47 year old tank

[paul b]

[paul b]

I have a slight tank problem.  Last week I bought a torch coral with a bunch of heads on it which is very cool as I have quite a few of them.  Yesterday I noticed one head croaked, that is not supposed to happen so I broke down and tested the water for PO4 and nitrates.  The two kits I have are very old and I have no Idea when I got them.  They could be from Columbus so I am not taking the readings to seriously.  The PO4 reads practically zero (which I doubt) and the nitrate is hard to read because it looks like ink so according to that kit it is like 4 million.  It probably is 50 or so which is higher than I would like as I would rather it be near 25 or so.  I am thinking this may be the cause of that coral dying but it could have been damaged when I got it as the rest of my corals seem fine.  But The tank is way overloaded, the fish got to big, I feed like an all you can eat buffet because most of them are spawning and I can't do my normal maintenance because of the five pipefish.  Every ten years or so I like to remove much of the rock and stir up the UG filter, but whenever I do that, I lose the pipefish.  I think their tiny gills get clogged so I can't clean the gravel and it is over due.  I also can't catch the pipefish.  If I try to remove the rocks I would have to break many of the larger corals as they have grown across everything.  I don't see this as a problem but an interesting situation that makes me think.  I have a few plans, none of which are good plans but plans none the less.  One scenario I will build tank dividers out of plexiglass and section off one quarter of the tank after removing the rocks.  Then I would clean that and try to move it to half the tank.  Then take all the rock and corals from the remaining side and put that on the clean side, then do that side.  This of course would be a night mare.  The other plan involves removing everything except the gravel to large vats which I don't have enough.  I would break the corals very gently but they would not be happy.  Then I would remove the fish and stir up the gravel.  If I did this I have interesting ideas on what I want to do with the rock.  I want it completely off the gravel and the entire reef would be suspended from above on nylon lines that you would not see from the front.  I have been wanting to do this for years but the amount of disruption to the tank would be quite a bit.  I love the aquascape I have now as very little of it is actually touching the gravel because I built long fake rock that spans large areas without hitting the bottom.  In the mean time I re built my denitrifier coil.  It used to be on the tank but during Hurricane Sandy the power went off and that thing was not high on my list to keep going so it stopped and I didn't want to turn it on again until I ran bleach through it.  I wanted to try a different model anyway.  It is now running in my workshop as I will seed it with bacteria and get it going again.  These things excite me and get me thinking other wisw, I get bored.

[paul b]

That coil thing is now changed.  There is now an inside coil and an outside coil.  The entire thing fits inside that blue tube that gets sealed and just makes it look cool.  The tank is running well but I surpassed the ability of the bacteria to process nitrates.  It will be fine if I could stir up the gravel as it has been to long and some areas clog.  My pistol shrimp are not helping because they piled up the gravel in the center of the tank about 8" high so there are places with no gravel and you can see the UG filter plates.  I also have to stop adding livestock and feeding so much but that is the consequences of having the fish spawning.  They require a lot of food and I feed the pipefish herd a few times a day.  All the fish are twice as large as they were when I added them and they eat twice as much.  But it's all good

[DuffyGeos]

Can you just clean like a 6" x6" section of gravel at a time, let everything settle and do the next section another day? Either use a gravel vac to get the detritus out of the gravel, or use a new shop vac to actually remove gravel and some water, then clean the gravel and put it back.

[paul b]

The rock covers every inch and I built much of the rock so some of them are 2 feet long and snake all over the reef especially under it to support It so it will be hard to do 6" squares

[DuffyGeos]

The rock covers every inch and I built much of the rock so some of them are 2 feet long and snake all over the reef especially under it to support It so it will be hard to do 6" squares

 

How about 2.36" squares?

[paul b]

That I could do

[paul b]

It is almost my wife's birthday so yesterday her closest friend took her out to Manhattan for a surprise.  We don't live far from Manhattan and we both worked there.  They first went to Madam Trusseau's wax museum (which is a place New Yorker's never go, like the Statue of Liberty because we don't think about it as it is a tourist attraction) In NY it is huge, 9 floors and as they were walking through she turned to see one of the wax figures, and it was her other close friend posing as a statue so that was a surprise.  There was also a Radio City Rockett there commissioning her wax figure. Then they went outside and on to this bus.  I worked in the city all my life and never heard of this so it must be new.  It was a huge bus with windows covering one side, ceiling to floor and the other side is closed.  The seats face the window and there are two cute girls on the bus who are also entertainers.  As this bus went through the city there were people outside on the sidewalk that are part of the entertainment but you don't know it.  There was a female street sweeper with the broom and when the bus went past, she started doing cartwheels and dancing on the street.  Then a few blocks later there was someone else.  9 people all together were on the sidewalk among the crowds and they did their thing as the bus went by or stopped.  Then they went to my Daughter's new home in the West Village and my Daughter took them all out to dinner.  I am so happy that she had such a good time as she is having some trouble walking but she reallyhad a ball.

