Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

This Morning we got "take out" from a diner and went to a local beach and drove almost up to the crashing waves.
Then I took out my DIY hand sanitizer and cleaned my hands and steering wheel, radio, turn signal etc and opened the breakfast cartons and coffee.

We had a nice breakfast and found a dumpster to dump the cartons. Then I took another sanitizer and cleaned our hands, steering wheel etc and made sure we didn't touch our face.

While there we saw a young girl, about 20, walk in front of my car and sit on the rocks near us. It was raining and as she started to leave we noticed that she had on a Fordham shirt. Our Daughter graduated Fordham 20 years ago and just went back there for Law School.

We rolled down the window and commented on her shirt and told her our Daughter goes there.
She was very polite and nice and said her brother goes to Fordham and she was going to The Annapolis Naval Academy.
I said that was fantastic. Then she said she got into "West Point Military academy " which blew me away as that is the best school in the country, maybe the world. I was so impressed by this young Lady. :giggle: I love to see someone like that, someone who will make a difference in the world. Someone with respect, social graces and brains. She saw my Viet Nam Veteran hat and thanked me for my service. Fantastic girl and I hope I see her again as I would love to talk to her more.

We took a nice ride and found neighborhoods and places with in a mile or two from our home that we didn't even know existed.

We looked at all the homes, most of which are impeccably neat and landscaped beautifully. Of course we also notice the homes that we would give a summons to if we were the Landscape Police But we find very few of those.

I also notice all the people here that display an American Flag, as I always do and it makes me happy to see so many Patriotic families especially in times like these. Some people even put up Christmas lights to raise spirits.

I think Americans at least, will come out of this better, stronger and nicer and maybe with all this money going into medical research they will come up with cures for the diseases that will still be here when the virus leaves. Things like cancer, heart disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkensons and others. We should not forget about those people who have afflictions besides this.

But right now, rightfully so we have to focus on the disease at hand. Here in New York we are not doing to good, but I am sure this will pass and hopefully we won't lose many more, or any more great people

That was actually the beach where I collect water. The girl was sitting on those rocks.

 

[atoll]

We are only allowed outside our property for a maximum of an hour a day. You can't drive somewhere to go out for a walk and beaches are off limits as are our parks and recreation areas. Ypu can't go to take aways but if they are open you can get food delivered if they offer delivery but many are closed. All what the government class as none essential shops are closed, eg hairdressers are all shut. Many garages are shut and most building is at a standstill. No more than 2 people are allowed to be out together. The list goes on.

 

[Paulie069]

This Morning we got "take out" from a diner and went to a local beach and drove almost up to the crashing waves.
Then I took out my DIY hand sanitizer and cleaned my hands and steering wheel, radio, turn signal etc and opened the breakfast cartons and coffee.

We had a nice breakfast and found a dumpster to dump the cartons. Then I took another sanitizer and cleaned our hands, steering wheel etc and made sure we didn't touch our face.

While there we saw a young girl, about 20, walk in front of my car and sit on the rocks near us. It was raining and as she started to leave we noticed that she had on a Fordham shirt. Our Daughter graduated Fordham 20 years ago and just went back there for Law School.

We rolled down the window and commented on her shirt and told her our Daughter goes there.
She was very polite and nice and said her brother goes to Fordham and she was going to The Annapolis Naval Academy.
I said that was fantastic. Then she said she got into "West Point Military academy " which blew me away as that is the best school in the country, maybe the world. I was so impressed by this young Lady. :giggle: I love to see someone like that, someone who will make a difference in the world. Someone with respect, social graces and brains. She saw my Viet Nam Veteran hat and thanked me for my service. Fantastic girl and I hope I see her again as I would love to talk to her more.

We took a nice ride and found neighborhoods and places with in a mile or two from our home that we didn't even know existed.

We looked at all the homes, most of which are impeccably neat and landscaped beautifully. Of course we also notice the homes that we would give a summons to if we were the Landscape Police But we find very few of those.

I also notice all the people here that display an American Flag, as I always do and it makes me happy to see so many Patriotic families especially in times like these. Some people even put up Christmas lights to raise spirits.

I think Americans at least, will come out of this better, stronger and nicer and maybe with all this money going into medical research they will come up with cures for the diseases that will still be here when the virus leaves. Things like cancer, heart disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkensons and others. We should not forget about those people who have afflictions besides this.

But right now, rightfully so we have to focus on the disease at hand. Here in New York we are not doing to good, but I am sure this will pass and hopefully we won't lose many more, or any more great people

That was actually the beach where I collect water. The girl was sitting on those rocks.

