Tank Thread Tank reached 38 years old...in 2009!

[Paul B]

Andy, my good "Friend" who used to order fish for me doesn't work there any more so I can't get one of them, or a copperband. :p

 

[Paul B]

I finally got my replacement copperband. I had to bring my wife for a procedure and she isn't taking it to well so I had to run in and run out of the LFS. He had 2 copperbands but one was a little larger than a quarter and one was about 2 1/2"

I was going to take both of them, but I opted for only the larger one because sometimes they don't get along and tear each other up.

I acclimated him for about 5 minutes and he is in my tank seeming fine.
I didn't even have time to look at him so I just told the guy to bag him.

They came in last night so I knew he wouldn't eat anyway but if I had time, I would have looked at him better.
He didn't have any other fish I wanted and I had to get my wife right home anyway.

I will take a picture when I get time.

 

[Paul B]

I went out just now on a foray for fish food. I was looking for LRS food in case they quarantine fish stores.

The first one I went to closest to my home, about 15 miles away is a huge place but not any good for fish. They had a figure 8 puffer, a scat, an anemic looking shrimp and a few algae and ich filled tanks and no food that I wanted.

So I went another 10 miles to a place with a leaky roof so I had to stand in the rain while I looked through the tanks. One advantage was they didn't have to top off their tanks as water was coming down everyplace.

I did manage to get some LRS food and this guy who I just felt sorry for.

 

[Paul B]

I am very happy with my tank now. I have quite a lot of the fish I prefer to keep which are all smaller, odder and a little more difficult to get like the Janss Pipefish.
I am going to try to list the fish but I am not near the tank.

Copperband
Hippo Tang
2 Rainsford Gobies
2 Possum Wrasses
2 Sunburst Anthius
2 Fireclowns
Perchlet
Fang Tooth Blenny
2 stripped cardinals
Black cardinal?
Janss Pipefish
Bluestripe Pipefish
Mandarin
Scooter Dragonette
Purple Psudo
2- 6 line wrasses
Yellow wrasse
some kind of stripped wrasse
2 Gecko Gobies

Red something and 5 or 6 other fish that I can't remember.

 

[Paul B]

My fish eating some live white worms.

 

[Paul B]

It's pretty warm here today so I decide to get some exercise and take a walk to the beach behind my house. It's about 170 steps almost straight down and being it's kind of still winter, I have not been doing this much yet. In the summer I try to do it almost every day. So I figure I will go like half way down, take a little rest, and come back up. Every day I will do some more. So I go down about half way and I can see the beach.



I take a little break, sit down and look around.



I see this "Thing" on the sand that wasn't there the day before. I am part of this seal, whale, turtle rescue thing here on Long Island and I figure it is one of those creatures.

This beach is almost in-accessible except by helicopter or walking down all these steps.
I figure I need to get a little closer to see what it is.

I walk down a little farther knowing that at some point I will have to walk back up and I know there is no cell phone service on the beach.

I go down some more and realize it is a person. OMG. Someone must have had a heart attack, broke a leg, was overcome with velvet or is dying from boredom.



I really don't want to descend all the way down because I am not in shape to go back up.
I watch intensely for maybe five minutes to see if they move.

No movement, they must be hurt, in a coma or dead. OMG again.

If I don't get to them I will not be able to sleep thinking about what could be wrong with them.

So I head down still seeing no movement. I check my phone to see how my stocks are doing, I mean to see if I have, service.

I get to the sand and start walking. He or she is maybe 75 yards away, laying on the sand with their feet facing the water and their head facing the mountain.

If they are hurt, I will have to make it all the way up the stairs to call for help and they will have to dispatch a helicopter as there is no other way to get to this particular beach. Should I put rocks on the beach spelling out "SOS" like they do in the movies?

Light a fire?

My mind is racing. Will I have to do CPR, set a broken leg, perform Mouth to Mouth or just brush the marauding hermit crabs off of the body. I don't know but I am getting closer.

I still see no movement but it is windy and the seagulls are giving me a headache.

I get up to the person and notice it seems to be a female. She had kind of nice looking designer boots on and a down jacket with a hood fringed with fur.

Still no movement so I figure right away, she must be a run away Supermodel that is scared of the Corona Virus and wants to get away from the Paparazzi.

As I walk closer I am shuffling my feet making noise with the rocks to try to stir the person.

Nothing!!

I inch right up to her and yell, "HEY ARE YOU OK? ".

She quickly jerks her head up and says, "Yes, I am Fine, I must have fallen Asleep".

I wanted to say, "Are you like Sleeping Beauty and ate a poison apple that made you fall asleep on the rocks and sand of a deserted beach with your feet near the water or are you some sort of Mermaid that thinks you have ich?

I didn't ask and just said, "I am glad you are not dead because I can't carry you up all those stairs.

