tank that have been in there for decades. My ground probe is a knife, or antenna, I forget.

how cool.
Back in the day, I was always the skinny guy.

I was too but you have to be Supermodel skinny to get up that ladder because it has a cage around it that is like a foot, or just a little more wide.

 

[Paul B]

My tank is looking god although with all the other stuff I am making I hardly get to look at it. Those 3 porcelain carbs are still on the same piece of montipora but they are on different ends of it. I don't think they like each other any more. My water cooled LED lighting system is still running better than my wildest dreams. Well maybe not better than my wildest dreams as they have a Supermodel, a hub cap from a 1957 Oldsmobile a stalk of Broccoli and a bowling ball, but close to my wildest dreams. I have been adding yeast to their food every day as an experiment. I am not sure what I am looking for but I feed yeast to my worms and they keep smiling so what the heck. I think the sponges are filtering it out because it clouds the tank but clears in 20 minutes or so. I have a lot of sponges, many of which grew on their own and I have no idea where they came from but they are extremely cool. I was cutting off some sponge just for a trim as it was shading a coral and it got away from me. Now I see it is growing around a gorgonian. That stuff will grow on anything.
Al the paired fish are still spawning and I am trying to get another clingfish so they can spawn.
I replaced the stocking mesh in my mandarin feeder with the stuff that is inside my RO unit. It is a plastic with just the right size pores for the brine shrimp feeder. The great part about it is that I can bleach it because after a week or two, the baby shrimp can't get out and the mandarin makes faces at me. I still use it every day and it stays in my tank.
Next week I get to see if I have PTSD which I don't think I have. I just enjoyed being interviewed by the Supermodel from the VA.

Yesterday I had a surprise. Growing up from 3 years old I had a best friend girl who lived next door to me for about 18 years. We grew up together sleeping in the same basinet and playpen and all. When I was 10 my Dad died and her parents took me camping, hiking and to all sorts of places. Our Parents were also best friends. She later moved away but not far and got married and had 3 kids. We visited them when the kids were born and a few times later.
She (Georgia) developed Leukemia when she was 35 years old and died soon after. I visited her in the hospital just as they were going to shave off her very long black hair for the chemo.
Yesterday I got a call from her Daughter who I found on Facebook. They now live in Oregon. I was thrilled to hear from her and talk about her Mother and my best friend who I miss terribly .
Hopefully she will come to New York for a visit because she said she wanted to come here.
This is me and Georgia behind my dads 1947 Pontiac.

 

[Chasmodes]

It sounds like your tank is doing well. Hope you can find another clingfish.

I was thinking about how you tinker with stuff, building things for your tank, the steampunk stuff, etc. I was thinking that since you keep your baby brine shrimp feeder in the tank all the time, what about maybe building it into your aquascape? Maybe make one out of a bottle or something, or maybe out of your DIY rock, so it doesn't look like a piece of tank equipment. Not that it looks bad or anything now, and I'm not criticizing, just an idea...

What I like about this thread, Paul, is not only do you share your tank and your ideas, but you share a lot about your life with us. I like your sense of humor, but also your outlook on the other things that are so important. Reef tanks are important, as are the inhabitants, but so is life. Thanks for sharing yours with us. Now if only you'd post a few of those supermodel pics...

 

[Paul B]

Thank you Chasmodes. I wish I didn't have to sleep as I would build stuff all day and all night long. Life gets in the way. We just came back from grocery shopping. I now go with my wife because she has MS and don't walk as good as she used to. We go to Super Stop and Shop because, of course that's where Supermodels shop. My wife looked at this health drink that is supposed to have nine billion pro-biotics in it. I assume they hire a Supermodel to count all those pro-biotics or how else would they know exactly how many are in there.
Most of the Supermodels I know are still in the Supermarket, counting and all but my wife was always a Supermodel. When I was rebuilding the New York Playboy Club they offered her a job. We decided not to take the job but it was fantastic money to just walk around and serve drinks.
I still have a picture of her in a Bunny costume and no, you can't see it. :rolleyes:



This is more recent but she is still a Supermodel

 

[Paul B]

I can't make the brine shrimp feeder part of the aquascape because I have to remove it about every two weeks to clean as the growth on it will prevent the shrimp from coming out and I need to bleach it.

 

[IronVulture]

I can't make the brine shrimp feeder part of the aquascape because I have to remove it about every two weeks to clean as the growth on it will prevent the shrimp from coming out and I need to bleach it.

Did Paul just say he can't make something.......

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Did Paul just say he can't make something.......

No.

HEY LOOK! A SUPERMODEL!

 

[Paul B]

That's so cool! I had a spoon fall once in my tank but I took it out after 20 minutes or so :)

I once lost this hammer in my tank and couldn't find it for a couple of days. Then one morning I noticed one of my hermit crabs tripped over it so I took it out. Not that I think the hammer would hurt the tank, I just needed the hammer to put up a picture of a Supermodel

 

[Chasmodes]

I can't make the brine shrimp feeder part of the aquascape because I have to remove it about every two weeks to clean as the growth on it will prevent the shrimp from coming out and I need to bleach it.

I was thinking more of a housing for it that kinda blended into the tank decor, where you could still easily remove the feeder and clean it. Maybe just attach it to the hammer :D and buy a new one to hang pictures! Hey, your tank is awesome as it is, including the feeder. It is cool seeing the fish feed over it in your videos.

I admit, I'm a bit extreme about not seeing equipment in my tank. I don't know why, my old tanks had all kinds of equipment and I didn't care then, and neither did the fish. But, I'm older, crankier and way more picky now. I'm building a FW native tank and was thinking of a way to hide the powerhead and canister filter spray bar among some DIY fake roots (for an undercut bank imitation for a stream biotope tank), where I could conceal my equipment. That's what made me think about this. I think way too much as it is. If I keep up this nonsense, I might give myself an aneurysm.