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

[Paul B]

That blueberry is not doing very well as I knew it wouldn't. Some things you, or I, just can't keep in a tank very long. I hope other people have better luck with them because they are one of the nicest looking gorgs you can get. Unfortunately like many beautiful things, they are filter feeders and live on tiny bits of food, sort of like Supermodels

 

[Paul B]

My montipora actually looks a little better so maybe it is just teasing me. The fish are all great, but as I said to big and they seem to like being pregnant.
My arrow crab is still scary and I hope he also stops growing. Another molt and he may break the glass. I can't seem to find my clingfish but he shows up every few weeks and also gets bigger. Tomorrow I have to buy more chowder clams as that is my preferred food that they get almost every day along with the worms and new born brine. If it were not for the bluestripe pipes, mandarins and anthius I wouldn't have to hatch those little suckers every day. But if you want to keep such creatures you need to do that. No, you can't have long term, pregnant mandarins and pipefish by feeding pellets even if they will eat them. Your fish will hate you. I just read some older posts on this and other forums and it seems that a lot of people feel they can't use my methods to keep fish immune or pregnant. I am not sure why because for the first 40 years I had my tank I also had a regular job and still had time to properly feed my fish. Maybe like I keep hearing, I am just lucky.
Yesterday I tuned up my boat. I can't remember the last time I put spark plugs in it and I mentioned that to the mechanic at the marina. He told me that after a few years in salt water you can't get the plugs out any more and they have to pull the engines out for $4,500.00 He must have me mixed up with a Jiboni because if I spend $4,500.00 on anything it better involve Christie Brinkley or any one of the Victoria Secret Supermodels, Hawaii or Tahiti. The plugs came right out because the last time I changed them I put some anti seize compound on the threads. If you do your own work you know what you are getting and won't have any problems the next time. The job cost me $36.00 and took an hour. The actual work was probably 20 minutes and the rest of the time was spent trying to straighten myself up after cramming myself in between those engines.

 

[Paul B]

That montipora that was bleaching seems to be almost fully recovered. That is weird but I think I figured out what was making it fail to thrive. I tested my Alk, something I rarely do, and it was high. Higher than my test kit goes which was 13.
So I just dosed calcium maybe 6 or 7 times with no alk and the thing looks much better and almost back to normal. I didn't test the alk again but I assume it came down.
I once lost a very large monti by bleaching and was wondering what the alk was then. I think in a few days it will be as good as new.
My fish don't seem to care and continue to smile, and spawn.
The white parts were very white a week ago and I was sure it would croak.

 

[Paul B]

I found my clingfish today as I was cleaning the sponge that strains the water that goes to my reverse UG filter. He disappeared for a few weeks. He is happily grazing on the "mulm" that grows on the back of my tank. I knew I would find that little sucker.


I think he is very cool

 

[Paul B]

Today I noticed my tank had only the blue LEDs lit. My new water cooled home made fixture had a problem. It has worked flawless since I built it but I used old LEDs from an old fixture so I figured at some point there would be an issue. I tired to fix it while it was on the tank but that was difficult because it was hard to test each LED while suspended over the tank and I really didn't want to remove it because it is 6' long and connected to a water pump and radiator. Luckily when I built it I installed unions so I could fairly easily remove it and the electrical parts unplugged. So I drained it and removed it from the tank so I could work on it on my workbench. It took over an hour to repair because two LEDs were faulty. If it was only one it is a lot easier because it is just a question of testing each one in series, but when more than one is bad, it adds some technical issues. I replaced the two bad LEDs and re-glued some reflectors that came off. I also cleaned and polished the splash guard which needed to be done anyway so now it is as good as new. Until another one goes out.
This is the fixture under construction when I first tested it.

 

[Paul B]

I am glad that I found a new reliable source for clams to feed my tank. They sell clams all over the place here on Long Island but sometimes the larger ones are hard to find.
I ran out of them for a week and my fish were carving Human Racial Slurs at me on the glass. But now they are happy.

 

[LongIslandAndy]

Nice...............

 

[Paul B]

Andy, I saw a couple of small, Caribbean gorgonians when I was in Aquarium Village last week. I want them and if they are still there I will get them the next time I go there. I got there an hour before you did.

 

[Paul B]

I have been looking for this little pipe for weeks and couldn't find him. I figured he croaked. But he came out all smiling and happy looking. Who would have thought?
(Andy, remember this guy?)

 

[LongIslandAndy]

Andy, I saw a couple of small, Caribbean gorgonians when I was in Aquarium Village last week. I want them and if they are still there I will get them the next time I go there. I got there an hour before you did.

Hi Paul, they are photosynthetic and should do well. They are called Muriceopsis flavida. I will be in thursday from 3-9

 

[Paul B]

I will try to get there.

 

[Paul B]

I have been told that there are "some" (one) people who can't find the pipefish in this picture. I won't mention his name (Long Island Andy) I looked at it again to see if it was hard to see or just me.
Like Duh. How big does the pipefish have to be in the picture to see it?
It's the big white thing that takes up most of the picture. It is on a 40 degree angle with his white head and red cheeks facing left. Don't make me enlarge it any more.

