47 year old tank

[paul b]

These guys eat suspended detritus and will be difficult to feed in a sterile tank. They were the same size last week but the one on the right just shed.

I usually have some of these porcelain crabs, but I want maybe ten more

 

 

[paul b]

Today I tried to move stuff around in my tank to fit the gorgonians in better and of course I broke some stuff and had to re glue it. I am working with one arm (due to shoulder operation) and I have to put on two gloves to prevent the male fireclown from biting my hand off. The two gloves is the secret and he doesn't hurt much through those gloves. If I put my bare hand in there near his stomping grounds I would have to tie a tourniquet around my elbow so I don't bleed to death.

 

He thinks he is a barracuda.

 

 

 

I moved some stuff from the right side to the left side and vise versa, but I am having trouble with some SPS that I can't get where I want so I will have to wait until I can put both arms in the tank.

 

 

 

I am totally embarrassed this year because I am a big Christmas guy (my birthday is on Christmas day and I have been playing Santa for over 40 years)

 

We bought a small "fake" Christmas tree. I "hate" artificial trees, I mean, I really hate them. But this year I can't carry a real tree or put it up so we got this thing really cheap so we can throw it out next year.

 

I also noticed it was made in China so I am having a hard time looking at it and I can't wait until the Holiday is over so I can throw it out.

 

This is the first time in my life I put something like this up and I would never buy something from China.

 

Our Grand Kids are coming over and I really needed a tree. I just hope they forget this is a fake tree and next year I will go overboard with decorating.

 

 

 

Even outside my house I couldn't put out my home made, really cool, very big train, plane and Jack in the Box that I always display.

 

This is very embarrassing and I have to go and hide my head in mud.

 

 

 

[sethsolomon]

Looking good!   I think I am going to follow your example and add a bottle or 2 to my new tank  

[paul b]

I think I have 9 of them in there. The tank is much more colorful than that picture, but for some reason, on this site it comes out washed out. Make believe it is more colorful

[paul b]

I just looked under my tank and see that I have to add two more leg supports as two legs are badly rusted. It will have to wait a while because of the shoulder surgery.

 

 

 

This material I used to construct this stand about 40 years ago is called "Kindorf". It is a structural support we use for virtually everything in construction indoors and out. It can also be used to support street signs so it is very corrosion resistant and galvanized. For anyone using regular iron or painted steel, get ready for the rust as steel has no sense of humor around salt water. It started rusting after about 15 years.

 

 

 

[paul b]

I already posted this someplace and I figured I would also put it here where no one will see it so I won't get yelled at because I am to old and just wouldn't care.

 

 

 

I was just perusing this forum and the amount of "sick" fish threads is mind boggling. I really hate to see so many beautiful fish that we take from the sea and allow them to die. It should not happen.

Of course if you read any of these many pages of this thread I feel it is "all" because we are failing to get our fish immune from even the simplest diseases.

Of course I am going to try to propose a plan. My entire thing is about fish health and I have been a sponge sucking up information about this while I am looking at my fish, and they are looking back. The reason I want to get into this a little now is because in a couple of days I had some shoulder surgery (for the fifth time) and I have to type with my feet so I want to start this. The other reason is that I have been sitting here looking at my fish and noticing that virtually all of them just look extremely healthy as they always do. On a very healthy fish you can clearly see a fluorescent looking sheen on every scale. Each spine on every fin should also be perfect and most fish have vibrant, shimmering colors on their fins. We all know there should be no torn fins, spots, Tattoos or bar codes. Healthy fish sometimes do hide but that is a species thing and all fish should be eating and eating with gusto like I do when I am eating linguini and clams like I had last night.

Also, very important if you have any paired damsels, wrasses, pipefish, gobies, cardinals, dragonettes and a few others, they should be pregnant or they just laid eggs and your fish should "never" get sick. So, those things, to me are the criteria of a healthy fish.

