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Paul B

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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. (Andy, get me more sponges and gorgs)
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

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The manatees are very cool and all over the keys. These two wanted to stay and play so we had a little trouble getting the boat out. 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

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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

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So my wife got this Jeep Cherokee for about a year and we get a recall notice. No problem, so about a month ago I bring it in for the recall. I also told them that the windshield washer was not working (which is the main reason I brought the thing back) I was driving through the snow and sleet with a squeeze bottle of antifreeze out the window so I could spray it and clear the window.
So they fix the 3 recalls and tell me they needed to order the part to fix the windshield washer and they would call me in a few days when it comes in. A month goes by and I call them to see what happened to this part that I figure must come from Bora Bora. The parts guy tells me it came in 3 weeks ago. No one called.
So today I go there for my appointment to put the windshield washer part in. I used to be a General Motors mechanic (Oldsmobile) so I know how these places work and I bring a newspaper because I figure it will take at least 45 minutes.
2 hours and fifteen minutes later they call me that the car is fixed. During that time I read every word in the Daily News including all the advertisements, who is running for what position and what they are calling the other guys, where to get my teeth fixed, who to call to clean my chimney or walk my dog, if I had a dog, which I don't. I also did both crossword puzles, then erased one of them so I could do it again because i was so bored.
They give me my car and I go out to take it. It was pouring raining out but I was glad to finally get the car. I get in and turn on the wipers which work fine. I go to put on the washer, and nothing happens. Then I try the rear one and nothing happens. Now, I am not a happy camper because I just spent two hours and fifteen minutes sitting there ready to eat my chair, and now the thing I brought the car in for still don't work.
So I go inside and get the service manager. I tell him the car is not fixed. He says whats the problem. The windshield washer don't work. He says, what is the matter with the windshield washer? I say, I don't know, what do you think I have been doing here all day? He says, the car was recalled. I say: it was recalled last month but I came here for the windshield washer. Oh, let me find out. So he looks on the paper and right on the top it says, Customer claims the windshield washer does not work. I say, I waited a month for the washer part that came in 3 weeks ago and now it is here. He says, we put in a module that the car was recalled for. I say, you put that in 3 weeks ago so why did you put it in again?
I get the manager and tell her I am not very happy. She offers me a cup of coffee and a bagel. This is New York, I can't swing a dead catfish without hitting at least three bagel stores. I don't want a bagel, I want my windshield washer working. So she runs in the back and finds the mechanic. He opens the hood, then he goes and finds another mechanic, then they get the guy who sweeps the floor. Now 5 people are trying the windshield washer and they determine that it doesn't work. Like Duh, is it me!
Now they are going to give me a loaner car because they have no idea how to fix it and it will take a few days.
I am waiting for the loaner car for 45 minutes because when they "fixed" my car, they closed out the paper work and can't re-open it again because the computer thinks it is fixed.
I finally get the loaner car (and a bagel) and discover that it has just about no gas in it. I tell them so they don't expect me to fill this thing up.
On my way home I put five gallons of gas in it so I don't get stuck. I walk into my house and the phone rings. My car is ready.
Now I drive back the five miles through traffic to get my car. 45 minutes later they get my car and I finally get in and start to drive home. I get one block and stop behind another car and I notice in his reflection that my running lights are not on. This car has a bunch of LED running lights that stay on all the time.
I park the car and get out to see the lights are out. So I take out the owners manual (which is 800 pages) and I search for running lights. Sure enough, they are supposed to be on.
I go back to the dealer (where they look at me in horror and try to run away) and I say the lights don't work. A mechanic comes out and asks me "what did we do to the car". I said, aparently you broke my running lights because you were supposed to fix the washer. So back in the shop for 30 minutes so they could re-program the running lights.
This is why I hate new cars and always buy a used one. But my wife wants a new, but who do you think has to bring it back for all these stupid things?
 

MIKE NY

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Paul which dealership did you go too? I have two Jeeps, a Grand Cherokee and a Liberty and my wife is looking at a third the Compass High Altitude. We been going to the Garden City dealership for recalls like a trailer hitch and never had any problems or a long wait like that so I would be surprised if it was them....
PS...I saw that sug when you got it... very cool. It looks almost like the local moon snail.
 

Paul B

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That's them. I normally don't have problems and I like the people there. They just are not very good at running a business.


I have had about 7 Jeeps and I love them. It is not the cars but the service department. But all service departments do the same thing. About 12 years ago I bought a new Jeep Grand Cherokee from them and the second day, my wife got stuck. No lights, no noise, nothing. So I said why are you calling me? Call Jeep.

They came and towed the car back to the dealer. They gave me a long list of things they fixed on this car that had 6 miles on it.

Two days go by and my wife gets stuck again. No lights, no noise, nothing. So again, I tell her to call Jeep. They pick up the car and give me another list of things they fixed on this car that had 8 miles on it.

Two days she gets stuck again and I tell her, Don't call Jeep. I tow the car to my house, look through the wiring diagrams in the service manual and find the problem. Near the feet of the front seat passenger there is a panel that comes off to reveal a 100 pin wire connecter that connects everything on the engine to the dash board. One of the pins was bent over so the entire thing wasn't making good contact. I didn't want to straighten the pin because if it broke they would give me a hard time about the warranty and all that. So I made an arrow out of cardboard about 3 feet long. On it I printed: FIX THIS PART AND DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE.

I taped that to the dashboard pointing to the panel that I had left off then I called Jeep to tow the car back.

They told me that because it happened three times, by law they were required to offer me a new car. I said, how new is it going to be? This one only has 9 miles on it.
 
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