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Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Today I had to replace my brakes because of a horrible grinding noise. I was very surprised because I just replaced them last year. The problem was on disc brakes the calipers which hold the brake pads "float" back and forth on the rotor. When you step on the brake, the pads squeeze the rotor stopping the car. One of the pistons that is supposed to slide freely in the caliper rusted tight so only one of the pads would contact the disc causing the other one to do most of the stopping. Also, maybe because of that, but maybe not, the disc cracked. But it was an easy repair and even with replacing both rotors and installing new pads it was less than $100.00. I had to have my Son n Law help me because my Dr who did my hand and knee operation said I wasn't supposed to use any tools. Good thing I don't have any hair because if I did, I would have to comb it with an egg beater.
I like working on my car but it could have been a bit warmer.


 
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Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Today I added 2 Luft pumps to my skimmer which has been working very anemically for quite some time. Luft pumps put out 7lbs of air pressure compared to most pumps which run about 2 Psi. Even though I built this 5' tall skimmer to run on a homemade venture valve it still requires an air pump because it is so large. The skimmer is going nuts and doesn't know what to do with all the skimate. It drains into a five gallon bucket which has an automatic, DIY shut off switch in it so it doesn't overflow and screw up my floor as it did once when 24 local New York urchins decided they all needed to spawn on the same night. I think I had the Miss Universe pageant on the TV but I can't remember.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
My mandarins spawned again last night. I was going to film them, but I was watching TV and was to lazy to get up. This was from a spawning a few years ago so just make believe it was from last night because they do it the same every time.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Like most people on the east coast, we got a little snow last night. About 27" I think. This is 2 hours after I cleared the sidewalk with my snow blower.


 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
In the summer my reef is a planted tank. I collect these codium seaweeds in the Atlantic as well as other algae's and stick them in my tank. They live for a few months then I throw them out. They are very common on the eastern part of Long Island New York and I think they look very cool.

I know many people are looking in horror thinking about bacteria, parasites, red tide, mononucleosis and global warming but there is a name for those people, that name is Sissies. Our fish came from the sea and the sea is not sterile. An operating room is sterile and how many times have you seen a reef tank in an operating room?
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I was just looking at my tank and Wow, I have way to many fish. A couple jumped out in the last few months but the rest of them just keep growing. They are all exuding health which is what they are supposed to do but the amount of food they need is really messing up my water. I don't know what the nitrates read because it is off the chart. I really don't care as I like healthy, spawning fish. I am going to try to count them.............
I came up with 20 but I am sure I missed some.
I also put a weird pipefish in there last week that I haven't seen but he is the type that crawls around the bottom so he is probably in the back someplace.
Yesterday I got a bunch of chowder clams so with those and quite a lot of live blackworms I am good with food for a couple of weeks. The bluestripe pipefish are spawning as is the bangai's, mandarins and fireclowns. The yellow wrasses look like they are trying to spawn and maybe they are when I am not looking.
I am very happy with my water cooled LED light and my water cooled lighted algae scrubber. Not that water cooled fixtures are any better, just cooler, in more ways than one. I never liked having the same lighting as everyone else.
I have been gradually through attrition changing the tank over from corals to more sponges and gorgonians. I just like them better and think you can get more interesting stuff than the run of the mill corals. I still have a lot of corals and won't be throwing any out but I want to see how many sponges and gorgs I can fit in there.
I got this beautiful blueberry gorg a few weeks ago and although I doubt it will live long, it is still extending.



These red things are sponges and there is a large blue sponge over that along with a bunch of gorgonians.



 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
This is my vacation hatchery/feeder, it is a new design I am testing out. Basically it adds shrimp eggs every day to the thing and they hatch out throughout the day and feed the fish. it can work for a week, maybe two before it would need to be cleaned.
I have used this when I went to Hawaii and Europe and it worked well. (this is also in my book)
 
NyteGTI

NyteGTI

Paul,
What do you feed the rest of the tank when you're gone? or do you rely on somebody putting in preportioned amounts into the tank everyday?
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I rely on a Supermodel who comes over to feed pre proportioned frozen foods. The brine shrimp babies are just for the pipefish, mandarins and a few others that eat nothing else.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Just got back from key Largo, it was a little to cold to swim but we did go boating in our friends boat. 2 of my old girlfriends came by to meet us. I wanted to hire one for my clean up crew.


 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
The manatees are very cool and all over the keys. I think it is one inch of manatee to 20 gallons of water for a clean up crew. They are also reef safe but it is very hard to get rid of the plastic bag they come in.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Lately my tank has been evolving by attrition to more sponges and gorgonians. I just like them better and it is one thing I have not done yet. The tank went from fish only to fish and crustaceans to anemones to leathers to LPS then LPS and seaweeds to SPS and LPS to now. I have been finding colorful, odd looking sponges and gorgs and I find them fascinating. I don't think I have seen a tank full of them yet but it is what I am going for now. I still have some SPS and quite a few LPS but my main goal is to keep my fish spawning and I have way to many fish. They have also gotten to large, and large spawning fish require an enormous amount of food to keep spawning and healthy. Of course that pushes up the nitrates. I think mine are around 90 which is to high for most SPS.

This is an old picture, I don't remember how old but I can see my 24 year old fireclown on the left and he looks young there. I used to collect these codium seaweeds on the east end of Long Island and put them in. They live a few months then get ratty. I also add to many other things from the sea but to me, it makes the hobby interesting. My tank is and always has been an experiment or something I find interesting and never meant to be the nicest tank around, which it certainly is not. It is also just one of my hobbies.


This is an older picture and I can see I always liked gorgonians (and copperbands)




I used to be into these. Then I went to Germany and my tank sitter let the water fall by about a third and these were out in the air, so now they are reduced to a few smaller pieces.


You could see some of them here.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
It was called some kind of paper something snail. I forget the name. But it digs under the gravel so you don't see it anyway. I also don't know where my clingfish is
 
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