And I left. But tonight I will sleep knowing I almost saved a Supermodel and walked up more stairs than I wanted to. :p

 

[Paul B]

We just have to put up with some hardships until this is over, and it will be soon.
I live in New York, our hospitals are full and they have tents in the parking lots for the over flow.

They are even sending hospital ships to our harbor as we still don't have enough beds.
I have been donating bagels to the hospital staff because they asked for food as they are quarantined and can't get a meal.

Stay safe.

 

[Paul B]

I learned a lot from my friend Jimmy. Jimmy was about 15 years older than me and had been totally blind from a child.
He couldn't even see light and I used to go to work with him in Manhattan every day on the Railroad.

He easily could have stayed home with his totally blind wife but he chose to go to work.
The guy had a great sense of life and never once did I ever hear him complain. He also had severe arthritis and could hardly hold his cane.

As we would wait in Penn Station for the train he would often say "What does she look like?"
I would say "Who". He would say "The Lady who just walked by".

He could smell her. I would say she was nice looking, pretty or plain. He told me that "I" am at a disadvantage because I had to look at everybody. But he imagined everyone to look like Marilyn Monroe or someone beautiful that he had seen before he lost his sight.

I was at a loss! What insight!, I couldn't believe it but he was totally right. He based how he felt about people by their manner, not their race, color, hair cut etc. No prejudice at anyone at all.

He would not to go work in the snow and I figured it was because he was afraid of falling. But I was wrong. Jimmy lived in the middle of a long block with all the houses evenly spaced. I never knew how he found his house.

He told me he would "Listen" to the echo's from the trees. He could hear them as he walked by and so many steps after the last tree he turned left onto his walkway. I was blown away. The snow muffled the echo so he couldn't find his house.

He once asked me to fix his electric grinder. It scared me even thinking this man used a grinder. He said it blew the fuse when he turned it on.

So I go to his basement with him, turn on the light and look at the grinder. The fuse blew and the light went out.

As I was standing in the pitch dark basement, Jimmy said, whats wrong. I said, it's dark in here. He said, it's always dark in here. (like Duh)

So I stupidly said, Do you have a flashlight? He said "Why would I own a flashlight?" (Again, like Duh).

They transferred his job to Brooklyn. The man barely made it to Manhattan but to get to Brooklyn he had to change trains at Penn Station and go many more stops.
One day someone accidentally kicked the cane from him during rush hour, he fell down and with everyone running he couldn't get up or find his cane. I wasn't with him, but I never seen him again. He was old then so I am sure he is gone now.

(Andy he lived behind The lfs you worked in)

 

[Paul B]

Jimmy's wife was beautiful and blind from birth. They met at a school for the blind. Her hobby was collecting Lladro figurines.
Like Really. She has never seen them but when she picked one up, she could tell you everything about it and she had maybe 20 of them.

They owned their own home and it was spotless. When she gave you a cup of coffee she put her thumb in the cup as she filled it and removed it just before the hot coffee burned her.

She said to my wife one day "I really love the spring colors"
My wife incredulously said "Dorothy, I am sorry, but I have to ask, how do you know the spring colors?"

Dorothy said, I can feel the temperature difference. She could tell you what colors she had on. I mean she couldn't tell a dark red from a light one, but she knew it was red. I was blown away by those fantastic people.

They had a Son who could see about 15 years old, but I could tell he was born to blind parents. The kid had almost no facial expressions, he didn't look at you when he spoke and little things like that. Of course it wasn't his fault as his parents never saw him or made eye contact.

 

[Paul B]

This is a shot through the back of my tank after I scrapped it clean. It's a mass of sponges.


I also got two of these guys there, very hard to photograph.

 

[Timbo]

Paul you need to write a book. Well, now that I think about it, maybe this thread is your book.

 

[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. 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.

 

[Paul B]

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

 

[JonnyIce]

I don't come the site often (since my reef is gone), but when I do I always check this thread. Keep it up Paul!

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Timbo]

Thank god for your updates Paul! This QT and social distancing is essential but human beings aren’t good at being locked up inside for so long. I think everyone’s tanks are cleaner than they have ever been!

Love the story about the gal you met going to Annapolis. I work on West Point and interact daily, directly with the Corp of Cadets and love the fact that I get to be a small part of such an incredible place with a history like no other. Most Cadets no matter what academy they attend have impressive accomplishments before they even arrive.

 

[Paul B]

I just heard my closest friend may have the Corona Virus. He has a high fever and is slightly hallucinating.
He also has Parkinsons disease. He will get the test results back tomorrow.
WE have been close friends with them for almost 60 years and before this see them every week.

I am very concerned for them.

 

[4Fish]

I just heard my closest friend may have the Corona Virus. He has a high fever and is slightly hallucinating.
He also has Parkinsons disease. He will get the test results back tomorrow.
WE have been close friends with them for almost 60 years and before this see them every week.

I am very concerned for them.

Sorry to hear about that. As both our wives have MS, I am especially careful around her.