Tank birthday, 47+ years

Paul B · Jun 14, 2011

I can't believe one of my powerheads croaked. Right after I wrote that I never changed a powerhead. What a piece of junk, it is only about 20 years old. I wonder if I still have the receipt. It started tripping the GFI then it completely died with no power going to the coils at all. I may have to autopsy it.
It was made by Christopher Columbus Powerhead company and came in a wooden box.

gimmito · Jun 15, 2011

Paul, you truly are an inspiration to the hobby....thanks for sharing so many interesting stories !

Paul B · Jun 15, 2011

Thanks, but it would be much more interesting if my powerheads would not croak.
Now the rest of them will probably follow and I can't even get to some of them.
Actually I think the thing is over 30 years old as I have no recolection of ever buying a powerhead and I have 5 of these.
But my memory stinks anyway. These could be from my fresh water days, but I doubt it. I think they were made out of aluminum then.

fab1971 · Jun 15, 2011

They don't make things like they used to Paul. 20-30 years for a powerhead, amazing. My new Tv, computer and wife didn't last 4 years. Had to replace all of them, even though they were brand new. Well, I was just kidding about the marraige :wink:

Paul B · Jun 15, 2011

I am still married to my starter wife after 37 years. Maybe 38, I forget. :bigsmile:

beaslbob · Jun 15, 2011

Paul B said:
I am still married to my starter wife after 37 years. Maybe 38, I forget. :bigsmile:

another spark plug?

congrats on both

Paul B · Jun 22, 2011

To update my tank, for the last 4 weeks I have been adding some SPS corals because I changed the lighting to LEDs and increased the circulation.
I have some nice montipora's and some acropora. The monti's actually have been growing nicely for almost a year so I added more. The acropora's look good but it is too soon to see if they will grow in my rather "natural" tank. Many years ago it was all SPS but I liked LPS better so I had mostly those. I still like LPS better and don't like mixing all of this but I want to see what happens. Gorgonians seem to grow wild in the tank so they predominate.
This monti grew from a tiny frag that broke off the main piece. It quadrupled in size in less than a year.

There are two of these, this one and a green one. I don't know the name and am too lazy to look it up but they have been growing for a couple of years also.
I only posted this because quite a few people said to me that SPS will not live in my tank because of my limited water changes and slightly "dirtier" conditions than many tanks

revhtree · Jun 23, 2011

Congrats Paul on the tank Bday! Quite a milestone of 40 years!

Paul B · Jun 23, 2011

Thanks, I don't know what to give it for the fifty year anniversary, is that silver or gold?

Paul B · Jun 29, 2011

Today I added some more acropora that I got for a good price. Now the tank has about half LPS and Half SPS. Well maybe 3/4 LPS, I don't know but I made a mistake tonight. I am diatoming the tank like I do occasionally and there must be a hole in the bag in the diatom filter so there is diatom powder all over the tank.
I just told the corals it is "Marine Snow" so they don't freak out. Now I have to take the thing apart and make a new bag. I have three of these filters and between all of them I can make one decent one. They are a horrible design and the engineer that designed them should be smacked. They are real bad in saltwater, they rust and they shock you also. I love designing and building things and I hate to see such a badly designed piece of machinery. I use them because the end product is what I am looking for and they have very good preasure, when they do not stall, over heat or just rust away.
Today I used it to blow preasurised water down the UG filter tubes, there is a lot of smutz under there. That is a polite word for detritus.
When (and if) I get time I will build my own diatom that will work much better than these things.
With my reverse UG set up I need something to stir up the gravel and canister filters don't have enough umph.

Paul B · Jul 1, 2011

I fed new born brine to my tank as I do every day and I got in one of those moods where I had to put on magnifying glasses and take a close look at things. For some reason I am facinated by all the microscope life in the tank.
As I was watching the gorgonians eat the baby brine I noticed a different animal about 3 times larger then the shrimp. Then I saw a few more of them. There are quite a few of them.
They are definately crustaceans and not fish. The only spawning fish I have now are watchman gobies and I can tell these are not them.
The only other thing that can spawn now besides fish are hermit crabs.
I have had them spawn many times before and I know the larvae will not live but they are interesting to watch. They find themselves stuck all over the place to those serpulid worm sticky threads.
This is just another reason I find this hobby so facinating.

GR808 · Jul 1, 2011

Congrats Paul. you are truly an inspiration to the hobby. :bigsmile:
How do you like the LED lights as far as growth and coloration in your corals? I'm curious about your algae trough, does it act like an algae scrubber?

Paul B · Jul 1, 2011

I love the LEDs, the look is much better, there is no heat and my tank is running about 4 or 5 degrees cooler than it normally does and they use 1/4 of the electricity.
I also have a string of them over my algae trough and it is growing hair algae juse like I want.
The algae in it died for a week when I removed the MH lights. The LEDs over the tank don't have enough "spill" light to light the trough so I had to put in a few LEDs just for that.

GR808 · Jul 1, 2011

Paul, what do you use the algae trough for? Does it serve the purpose of an algae scrubber?

Paul B · Jul 2, 2011

Yes, it is like an algae scrubber. It grows all sorts of algae and I want it to grow in there rather than in my reef.

Paul B · Jul 14, 2011

I was concerned that my algae trough would not grow any algae with the new LEDs I installed over the trough but although it took a while, the trough is stocked full of hair and turf algae with none at all in my main tank. So the thing is working fine.
I did have to install supplimental LEDs over the trough because the tank LEDs don't give me any "waste" light to light the trough. But the strip I installed is only about 20 watts so it does not add much to power consumption. The new tank LEDs are so much cheaper to run than the MHs were and the tank temp is about 5 degrees cooler that I have nothing to do anymore. I don't need to put frozen Clorox bottles in any more to cool the thing off, no more cleaning light bulbs or burning my hands on the fixture, no more buying $100.00 light bulbs or struggling to get my hands around the big fixtures to work in the tank.
Now I need another hobby to waste money and time on

Paul B · Jul 24, 2011

Yesterday while hanging out behind the boat this little 2" pipefish swam into my hand.
He was a cute little fella and he just came by to say hello. I could tell by his eyes that he wanted to stay in his home so after the short visit I let him swim away. The water is just full of pods and I had them all over me (and the boat) when I got out of the water.
In a little while we will be going back to that spot (where we have been going for many years) for some partying, I mean nature watching.
I will bring my net and hold it behind the dinghy as I putt around the inlet collecting amphipods. What can I tell you? It's what I do.

jiffy · Jul 25, 2011

can you post pics of some of the amphipods you collect?

Paul B · Jul 25, 2011

I really need to do some massive re construction of this tank as the rocks are not where they are supposed to do. It is a huge job and it will take an entire day. I need to remove all the rocks and corals, after I find a place to put them, then the fish. I will then stir up everything and suck out the detritus with 3 diatom filters. Then I will give away the Dragon Wrasse and put everything back.
Before I do any of this I want to make some more cement "pillars" that will support the entire reef. The way it is now very little rock is actually touching the gravel but Ideally I don't want any rock touching the gravel. That is not going to happen as it is an engineering nightmare but if I can get the rocks to touch on only 3 or 4 places, that would be perfect. Some of the structure will be supported from cables above the tank and the rest will be on a few thin cement pillars.
I went collecting today and added a few thousand amphipods and whatever else was in the catch. I probably added too much but I never had a problem before.
I also added a bunch of pregnant grass shrimp