Now I am going to hear, "Yeah, but we can't do that because it is to hard". Yes you can as it is very easy and probably cheaper than what you are now doing. (I am sure you are also losing fish before their normal lifespan)

I think that unless you are a Noob you can easily do this so Noobs go and watch Kelly Ripa. Maybe she put on a couple of ounces. It will also be much easier if you have a running, tank. I didn't say cycled because that is a silly thing. There is no such thing as a just cycled tank. We hear all the time things like "my tank finished cycling last night at 2:15 so I added 17 pieces of SPS, a dogfaced puffer, ribbon eel and a Moorish Idol because he was eating brine shrimp and they are all laying on the bottom, texting and breathing hard while the SPS looks like Emu poop".

The truth is if you cycled your tank with a dead or bowlegged shrimp, then your ammonia readings went to zero, that means your tank has enough bacteria in it to process one bowlegged shrimp and nothing more.

A tank continues to "cycle" through out it's entire lifespan as bacteria grow and die according to the load. I added an orange spotter filefish to my tank 3 weeks ago so the tank had to grow enough bacteria to process the wastes from that one fish.

Anyway. If I had a "cycled" natural tank with a little age on it, (and hopefully a little algae) I would buy a couple of fish. Not the most expensive fish I could afford to impress the Supermodel who just moved in next door, but something fairly hardy like clownfish, wrasses, bleenies etc. I would add those fish "without quarantining them". Remember this is my plan, Humble has his. Right after the fish hit the water I would feed them the proper foods. Not flakes, not pellets and God Forbid, no freeze dried anything. The absolute best first foods are live blackworms or white worms. "Live" is the key if you can get it. If you can't get it, it will still work but live is best. Along with the live food you need something that was fresh not very long ago like clams. I buy live clams, freeze them and shave off pieces. If you live in Nevada, Arizona or Tunisia, I don't know what to tell you because you need to get live bacteria into those fish and get it in there at "every meal". I am sure you can get some type of fresh (kind of ) clams in the mid west even if it is frozen. You don't want something that was frozen during the last ice age as the least time the thing was frozen, the better as we are looking for live bacteria. In Lieu of clams you can use (and I do) LRS foods which move quickly off the shelves and have bacteria in them. Never use foods that say "Irradiated to kill harmful pathogens". Leave the harmful pathogens in there. We are trying to keep our fish immune from harmful pathogens and if their immune system doesn't know what a harmful pathogen is, it won't work and your fish will die the first time they are subjected to harmful pathogens, or Rap music.

I realize the things I am saying go against everything we know about fish so if you find someone who has been doing this longer than me, listen to them. And so will I. But they may drool on you or cough up some funky looking green stuff because I "cycled" my tank with trilobites. I also realize I am not the God of fish tanks unless they have reverse undergravel filters which are state of the art.

I am trying to "teach" this stuff the best way I can while trying not to sound like a know it all, (Although I feel I know it all :p)

If you think I am nuts, senile, amnesiatic, or a "know it all", go with the Noobs and watch Kelly Ripa as I think she is still on. (I actually like her but I like all pretty girls, I mean fish, I like all pretty fish)

The other reason I am trying to convey this information (and I say this a lot) is because for some reason my fish "never" get sick. My 25 year old fireclowns, mandarins, pipefish, hippo tang, copperband etc all live in my tank up to their apparent lifespan and never get sick. Why is that? IT IS BECAUSE OF THE LIVE BACTERIA IN THEIR GUT THAT THEY GET EVERY DAY. How hard is that?

OK, it is also because they have not been quarantined and are continually exposed to those harmful pathogens that are removed from all dry foods and a lot of frozen foods.

I sincerely do not want to see fish dying in anyone's tank. Mine never do and I am not that smart, just good looking.

I "think" it is due to the fact that my fish are full of live gut bacteria and are exposed to those pathogens on a regular basis. Remember the rest of the fish you are putting in this make believe tank also come with their own pathogens. We want these pathogens and the fish need them as their immune system evolved right along side them.

A fishes immune system is a huge part of a fishes biology and uses an enormous amount of it's calories. Remember the slime is a major part of it's immune system and that slime is water soluble so it constantly washes away. The fish has to constantly replace that slime because that's where most of it's antibodies are. Re-read my first post here so I don't have to type it again.

You can't turn off that immune system but you can turn off it's ability to repel parasites. A fish is well equipped to repel parasites, but only if it is exposed to them so we need a thriving parasite family living in the tank.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Don't faint, it is true. Don't you get flu, measles and tetanus shots? Why do you do that? You do that so your immune system recognizes those diseases and you don't get them.

