Tank birthday, 40 years

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Which picture do you see it in? I don't see anything

I'll circle the items on what im talking about when im on the pc Paul.

 

[Paul B]

OK, I am curious

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi Paul ... I know you are ok from reading your posts ... hope your daughter's house did not sustain much damage as you told us she had water in coming from the roof ... hope your tank is in good condition ... nice additions you made ... your looks good and always different :flower:

Pedro Nuno

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

OK, I am curious

Dont worry Paul it isnt nothing bad all neither

 

[Paul B]

Hi Pedro, How are you doing? My Daughter needs some ceiling work and the wood floor warped. She lives on the 16th floor in downtown Manhattan.
Angelo, I am not worried, there is nothing in that tank to worry about
Here are some more "corals" that I found growing in my algae trough. Now I find them scattered in my reef. I like them.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Hi Pedro, How are you doing? My Daughter needs some ceiling work and the wood floor warped. She lives on the 16th floor in downtown Manhattan.
Angelo, I am not worried, there is nothing in that tank to worry about
Here are some more "corals" that I found growing in my algae trough. Now I find them scattered in my reef. I like them.

I will point it out what im talking about Paul lol

 

[Paul B]

I am very happy with the way my tank is running now. It has gone through many cycles over the years and now the LPS, SPS and fish all seem very healthy and there are no problems that I can see. These cycles usually only last a year or so and then something or other changes and either the LPS, or SPS gets in moods or too much or too little algae grows, flatworms will cover everything or an invasive algae will start to take over. Actually I do have a new, wierd red bubble algae but it does not seem to be advancing on much "yet". I find all this stuff amazing and never worry about any of it. Remember, it's a hobby and if it is not fun, or is a cause for worry, or if I can't afford it, it goes in the garbage. There are plenty of things I could go broke on, my boat for one and there are plenty of things I could worry about, My family's health but one thing I will never lose any sleep over is a fish tank.
Last week I added a few things. A combination shrimp /gobi, but they seemed to have lost each other in the tank. And a yellow wrasse.
There must be an abundance of bristle worms because I see them sticking out of the rocks in the daylight and if I look close I see large amphipods scurrying from rock to rock.
Brittle stars are having a hard time finding homes because all the real estate is taken up and they are on a waiting list. Today I found a large snail in my algae trough. I am not sure how he got in there but I don't want him there so I put up a "keep out" sign at the entrance.
This year I added a load of local NY grass shrimp which are kind of cool, but, unfortunately, they are clear so they don't add any color. I also added a dozen or so local mud snails which are free and are great at finding errant pellets or any othet left over food.
I have a grape coral that I got when a LFS went out of business and it was in terrible shape with very little tissue left alive. for about 8 months I have been feeding it every day with fish oil soaked pellets and about 3/4 of it is back to full health. I would imagine that in a few years it will re grow the dead portions. I got the thing for free so it is a win win situation. I also have been feeding the frogspawns every day with the same thing and they have almost doubled in size in the same time.
I have been experimenting with jell food mixed with fish oil and they eat it but it is too soon to know if it does any good.

 

[Paul B]

Here is a picture of the inside of my "in tank" surface skimmer. I don't have a sump and this thing skims the surface to remove the thin film that accumulates there. It also functions as a overflow as It feeds my HOB protein skimmer.
This is a view from inside after I removed the bottom. It is almost completely filled with tube worms and amphipods. The tube worms grow from the sides and go all the way to the center almost stopping the water flow. These tube worms I would imagine are a very effective filter and water purification plant. I am not sure what they would remove but I imagine they feed on any microscope life including bacteria. In this picture, much of it looks like wet cement, thats because I had to break a lot of them to allow more water to flow.
I love this stuff.

This is the unit from the side. I don't remember how old it is but I guess it has been there for 12 or 15 years.

 

[tenMann2]

I'm not a fan of the surface film either. It collects on the right side of the tank and the other side stays clean. But for some ranks my tangs and foxface love going to the surface and pick it the stuff. Not sure what they are getting?

