Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

Beaslbob. I thought everyone had a picture of themselves in front of a fish tank in 1971

 

[Paul B]

The nitrate in my tank is 40, the nitrate in the sea here reads zero. There is no nuisance algae in my tank. That is the reason I don't go by the theory that high nitrates cause algae. I have never believed that and I have never believed that water changes would eliminate nuisance algae. Just the opposite in fact. That is a rumor that unfortunately has persisted for decades. If that were so, my tank would be a lettuce farm. :eek: Don't get me started in cooking rock to remove some obscure nutrients that will grow algae or nose hair. This hobby is full of rumors. I don't like to say a lot of things I have learned because the general consensus would be that I am nuts and would be pelted with half dead sea urchins while being tickled by a Supermodel wearing hip boots and holding a feather. ;) I "am" nuts, and I like Supermodels so it may not be a bad thing after all. :D
Ich is another silly thing and no fish should get ich. I am tired of seeing that stupid chart of the lifecycle of the parasite. Our tanks are not taken over by Godzilla even though we know it's life cycle from movies. I really can't get involved in all that now but soon our tanks will not be plagued by those things any more. This hobby is still run exactly like it was in 1971 when it started with all the water changes for algae and all the quarantining for ich. But we still have the same amount of algae and ich. How many times do we read that an entire tank was wiped out by parasites even though everything was quarantined for 72 days. :( Just search for it and you will find dozens of accounts of that on every fish forum. How many people change water to control algae or cyano? Does it ever work? No, it doesn't. I am fed up to here. (My hand is under my chin) with rumors with no basis in fact. Just innuendo's, suppositions, hearsay, rumors and Jello. Now someone will say, well ich isn't the worst parasite, there is crypto, Harpo, Mombo and an entire host of worse parasites. Yes there are. The fish know all about them because they evolved right alongside them for millions of years. Why is it that my fish don't get sick? Like never. Hmmm, I wonder. I think like a lot of people say, I am extremely lucky. If I were that lucky, a Supermodel would be knocking on my door right now. But no matter how hard I listen, there is no knocking. So, it is not luck. It is something else. I wonder :rolleyes:

 

[Paul B]

If you take brand new ASW that you just made and put it in the sun, guess what will grow? Yes, algae. Why do brand new tanks with all new rocks, new water and new corals grow so much algae? Hmmm. Interesting isn't it? Why does it "not" grow in old, dirty tanks owned by old bald aquarists who don't spend hardly any time on maintenance or have test kits? I wonder. Why are new tanks with everything new not very healthy while old tanks are?
Why don't fish spawn in a new tank? Why are fish in a new tank so much more prone to get infected by, lets see, Just about everything? No one bothers to answer these things. I have all sorts of theories but I would rather save them for when I am croaking so no one will argue with me. Well they may argue but I will be croaked so I won't care. :eek:

 

[Paul B]

I recently took this in Hawaii and not off Oahu where they are filming "Hawaii 50" and throwing cigarette butts in the water along with Pina Colada's. This was off Kauai or Lanai where it is much cleaner than anyone's reef tank. Yes, it is hair algae. It is there because the tangs disappeared. I am not sure why but the sharks also disappeared and I didn't see any Supermodels like I did the last time I was there in 1974. There is hair all over the place in Hawaii like it is all over the ocean where the fish disappeared. It is normal and natural and if you don't see it, there is something wrong. You may not like it in your tank, but it is supposed to be there unless we artificially eliminate it. I have it in my tank but it is where I want it to grow,in a special place that has better growing conditions than on my corals. Algae = health unless it covers your corals. But it is nice to have it someplace in your system just like it is in Hawaii. I know most people think it is a disease and will tell you your tank will crash. There is a word I like to call those people and that word is "wrong".




I took this last winter in Key Largo Florida on a mangrove Island. See all the algae? There is so much algae there that all the manatees are all very fat, but they can't sing.
These guys can snort a head of lettuce every ten seconds. And they don't get it in the supermarket. Algae grows very luxurious in the Keys in very clean water. I wonder why?

These snails are from the tide pool where I collect amphipods. You don't see algae and the nitrates read zero. But they are eating tiny algae plants and organic matter.

Yes I know, tripple image. I don't know how to delete it, but then again, I don't know a lot of things, like Christie Brinkley's phone number. Not that it would do me any good.

 

[Paul B]

My tank seems to be doing pretty good but I think it's time to stir up the gravel and suck everything out with a diatom filter. This is always an adventure because my diatom filters are put together with a little luck, spit and hope. I have one working and have been thinking of building my own model for many years. I just can't find the time, especially in the summer when it is boating weather. The winter we occasionally go to the Caribbean or some other warm place.
Today I went to 3 different places for live blackworms as I am almost out. This is the first time I can remember being almost out of worms. I can go to a place that I know has them but it is 10 miles away and not very important so I am not going. I may just go to my boat and have a nice glass of Merlot as I watch the sunset. The fish will understand.
My SPS corals, while living fine are not growing much at all except for the montipora's. I have way to many fish and they grew to much. Many of them are still spawning so I keep overfeeding. I am on a spawning fish crusade and have been for a couple of years but that is not good for the SPS as the nitrates are very high. I think they are over 40. I really don't care much for the SPS (I like LPS better anyway). I am not sure how many fish I have but I think it is about 25 or 28. Way to many for a 100 gallon mixed reef. People always ask me, how many and how old are your SPS corals and I realize that is many people's measure of success in this hobby. Luckily, I am over that and not in a contest. I am just having fun and love that my fish are spawning. I also have been on this immunity/ bacteria kick lately and am all excited about that. Have fun and a fantastic night.

 

[NanaReefer]

Love it when you share Paul [emoji41]

 

[Paul B]

NanaReefer, I love it that you love it that I share. I try to share things that I (think) I know just because I have been doing this a while and probably made more mistakes than most people. I probably invented mistakes that some people make. I also am a realist and know I am getting older. Not quite old, but old enough so I will eventually start to forget all the mistakes I made and even some of the acomplishments and advancements I made (if any)
That is the main reason I wrote a book (That I hope will be out before I croak. Hint to my editor and publisher)
I believe I can keep just about any fish now for their normal lifespan, after having killed so many of each one. Sort of like Starkist Tuna. I also think that the biggest piece of information I have figured out is the bacteria connection and how it equates to fish immunity. Soon, there will be no such thing as fish disease because we now know almost all there is to know about immunity. Just as we did for us humans when they invented antibiotics and learned how they work. Human immunity is the one thing that has let us live here and if it were not for that, there would be no Supermodels, or anyone else. Fish have a better immune system than we do and we are just learning how to use that to our advantage. I can't post that on some forums or they would throw long spined sea urchins at me and paint my house pink (I hate pink).
My tank is running just fine and I know everything that is wrong with it, such as the nitrates are to high stunting my SPS. (I don't really care as they have to live with me, I don't have to live with them) The tank is due for a substrait stir up. I can't do that easily because the bluestripe pipefish generally die after that as their tiny gills get clogged. But I will figure out something. I can tell when it is in need for a cleaning by the expression on some of the fishes faces. And it is due. That is the one bit of maintenance that I generally do once a year but lately I just have too many fish and they have to take turns putting their heads underwater as space is limited so I have to do it more often. I can't help it, I like a lot of fish and they grow. My fish never die unless they jump out as they sometimes do. I think I clogged up most of the places where they jump, but they can still get through. When I worked on the Empire State Building people would sometimes jump off. I guess a 6 or 7 story's isn't high enough. So they put up high gates near the top. Now people jump off inside. The Empire State Building was built way before air conditioning so there had to be a way to cool and ventilate the building. The middle of the building has a large shaft about 15' square that runs up 86 floors. So now people jump into there. As a matter of fact, so many people jump in there that they put a net at the bottom because it is the porter's job to clean up those unfortunate people after they jump. Probably many of them lost a lot of corals, I really don't know but it is very sad. Jumpers only make the news if they hit the street but a few people die each year inside that building. The Empire State Building was built to "dock" derigibles like the Hindenburg. The thing crashed before the building was finished so they didn't know what to do with a 86 floor building when the next largest building was like 8 floors. So someone invented television and needed a high place to install the antenna. That is now what you see on top of the building. (I used to eat my lunch up there) It goes up to 106 floors now. If you have seen the original King Kong movie where Kong is on top of the building. There is no antenna there and he is holding on to the top of the 86th floor.
Why am I telling you all this? I have no idea so have a great day and don't jump.

 

[Paul B]

In case anyone is from Oregon or Wisconsin and has never seen how muscles look at low tide in a tide pool.
This is where I collect amphipods, shrimp, mud, blue claw crabs (for dinner) and other things. But no Supermodels, they don't go there.

 

[Paul B]

Reef2Reef made a Podcast of me, Supermodels and all

 

[Paul B]

Algae is great for fish. Here is my tank maybe 20 years ago (I really don't remember) it was covered in algae. I must have been experimenting or maybe I accidently dropped a side of beef in the tank. But the fish and corals were very healthy and the fish were spawning. I still have that fireclown. Today people foolishly feel that algae is a bad thing. It is a great thing and if we removed the herbivores from a reef, it would look like my old tank.

 

[Paul B]

Oh No. My UGF pump died. This is the fourth one of these I have that croaked. You can fix them up to a point but eventually the seal where the wire enters the thing gets porous and although it will work in air. I don't really need a fan, I need a pump and when I put it in my tank it trips the GFCI. I don't remember when I bought any of these, but they are all from the 70s. They just don't make good pumps any more, or anything for that matter. Except Supermodels as they keep looking better, but maybe it's just my eyes. I can't tell.
A member sent me a new (old) pump like this so I have my reverse UG filter going again, but now I am in search for another one to mix my salt water and a spare in case another one of these vintage pumps bites the dust. I still have one more running. The other "new" pumps I have running are probably from the 80s.

 

[Paul B]

I took a picture

 

[Paul B]

I just added this anthias which I think is kind of cool. I had to many fish before so now I "really" have to many fish. They have to take turns putting their faces in the water.

 

[Paul B]

I took a video. It was clear when I took it but on You Tube it is kind of blurry so I guess I am not like Stephen Speilburg.

 

[Paul B]

I am busier now and I don't know why. I get up at 5:30, go to the gym to swim then start my day and there are rarely enough hours in the day or days in the week. I don't know how I wasted 40 years working on my last job. I know some retired people tell me they are bored, but that just means they don't know how to do anything, or are not interested in doing anything. Watching TV is the same as not doing anything and so is texting. I never text unless someone texts me and I can't get them on the phone. I am always to busy anyway with either my hands in my car engine, boat engine, fish tank, back yard or doing some kind of experiment. There are so many things I could do and the hardest part is figuring out what I want to do in the morning because I want to do everything. Writing that book took a lot of time, but it was fun. I think I just like to do to many things.

I worked with quite a few Supermodels and I am not sure if they are even thinking. I did a few Victoria Secret photo shoots but I never found out their secret. I also was the foreman building the New York Playboy Club, their office and Penthouse Magazine. Maybe that's where I got my love for Supermodels. Not that it did me any good. Those Victoria Secret girls are like 7 feet tall so I couldn't "help" them put their wings on. The girls in Penthouse would sleep for a couple of hours in a recliner while people flitted around them with make up, hair, lips etc. In those days there was no photoshop, or even computers so they would touch up the shot right on the girl with a paint brush.

I finished the experimental algae scrubber and installed it. The window screen on the bottom is temporary just to make sure there are no splashes. Remember, I have no sump so this is over the tank. This contraption also feeds my reverse UG filter which you can see in the clear plastic "manifold" in the back where the lower screen PVC tube tubing enters. I didn't want to have a separate pump just for this experiment. I don't have the light yet so this one is just temporary. It needs some time to build up a film on the screen so the water flows evenly down and doesn't run in small rivers. I normally coat the screen with cement as algae grows much faster on that, but I didn't have time. I may take it apart and do it tomorrow.

 

[Paul B]

I made the black top shield to prevent water shooting out the sides. I still need to protect the ends so that doesn't happen.

 

[Paul B]

The entire tank is under the stairs. I put the tank in and built the house around it.

 

[Paul B]

I took my algae scrubber apart so I could smear cement mortar on the screen. I found out years ago that algae loves mortar. When it cures in a few days, I will put it back in and build the LED fixture to illuminate it.

 

[Paul B]

My good friend gave me this 330 watt LED light because most of it didn't work. I fixed it but they really don't want you to fix these things. First of all there are over 325 tiny screws holding the LED board to the heat sink. Those alone is a real pain to remove. Then you pry the thing apart and tear the wires. I found an open in one of the LEDs and replaced it. Unfortunately I can't use this fixture the shape it is because my tank is long
(6') and skinny. I will see if I can re build it into a 5' long 4" wide fixture. I can use it as a spare or just change my existing light as it is way underpowered.


Here it is with a third of the LEDs lit.

 

[Paul B]

I am in a picture mood. The pipe in the back is very pregnant.