OK I am done for now.

This is my only medication. It was made in Brooklyn and I probably got it in the 70s. It is copper and formalin, I use it if I get a fish for free from a LFS that is getting last rites and I doubt it will live ten minutes.

I can cure parasites in a day with this and quinicrine hydrochloride (I think that's how to spell that) but that is the only time I would need a medication. I also think hypo is silly as that takes a few weeks to work and a parasite can kill the fish in hours. But that's just me.

 

[paul b]

Now I am cured enough that I think I can clean my algae scrubber. I can just about raise my left arm high enough to dis connect the thing and take it off.. It is really clogged and needs attention because if I don't do it soon,it will start to squirt water on the walls.

 

I just want to make sure I can put the thing back together because that is what feeds my Reverse UG filter.

 

It's a busy part of the year now for me and every one else with all the parties and such, but some things we need to do eventually. I don't test, change much water or have controllers or dosers to deal with so I will find the time.

 

I have not changed any water for quite a while but that will have to wait until after New Years day.

 

I am also feeding the corals yeast. I don't know if it will do anything but maybe they will rise.

[paul b]

I went to the guy who operated on my shoulder this morning. I went into the small room they put you in before they see you and the physicians helper Supermodel checked out my shoulder. Then the Dr. came in and everything is great. I can even go swimming, as long as I don't do the crawl stroke. I can do that side thing where I will look like I can swim like an algae bleenie.

In a few months, I will be as good as new.

Today I am working on my new Steampunk Lamp. This one has a gate valve that turns it on and off, very cool if I ever finish it.

 

 

I went to an LFS after the doctor to see if they had any more porcelain crabs but they didn't get them in yet. I love those things and want a bunch more. I couldn't buy any crabs so I got some food.

I didn't change water since before Thanksgiving and it will take a few more weeks before I do. I am not allowed to lift heavy stuff yet. My fish don't care because even if I didn't have shoulder surgery, I probably would not have changed water yet.

Everything in my tank is looking good and they are all still pregnant. Those Bluestripe pipefish seem to just constantly spawn which is OK with me.

One of my Bangai's died a while ago from old age (their lifespan is only about 3 years) and I thought the other one would go soon, but he must have found some vitamins because he looks better than ever. When he goes I want to get another pair of something but I can't decide what that will be. I don't do tangs and angels because I want something interesting, odd, unusual, rare and cool. I also want something that can spawn in a tank.

If you have any ideas, let me know.

[paul b]

I am working on a new SteamPunk Light. I just started it, it's the red fire extinguisher thing. Maybe I will make something I can put in my tank.

 

 

 

 

[paul b]

The new one just needs paint, rivets a base and some tweeking to be ready to be put on a shelf and forgotten about.

The gate valve turns it on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[paul b]

I just about finished it. I want to put in a much more antique, more rounder bulb. And maybe a lamp cage

 

 

 

 

The gate valve turns it on.

 

 

 

 

Time to start on another one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[paul b]

New

 

 

 

Today I changed 20 gallons of water as it was due. I filled my 20 gallon pail with water, added salt and went out for a few hours. When I came back, I had water all over the place. Luckily it was in my workshop so no harm was done except to my feelings. Years ago in that pail I added a water tap near the bottom. I would put the pail on a stand and mix up the water then I could use the valve to let the water out into smaller buckets that I could carry to the tank. That ended up being to slow so I never use the valve. But after a long time, the large iron washer I had on the outside of the bucket rotted. It almost completely disappeared and started to leak.

I need to get a couple of big stainless steel washers and put a gasket in between them so the thing won't leak. That can be tomorrow's project.

[paul b]

I got another one of these guys today, but they only had one. Now I have three of them all living on the same piece of montipora. I want 5 more of them but for some reason I can't get to many of them at once.

 

 

 

 

 

[paul b]

Fireclowns spawning again. You would think at 25 years old, they would give up. He is so old he has bags under his eyes.

 

[paul b]

Finished. The gate valve turns it on

 

[paul b]

My tank is looking god although with all the other stuff I am making I hardly get to look at it. Those 3 porcelain carbs are still on the same piece of montipora but they are on different ends of it. I don't think they like each other any more. My water cooled LED lighting system is still running better than my wildest dreams. Well maybe not better than my wildest dreams as they have a Supermodel, a hub cap from a 1957 Oldsmobile a stalk of Broccoli and a bowling ball, but close to my wildest dreams. I have been adding yeast to their food every day as an experiment. I am not sure what I am looking for but I feed yeast to my worms and they keep smiling so what the heck. I think the sponges are filtering it out because it clouds the tank but clears in 20 minutes or so. I have a lot of sponges, many of which grew on their own and I have no idea where they came from but they are extremely cool. I was cutting off some sponge just for a trim as it was shading a coral and it got away from me. Now I see it is growing around a gorgonian. That stuff will grow on anything.

 

Al the paired fish are still spawning and I am trying to get another clingfish so they can spawn.

 

I replaced the stocking mesh in my mandarin feeder with the stuff that is inside my RO unit. It is a plastic with just the right size pores for the brine shrimp feeder. The great part about it is that I can bleach it because after a week or two, the baby shrimp can't get out and the mandarin makes faces at me. I still use it every day and it stays in my tank.

 

Next week I get to see if I have PTSD which I don't think I have. I just enjoyed being interviewed by the Supermodel from the VA.

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I had a surprise. Growing up from 3 years old I had a best friend girl who lived next door to me for about 18 years. We grew up together sleeping in the same basinet and playpen and all. When I was 10 my Dad died and her parents took me camping, hiking and to all sorts of places. Our Parents were also best friends. She later moved away but not far and got married and had 3 kids. We visited them when the kids were born and a few times later.

 

She (Georgia) developed Leukemia when she was 35 years old and died soon after. I visited her in the hospital just as they were going to shave off her very long black hair for the chemo.

 

Yesterday I got a call from her Daughter who I found on Facebook. They now live in Oregon. I was thrilled to hear from her and talk about her Mother and my best friend who I miss terribly .

 

Hopefully she will come to New York for a visit because she said she wanted to come here.

 

This is me and Georgia behind my dads 1947 Pontiac.

 

 

 

 

[paul b]

I got another one of these yesterday from my favorite LFS in Westbury. But for some reason they only get one at a time so I have to go back all the time to get more

 

(Andy get me more. I want more)

 

I want about ten or fifteen of them because they are just so cool and I want them to spawn, not that I think I can raise them. They are mostly filter feeders but they will munch on a tiny piece of clam when they can get it so I squirt them some every meal. Their claws are lousy at holding anything so it takes some time for them to actually grab something.

 

[paul b]

A couple of weeks ago I went to the VA to see if I have PTSD. I found out today, that I do. OK, no big deal, I got out of Nam fifty years ago and now they tell me this.

 

They interviewed me for 3 hours and it came from this battle I was in that I forgot most of thankfully.

 

But anyway:

 

 

 

 

Last week my Daughter says to me, Hey dad, what is that mark on your eye lid? I had no idea, probably magic marker, so my wife looked at it and said. OMG, you always had a small spot there, but now it is half the size of your eyelid. She asked me if I noticed it. I said, you can only see it when my eye is closed and I don't see much with my eyes closed, so, No, I never saw it.

 

So of course she tells me I have to go to the dermatologist. I agreed (the Dermatologist is almost a Supermodel and I like her)

 

I go to the skin Doc and am waiting in the waiting room when this girl comes in and she keeps looking at her watch. She asks me if I parked on the street, I said yes, Why? She says, do you know it's only an hour parking? I said yes, but you just got here two minutes ago. She tells me, I know but I am paranoid of getting a ticket so should I move my car? Like I care right!

 

So she leaves to move her car, I guess she moves it every two minutes so she doesn't get a ticket. I think she has PTSD

 

 

 

 

They call my name and I get to see the Doc and her nurse. She looks at my eyelid and says she is going to take a biopsy. I said, a What! I know what a biopsy is but of all my body parts, my eye lid is way down on the bottom of the list of places where I want someone taking a biopsy of.

