Tank birthday, 47+ years

[MikeyZo]

If only the hospital looked like this, your stay would have been 1000x better!

 

[Paul B]

. Didn't stop me building and repairing things just not as much. I still keep my hand in as they say

i agree. i asked the surgeon to wake me up in the middle of the operation so i could help him cut my old shoulder off. maybe hold the sawzall or change the blade

 

[Paul B]

mikey, that would be fantastic.. maybe they should put one in the or

 

[Freenow54]

Thank God I have great friends. So far, 6 people have offered to take me to the hospital on Tuesday. I will be staying overnight to make sure they didn't put my arm on backwards. To check that, they make you play a game of pickleball just outside the OR before they allow you to go home.

I also found out from my MRI that I have this stupid disease called Pseudogout, or Chondrocalcinosis, which I never heard of, but it usually attacks really good-looking Manly Men over 65. It is a type of arthritis where calcium particles accumulate in the synovial fluid between the bones of your joints. The calcium bunches up like gravel and causes pain along with probably hair loss. The treatment is joint replacement.

They don't have a clue what causes it, but it happens much more in joints that have had Trauma or surgeries. I have had about 8 or 9 shoulder surgeries, and I don't remember how many knee and finger surgeries, but this will be my 39th surgery so I am loaded with the stuff.

It could also come from my reverse undergravel filter.

Just got back from up North Hope all is well Paul

 

[Paul B]

Just got back from up North Hope all is well Paul

freenow, your already in Canada. how far up did you go? the artic!

 

[Paul B]

i am so lucky to have such good friends and neighbors. my two refrigerators are full of casserole dishes and all sorts of food. i guess they dont want me to starve.
i cant drive yet and my wife cant drive so we are kind of stuck. our friends next door are taking us out to breakfast in a few minute.

i help as much as i can to get my wife dressed then she helps me because i still cant move my right arm. but its coming along

 

[jsmkmavity]

Glad to hear you are on the mend.
How is the tank doing without your hands in it every day?

 

[Freenow54]

freenow, your already in Canada. how far up did you go? the artic!

Just in the backyard 4.5 hours up. Used to drive 12.5 hours had no cell phone coverage but still a long way to go if wanted to get to Hudson's Bay up with the Polar Bears

 

[Paul B]

Glad to hear you are on the mend.
How is the tank doing without your hands in it every day?

the tank looks very healthy. all the fish are active and happy looking. i have been feeding my whteworms yogurt and they doubled in numbers so i can give more of them to my fish. i have a lot of large pieces of codium seaweed floating around beause i need 2 hands to secure it.

i also have large strands of nusience algae growing mostly in the back.. i normally suck that out with my diy canister filter.



my neighbor came over to help with that and it has been runnng for a few hours so the tank is crystal clear and soon he will remove it to clean.

i may build another one of those and give it away just to get an opinion on its use. i dont think i will go into business or anything but if i do, i will advertise on here. or maybe i will just give them away.

i dont know how anyone can be in this hobby long term without this type of maintenance tool.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

That's great - now you just need to mount it on a piece of plexi and it's drop-in

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

I still have my Magnum 330 from 1985 (literally it's that old) and that guy is a beast. This looks like the DIY version and I could see it being a lot easier to use actually.

 

[Paul B]

That's great - now you just need to mount it on a piece of plexi and it's drop-in

no, it has hoses.

I still have my Magnum 330 from 1985 (literally it's that old) and that guy is a beast. This looks like the DIY version and I could see it being a lot easier to use actually.

i still have diatom filters from the 60s



they were a terrible machine and would stop if the smallest bubble got in it. also if you turned them off, you would have to cycle the powder again or it would all go in your tank. they also rusted badly.




this diy one is a simple one minute to clean and starts instantly

 

[ScottJ]

the tank looks very healthy. all the fish are active and happy looking. i have been feeding my whteworms yogurt and they doubled in numbers so i can give more of them to my fish. i have a lot of large pieces of codium seaweed floating around beause i need 2 hands to secure it.

i also have large strands of nusience algae growing mostly in the back.. i normally suck that out with my diy canister filter.



my neighbor came over to help with that and it has been runnng for a few hours so the tank is crystal clear and soon he will remove it to clean.

i may build another one of those and give it away just to get an opinion on its use. i dont think i will go into business or anything but if i do, i will advertise on here. or maybe i will just give them away.

i dont know how anyone can be in this hobby long term without this type of maintenance tool.

Paul,
If you ever do start to sell them, I'll be one of your first customers.

 

[Freenow54]

the tank looks very healthy. all the fish are active and happy looking. i have been feeding my whteworms yogurt and they doubled in numbers so i can give more of them to my fish. i have a lot of large pieces of codium seaweed floating around beause i need 2 hands to secure it.

i also have large strands of nusience algae growing mostly in the back.. i normally suck that out with my diy canister filter.



my neighbor came over to help with that and it has been runnng for a few hours so the tank is crystal clear and soon he will remove it to clean.

i may build another one of those and give it away just to get an opinion on its use. i dont think i will go into business or anything but if i do, i will advertise on here. or maybe i will just give them away.

i dont know how anyone can be in this hobby long term without this type of maintenance tool.

Mine is made and ready but my Marineland water polisher is making my water so clean that I don't need it. I bought the marineland because at the time I was fighting to get the detritus powder on the filter. Then you told me a 5 micron filter is enough so turns out I did not need the Marineland, but I can get powder on its filter because its positive pressure. They just use a perforated plastic sleeve in the middle of the cartridge to stop it from collapsing

 

[jsmkmavity]

Is that Greta?

 

[jsmkmavity]

i am curious how you keep the powder contained?

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

What I would do is build a recirc valve and a side tap+valve for adding a container filled with powder (kind of like a garden sprayer, that kind of thing). So you can fill the container with powder and connect that, start it, get it filled with tank water (or RODI) and then shift to recirc mode, then open the valve to the powder and it charges the filter. When done, shut off the powder valve and shift out of recirc mode.

The thing I hated about the Marineland was getting the seals just right if you don't have it on the floor (it would suck air) and then when it starts to get full, since it's a "pull" system, it would just create a vacuum and fill with air. I suppose this would have the same issue except a screw-on seal (RODI canister) is much stronger than the way the Marineland canister did it.

 

[Freenow54]

I was in the process of incorporating three way valves to charge it then quickly switch it. I also succeeded in introducing a positive flow with a small tube with this method. I thought Marine land a positive pressure set up

 

[Freenow54]

with positive pressure the powder will not just build up on the bottom of the canister

 

[Paul B]

Is that Greta?

yes thats greta.

i am curious how you keep the powder contained?

the powder n those old diatom filters would coat the membrane in the unit and the suction of the water flowing through the membrane keep it there.

the unit i designed doesnt need powder so no need to charge. it uses a 5 micron cartridge.
it also can be used with powder but there is no need

i have a thread on here on how to build the thing but i found out it is better to use it without powder

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-diatom-filter-for-under-100-00.1023989/