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

[Paul B]

No I am not sure. It was started in 1971, figure it out. I think it's 43.
By the way I am not sure it was started in March. I just picked March as a start, it could have been any month even December

 

[rhdoug]

Hi Paul, haven't "talked" to you for a while. Congrats on the great looking grand kids and happy birthday to your 40 something tank. Love it! Mine is just starting out, it turns only 15 in a couple of months and thinks it know everything. I did get a manly storm filter last year after you shamed me and my turkey baster storms. Wow what crud it sucked out of that tank the first time!!

 

[Paul B]

Yeah, I know, it builds up. I don't know how people with DSBs keep a tank long term and leave all that crud in there.

 

[Paul B]

The potholes in New York from all the salt used on the ice is destroying my and I am sure a lot of cars here and all over the north east.
I went to my Daughter's house in Manhattan and I took the Grand Central Parkway. I hit a pothole that looked like it was from the meteroite that wiped out the dinssaurs. We have two cars but mine is a PT Cruiser which used to be my station car. I love this little car but the tires are one size larger than a Dunkin Doughnut so it doesn't do well on potholes.
The rim has a big dent in it and the tire got a bubble on it's side. Years ago, before steel belted radial tires, this tire would have blown up.
So these are new tires and I have road hazzard insurance on them, so I go to Firestone and showed them the tire. They said it is guaranteed and they will replace it for free. Plus $17.00 and another $7.00. But besides that, it was free. I asked why the free tire was $24.00. The balancing is $7.00 and to guarantee this tire cost another $17.00.
OK so I tell them to give me the "free" tire but I also need an inspection.
I used to be a mechanic for Oldsmobile so I am not as nieve as some people. If you go in and ask for an inspection, the first thing they do is scrape off your old inspection sticker. Then if it fails inspection for brakes, you are stuck having them install brakes. No one touches my car, especially brakes so I ask if I could come into the shop to check out my brakes while he has the wheel off. Yes, I need brakes, at least one front brake so I ask if he would remove all the wheels so I could see the other brakes. That was a good move as it only cost me another $15.00, but I got to see that I need front and rear brakes. I kind of knew I did as there is 50,000 miles on this car and I never put on brakes.
So I asked if there was enough brakes left to pass inspection and for some stupid reason, he said it would pass. Even I would not have passed it and it is my car. So I let them inspect the car. They also told me I need a new battery and while I was there I shook the front wheel and found out I also need one tie rod end. The tie rods connect the steering to the wheels so you kind of want to keep them in good shape. They were a little disappointed that I didn't let then do any of the work but. OK, whatever. On my way home I picked up brakes, a tie rod end and a battery. All for $170.00 which was great as they probably would have charged me that just for the Tie rod end. I probably saved $500.00 but I have no idea how much mechanics charge for brakes and front end work as I always do my own work.
My Son n Law says he wants to help me even though he knows nothing about mechanical work, but I was thrilled he asked to help because I love it when someone wants to learn something.
Of course there is still two feet of snow in front of my house but it has to be done so thats where I will be this week end, in a pile of snow, under my car.

Years ago I was driving on the Interboro parkway in my 1962 Bonneville which was about 30' long and weighed about as much as a city bus. I stopped for a light and the front of the car kind of sat down on the road. I got out to see what had happened and my front wheel was laying flat on the street.
Thats why you should keep the front end of your car in good shape. I broke the upper ball joint which is the part that holds the front tire on so you need that as much as the tie rod.
I guess i have a lot of experience with wheel mis haps. I used to have an 18' boat and we just towed it back from Lake George which is a 6 hour drive. 6 blocks from my house, on a side street, my car stops suddenly and I see this tire go rolling past me. I thought someone was playing a joke and rolled a tire at me. But nope. The axel on my boat trailer broke off cleanly and that was my tire. I had just gotten off the interstate.

 

[Paul B]

Today I bought a bangai cardinal because I don't have to many swimming fish. If you look in my tank, although there are about 18 fish in there, you only see the copperband because all of the others are in caves, spawning someplace in the back or out for pizza. Mandarins do their own thing and you don't see much of them and the fireclowns hang out in bottles and only come out to chase away the copperband as they hate each other and have not been speaking for a couple of years.
Bangai cardinals stay out in the front and even though they don't swim much, they give some movement to the tank. I didn't look close at them so I don't know if they are a pair which was a stupid thing as I normally like to have a pair so they spawn. I think they change sex if their insurance covers the procedure.
This morning I got knee injections. This is a fairly new procedure that is supposed to lubricate your knees and it may last a few years or not at all. I am not sure what it is composed of, either mandarin slime, STP, protein skimmer effluent or ground up sea cucumbers. You get an injection in each knee for three weeks and hopefully I will be able to do back flips after it takes effect. I can do them now, but only once.
The injections themselves are not the most comfortable thing but his nurse was sort of a Supermodel so I couldn't scream or anything. As a matter of fact, I told him to push the thing in harder as I couldn't feel it.
It's a Man thing and I am sure she was impressed. I really didn't scream until I was all the way down the block.