 

[Paul B]

Today I needed to remove my algae scrubber to scrape off the algae. To do that I have to reach in to the back of the tank that is in a wall to remove a hose clamp. AS soon as I touched it ZZZZZAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I got a shock. Not one of those little Sissy shocks that some people complain about like when they have a cut and feel a tingle. This was one of those throw you across the room while your shoes stay put shocks that real Men get. I know what a shock feels like because I was a construction electrician in Manhattan all my life. I couldn't figure out where the shock came from so I stuck my hand in there again. That was real smart, and this time the lights went out, GFCI tripped and I will be awake for a week and if I had acne, it would have cleared up.
Now I figured it was not my imagination so I got my meter. I can read 70 volts from my water cooled LED system to ground. I should read zero because LEDs are DC current and shouldn't induce any power. I am not sure yet why I am reading 70 volts AC but I will get around to fixing the problem. If I ground the system there is a chance that I will burn out half or more of the LEDs so I don't want to do that. I don't want to remove the fixture to work on it on my workbench (which is what I should do) as I am sure one, or more of my 144 solder connections is touching the copper frame. It will take a little deducing but I am sure I will straighten it out before I electrocute myself. But at least it brought back memories from when I used to get shocked all the time.

 

[Paul B]

I changed one of my seawater circulating pumps this morning. Now it is nice and quiet again. This of course is the engine with the pump removed. It covers those two holes in the block.

 

[Paul B]

Today I finally got a chance to take care of my tank. I cleaned the glass and immediately noticed one of my newer gorgonians fell on top of a large mushroom and most of the gorg croaked. That is not a big deal as it happens all the time. Gorgonians are tall and top heavy so if you don't glue them (and your fish don't like the place you put them) they fall down.
I am sure my fireclown picked it up and toppled it. That is a big problem with spawning fish or fish in excellent health, they think they are the boss of you and feel their way of aquascaping is better.
I reached in to move that gorgonian and he bit me, causing me to pull back my hand breaking off a large piece of montipora. This also happens all the time and I was going to break that piece off anyway because it was growing to close to the front glass. So I glued that piece of monti back and while I was doing that, the other fireclown, who must have seen my pain when her mate bit me, also bit me also causing me to pull away breaking off a piece of slimmer coral. Now I got smart. It takes me a while. I removed the broken piece of slimmer with a "grabber" while both fireclowns were scowling at me. Then I glued it back on the other side of the tank. A place where the clowns never visit and probably have never seen. I then decided to give up on maintenance for a while.
I glued back the monti just below the bottle neck and a piece of the SPS near the top a little to the left. (Those monti's always break)

 

[Paul B]

I soaked the tiny pump for my worms in bleach and I noticed that the hole in the magnet is large and egg shaped. This happens all the time with those cheap pumps and it can be fixed, at least for a while by putting shrink tubing over the shaft. That takes up the space and the pump will run for may be another year. Then you just put on another piece of shrink tubing. I have a few pumps running with tubing on them now.
I am also going to slightly add something to my worm tank. I need more eggcrate to put in the trough of the thing. For some reason the worms love to congregate in the holes and it makes a convenient place to suck them out in the correct amounts for my tank. I have some in there now, but not enough.
I am also mixing up some water for a water change as it has been a while and I have been over feeding for a long time.
I was also thinking now that I only have one clown gobi I may again add some acropora. They always do well and grow fast and now that my clown gobies won't spawn all over them, they stand a chance.
Those stupid gobies spawn almost every week and kill over an inch of coral each time. They also always pick a new, live place on the coral to deposit their eggs. I was always more excited that the gobies were spawning than keeping those corals.
They are in this video which I took to show the possum wrasse.
http://s258.photobucket.com/user/urchsearch/media/2013-07-20170924_zpsa27e514d.mp4.html?sort=3&o=383

 

[Paul B]

This morning I helped my Sicilian neighbor, (who was born in Sicily) to put up his 20' flagpole and put the American Flag on it.
Many Americans don't even have a flagpole so I am truly honored to have such good American neighbors. :usa1:

 

[Paul B]

Today I am making a typhoon in my tank using a diatom filter. I do this once or twice a year to stir up the gravel as much as I can right down to the UG filter plates. The fish seem to like it but the corals always look mad, they will get over it.
In my tank this needs to be done as I run water in reverse through the gravel and if I didn't occasionally do this, the gravel would clog.
This is from an older typhoon a few years ago as I see I had my old lights then. Today I am only using one diatom filter but in my reef, two are really needed. I just don't have the time today.

 

[Paul B]

 

[Paul B]

I just bot back from a great day of boating. Those are my favorite kind of days. It was low tide so of course I went collecting. Amphipods are much more numerous last month but I got a nice haul. Maybe a few hundred but I didn't count them. I also collected some mud (for the bacteria) and some mud snails (by accident) My fish are smiling and all is good.