Nothing beats the scenery of the ocean it just makes you feel better

 

[fishybizzness]

I agree! I find that starting at the ocean off my deck makes me forget about all the problems in the world and helps me to appreciate how amazing God's creations are!!

 

[User1]

I miss our ocean view. We lived off base while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. We enjoyed it. Looking back I wish we took more of it in than what we did but still, hind sight being 20/20, I think we did ok. My wife taught English to the Japanese children so we had the change to be a bit more involved with their culture by experiencing different holidays and other traditions. On weekends that we both are free we would hop in our car and drive the island seeing how long it would take before we hit the Ocean. Once there part and enjoy the view.

Land locked outside Sacramento, no view . However, we can still hop in our car, drive about 1 1/2 hours, and find one. And while cold I can drive 4 hours, hit Monterey, and get some of the best diving in the world. Just not out my front or back door like some of you have here .

 

[Paul B]

We don't have any restrictions by law yet. We can go anywhere we want but are "supposed" to stay 6' from other people but it is not enforced by anyone. Of course I can go walking with my wife as close as I want to be. We all stay pretty far from each other.

Nothing but essential places are are open so all the Ladies are complaining about their roots showing.
Now we all know what all their real hair looks like But that is a silly thing to worry about.

The newscasters are all reporting from home without their make up artists so none of them are as glamorous as usual. But that is also a little thing and not important at all except to them I would imagine.

We are all just real people trying to get through this as best we can. I am not in Manhattan now but the subway is still running as are the busses. That can't be helped because in Manhattan that is the only way to get around and Doctors, nurses, police, ambulance drivers and firemen all need to get to work as do the people who operate those things and people work in food stores, gas stations etc.

Last week I kind of foresaw this and bought some extra fish food, not that that is important but I figured, why not, it's frozen and can be kept a long time. Of course I also bought staples for ourselves to eat.
Not that I like to eat staples, but they do supply iron. ;Wideyed

 

[Paulie069]

We don't have any restrictions by law yet. We can go anywhere we want but are "supposed" to stay 6' from other people but it is not enforced by anyone. Of course I can go walking with my wife as close as I want to be. We all stay pretty far from each other.

Nothing but essential places are are open so all the Ladies are complaining about their roots showing.
Now we all know what all their real hair looks like But that is a silly thing to worry about.

The newscasters are all reporting from home without their make up artists so none of them are as glamorous as usual. But that is also a little thing and not important at all except to them I would imagine.

We are all just real people trying to get through this as best we can. I am not in Manhattan now but the subway is still running as are the busses. That can't be helped because in Manhattan that is the only way to get around and Doctors, nurses, police, ambulance drivers and firemen all need to get to work as do the people who operate those things and people work in food stores, gas stations etc.

Last week I kind of foresaw this and bought some extra fish food, not that that is important but I figured, why not, it's frozen and can be kept a long time. Of course I also bought staples for ourselves to eat.
Not that I like to eat staples, but they do supply iron. ;Wideyed

I can’t wait I’m going out into the ocean tomorrow it is supposed to be a beautiful morning and the waves are only going to be 1 to 2 feet with a very light wind so it’s a perfect opportunity to go out and fill up my buckets,, The 20 buckets I got a few weeks ago or almost gone I have maybe 40 gallons left out at 100 maybe 35 not sure, So I’m gonna grab the opportunity and go fill up everything again about anywhere from 8 to 12 miles offshore I will take plenty of pictures

 

[Paul B]

My boat is still in the parking lot shrink wrapped and it looks like it will stay that way because my marina isn't an essential business. Besides, my boat makes a lot of noise when I try to run it on black top.

I took a couple of pictures of the back of my tank.. Yes, I am really bored today, and it's raining.

 

[Paul B]

I just tried to get baking powder. The stores are out and you can't get it on Amazon unless you want to pay $25.00 for $2.00 worth of the stuff. I guess people think it's Cocaine.
People are staying home so I would imagine, like me, they are baking.

Our Daughter just told us that up in Vermont they won't pick up their garbage or deliver anything to them because they came from Manhattan.

I think their cow is getting scared.



Pretty soon I may look for a recipe for these things.



When I hear anyone complain I tell them just imagine what our POWs went through being in a hole for 6 or 7 years with nothing while we complain with our heat, air condition, TV, Facebook, Hospitals, Friends, The internet, running water, food and a roof.

This will be over soon and we will be better for it.
Stay Safe.

 

[Paulie069]

I just tried to get baking powder. The stores are out and you can't get it on Amazon unless you want to pay $25.00 for $2.00 worth of the stuff. I guess people think it's Cocaine.
People are staying home so I would imagine, like me, they are baking.