[YHSublime]

Glad to hear, happy birthday to your wife!

[paul b]

She had a great time,  Here is The Ride in case you are in Manhattan and don't know what to do. 

[paul b]

Today I picked up this very cool clingfish although I have to admit, I never had much luck keeping them very long.  You don't see them very often and I don't really like common fish.

[paul b]

My boat is away for the winter but I have the two outdrives in my garage so in the spring I have to do yearly maintenance on them like paint them with antifouling paint, replace the zinc's and change the oil.  I can't wait to get out and do some collecting in the summer as that is one of my favorite things to do.  That and to watch the Supermodels they sometimes have at my marina when they want to introduce a new boat model.

My tank is doing very well, I just lost a small hammer coral but that is a good thing because it was shaded by an acropora that seems to be growing very fast.  I don't know why.  I couldn't get my fat fingers under it to move the hammer but it is what it is.  I have plenty more hammers.  The monti's are doing the same thing and I will have to break them soon as they are almost touching the front glass.  Breaking them is not a problem as they seem to be the fastest growing coral and they even shade their own cousins and kill them.  But again, that is a good thing.  Sometimes I break off the shaded pieces and stick them someplace else but usually I just let nature take it's course. 
I still have the pipefish, mandarins, ruby red dragonette, possum wrasse, pair of pistol shrimp and every thing else.  A bananafish jumped out, actually both of them jumped out so I won't be getting more of them even though they are extreamly cool.  I also don't know how many shrimp gobies I have as there is so many places to hide, I only see glimpses of some of them occasionally.  I may go to my favorite LFS today because I want a mate for the ruby red dragonette and possum wrasse.  I don't like to see lonely fish.
My water is always clear but for some reason today it seems exceptionally clear.  I am not sure why but it disappeared, not even sediment.  Maybe the large blue sponge sucked it all up?  Who knows.
I have not seen my new clingfish eat anything yet, not even live newborn brine or live worms.  What he does do is position himself right in front of a hermit crab like a javelin, he is very still an inch away, then he propels himself right at the crabs face.  The crab is not amused and quickly pulls his shell down in front of his face and the clingfish crashes into his shell and bounces off.  You would think that after a couple of hours of this, he would get a bloody nose (if he had a nose) or at least tire of it.  But it is his thing so I assume he eats hermit crab faces.

You really can't get  good picture of those ruby red guys as they don't like camera's, but he is in the back here

OH, here he is

This stuff just grows wild

This is just a common red one

[paul b]

I was looking for my clingfish this morning before the lights came on and I noticed the blue stripe pipefish spawning.  Those and the mandarins spawn just before the lights come on.  Bluestripe pipefish are my favorite pipes because they can take care of themselves with no help from me.  I am just here to give them something to make fun of.  And of course to hatch brine shrimp every day because I feel that if you have a pair of fish and they are not spawning they are not very healthy and should be put in a nursing home.  So now, as usual all my paired fish seem to be spawning.  I wish I could get a copperband to do that but I only have one and I am sure my tank is way to small.

[paul b]

My tank is doing great for some reason.  I still have to move the entire structure to the back and break a bunch of corals to do that, but I am going to wait until after the holidays because I get a lot of visitors now and after I do that, the tank will need a little time to recover and re grow.  The pistol shrimp pair are still making huge tunnels.  It amazes me that they can construct tunnels so long under a heavy reef using just gravel.  All my livestock is doing very well and many are still spawning.  These duncans probably doubled in size in the few months since I have them

This mushroom is weird and I have seen this many times.  The thing will sit there for years doing almost nothing and all of a sudden it grows to 5 times it's size.  I have noticed that a number of times.  Now that it grew I can feed it and it really grows when you feed it.  I use clams to feed them and most of my corals and fish (the fish also get live blackworms every day)  I do not use Mysis to feed corals because Mysis are mostly shell and corals do not need shell which is not even calcium.  I still feel clams are the best food besides live worms that you can feed most sea creatures.

About a week or two ago I bought this staghorn.  Tomorrow I am going back to get some more of them as it seems to like my tank so far and expands nicely.  When I dove in Tahiti these things were like weeds with miles of them growing in shallow water.  I love this stuff.

