Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

[Paul B]

The table is finished and looks fine. Here it is with the red under table lights on.

 

[myrjon]

Table looks to good to put anything on it!

 

[Paul B]

I already had a bottle of Grand Marnier on it.

I just collected 50 gallons of water in the sea. It is raining and rough today so the water is full of chopped up seaweed, mud and small pieces of Columbus underwear.

I already had to clean the diatom filter 4 times and I am not done. This is the dirtiest water I have ever collected and I never even had to clean the diatom filter more than once.

Also the silicate is off the chart so I need to remove that before I use it because that is what is fueling my sponges which is almost taking over the tank.

 

[diana a]

how does one remove silicate?

 

[Paul B]

Phosguard removes it. I put it in a DIY HOB filter and run the water through it until it tests zero. Silicate is not normally a problem but I am trying to eliminate sponge and the silicate will make it grow faster. Same thing with diatoms. I have to clean my glass every day. New York water is full of silicates as our sand is made out of the stuff.

 

[Jamie S]

Phosguard removes it. I put it in a DIY HOB filter and run the water through it until it tests zero. Silicate is not normally a problem but I am trying to eliminate sponge and the silicate will make it grow faster. Same thing with diatoms. I have to clean my glass every day. New York water is full of silicates as our sand is made out of the stuff.

Do you test for silicates or did you send an ICP? Or in your 50 years of experience you can tell by your tank

 

[Paul B]

I tested for it when this sponge got out of hand. I remove it in my make up water also now as my tap water is also high.

 

[Paul B]

That 50 gallons of water I collected yesterday is now crystal clear and I am removing the silicates with "Phosguard". I had to order more of the stuff because I ran out and it isn't very expensive. I only use it on new NSW so it lasts me over a year.

If all the silicates are out by tomorrow I will heat it up and change about 40 gallons. I keep 10 gallons aside for emergencies like floods etc. of if I catch some weird creature in the sea that I want to study for a while.

A small amount of the water and sand I didn't filter because I like to throw that in my tank right from the sea for the bacteria and microfauna as I feel that a lack of new bacteria is the cause of many tank crashes. I also add garden soil for the same purpose and always have.

 

[Paul B]

This fireclown is getting better with age, Unlike me.

Here he is today at about 30 years old.



This is what he looked like a few years ago. Notice the "bags" under his eye. He (or She) doesn't have that any more.

 

[Paul B]

His mate is a couple of years younger. Still spawning.

 

[Paul B]

I finally changed that 40 gallons of water. It is really getting to heavy for me now.

 

[Paul B]

I picked up 3 fish today. The little red cardinals are kind of rare and I have never seen them.

Little Hawk settled right in

 

[dastrader]

Nice fish. The cardinal looks similar to a “Stop Light Cardinal” I saw and bought about 8 years ago. I almost never saw him/her. Always scared and stayed in a cave. Pretty fish though. Hopefully yours are out more.

 

[Paul B]

I took the picture in the container because I am quite sure I will never see them again.

 

[Paul B]

I haven't seen one of them yet. But I didn't plan to.

 

[Paul B]

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

 

[reefsandrotts]

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

I wish we still had the "green thing" of the past,kids walked up and down streets looking for cans and bottles to cash in for candy money. Now they just toss stuff out the window as they drive,or leave it outside their car door and drive away. Great post Paul

 

[redfishbluefish]

Great post Paul. A deja vu moment for me. Growing up we had milk (in glass bottles), beer, seltzer and potato chips and pretzels delivered to the house, with the empties picked up to be washed and refilled.

My comic book collection was from perusing the neighborhood and collecting returnable bottles and cans that I got 2 cents a piece for.....that I cashed in at Bob’s Variety store to buy my comic books….that originally cost 10 cents. I was devastated when they were raised to 12 cents…that meant one more can/bottle.

 

[Paul B]

My tank is doing very well, all fish are really healthy, some spawning including mandarins, fireclowns and ruby red dragonettes. The only thing I don't like about my tank is due to the mistake I did a few years ago by adding a photosynthetic sponge that is taking over the tank.

It is really healthy which is to bad as it tries to cover the corals and it exudes a toxin that kills SPS corals especially if I try to cut pieces of the sponge out so now my tank is all LPS, gorgonians and leathers. I kind of like them but wish I had more space to put them but the sponge covers all the real estate.



At my age I am not going to worry about it and certainly not going to start a new tank. I have been slowing down the sponge growth by eliminating silicate from my NSW and top up water. Eventually I think I will eliminate it but it may take years.

The stuff doesn't look bad, kind of like blue montipora.



I think I have between 25 and 30 fish but I keep a lot of fish that hide and I will almost never see many of them. It's OK as long as I know they are in there and healthy.

Looking at my tank the rocks go to the top of the tank and the rock consists of a maze of interconnecting caves and tunnels where the fish can hide. Also any exposed rock that is not covered in corals or sponge is covered with growth that houses multitudes of copepods, amphipods, worms and starfish. All of that contributes to the health of the tank.
Copepod



Notice this Long Nose Hawkfish and what he is laying on. This is in my tank and part of what covers the back and darker parts of my tank.



Some see this as dirt, but the fish see this as health. (doesn't he look comfy?)

I feel the reason so many people have problems with this is the lack of "normal and natural" hiding places. A cave made out of 3 pieces of rock won't do it. The correct food, which does not mean dry foods like pellets and flakes. A food with living bacteria in it and not just the bacteria from our hands.

Medication, whatever it is and long quarantine.

If your tank is white and clean, you probably will have problems......Sorry.

 

[Paul B]

I just picked up this cool fan tail filefish. It is kind of rare and I think the guy made a big mistake on the price because it was fairly cheap. The owner gave me the price so i didn't say anything.