Tank birthday, 47+ years

[albano]

Henceforth, he shall be called Lazarus!

;)

 

[atoll]

Great save there Paul, nobody likes to loose a fish and if we save one from deaths door it's a great. I have saved the odd carpet surfer abd even the odd fish caught in something ir other but sometimes we are too late unfortunately.

 

[Paul B]

When I moved here almost 5 years ago I had a Handicapped elevator installed. I went in there yesterday in a pouring rain and the thing is full of water and that elevator is not an outdoor machine and is not supposed to get wet.

I opened up the top door while the car was down and saw that the Jiboni who installed the thing cut the hole in the wall for the door.

(It's outside in the side of the building) they didn't put the tar paper up over the cut where the door goes so the water cascades down into the car.

Anyway, I need to remove the deck boards to access it and of course the "deck screws" they installed it with are rusted so the "torx" head screws are stripped. (of course they are) If you need something done, do it yourself but they wouldn't let me build this house myself so I had to have their "expert Jiboni",,,,I mean house builders do it.

Now I need "easy out" screw extractors to remove the screws to seal the shaft. I have screw extractors and I don't know where I got them but they are made in China so of course they also are stripped and rusty so don't work.

I just ordered some "American made" screw extractors from Amazon which is surprising and I had to look through many pages before I found one.
There is a huge difference between Chinese steel and American steel in tools or hardware which is why you can get a Chinese drill bit for 50 cents and that same bit made in America may be eight bucks, but if you need to drill something in hardened steel instead of butter, you need a good tool.

Chinese grade tools are good for a homeowner who is going to drill one hole in balsa wood once every two years, but a serious crafts man needs a much better tool.

I only buy American for other reasons also because I am an American and a Veteran but almost nothing is made here any more. If I look long enough I can get most things but it isn't easy. :p

Not just China, I am talking the Philopeans, India, Viet Nam, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Korea etc.

 

[atoll]

Paul, my eldest son is a foreman engineer in a smallish engineering firm. They specialise in high quality and often difficult work to undertake to a high standard. He tells me they can put in a quote for a job only to be out quoted by a⁹ Chinese company. However, a good % of those they find the Chinese can't do the work to the required high quality and standards so they get the job in the end anyway.

 

[Paul B]

Many people in this country and I am sure in the UK don't realize that the tools in the big box stores sell things stupidly cheap because they are inferior quality. They are fine for most homeowners but can't be used on a real job or a serious craftsman. They just don't work or last very long. They are good for the price if you just need a couple of holes but for real work, they just won't do it.

 

[atoll]

Many people in this country and I am sure in the UK don't realize that the tools in the big box stores sell things stupidly cheap because they are inferior quality. They are fine for most homeowners but can't be used on a real job or a serious craftsman. They just don't work or last very long. They are good for the price if you just need a couple of holes but for real work, they just won't do it.

Or last the course Paul. I have US hammers (Eswing) and saws (Diston) along with older UK ones. I may buy a cheapish tool if it's one I will only use on the odd occasion but as you say for regular use it's has to be quality.

 

[Paul B]

Today I came home and went into my workshop/mancave/fish room and immediately noticed that it smelled really clean. A little to clean so I looked around and noticed the hose came off my Ozone generator and filled the place with ozone. :oops:

It was probably off for two days and freshened up the place. There are no windows in my workshop but the smell is kind of nice as long as you don't mind the headache that comes with it. :confounded-face:

 

[Paul B]

Today my Gyre pump was making noise so I took the thing apart and found the problem.

These brittle stars must have gotten in there and were having a hoedown making a racket. I talked them into going back in my tank if they remained quiet.

Then I figured I would remove some sponge which resulted in me crashing a good part of my aquascape which I had to re build after I removed about a quart of sponge.

I even cleaned some of the bottles. This one is partially cleaned. I am running my diatom filter through this as the tank now looks like sheet metal as the detritus that was in places I didn't even know I had flew all over the place.
I like the new aquascape and only one end of the tank collapsed and I had to re glue quite a few corals that I needed to remove from sponge encrusted rock.

 

[Paul B]

Today I took my wife for one of her therapy sessions so I went to the LFS near there. They had a singularia coral that I wanted so i got that and I saw a very small filefish that I also thought was cool and would go well with my other four filefish. (I am on a filefish kick lately)

The tiny 3/4" filefish was overpriced at $40.00 but I got him anyway. That fish should have been $29.00.

So I am acclimating them and walk behind my tank to get some water and notice something on the floor. That is never a good sign.
It was my very cool male Mandarin all dried up so all the CPR in the world wouldn't revive him. :(

So I got one fish and lost another. Now I need t get another male mandarin and fix the hole where he jumped out. :confounded-face:

 

[atoll]

Shame about the mandarin, some fish can find the smallest hole to escape through. At least finding a male is easier than trying to find a female. Always seems to be far more males than females available in LFSs.

 

[Paul B]

I got a text this morning that read:
Hello, this is Karen. "The $8,750.00 we owed you has been paid back and will be going back into your bank account"

I texted back and said: "You know Karen, you have been so nice, why don't you keep it. Maybe go out to dinner and have a nice Pino Grigio."

I was born at night but not last night so I know that "Karen" is probably a terrorist in Somalia, Ethiopia, Iran or Brooklyn and wants me to go to my bank account to see where this money is. o_O

Banks don't generally text someone on their cell phone especially before 7:30 in the morning :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[atoll]

There's a lot of it about and some scams appear quite genuine. I had one from DHL supposedly saying I needed to follow the link to arrange delivery. I am expecting a parcel like many this time of year but I never clicked on it of course. Low life everywhere these days most in foreign countries and many do get caught unfortunately.

 

[blaxsun]

I got a text this morning that read:
Hello, this is Karen. "The $8,750.00 we owed you has been paid back and will be going back into your bank account"

I texted back and said: "You know Karen, you have been so nice, why don't you keep it. Maybe go out to dinner and have a nice Pino Grigio."

I was born at night but not last night so I know that "Karen" is probably a terrorist in Somalia, Ethiopia, Iran or Brooklyn and wants me to go to my bank account to see where this money is. o_O

Banks don't generally text someone on their cell phone especially before 7:30 in the morning :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Banks never call period unless you owe them money... :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Paul B]

My Grand Kids are coming over so I put in the bubbler sunken ship they gave me for Christmas 5 years ago because they look for it whenever they visit. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Paul B]

This time of the year I like to remember all the kids who don't have it as good as most kids. There are so many very sick kids in hospitals who won't be home for Christmas and many never make it home. Way to many of them are infants who were born from drug addict parents and are going through withdrawal.

 

[John Bolden]

Very cool I'll have to take Christmas break to go through the other 400 pages...

 

[Paul B]

OMG are there 400 pages here? :anguished-face:

 

[albano]

OMG are there 400 pages here? :anguished-face:

Sounds like another book to me!

 

[Paul B]

I wouldn't know what to write it on or who would read it besides my Daughter who wrote the foreword for my last book :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Paul B]

I found out today that my mandarin is still in my tank happy, healthy and doing the Macarana. So now I have no idea which fish jumped out. I watched my tank for an hour and I think I see all my fish. I even saw some I forgot I have.

It may have been one of those fish I have for years and never see. The thing was all dried up but it's shape looked like my mandarin so I figured it was him. It's also not my ruby red dragonettes. I am baffled. :anguished-face: