sethsolomon November 23, 2015 Share November 23, 2015 Paul have you considered one of the hydroponics par38 bulbs for your algae scrubber? the 7 red to 1 blue LED ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b November 23, 2015 Share November 23, 2015 No odor from it. It smells like lotus blossums in the breeze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruleyii November 23, 2015 Share November 23, 2015 hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 15, 2015 Share December 15, 2015 Seth, no I have never heard of it. Now that my water cooled light works I think I will build another one for my algae scrubber. I think this one will be an air cooled copper one because it will be to small for a water pump. I just need to buy a copper plate about 8" square and I am going to solder fins all over the back and add a small fan. I have a bunch of extra LEDs I can use. Another fun project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 18, 2015 Share December 18, 2015 My closest friend and dive partner, Richie Natoli just moved to Key Largo and here is a couple of pictures he sent me, Below water And above Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 20, 2015 Share December 20, 2015 I finally found a use for the waste water from RO/DI. It was looking me in the face for years and all of a sudden as I was looking at my worm tank I said. "Like Duh". I am wasting all this water and my blackworm tank is right under my RO unit. So now the waste water goes into the worm keeper, then to a drain. My tank evaporates about a gallon a day so that makes about 4 gallons of waste water. My worm tank only holds about 2 gallons so it is a win win situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruleyii December 21, 2015 Share December 21, 2015 Ive been trying to think of what to do with my waste water too. Ive read that it is great for house plants but I dont really want to store or have room to store the waste water until I need to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 23, 2015 Share December 23, 2015 Two more days, Christmas Day is my Birthday and I am very happy because everyone celebrates it with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 24, 2015 Share December 24, 2015 So today I am making stuffed Calamari with linguini for one of the seafood dishes we will have tonight for Christmas Eve dinner. We are Italian so we have to have at least 7 types of seafood today. Last year we had 21 because we all bring something. Anyway I am stuffing the squid and I had to go downstairs for more olive oil. I immediately sense something is wrong. I look at my tank and it is totally dark. Oh No. These things only happen on Easter, Mother's Day or Christmas Eve. I put down the oil and go in the back of the tank. Now I have this new water cooled LED fixture that I built a week ago and it has been running great with no problems. I see water on the floor and the sight glass on my fixture is empty. Oh No. The first thing I do is look at the corals with a flashlight because this fixture is made of copper pipe and if the water from the fixture went in the tank, the corals would be looking like snot from the copper. The corals look good and I can't see anything leaking. So I slowly add water to the system and OH NO. Water is shooting out from a union. I tighten the union and add more water. OH NO, it shoots right out. So I remove the union and remember I have a bunch of calamari in the middle of being stuffed. The Calamari will have to wait. It's dead anyway so it won't notice. I put the union on my workbench and check it out but it looks fine. I screw it back on to the fitting using new Teflon tape, fill it with water, turn on the system and ......Oh No. Water is spitting all over the place. AAAAHHHHHH. I really need to get these calamari finished. I remove the union again and take it to my workbench. This is not easy because I am covered in Olive oil and garlic. This time I look closer and the thing has a big crack in it. The crack only shows up when it is screwed to a pipe. I have a spare union and I install it and slowly fill the system with water. The light goes on, then it goes off, it goes on, then off. It takes about an hour to get all the air out of the system for it to stay running. After all the air is out, there is no more maintenance or adding water because it is a closed system like a car radiator. Luckily I built this thing with a fail safe built in. It worked as it was designed, if it runs out of water or the pump stops, the LEDs turn off so they don't burn out. The fail safe is how we design things on a construction job and it means if the thing dies, or leaks, it will leak outside the tank and the LEDs will turn off. All the plastic parts are outside the tank and I know my soldered pipe joints won't leak as I pressure tested them and now the system has no pressure in it. So now all is well. The fish and corals are happy, I even gave them some squid which they don't like nearly as much as clams because it is much more chewy. Merry Christmas Everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sen5241b December 24, 2015 Author Share December 24, 2015 Merry Christmas! Enjoy your seafood. (they got great seafood up in L.I. Heard of Lombardi's by the Sea?) We are having Cioppino Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 24, 2015 Share December 24, 2015 Of course I heard of Lombardi's. Have a great meal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 26, 2015 Share December 26, 2015 My book party is today. I have a big poster of the book and it should be fun. We couldn't get the New York Aquarium because it is still closed due to Hurricane Sandy. Why knew? But we are having it in an Italian restaurant that I go to often and know the owners well. It should be fun. My Daughter will read the foreword and I will read part of the introduction, but if no one is paying attention, I will punish them and read the entire book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LCDRDATA December 26, 2015 Share December 26, 2015 My wife bought me the book for Christmas, I started reading last night; enjoyed your daughter's forward. Have fun at the book party! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 26, 2015 Share December 26, 2015 Thanks, she is going to read that foreword at the party. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 27, 2015 Share December 27, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbowdeep88 December 29, 2015 Share December 29, 2015 Congrats! Your book was on my christmas list but i didnt get it. So I will have to get it for myself soon. Really looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LCDRDATA December 29, 2015 Share December 29, 2015 But where are the supermodels (aside from your daughter, obviously)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 29, 2015 Share December 29, 2015 There is one in the book feeding my fish, but you can't borrow her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 31, 2015 Share December 31, 2015 I just love making typhoons with my diatom filter. I am not sure how the fish and corals like it though. But they will thank me later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b January 1, 2016 Share January 1, 2016 This morning when the lights came on in my tank I said to myself, "Self" this tank is gorgeous. Not because I have the nicest corals, fish, aquascape, lights or anything else but because my tank, and "every" tank is a work of art. Especially today after I stirred up everything with a diatom filter and sucked every thing out. The fish seem to be suspended in air as there is not a particle floating anywhere. I am sure the corals enjoyed the typhoon as they all seem to be smiling and extending their tentacles, probably only to be disappointed that they are not collecting anything. But that will change at dinnertime when I cut up some clams for the fish, but more importantly for the clam juice that the corals seem to enjoy. My tank depends on this treatment because I run a reverse undergravel filter. I am not sure how other people maintain their tanks as I have always ran this type of system. I like it because I can maintain it and truth be told, I enjoy doing it. Seeing the clouds of very fine detritus floating over the gorgonians (with the pumps off) and their tiny tentacles pulsating with enjoyment as they ingest this stuff. The fish flitting about trying to catch something that they hope is food. I realize many people would think of this as work. But if maintenance is work, why would you be in this hobby? "Work" or maintenance, feeding, cleaning, scraping, changing water etc. Is "all" fun to me. I had a job all my life where people threw money at me every week and every five minutes for forty years I looked at my watch to see if it was time for me to go home, partly to see my tank. That was work. Tank maintenance! That is fun. Every part of it. If it were not, I would go back to work, God Forbid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b January 2, 2016 Share January 2, 2016 (edited) Did you guys finish the book yet? Happy New Year everyone. My Kids, Edited January 2, 2016 by paul b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b January 5, 2016 Share January 5, 2016 Today I saw on another forum someone had a "smart" watch that they could use to check on their tank and change the colors of their lights, see the temperature and a number of other things which I have no idea of. My day consists of getting up at about 5:30 and "if" I decide to go to my finished basement to do something I will walk past the tank and put my finger on the front glass. That is my temperature check. Then.........Well.....That's about it. Of course I will hear if the pumps are running and while my finger is on the glass if the tank leaked all over the floor, I will hear the squishing but if I don't hear that I will go about my day knowing that my fish will be fine. If there is a problem, they may text me. Then I will go about my day exploring the meaning of life, drinking coffee with friends while searching for Supermodels until I again come home. I am not quite sure what my fish do all day but they are almost all spawning so I assume they are dating. I go to the freezer and remove a clam, scrape off some paper thin pieces, add some live blackworms and, after turning off the pumps, squirt it in the water. I squirt some on the right side so the copperband goes over there, then I squirt some on the left side so the bangai cardinals can eat, then, the copperband goes over there so I squirt some over to the right side again so the wrasses can eat and so on. Of course I have to fill my mandarin feeder with new born brine shrimp and maybe clean the glass with a DIY magnet thing but that's about it. My RO unit has a piece of white electrical tape on it and it reads 4/15/07. It seems like yesterday that I changed that membrane but I guess it is time to replace it. I am surprised the thing still makes water. Every six months or so, If I think about it or if something seems off, I will bring some water to a LFS to test it. And of course I do change some water. If it is the summer I may collect 10 gallons at a beach but usually I make it like everyone else. I don't do that very often but I do change some water. That's my maintenance for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 5, 2016 Share January 5, 2016 Sounds like an awful lot of work, Paul. Just kidding! It highlights the difference, though, between people new to the hobby who'll test multiple times per day and those who've had more time who'll test once a month or less (or in your case, maybe far less). I've always loved that you're able to get to the beach to harvest pods for your tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b January 5, 2016 Share January 5, 2016 (edited) Hello Tom. Collecting amphipods is one of my favorite passtimes. I could also do it in the winter and have collected them under the ice, but It is not thrilling to do that especially today when it was 11 degrees. The fish can eat cake. Of course I do play with my tank sometimes all day but that is just for fun or to experiment. This week I am designing a new water cooled LED for my algae scrubber. I already built a water cooled light for the tank and am thrilled with it. Not just because it works so well, but because it was such a fun build. I can't wait to start this one which will be much smaller and only have 16 LEDs. As for testing multiple times a day, seawater is very stable as long as you don't mess with it and those tanks that are tested and tweeked all the time, are the tanks with the most problems. Edited January 5, 2016 by paul b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 5, 2016 Share January 5, 2016 As for testing multiple times a day, seawater is very stable as long as you don't mess with it and those tanks that are tested and tweeked all the time, are the tanks with the most problems. +1,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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