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47 year old tank


sen5241b

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One of the most interesting things about this successful tank is the incredibly low maintenance. 5 water changes a year, doses with driveway ice melter, reverse under gravel filter (this makes sense), adds mud from local bay to his tank.

 

http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/paul-baldassano-40-year-old-saltwater-aquarium-3078/

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It's amazing.  That tank looks exactly like mine, but I am a little better looking than that Paul Guy.  Who does he think he is running a reverse UG filter?  Doesn't he know that is a nitrate factory?

 

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Edited by paul b
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It's amazing. That tank looks exactly like mine, but I am a little better looking than that Paul Guy. Who does he think he is running a reverse UG filter? Doesn't he know that is a nitrate factory?

 

2013-09-30232555_zps151101d0.jpg

 

Lol...

 

Love me some Paul....

 

Which reminds me...too much tank talk from him lately...grand baby pics please

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

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It's amazing.  That tank looks exactly like mine, but I am a little better looking than that Paul Guy.  Who does he think he is running a reverse UG filter?  Doesn't he know that is a nitrate factory?

 

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Hey Paul, I've started dosing my tank with drywall dust and spackle. Is this something you've had success with?

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^^ Paul: Remember that movie with Don Knotts - The Incredible Mr. Limpet? That picture of you brings that movie to mind. How's your ladyfish doing anyway? Tell her that we WAMASers say hi.

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Tom, I will pass that along.

 

 

Hey Paul, I've started dosing my tank with drywall dust and spackle. Is this something you've had success with?

Forget drywall dust, but I have fed Plaster of Paris to my Moorish Idols and a few other fish.  I am sure I posted that on here someplace.

Everybody who has never fed Plaster of Paris and has an older tank.  Raise your hand........Higher.    That's what I thought.  :cool:

 

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lol

 

so its either the bald heads or you have an extremely strong DNA but I can't get over the resemblance with both of these babies to you....

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To piggy back on that, and by no means do I mean any disrespect, does anyone else see the irony in Paul B's last name?  Obviously what you are doing with the tank is working, but please change the grandkids more than 5x a year.  No feeding of blackworms either!

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Paul , you finally figured out how to post img links! Next thing we know you'll have an Apex!

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Prunfarm, I know all about it.  :huh:  (whats a Prunfarm?)

 

YHSublime, I can post links now but I don't know what an Apex is and don't care to know as that would be just one more thing that I would consider useless in a long line of useless things that float around in this hobby.

 

It would be right up there with controllers, reactors, oxidators, DSBs, flake food and most test kits.  :ohmy:

 

What bald head?

 

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I used to have hair and not to long ago and I can prove it.  And I always had a girl friend

 

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Edited by paul b
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Haha!  My username is just a shortening of my parent's farm name, Pheasant Run Farm.  Currently home to beef cattle, chickens, and honey bees.  I could have gone with PRfarm, but as we are Puerto Rican (any of those in Long Island?), I thought it was a bit campy.  Sadly we have no prunes, or dried plums as they are called now. 

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Paul you have some good looking grandkids.   As a father of three, I am an expert in cute kids.  When I get water in my tank I'll get my own kids to put on bathing suits and stand in it for a mermaid shot.  

 

Your tank looks great and I enjoyed the link to your brine shrimp hatchery.  One day I'll post a pic of the blackworm rack that you inspired me to make.

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Thanks Dave

 

 

 but as we are Puerto Rican (any of those in Long Island?), I thought it was a bit campy.  Sadly we have no prunes, or dried plums as they are called now. 

We have quite a few, my Sister N Law is one. 

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It's amazing.  That tank looks exactly like mine, but I am a little better looking than that Paul Guy.  Who does he think he is running a reverse UG filter?  Doesn't he know that is a nitrate factory?

 

 

 

Considering all the sand beds that got stirred up and caused tank crashes, your reverse UG filter makes sense. The article said you dose once a week. How exactly do you dose?

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Considering all the sand beds that got stirred up and caused tank crashes, your reverse UG filter makes sense. The article said you dose once a week. How exactly do you dose?

I use Dow Flake Ice melter and some baking soda.  I think it's 1 1/4 cup of ice melter to a gallon of water and 1 1/8 cup of baking soda to a gallon of water.  Out of those two gallons I add about half an ounce a day to the tank but I do it weekly (when I remember) so it comes to about 3 ounces a week from each bottle.   Thats my dosing regimin.

 

Londonloco, thank you

Edited by paul b
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Paul, I have been looking to find more info about your under gravel filter but I cant find info anywhere, can you tell us more in detail about it? Like how do you use it and what modification you did to it (i doubt is left untouched) . I enjoy reading all your articles and have learned a lot, I dont freak out about small changes in my tank anymore lol.

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Paul, I have been looking to find more info about your under gravel filter but I cant find info anywhere, can you tell us more in detail about it? Like how do you use it and what modification you did to it (i doubt is left untouched) . I enjoy reading all your articles and have learned a lot, I dont freak out about small changes in my tank anymore lol.

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I didn't come up with this over night, it took quite a few years to get it right because if you do it wrong, it is a disaster.  First off you need to use gravel, sand won't work.  I use dolomite.  I have a regular UG filter and in my 6' tank it is in 3 plates.  The 3 "uplift" tubes I bent near the gravel and bring them all up at one back corner of the tank and they enter the bottom of this green container that is just an old HOB filter.  Any container will work.  In the container there is a bunch of plastic window screens just so it doesn't splash.  Mine is noiseless.  The hose you see entering from the left is connected to a power head in my tank and it has a sponge filter on the intake.  Water is pumped into this container at the rate of 150 GPH (for my tank) that is only about 50 GPH in each tube.  (I think that is what it is as it has been so long)  It must be run slow or you will push detritus under the gravel and it will clog before it's time.

That's it.  The thing works with detritus because there will always be detritus and I consider that a good thing.  The detritus, eventually evens out the flow through the gravel and slows the water down to a crawl in some places so some denitrification takes place.  But that is not the main benefit of this system.  The benefit is that you can maintain it forever.  To do that, once or twice a year I use a canister filter and blow the gravel around all the way down to the filter plates.  Only where I can reach without removing the rocks.  That makes a huge typhoon that I suck out with a diatom or canister filter.  I make this typhoon a few times then I am done.  No need to get all the detritus out I just want to make sure there are no dead spots in the gravel.  Every month or so I slide off the sponge on the power head and rinse it out.  It is usually filled with amphipods so I rinse it in saltwater and collect those to throw back in.  Every ten years or so I want to re aquascape and I remove some rock so I can do a better job of stirring up the gravel.

 

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Edited by paul b
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