[paul b]

I took a new picture

 

[YHSublime]

Nice Photo, Paul! Tank is looking good.

[paul b]

Thanks it's coming along and will be cycled soon

[sen5241b]

Its looking good!

[DuffyGeos]

Thanks it's coming along and will be cycled soon

LOL

[paul b]

I am having so much fun writing this book and I am going to have all sorts of extra stuff that I can't fit in my tank like bottles and DIY rock because I am making this stuff again because when I normally built all these things it was for my own tank and I didn't take detailed pictures of the process.  I am also drawing sketches for the more complicated things like chillers, shrimp hatcheries and stuff like that.  I didn't realize I built so many things because I just feel it is normal stuff but then realize, most people don't do this as I am kind of weird.   I am excited as to how it is coming out because it is not anywhere like any book out there as I read them all.  I may even read it myself 

[dave w]

You're not weird, you see what works and don't put up with the marketing slogans that others repeat because they can't think of an original thought.

 

I'm sure if enough people kept tanks for 43 years they'd agree with you on a lot more things than they'd disagree.

[elbowdeep88]

I will buy it for sure. Interested in your DIY but even more so in your natural philosophy to reefkeeping. The biological and ecological over chemical and mechanical manipulation approachs. So I hope there is an intro chapter that talks about that stuff.

 

One thing Ive always wondered is how you feel comfortable tossing in so much stuff from local waters. I absolutely see the value in the microfauna and biodiversity, but you dont worry about pollutants or strange viruses or pathogens? I assume you scout out clean collection areas, but what about bad biologics? Does the difference in water temp help kill off bad stuff? But that would kill good stuff too?

 

I like the idea of throwing in some rubble rock from the bay or atlantic, I see great potential for benefits...but what about that one off chance of disaster as a result?

[paul b]

Elbowdeep, I started the tank with New York water right after it passes Manhattan.  No problems yet.  I do talk about that in the book and it's all about a healthy immune system and a healthy immune system actually needs those viruses, bacteria and parasites to function normally, but many people resist the natural ways that our fish evolved with and try to force them to be healthy by eliminating all the things that their immune system was designed to protect them with.  You can't live in a bubble and the people that do are very sick individuals which is why they are there.  Healthy people don't live in a sterile house or in a hospital.  Healthy fish with an operating immune system do not have any problems with parasites or anything else.  Some of it I wrote about here.  http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/?s=slime

[elbowdeep88]

Great perspective. That makes sense. Like allowing children to play in the mud vs sanitizing them every 2 seconds. "Sterile" kids don't seem to get sick often, but when they do it tends to be serious.

 

So when you put in your natural water, is it 5 gal in a 150gal system once a year? Do you have a schedule or just a gallon or two every once in a while?

[paul b]

I use NSW when I am near the sea and I have some buckets.  I don't have any schedules.  If I collect it is usually 15 gallons for my 100 gallon tank.  If I could carry more, I would.  I would use all NSW if I had a trailer to transport it.  I don't like to espouse my theories on these forums because of all the arguments that will ensue.  I am happy to be able to buy any fish, from anywhere in any state of health and almost immediately put it in my tank.  Many people don't want to hear that but those are mainly the people who can't do that because their fish are not in a state of health that they should be in and would be covered in parasites if they did put in such a fish.  Then there are the people who lost their tank of fish to parasites and swear to quarantine in the future.  Those people definitely should quarantine because their fish are not healthy enough to ward off all diseases.  In 6 years my tank will be fifty years old.  There has not been any death from anything except old age and jumping out in maybe 30 years.   How long does my tank have to go disease free before I can prove my methods?   I like the fact that I discovered a way to do this naturally and it is not a concern to me that most people don't agree with me and wish I would get stung by a blue ringed octopus while a Supermodel is hitting me with fire coral.  If you want to quarantine for 8 weeks and leave your tank fallow for 72 days if you see ich, that's fine.  I just do it a little differently.

I have a very good neighbor who lives with that hand sanitizer.  If we go to dinner she first washes her hands and covers them with hand sanitizer.  So do her kids.  I have never seen people get sick more than them.  They are always sick, I wonder why.  When I was in Viet Nam, I lived in the jungle for a year, never coming out.  I never saw a road, roof, building, electricity or fresh water for that year so I never got the opportunity to wash my hands before I ate.  I never got sick, not even a sniffle and it rained constantly for 6 months while I slept in the mud.  I learned a few things from that.

Edited January 28, 2015 by paul b