 

[Jenna X]

I think they change sex if their insurance covers the procedure.

Paul you're hilarious, I love reading these updates. To be honest I don't think that's covered by Obamacare.
By the way the grandkids look adorable and so do you

 

[Paul B]

Thank you, I am a little mad at Teddy for having more hair them me at 10 weeks old.
Obamacare won't even cover canker sores on the knees of my hermit crabs so I just use Vaseline on them. My Mother used to use Vaseline for everything. When I was a kid I was always greasy. If I had a bump on my head, broke my leg or had a stomach ache, my Mother would slather Vaseline all over the part that hurt. She figured it worked on everything. Maybe it did, she lived to almost 99 years old and was never sick.
Jenna, I am not sure about me looking adorable and don't even think that is a Manly Man term but Greta and Teddy certainly are adorable. :bigeyes2:
We had them this past weekend and in the morning Greta woke up in her crib. Our daughter told us that she always wakes up in a bad mood and screams. We heard her and I walked in. She said "Somebody's up" and just smiled. So of course I melted. She is so cute I can't stand it.
Teddy doesn't yet have much of a personality and just concentrates on kicking his legs, crying and punching himself in the ear. Soon I think he will start thinking about Supermodels and cro bars. Manly things. :thrash:

Greta is a Girly Girl and just thinks about shoes. Fancy, Princess shoes. :flirt:

Everything has to be fancy and that is the way a Girly Girl should be.
I need my knees to work great so I can push them around the block in their toy cars. I used to push my Daughter around the block in a wheelbarrow. I want to live long enough to take them SCUBA diving but that may be pushing it a little. I may have to be satisfied showing them my fish tank.
Here I am teaching Teddy all about the nitrate cycle. He seems receptive.



He did try to punch me in the mouth when I tried to explain to him about the benefits of using a reverse Undergravel filter

 

[Paul B]

I painted Teddy's name on the wall in their Sesame Street Room

 

[Paul B]

Today I picked up a pair of bluestriped pipefish. I like to keep a pair of them in my tank but they have a short lifespan of only a few years and it is sometimes hard to find a pair together so when I see them, I buy them. These look a little young which is fine and they should start mating in a few weeks. They eat well in my tank because they get new born brine shrimp every day from the feeder that was designed for the mandarins and scooter bleenies. I may also get a couple of ruby red scooter bleenies as a store here has about 20 of them and they are fairly cheap.

 

[alan.reef]

new pick Paul.

 

[Paul B]

New pick of what?

 

[alan.reef]

pair of bluestriped pipefish

New pick of what?

 

[Paul B]

It is just above the last post. Once you put those guys in the tank, it is very hard to get a pictuere

 

[albano]

new pick Paul.

New pick of what?

pair of bluestriped pipefish

It is just above the last post...

"Who's on first?"

 

[Paul B]

How about an older pic

 

[Paul B]

I found some pictures of my tank fro 9 years ago.

 

[Paul B]

Here are the bluestripe pipefish at the feeder.

And the possum wrasse sneaks by also.

 

[Jenna X]

Nice updates as always. Is caring for the pipefish challenging?

 

[Paul B]

Nothing is challenging as long as you are up to the challenge of getting food for them

 

[Paul B]

Last night I was watching TV (no Sissy reality shows or anything like that) and my reef is next to my couch. I looked over at the tank and got the horrors.
The water had the same visibility as the East River that passes Manhattan. It was white with detritus. Then I noticed the problem. The copperband was having a rumble with the fireclown. Those two never got along and both grew up in the tank, but the fireclown is over 20 years old and the copperband is only a couple of years old so he is in better shape, but the clown is more experienced, has more friends and is meaner. The copperband grew a little large for the 6' tank and he likes to take long swims completely around the tank while the fireclown is a home body and just wants to lay in his Grand Marnier bottle and entice the female who is a real Babe, but she is a tease.
This time, the copperband took a short cut which took him practically into the Grand Marnier bottle and the clown went berserk. He was hissing and snarling while the copperband was pointing his dorsal spines at him, they spun around and dug a big hole out of the gravel, detritus was everywhere and it looked like the snow storm we had a few weeks ago. The rest of the fish just sat and watched in awe, waiting for a nice amphipod to become dislodged from the ruckus. Both fish emerged unscathed but I could tell they were both out for blood. Everything is calmed down now and I think they are waiting for me to leave as I can see the copperband sneaking up in the dark behind the bottle. There are some dark places in my tank where there are no torch corals and the copperband knows these places.
The bluestriped pipefish are staying on the far side of the tank as they don't have much defense from these two, larger fish and most of the hermit crabs are staying inside their shells. No one seems to know when another rumble will begin or who will come out victorious.