Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

Cdmckinzie, I laugh every time I look at myself in the mirror :eek:

 

[Paul B]

I just bought an American Made alternator for my boat so tomorrow I will install it. Of course there is a chance that when I was trapped in my bilge I could have just broken off the wire on the alternator. If that is the case I will bring the thing back and save $275.00 :D
Now if no one lowers the hatch cover on me and I can squeeze myself into the bilge again, I should have this fixed in 15 minutes. :rolleyes:

 

[Paul B]

So I went to my boat today and the first thing I notice is that the grass shrimp are swarming all over the place. That's great but I don't have time to collect shrimp. I open the engine hatch and spend a few minutes trying to figure how to bend myself down there in a position where I can remove the alternator without changing position too many times. For all you youngsters, this used to be a five minute job that 20 years ago I could have done with one eye closed, one hand tied behind my back while shucking a raw oyster with the other hand. As long as I had one foot free with no shoe on so my toes could wiggle it was a piece of cake.

Now with my almost pushing 70 year old bones that were in two helicopter crashes then spent 40 years doing industrial/commercial construction work and after 16 Manly operations for fixing broken things that I broke or tore doing Manly work and not texting or pushing papers, lifting paper clips or tickling computer keys, it is a little more difficult, but never impossible. :rolleyes:

So I take the new alternator down there with me to make sure it is the right one. And it is. So I go to remove the largest wire. and what do you know. The wire comes right out of the "Sta Kon". (ring terminal)
Could this be the problem?
"Of course" it is the problem you Jiboni.
So I spent 2 hours in traffic and spent $275.00 for an alternator that I don't need. All I need is a 22 cent ring terminal. :p
But this is a good thing. :D
I get a terminal out of my tool box, strip the wire and smear on some Anti corrosion schmutz. In the trade we call it "Penetrox". (Actually that's what it is called on the can) We use it to keep aluminum conduits from "Galling". (Grabbing when you are trying to screw two large aluminum conduits together) but it is also used as an anti corrosion coating and if you use it, the connection will last longer than the pyramids. Actually I think that's what the Egyptians used to build those things which is why they lasted so long. If the boat builder used that stuff on this connection, I would not be in the bilge putzing around with it. I would be home watching "As the World Turns". :eek:


On my way home, I went back to the south shore to return the alternator which happing to bring me near my favorite LFS. I now had all this money to burn so I bough t a purple gorgonian and this garden eel. I am sure this is the last time I will see this eel as the last one I added I didn't see for 5 seconds. He may be 3' long, happily living under my under gravel filter or dried up under my bed. I may never know.

 

[cdmckinzie]

Cdmckinzie, I laugh every time I look at myself in the mirror :eek:

Me too!

 

[cdmckinzie]

Ooo, beautiful eel, what kind is it? Is it safe with shrimp, inverts, snails, etc.? How big does it get?

 

[Paul B]

It is a garden eel. Very common on some reefs where you can see thousands of them but not really hardy in a tank. They are planktavores and spend the day catching particles that drift by. They are safe with everything.
They get about a foot long.

 

[Paul B]

I know my Bangai cardinal is supposed to be dying of old age but he is still with me and still looks great. He slowed down and now only prefers worms to eat. Maybe his old teeth can't chew to well. :eek:
Last week I dumped in a few thousand amphipods and hopefully this week I can get a few more. It all depends on the tide.
I also threw in some mud snails because my Grand Daughter caught them and wanted to bring them home.
Everything else is doing well but I wish someone would come over and take some of this blue sponge

 

[Paul B]

I just had to do it today. I had to glue some corals back. I had 5 large pieces of montipora laying on the gravel and every hour, a crab or fish would turn them over so they were in the dark. For a couple of weeks I would just turn them over so they had light but I got tired of that and I had a few minutes so I glued them all back on. Now I have to look for a tourniquet to stop the bleeding from the clownfish tearing pieces of flesh off of my arm.

 

[marinelife]

The tank is looking great!

 

[Paul B]

Thanks, I try. :cool:

 

[Reefbuds]

Idk how you called it so long ago, but LED is now the future. Congrats.