Our Daughter just told us that up in Vermont they won't pick up their garbage or deliver anything to them because they came from Manhattan.

I think their cow is getting scared.



Pretty soon I may look for a recipe for these things.



When I hear anyone complain I tell them just imagine what our POWs went through being in a hole for 6 or 7 years with nothing while we complain with our heat, air condition, TV, Facebook, Hospitals, Friends, The internet, running water, food and a roof.

This will be over soon and we will be better for it.
Stay Safe.

Went and grabbed some fresh ocean water today,, got 20 buckets for total of 100gal On the way back in there was a couple of guys trying to get away from the germs as they sat on their boat and did a little fishing made me jealous

 

[Paul B]

Paulie, did you catch any fish?

 

[Paulie069]

Paulie, did you catch any fish?

No brother I just went out and got some water blackfish opens up tomorrow and if the weather is right we might go sit on a wreck and pull out some black fish I have a Black Fish permit that allows me 150 pounds per day but has to be done hook n line/ no netting In Blackfish go for about 5 to 8 dollars a pound

 

[Paulie069]

No brother I just went out and got some water blackfish opens up tomorrow and if the weather is right we might go sit on a wreck and pull out some black fish I have a Black Fish permit that allows me 150 pounds per day but has to be done hook n line/ no netting In Blackfish go for about 5 to 8 dollars a pound

Also I am trying to cycle a 10 gallon tank I’ve gone back and read again the part in your book that discusses how do you cycle and I put some clam in there,anyway either I missed it or did not understand but is it OK to do small water changes while it’s cycling or wait till it’s done

 

[Paul B]

You can change water, it won't hurt because the bacteria is on the sand and rocks.
I love blackfish and speared them for many years in the Sound.

 

[Paul B]

We were in Sicily a few years ago looking for my Grand Father's house. He came here in about 1902. So we hired this guide. She was about 18 and looked like Gina Lollobrigida with the boots, leather vest, hair, ear rings, all sorts of make up, a cigarette and her cell phone taped to her head.

The kid was gorgeous and it was 8:00am.
She was going to be our guide and translator. So she comes in a 9 person van with a driver for the two of us. We go to their "Town Hall" which looked like a prop from "Ben Hur". The place looked to be 500 years old, donkeys included. The woman inside (who probably knew Ben) comes to the desk with a book from the movie "The Black Cauldron" I am surprised this old woman could even pick it up.

My name is Baldassano and there were pages and pages of Baldassano's. As a matter of fact, every Baldassano in the world comes from that small fishing village in Sciacca.

The "Mayor" is named Baldassano.
Anyway we get the address to my Grand Father's house and the Miss Lollobrigida guides us while asking people on the "street" for directions.

WE come up to this guy, and Gina is asking him about the house and he is answering in Italian as she translates.
We are doing this for 10 minutes and I heard the guy say something in English.

I said, wait a minute, You speak English! He said Yeah, I spent 40 years in Bayonne New Jersey. Like Duh, Is it me?

He pointed up to this small house on the hillside overlooking the fishing port and said, that is your Grand Fathers house.
It was a tiny stone, almost a hut nestled on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea.

Then we walked the docks waiting for the Mayor to get up. Nino, is also "connected" like everyone there so no one will wake him up.
They told us to go to the cafe and wait. So we go there and they sell all these pastries that I thought my Mother made up the names for.
Sicily speaks a different dialect than the rest of Italy so things are named differently.

We picked the pastries my Mother used to make and I said to the guy. How Much?
He said "Baldassano, forget about it".

OK, Nino didn't get up yet so we went to dinner. We sat outside in a place that had two tables. The table where the guy told us to sit had a huge basket of laundry on it which took up the whole table,

The guy yelled up to the window in Italian, Hey Nina, get rid of this.
Nina sticks her head out and using a rope, raises the laundry up about 7' off the table where it stayed for our dinner.

I don't hardly speak Italian as my Dad died in 1959, so I ordered the first thing on the menu.
My dinner came and it was a plate of baby octopus and a bunch of fish that looked like whole copper banded butterflies. The way it comes out of the sea, thats the way you eat it. They throw some olive oil on it and thats it.
I thought my family was weird because thats the way they ate. I prefer my copperband butterflies filleted.

The bill came and I said "How Much?" The guy said "Baldassano, Forget about it".
In Europe, if people there have your name, especially the Mayor, they treat you like Royalty.

 

[Paulie069]

You can change water, it won't hurt because the bacteria is on the sand and rocks.
I love blackfish and speared them for many years in the Sound.

