Tank birthday, 55+ years

[Paul B]

Thanks Sparta. I'm still on the right side of the grass. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Paul B]

I have been so busy lately with my wife. We go to a doctor, PT, MRI, X Ray, CAT scan or strip club almost every day. OK, maybe we don't go to strip clubs every day. The last time I went to one was when they took me to one for my bachelor party 54 years ago. That girl must be about 80 now so she probably isn't a stripper any more. :rolleyes:

I seem to be in pretty good health and only go to doctors for shots of cortisone or hair transplants. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes: (They don't work)

Speaking about hair. I can't believe the amount of hair algae in my tank. I suck out about a pint of dry algae every day. It's like 2" long. Most people don't stay in the hobby long enough to get these cycles or use New York NSW from next to a farm and golf course. Thank God for my DIY diatom filter.



I have been using this one with the pleated cartridge in it, but I don't use the powder just to eliminate algae. It's a 5MG filter, which is plenty small to remove algae. All the corals (that are not covered in algae) seem very healthy, and the fish are really enjoying it, especially the smaller blennies and gobies, who lay in it like a comforter.

This has happened to this tank a few times since the 70s and it will clear up on it's own without me adding stupid things and the tank will be healthier than it has ever been.

My Hippo tang doesn't seem to like hair algae and I never fed them Nori but he is about the best looking Hippo I have ever seen and his skin looks like velvet. When Hippo Tangs are very healthy they get a reddish tinge on the top of their dorsal fin but I can't get a good picture. Hippo tangs get that in the sea.



My Tomini Tang also looks perfect with bright yellow fins. I can never get a picture of her as I think she doesn't like me and swims to the back when I get near the tank.

This is a very old picture from when she was a baby.

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I went to the clean but expensive LFS near my wife's doctor. I need to kill an hour when I take her there so I go to the LFS and look like I will buy something but I almost never do. He is too expensive and the fish in the dirty store look just as good but a third of the price.

The clean place had a copperband butterfly for $69.00 and it was full of fin fungus. I don't care about the fungus, but the other store sells them for $25.00 so it's a no brainer. Also Hippo tangs for about the same price and I also get those for about $20.00.

Of course they live over 10 years so I don't have to buy them too often. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

None of the stores quarantine so I can buy whatever I want and throw the fish right in.

 

[Paul B]

This came about because my last water change that I collected here in the sea in the Long Island Sound was full of fertilizer from all the farms and golf courses here.

I find it fascinating, and it will all disappear in a few weeks leaving the water in fantastic shape.
This is not the first time this has happened to me from using sea water at the wrong time of the year. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Paul B]

I'm on a new kick now that I pursue in my little spare time. I made this Chartuterie board for cheese. I want to make a river table if I could find the time. I can't use another epoxy table because I already built two of them so this new one (If I ever build it) I will have to sell or give away. :D

 

[twentyleagues]

I'm on a new kick now that I pursue in my little spare time. I made this Chartuterie board for cheese. I want to make a river table if I could find the time. I can't use another epoxy table because I already built two of them so this new one (If I ever build it) I will have to sell or give away. :D

Always have been interested in this sort of wood work. Very nice.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks. That was just a test. I will do another test of a different technique. I just have to do things when I am not doing important things like early in the morning before anyone gets up, :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Paul B]

My Bangai Cardinals had babies. Spawning Bangai Cardinals is not a big Whoop because they, (and all healthy fish) do this all the time. Bangai Cardinal babies are rather large as compared to most salt water fish but I didn't catch them. I could not catch anything in my tank unless I take the tank apart and that is not going to happen.

After 2 days I don't see any of the babies but I didn't think I would as, just like in the sea, they would have all been eaten.
(I will look close at some floating algae to see if I find any)

This picture is old and not the Cardinals I have now. Bangai's are one of the shortest lifespan fish we normally keep only living 3 4 or so years.

I am actually surprised these spawned because I got them as babies and they are not fully grown.

 

[Paul B]

Today, April 1st is the anniversary of the deadliest day in Vietnam in 1970 where we lost over 70 guys on that day alone and over 600 that month.

That was the battle of Fire Support Base Ilingworth which I was in. It's also what my book is about.

 

[twentyleagues]

Today, April 1st is the anniversary of the deadliest day in Vietnam in 1970 where we lost over 70 guys on that day alone and over 600 that month.

That was the battle of Fire Support Base Ilingworth which I was in. It's also what my book is about.

I know I have said it before but thank you for your service. My uncle was also in Vietnam he went in below age and stayed in the military until the early '80s when he "retired". I have no idea if he was involved in that battle. Unfortunately he passed about 10 years ago due to heart issues. I dont remember what regiment he was with but he was a Ranger.

