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

[SIReefer]

Paul, let me know when you start collecting this year. I lost most of my tank during the power outage & I could use some "nasty stuff from the tidal pools" to get it going again. BTW have you taken your boat out yet this season? Nice crab shots.

 

[Paul B]

When (and if) I do a collection trip this year I will post it. I now have a larger boat so it may be a little longer walk to the beach. I am in the process of buying a dinghy so maybe we can row in. Well, me being the Captain will row in, I don't know about the rest of you Swabs :biggrin:

 

[SIReefer]

Har Har...

 

[Paul B]

SI Reefer, OK it is a 2 man dingy so you can ride also. (I need someone to row anyway)

This month is my tanks birthday. It will be 39 years old, I thought it was going to be 40 but my math was off. It was started in 71 but was changed a few times and crashed after the first few weeks due to using drive way gravel first, then beach sand.
So it really has only been running without crashing for 38 years.
I guess I am getting old.



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[Paul B]

My skimmer wasn't making hardly any bubbles and I finally had some time to check it out. I found the Mother of all amphipods stuck in the venturi.
This was like a prehistoric amphipod. Too bad it got all mangled. :knockedou

 

[E.intheC]

Paul, do you have a picture of the amphipod?

 

[Paul B]

No the amphipod was mangled and it was mostly all shell. It was stuck in there for over a week and I didn't have time to take the venturi apart to check it out but the hole in the venturi is 1/4" wide so it was a big pod. I think his antlers got stuck :p

 

[Paul B]

I went out on eastern Long Island today for a big party in a beach house and I broought my sea water collecting containers but the water is 55 degrees and I just could not get myself to go in the water so I came home empty handed.
Tomorrow I am going out in my boat so I will collect some Long Island Sound water but it is far inferior to Atlantic Ocean water.
I also had to put a few green chromis in my tank because all of my fish are old bottom dwellers and they just lay around behind the rocks and wait for me to shoot some food to them. They are all spoiled and lazy so they hardly swim anymore and it looks like there are no fish in there. Even the pair of fire clowns "sleep" most of the time.
If it were not for the hippo tang I would swear the tank was fishless.
There are maybe 15 fish in there but you rarely see any of them. That happens a lot when fish get old. No need to swim anymore. So at least some $5.00 chromis give it some movement.

 

[Paul B]

As I was loking at my tank today I noticed that there was hardly anything moving. Not the fish, the corals. I felt the two powerheads to determine that they were running (they are very old and may croak at any minute)
So I removed the homemade strainers to find them clogged with tiny snails, or clams. I didn't yet have time to put them under a scope to see exactly what they are.
Usually these happenings go un noticed and these animals just take their place in the rocks and go un noticed until they either die off or grow large enough to stare at me.
But at least it a good sight and a sign that everything is as it should be.

 

[Reeftanker3295]

I love how this tank is old enough to have a whole ecosystem and have lots of tiny animals popping up. Thats the whole joy of reefkeeping to me, seeing all the little animals that live and thrive off of the environment that you would never know lived there.
I set up a 30 gallon native tank, what is a good way to kickstart my tank to have lots of little animals in it? (Collecting algaes, bottles off of the sea floor, etc.)

 

[Paul B]

You just have to collect stuff on muddy beaches and hope for the best. Around here in NY we have plenty of muddy beaches especially in the Long Island Sound where all the beaches are muddy. Ocean beaches are no good for collecting because they are too clean and most animals will not live on bare sand. All the good stuff grows on or under rocks.
I collect porous "rocks" which are usually pieces of asphalt and I swirl it in a pail of water. After seperating out most of the mud and small crabs, I dump it in my reef.
Thats why I have all of this unusual stuff popping up. If I lift a rock in my reef I never know what will slither out :tongue1:

 

[Paul B]

All is well but they are definately snails. Looking closely at the rock with a scope, they are all over the place. They are not local mud snails and I did not add any rocks or corals in many months, maybe years. Cool looking little suckers, I just hope they don't grow or I will have to buy a lot of linguini to go along with them for dinner.

 

[Paul B]

Today I finally got a new male blue stripped pipefish. I had a pair for a few years but the male died last year. They have a short lifespan like seahorses. The female seemed fine being alone but as soon as the male hit the water, they became a pair, never leaving each other's side.
I think I will start seeing tiny bluestripes again very soon.
That if she is not too old.
The store has about 8 of them and I may get another pair but the males fight and sometimes if you have two pairs, the males spend all their time fighting instead of spawning and the females have nothing to do but look sexy

 

[E.intheC]

That's really a 'beaut. Nice addition. Would you mind telling me which store you picked them up from? You can send me a PM if you'd like.

Thanks, and keep up the interesting pics and stories!

 

[Paul B]

I sent you a PM

 

[Paul B]

For some reason my tank looks real good. The corals seem to be growing, even the couple of SPS corals that usually don't do well in my tank, tiny snails are growing all over the place as well as spaghetti worms, pods and tubeworms. Many of the fish are spawning and there is almost no algae or cyano.
I have not changed any water in, well I can't remember, but it was a few months ago.
I think.
I added a few fish to give some movement because when the fish are in spawning mode, they tend to hide or stay with the nest. I wanted some more movement so I added a couple of green chromis and two scizzortails.
I am not going to change any water for another month or so. Unless I collect some.
You can just tell that everything is very healthy by looking closely at the rocks and seeing all the life, all the tentacles sticking out of holes, all the creatures hiding in the dark. The clam is fully extended as are the polyps on the gorgonians.

 

[Reeftanker3295]

You just have to collect stuff on muddy beaches and hope for the best. Around here in NY we have plenty of muddy beaches especially in the Long Island Sound where all the beaches are muddy. Ocean beaches are no good for collecting because they are too clean and most animals will not live on bare sand. All the good stuff grows on or under rocks.
I collect porous "rocks" which are usually pieces of asphalt and I swirl it in a pail of water. After seperating out most of the mud and small crabs, I dump it in my reef.
Thats why I have all of this unusual stuff popping up. If I lift a rock in my reef I never know what will slither out :tongue1:

So basically just go to a muddy beach at low tide and swoosh the rocks covered in pods and all sorts of stuff in a bucket and dump the bucket of water with everything from the rocks in it into your tank? Sounds easy enough...

 

[Paul B]

Yep, but you have to make sure your animals are healthy enough with excellent immune systems to ward off any paracites or diseases you "may" introduce.
I have never had a problem with this but I keep my fish healthy and in breeding condition by understanding exactly what they need to get them in that condition. I learned this by spending many hours over many years of diving.
If you see fish on a reef they eat all sorts of things but they mainly eat fish, whole fish.
Fish need the oil in other fish to stay healthy. Without this oil fish will live but they will not stay very healthy and spawn. For a fish to spawn it has to be in excellent condition. Not like us who can re produce no matter what health we are in, fish are quite different.
If a fish is spawning it is in excellent health, fish in this condition are "practically" immune from
disease or paracites.
We need to feed our fish either whole salt water fish (not very easy to come by small enough) or feed them something else that has the same oil like fish eggs or live worms.
Then, yes go to a muddy beach and dump in what ever you find.
In over forty years of doing this, I have never lost a fish to a disease attributed to this.

 

[Paul B]

Boy is this guy mad at me. I found a 3" bristle worm and put it in front of him. He looked at the worm, then he looked at me, then he looked back at the worm and tried to eat it. He immediately spit it out and looked like he was choking. He went to the back of the tank and now he is not talking to me.

 

[Paul B]

I just went collecting and brought him back some nice juicy grass shrimp.
I thought he would go nuts but instead, he made friends with them and they all hang out together. Great.