 

[Paul B]

LED is the future and present. Soon there will be no other lights available because they are a no brainer. Very little power and little heat and no pollution when you are finished with them. I just feel bad we don't make them here as it seems so simple.
When all office buildings use LEDs as fluorescent tubes our power requirements will go way down and people could stop complaining about it.
I use them for every light in my home and boat.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

I know many people that have swung on the pendulum to full LED and back again. Most that have done that are running a blend of LED and T5HO or MH. Maybe some of the high-end LED fixtures are getting it right, but the cheapo or DIY fixtures don't seem to have the same result for growth of certain things.

I remember seeing a lot of RB + CW builds early on when LED was the cutting edge, now you don't see that much anymore lol

 

[Brew12]

I know many people that have swung on the pendulum to full LED and back again. Most that have done that are running a blend of LED and T5HO or MH. Maybe some of the high-end LED fixtures are getting it right, but the cheapo or DIY fixtures don't seem to have the same result for growth of certain things.

I remember seeing a lot of RB + CW builds early on when LED was the cutting edge, now you don't see that much anymore lol

I think the future of LED's in reef tanks is designing LED lights that act like T5HO's. Right now many manufacturers still use single wavelength LED's except for whites. I think we will see the blue LED's made similar to the white LED's where the LED activates a phosphorus coating. This should broaden the spectrum and more closely imitate the T5HO fixtures.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

Not to derail but I think the fact that older sources are UV based and LED is not is a major factor. Phosphor shifted fluorescent and glass-filtered HID (the glass blocks UV in MH lamps) still have a UV component, LED does not. This is why you are starting to see ultra-deep violet and UV LEDs incoporated into the high end fixtures.

FWIW if you have a high bay MH lamp and the glass is broken but the element is still in tact (i.e. it still lights up) then if you sit under that, you'll get a sunburn.

 

[Brew12]

Not to derail but I think the fact that older sources are UV based and LED is not is a major factor.

Agreed.

I'll help get this back on track.

Supermodels should sell LED lighting. ;)

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

If more lighting companies employed Supermodels at the big shows, I think the turnout would be much higher.

 

[Reefbuds]

Supermodels under different spectrums, wild.

 

[Paul B]

I agree with everything said about Supermodels and I will buy anything a Supermodel sells, (unless it is made in China, unless of course it is a Chinese Supermodel selling it)
I tried to hire Christie Brinkley to pose with a Mojano Wand but she wanted six figures and I offered her two. She wasn't impressed but maybe I could get Rosanne barr. :eek:
I think there will always be a small percentage of bulbs for specialty uses that will use MH, fluorescent and other lamps for a narrow range of things. But LEDs will be used for almost everything else and LEDs will continue to diversify to satisfy any use.

 

[Paul B]

It seems that some of my fish are living longer than they are supposed to, at least longer than I thought they were supposed to live.
I don't keep records or remember most of the birthdays of the Supermodels but I seem to have my male pipefish for quite a long time. I think he outlived 2 or 3 females. He may be 5 or 6 years old but I lost his birth certificate. That is long, I think for a blue stripe pipefish.

My yellow clown gobi may be even older and he also went through a couple of females. It could be the other way around because I am not sure which ones are the females of clown gobies as their eyelashes are the same size and they smell alike. I had breeding pairs of those but you really don't want that as they only lay their eggs on live acropora and kill it which is the reason I don't have any more acropora. They lay eggs every week and in a short time will kill a piece as large as a cantaloupe, Trust me. If you only keep one, they don't kill or even annoy anything and are perfect pets.

Two of my hermit crabs died a few years ago and they reached 12 years old. I don't know if that is old for a hermit crab or just teenagers. The few I have now are reaching that age but I don't keep track.
One of my bangai cardinals is past his supposed age by a year or two and my breeding pair of watchman gobies died at about 12 years old.


I am not sure how old my male mandarin is but he also went through 2 or 3 females. I killed my last one at about 10 years old so I know they can get at least that old. I am guessing maybe 15.





I don't have a lot of luck with these guys.


Here is the little devil with her eggs just above her killing an acropora.


These things I can keep anywhere from one hour to one day.



Forget clownfish, they are all on social security


Of course these guys are the easiest and never get ich.