 

[Subsea]

Today, April 1st is the anniversary of the deadliest day in Vietnam in 1970 where we lost over 70 guys on that day alone and over 600 that month.

That was the battle of Fire Support Base Ilingworth which I was in. It's also what my book is about.

Yesterday, I watched Vietnam Chronicles which included an interview with the brigade commander that Mel Gibson enacted in the movie “We Were Soldiers”. It was a powerful reminder of the trauma of combat and why PTSD is so prevalent in our returning soldiers.

PS: In both battles, napalm was called for inside the perimeter.

 

[Paul B]

Twentyleagues, your uncle was a hero. He wasn't on FSB Illingworth because we didn't have any Rangers there and no Napalm was used in that battle but If it had been used, many of those guys would be alive today.

I was in the First Cavalry Division.

 

[Paul B]

Last week one of my Cheap Chinese lights croaked, so after I discovered I couldn't fix it, I bought a new one on Amazon. Today, another cheap Chinese light croaked so first I will take it apart to see if it is fixable. If I can't fix it I will order a new one. :(

 

[twentyleagues]

Last week one of my Cheap Chinese lights croaked, so after I discovered I couldn't fix it, I bought a new one on Amazon. Today, another cheap Chinese light croaked so first I will take it apart to see if it is fixable. If I can't fix it I will order a new one. :(

Have you looked into Reefi? Mine is really great just went through a 36hr power outage and with the way its internet based I thought it would have some sort of issue but booted right back up and didnt skip a beat. My Kasa plugs were harder to reboot.

 

[Paul B]

What boot? They just go on and off with a timer so there is no internet connection which I wouldn't trust or know how to work. :cool:

They are only like $89.00 and lasted 5 years. If I wanted to spend 2 or 3 hours working on them, I could repair them because I kept the old ones and have extra parts. But for $89.00 I just can't spend the time right now. I am also working on our handicapped elevator which is a bigger issue.

My Kasa plugs were harder to reboot.

Old people like me, have no idea what that is. But if it has anything to do with Wy Fi, Just like quarantined fish, I won't have anything to do with it. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[twentyleagues]

What boot? They just go on and off with a timer so there is no internet connection which I wouldn't trust or know how to work. :cool:

They are only like $89.00 and lasted 5 years. If I wanted to spend 2 or 3 hours working on them, I could repair them because I kept the old ones and have extra parts. But for $89.00 I just can't spend the time right now. I am also working on our handicapped elevator which is a bigger issue.


Old people like me, have no idea what that is. But if it has anything to do with Wy Fi, Just like quarantined fish, I won't have anything to do with it. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

lol I get it. It was a learning curve for me as well. Yeah if your corals are happy with the $89 lights then so be it.

 

[Paul B]

They were happy with the whale oil lights I used to run, so I'm sure they are happy now. :D

 

[Paul B]

I saw this thing on the news this morning that there is this military museum on Long island and they are having some event there so I went. It's a cold, rainy day and I figured I had nothing else to do today so I went. It's almost an hour away and when I got there there is a big sign out front that said "CLOSED". Great, it opens tomorrow.

So I didn't want to waste the day and I went to my favorite LFS on my way home and got a dragon faced pipefish. $20.00. The owner wasn't there or he would have given it to me for probably $15.00. But $20.00 isn't bad and I like them. He had nothing else interesting except tangs and and angels which I don't like so I just took the pipe. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

One of these, but not this one.

 

[twentyleagues]

I saw this thing on the news this morning that there is this military museum on Long island and they are having some event there so I went. It's a cold, rainy day and I figured I had nothing else to do today so I went. It's almost an hour away and when I got there there is a big sign out front that said "CLOSED". Great, it opens tomorrow.

So I didn't want to waste the day and I went to my favorite LFS on my way home and got a dragon faced pipefish. $20.00. The owner wasn't there or he would have given it to me for probably $15.00. But $20.00 isn't bad and I like them. He had nothing else interesting except tangs and and angels which I don't like so I just took the pipe. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

One of these, but not this one.

I had a pair years ago really cool fish.

 

[Paul B]

This Fireclown is a real pain, and I wish their lifespan were not so long. He and his mate are about 35 years old and very annoying, especially when they are spawning, And they are never "not" spawning. I was just looking at my tank and I heard this splashing. The larger one (I'm not sure if it is a male or female) was chasing one of my small yellow clown gobies so much that the gobi kept jumping out of the water and almost made it to the floor.