Tank birthday, 55+ years

[Paul B]

Kris, I have never sold anything from my tank. I will give it away, but never sell anything. :)

I also gave away some bottles from my tank, I had to many

 

[Subsea]

Today is "Viet Nam War Veterans" Day.

National Vietnam War Veterans Day, we recognize the many men and women who served and fought during the difficult conflict, giving them the appreciation they deserve.

It was on March 29, 1973, after nearly two decades of conflict, when the U.S. withdrew military forces from South Vietnam. The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars in U.S. history, spanning several presidents and affecting many generations.

However, those who served in the war haven't always gotten the support they deserve. Some of them, History noted, were even treated with disrespect and hostility when they returned. Some were spat on, heckled, given the middle finger, or threatened. This despite the horrible experiences and "unspeakable horrors" they lived through in Vietnam.

In 2017, National Vietnam War Veterans Day was established to finally give those who served the honor they deserve. Since then, the day has been celebrated every March 29.

Paul,
I feel like a mushroom for being in the dark about this. No matter. Even though I was technically never in Vietnam country, I was in Cambodia for one year. We laughed when Nixon said there were no boots on the ground in Cambodia.
As a Caribou pilot in Vietnam, my older brother told me they flew so close to the ground they never wore parachutes. A long standing joke amongst the pilots was “the fall never hurt, it was the sudden stop”.

 

[Paul B]

Yes, I know that long standing joke. I "think" I was also in Laos but all jungles look the same to me.
This firebase where we almost got overrun and lost a third of us is in Viet Nam. Just into the tree line on the top of the picture is Cambodia.

The US "Phantom Jets" they used to fly over us also flew at tree top level and scared the heck out of me. You couldn't hear them until they were well past you.

They should have painted a white line or something because I could never tell the difference and I never knew when we were in Cambodia until weeks or months later. I learned much about the places I was at 20 years after I got out of the army.

What were you doing in Cambodia?

 

[Subsea]

I was an Air Force crew chief on DC7 converted into flying gunships affectionately known as Puff the Magic Dragon. We supported a company of 82 Airborne Rangers, who intervened/interrupted travel on Ho ChI Minh Trail and rising Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia.

 

[Paul B]

I know Puff very well. :cool:

 

[Subsea]

Paul, you mentioned Phantom’s flying so low, faster than the speed of sound you didn’t hear them until they were past you. Prior to Desert Storm, some A6 tank killers were stationed at Fort Polk in Louisiana. They were practicing flying low below radar in the same river I was early morning duck hunting. Was I surprised when two tank killers came 20’ over our heads almost knocking us from canoe with jet backwash.

 

[Paul B]

Yeah, scares you pretty good doesn't it?

 

[Paul B]

One of my Chinese lights croaked. This is the third one I replaced since I am living here for the last three years. I guess you can only get about two years out of these things.
Now I buy the cheapest ones for like a hundred bucks because no matter what they cost, they only last about two years even though LEDs are advertised to last like 100 years. :oops:

I am going to buy a spare because I know I will need another one soon.

It's 67 degrees here in NY now and If I get some ambition one of these days, I will go and collect some water. It's been a few months.

 

[GeoSquid]

I have been running these for 9 hours a day since 2017 with no issues. They were $80 each. I even accidentally dumped a bucket of saltwater on one of them. I turned it off immediately and sat it out in the sun for a couple days and it's still humming. I do miss metal halides though.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks. Not bad. I already ordered one from Amazon. $100.00 and I will get it in a couple of days. I never heard of this one and I don't think it matters. This is the first one I came across that was in stock.
They are all junk but at least I have a whole lot of extra parts and fans which I use for all sorts of stupid projects. :p

If I had time I would fix the stupid thing. It's only one LED that is bad and I can jump it out like I did on my remaining two. You can keep fixing them for a while. Then it just doesn't pay


ARKNOAH LED

 

[GeoSquid]

Yah, I think they are all about the same in that price range. I'm also using sunsun wavemakers, one going on 4 years also. It's a 3k+/gal dual head wavemaker I paid about $30 for.

 

[Paul B]

I got my new light today and installed it. If and when I get time I will fix the broken one for a spare. :cool:

 

[Paul B]

If it ever stops raining here I would like to change some water. I don't remember changing any since last summer and I don't want to read back through my posts to figure out when it was. I am not a big water change person and it probably almost never has to be changed but I just feel it should be done eventually. :cool:

 

[Paul B]

I just finished a new lamp. This is made out of a solid brass locomotive oiler from the 1850s. It incorporates a firebulb and two ultraviolet, glowing glass tubes.

 

[Paul B]

Beautiful day here in Long Island today so I collected 40 gallons of water behind my house.
The alk was 7 and the temp was 40. I didn't test calcium but the salinity is 1.016.
It is crystal clear so I don't have to do anything to it except warm it up and maybe add some salt.

 

[Paul B]

I am sitting in my workshop/Man cave waiting for my collected water to heat up and I notice the salinity is way to low. I threw in some salt but I don't have enough. Of course I also tested the water in my reef and that is also way to low. ;Nailbiting

I can probably keep kissing gouramies and catfish in there but I don't want to keep those fish so I am going to go to a local Petco to see if they carry salt. I have never been in there so while I am there, maybe I can pick up a moorish Idol or Achilles tang :rolleyes:

To heat my water quickly I fill a 5 gallon water cooler bottle and fill it with hot tap water to float in there. In 15 minutes or so, the water is the right temperature.

 

[Paul B]

Very busy today.; I am cutting out large pieces of encrusting sponges to eliminate. Much of my reef is blue sponge which looks nice but it takes up most of the real estate. I found 2 big bottles that I totally forgot about because they were fully taken over and covered. I opened up quite a few passages through the rock but I will never eliminate it or even a quarter of it as it is an ongoing job but I never removed this much.

I have my diatom filter running because it is making so much clouds that I can't see what I am doing. I also have to wear 2 pairs of gloves or else my fireclown will take my hand off. :confused:

 

[MichaelReefer]

I was an Air Force crew chief on DC7 converted into flying gunships affectionately known as Puff the Magic Dragon. We supported a company of 82 Airborne Rangers, who intervened/interrupted travel on Ho ChI Minh Trail and rising Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia.

I didn't know they ever turned DC7's into gunships? I thought they only used C47s? I'm big into aviation history, never seen that.

 

[Subsea]

I didn't know they ever turned DC7's into gunships? I thought they only used C47s? I'm big into aviation history, never seen that.

My bad. I mislabeled DC7 for C47.

 

[MichaelReefer]

My bad. I mislabeled DC7 for C47.

All good, just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something. lol