My biggest ever was 21.3lbs,,he was released back to ocean after weight was documented

 

[Paul B]

If I speared a 21lb fish, it would have dragged me to the Panama Canal.

We were basically diving for lobsters and as you know, blackfish hang out in the rocks with lobsters.

 

[Paul B]

Last night I wanted to clean the front glass of my tank because if I don't clean it in 3 days, it looks like sheet metal so I clean it every day.
I lifted the front panel and stuck the glass cleaning magnet inside.

The tank overflowed a little. I figured maybe I dropped it in to fast and it splashed.
The top rim of my tank is just at my eye level so I can't really see the top of the water.

I started to move the magnet cleaner and a lot of water spilled out.

OOOOOOhhhhNNNNNNoooo.

So I stick my hand over the rim and notice the water is right up to the top rim. AAAAAhhhhhhhhh

I immediately shut off the inflow to the tank from this 7 gallon bucket I have hanging from the ceiling behind the tank that automatically fills from my RO/DI using gravity which goes to a float valve on the top of the tank.

I get a hose and siphon out 10 gallons of water so now the water level is about an inch down and in no danger of overflowing.

Then I look for the problem and find it right away.

Lately, with not much to do I have been cleaning the back of the tank using a magnet scraper.
I have a 6' plastic on the back of the tank that leans against the lights because I lose a lot of fish to jumping. Especially when I listen to my Janis Joplin music.

I must have moved the plastic to much and it was pushing down on the float about an inch so the float valve wouldn't shut off.

I tested the salinity and it was about 0.14 so I could have kept kissing gouramies or goldfish.

I immediately took some dry asw and after mixing it with a little water, poured it into the manifold that feeds the Reverse undergravel filter.

I am not one of those people that worry about raising the salinity more than one percent in 24 hours.

So I did that a few times over about an hour and now the salinity is probably closer to 0.018.

I have not seen the tank yet today but instead of letting the ATO fill the tank in the next week, I will add back the water that I siphoned out and eventually it will get back to normal.

These little occurrences are needed to keep the interest up because if nothing ever happened, we would call this "stamp Collecting"

You could see that white plastic piece here over the back top of the tank.

 

[Paul B]

All seems good and everything looks great today and on an added note, I think my Rainsford gobies are starting to spawn.

They normally stay on different ends of the tank, but looking through the back glass they appeared to be doing the Macarana. But it could have been the Hustle or Tango. I am not sure because Janis Joplin music doesn't lend itself to those dance moves.

 

[Paulie069]

Last night I wanted to clean the front glass of my tank because if I don't clean it in 3 days, it looks like sheet metal so I clean it every day.
I lifted the front panel and stuck the glass cleaning magnet inside.

The tank overflowed a little. I figured maybe I dropped it in to fast and it splashed.
The top rim of my tank is just at my eye level so I can't really see the top of the water.

I started to move the magnet cleaner and a lot of water spilled out.

OOOOOOhhhhNNNNNNoooo.

So I stick my hand over the rim and notice the water is right up to the top rim. AAAAAhhhhhhhhh

I immediately shut off the inflow to the tank from this 7 gallon bucket I have hanging from the ceiling behind the tank that automatically fills from my RO/DI using gravity which goes to a float valve on the top of the tank.

I get a hose and siphon out 10 gallons of water so now the water level is about an inch down and in no danger of overflowing.

Then I look for the problem and find it right away.

Lately, with not much to do I have been cleaning the back of the tank using a magnet scraper.
I have a 6' plastic on the back of the tank that leans against the lights because I lose a lot of fish to jumping. Especially when I listen to my Janis Joplin music.

I must have moved the plastic to much and it was pushing down on the float about an inch so the float valve wouldn't shut off.

I tested the salinity and it was about 0.14 so I could have kept kissing gouramies or goldfish.

I immediately took some dry asw and after mixing it with a little water, poured it into the manifold that feeds the Reverse undergravel filter.

I am not one of those people that worry about raising the salinity more than one percent in 24 hours.

So I did that a few times over about an hour and now the salinity is probably closer to 0.018.

I have not seen the tank yet today but instead of letting the ATO fill the tank in the next week, I will add back the water that I siphoned out and eventually it will get back to normal.

These little occurrences are needed to keep the interest up because if nothing ever happened, we would call this "stamp Collecting"

You could see that white plastic piece here over the back top of the tank.

Makes me feel better knowing that a person with all the experience you have still screws up once in awhile, then I’m not doing as bad as I thought,, I constantly feel like I’m not doing anything right
Ten days ago I decided to raise intensity of my lights and burned 2 corals one of which is my favorite and was growing at a great pace( I’ve returned lighting to original setting )