 

I asked her what she thought it was? She said it looks like a benign "Quisymoto Flounder". At least it sounded like that. I figured that must be like a fluke and wanted to ask if she could just give my head a fresh water dip or rub some Prizapro on it.

 

Before I could ask, she takes this needle and says, I am going to give you this needle to numb the pain for the biopsy. I said, what are you going to give me to numb the pain of the needle in my eye?

 

With that, she is sticking this needle in my eyelid and telling me not to open my eye. Like, you even had to tell me that! She said, this may be a "little" uncomfortable. I imagine she pulled it off my eye a little to do this.

 

 

 

 

Then she tells the nurse to get her a sharp scissors. I said, wait a minute, I thought you took the biopsy with the needle, what's with the scissors? She has to cut a little piece out of my eye lid. Oh great, I am really looking forward to this!

 

The nurse tells the Doc, we don't have any sharp scissors. OK, I am out of here. She tells me to calm down, it's not a big deal. I told her, it would not be a big deal if she wanted to use a scissors on her own eye lid. I told her that yesterday it wasn't a big deal, but today I have PTSD so I have an excuse.

 

They find this scissors and tell me "Don't Move". At that point I thought of doing sit ups or leg presses but I figured it wouldn't be prudent at that time.

 

 

 

 

She holds my head and snips a piece off my eye lid. Like "Ouch", Now tell me that doesn't sound uncomfortable. It feels like it sounds. I asked her if instead of Novocain she put coffee in that needle to numb the pain.

 

 

 

 

So now I am home looking at my fish with one eye because the other one feels like an urchin is doing the Macarana in it

[Bruleyii]

Pictures or it isn't true. lol

[paul b]

The next time I go, I will ask the Doctor to pose for a picture. Or do you want a picture of my eye lid or the urchin?

[Bruleyii]

haha. Eye lid.

[paul b]

The Skin Doc is better looking.

[Bruleyii]

haha

[paul b]

Yesterday it snowed here in New York a little and I decided to buy a new pair of snow boots. I have my good snow boots that I used to work in but I just wanted to replace my pair that I wear to shovel snow or throw out the garbage. Something easy to slip on and off with no laces.

 

My wife ordered me new boots from LL Bean. I didn't even see them yet because she knows I go nuts if I can't buy something made in USA and I would start yelling at the computer (maybe it is my PTSD)

 

So last night we go to dinner at an Italian place and I wore my old snow boots. I wanted to replace them because they had some cracks on the top and were no longer water proof.

 

On the way out from the restaurant I felt like I was dragging a Pizza box. I looked at my foot and didn't see anything. I took a few more steps and could hardly walk so I looked at my foot again. Nothing!!

 

This is weird, so I lift my foot, and the bottom of the boot falls off.

 

 

 

At my friends house he gave me duct tape to fix the boot so I could at least get into my car without walking barefoot in the snow. I got the boots home and looked at where they were made even though I knew what to expect. China, of course.

 

I myself would never purposely buy something from China and this is one reason.

 

Have you ever seen the bottom fall off an American Boot? No, you haven't.

 

Of course there are no more American boots so it is hard to compare.

 

It drives me nuts that in such a big, beautiful country like the US we can't buy a simple boot. Or much of anything else.

 

I don't even care what it cost, just build me something in the US that does not fall apart. If I had time, I would make my own boots.

 

We only have this garbage for sale because so many people bought it to save money. That's great but we should also make something here, just charge more, I am willing to pay for quality.

 

Did you ever go to Home Depot and buy hardware like screws, nuts and bolts?

 

You can't use that stuff on something important that must stay together because the steel in that stuff is garbage. I am not sure what they mix their steel with, probably I Phone 4s or 8 Track tape players but it is trash. When I build something I want it to be strong and last so I have to go to a good hardware store, not Home Depot. If you understand hardware you will see that there is a big difference. If you just want to hang a picture on a wall, it's fine, but if you had to hang out of a plane on that bolt, I wouldn't buy it in home depot.

 

 

 

[monkiboy]

that sucks. most redwing boots are USA-made.

 

check out: americanmadeworkboots.com - they are dedicated to all USA material and production, creation in all their lines. g'luck!