 

[Awibrandy]

Tank is looking really good Paul, thanks for sharing!

 

[Paul B]

Just taking pictures because it's raining out

 

[Mattl22]

More!

 

[Paul B]

I don't have any more :Yikes:

How about a bunch of grass shrimp? Not very exciting but I have a load of them. As a matter of fact I can collect thousands of them in a few minutes.

This is what happens when I run out of pictures.
You get me.

 

[rookie07]

NIce pictures Paul...Cute little CBB you have.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks Phil, copperbands are one of my favorite fish.

 

[Paul B]

A few weeks ago I added one of those silly gobi/shrimp pairs. As soon as the pair hit the water, the shrimp lost the gobi and found a burrow of his own. I didn't see the shrimp for a while and figured he croaked but now I see him hanging out with this old guy pictured below.
He lost his mate of 12 years a few months ago and I guess got bored. Now I see both of them digging tunnels. The shrimp starts digging and the gobi who is about 5" backs in and with a few swipes of his tail, cleans out a nice hole. I am glad they found each other and seem happy. Of course the original gobi that I bought with the shrimp is carrying a torch and is all alone.
Poor little guy.
This is the original gobi I got with the shrimp

This one is about 12 or 13 and is the new buddy of the shrimp. He is about 5"

 

[Paul B]

Winter is coming so I am going to winterize my boat and put it on dry dock so I just have one more day to collect some amphipods and bacteria from the sea. I have enough snails and shrimp already.
You can't kill those local NY mud snails.
We went away for 4 days this week and I only lost one coral which isn't bad at all. I had a neighbor feed the tank and one small birdsnest coral hitched a ride on the urchin and found itself in the middle of a giant mushroom. I don't know how long it was there but it has almost no life on it. The mushroom is fine, actually it looks better.
Yesterday I bought a beautiful hammer coral. A new LFS opened up so I went there. They gave me a great deal so I owed it to my body to get the thing.
My tank is looking real good and there are no problems, no flatworms, cyano, hair algae or anything else, except bristle worms, I have giants all over the place and they ran out of places to hide so they come out in the open. I think since I re did the aquascaping and moved almost all the rocks off the substrait, they congregate in the few places that contact the gravel. Great scavengers and I know if something does, it will disappear in no time. I may trap some just because there are too many.
I also bought this anitque microscope in Vermont. It is 115 years old and works beautifully. I got ripped of as now I see it for over a hundred dollars less than I paid for it but it is what it is. :headwallblue:
When we came home from Vermont I noticed my RUGF was not working. The pump had stopped, maybe for a day, maybe a week. I don't know and it doesn't matter but I had to get the old powerhead out of there from behind the rocks. Of course when you do that, stuff collapses and you try to hold everything up. I managed to hit one of the LEDs and the reflector fell in the tank. I can't find the thing and am hoping the urchin finds it and carries it to the front of the tank where I can see it. I am not going to dig around to look for it.

 

[AQUARIUM X-CELLENCE]

in a couple of weeks my reef will will have reached 40 years old.
Unfortunately i don't remember when i was 40 but i remember when i set it up. I was a skinny 22 year old just back from viet nam.
It is still running very well, still using the same reverse ug filter, same dolomite substrait but none of the fish are original. The oldest one, a fireclown is just over 16, all of the older fish died in an accident that was due to my carelessness.
The tank is mostly lps, gorgonians, giant mushrooms and a few leathers.
There are only three sps corals, two of which have been with me for a few years and are growing nicely.
I am not sure is any of the original nsw from the long island sound is still in there or any of the original amphipods but maybe much later generations.
I still can't take a decent picture and the tank is not as blue as these pictures but it is what it is.

that is amazing dont change a thing..good job!!!!

 

[Paul B]

Thank you. It changed a little from when those pictures were taken but only to add some SPS and change the rocks around a little. As you know, these things are an ongoing adventure and are never static for long.

 

[intersky]

congratulate!