47 year old tank

[paul b]

I am looking for a new (or used) outboard for my 7 1/2' dinghy. I bought one two years ago but it is from China and a piece of garbage. It is a 2 1/2hp 2 stroke something I can't pronounce but the main problem is that it is air cooled. Air cooled anything run by gas is silly. I want a water cooled, 2 stroke 3 1/2 or 4 hp motor not from China because I want it to actually run without blowing up after one season.

 

I will probably get a used one because I only use it maybe 2 or 3 hours a year so I don't want to spend over $1,000.00 for it. I can probably get a used 2 stroke for 3 or 4 hundred.

 

I want a 2 stroke because they are lighter and smaller as I am not interested in gas economy when I am using less than one gallon a year. I can go for the extra fifty cents in gas a year.

 

2 stroke motors are so simple a 5 year old girl could pull it apart in ten minutes with a pliers and a comb from a Barbie Doll. Maybe Airline Hostess Barbie or Supermodel Barbie.

 

On my first boat I had a 140hp 2 stroke motor but one day it blew up.

 

 

 

 

We were out with some old people (who at that time were much younger than I am now). It was a beautiful night and all of a sudden I heard this "Pop". The engine stopped. I tried to start it but there was no sound.

 

I took off the engine cover and saw all these parts fall into the ocean. The connecting rod came right through the side of the block knocking the starter off the engine and I could see daylight coming right through the cylinder.

 

I had a pliers and maybe a screwdriver with me and my wife said to me, "Can you fix it?"

 

I said, Yes I can, after I buy a new power head for about $5,000.00 and spend a few days installing it.

 

That is exactly what I did but it took all summer to get the new power head.

 

Of course I had to buy new pistons, rings, reed valves and everything else except for maybe the propeller.

[paul b]

My new pair of Janss Pipefish seem to be doing fine. I needed to really step up my brine shrimp hatching operation and I am probably still woefully to short to provide enough food for all the planktavores I have

 

If I get time (and that won't happen until the winter) I will build another shrimp hatchery that I can fill in between the times I fill this one now, which is every day. But the shrimp take about 36 hours to hatch so I play RAP music near their hatchery which cracks their eggs and they get out faster. Then they cram themselves as far from the music as they can so I can easily get them.

[paul b]

I will tell you about a Jiboni. A few years ago I went to an optometrist, or optomoligist, I forget, but it is the one who tests your eyes for glasses so I guess they have to go to about as much schooling as a guy who takes up the hem on a Supermodels dress.

 

But I don't really know.

 

Anyway when I would look to the side, I would see double. That was fine if I was looking at a beautiful woman, because I would see two of them, but if I was trying to change lanes, I would see two tractor trailers coming at me and I wouldn't know which one to get out of the way of.

 

So this "Jiboni" is examining me and he notices this so he turns to my wife and says. Your husband has a Brain Tumor.

 

This coming from an eye glass guy.

 

My wife immediately goes into panic mode and gets the horrors calling my life insurance company and sizing me up for a suit.

 

 

 

 

So he says I have to go for an MRI of my head.

 

I go for the MRI, then a brain tumor test where you look into this black box and you have to push the button when you see little Supermodels running across the screen like comets.

 

I did all that and what do you know, No brain tumor (Thank God)

 

Not that I got upset anyway because like I said he was "Jiboni" eye glass guy.

 

 

 

 

It turned out to be a slight weak muscle in my eye and I needed eye muscle surgery.

 

 

 

 

So I go to Manhattan to the Eye hospital and this normally only happens to little children so the doctor comes in with one of those flashlights on his head with a "Big Bird puppet" hanging on to it.

 

I go in for the surgery and of course I have to get naked, I ask if they are sure they are working on the right end of me and they assured me they were.

 

 

 

 

So they wheel me into the operating room and stick me on this aluminum table which I think they just removed a case of Bud Light from because it was ice cold. Then the nurse sticks me with the IV which she just took out of the same place they stored the Bud Light so I am shaking because I am freezing as there are parts of me that are not used to being on such a cold table.

 

 

 

 

(I know I told this story on here but I am not sure if it was last week or last decade so if I just posted it, go and watch Oprah, I think she is giving away cat chow to homeless bowlegged cats on welfare)

 

 

 

 

The nurse (who of course has her face covered with the surgical mask) sees me shivering and she comes over to hold my hand. She says "Oh Honey, don't be nervous, this is a simple procedure"

 

 

 

 

I said "Nervous!" how could I be nervous? I am laying on a table naked, surrounded by 7 beautiful Babes!

 

 

 

 

They all laughed so hard they almost lost their masks.

 

 

 

 

Then the Dr. comes in and he says, "you have him on the table backwards" which didn't give me a lot of confidence. Now I was shaking because I figured they would mistakenly remove my gall bladder through my nose or some other "important" part that I may need.

 

 

 

 

[Origami]

Backwards! Ha! Reminds me of last year. Before the big surgery, I had to go in for a cardiac catheterization. They were checking for clogged arteries (there were none) figuring they could take care of them while they were in there (a twofer, how thoughtful). Anyway, I'm on the table and they've got the IV in my arm and I'm ready to go. The surgeon walks in and says that he wants to sit on my right and go in through the arm with the IV. So the pull the IV and stick me again on the left side. Yep, like a well oiled machine they were.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[paul b]

Hi Tom, glad you survived.  I have had 16 or 17 surgeries but nothing for anything important like you.  Mine were all from breaking or tearing parts.

Of course REAL MEN do things so we tear things.

 

Sissies who never do anything except throw out the garbage of those little wooden coffee stirrers and maybe chase a bee away from their Latte or text their girl friends don't get hurt except maybe carpal tunnel syndrome from typing in an air conditioned Starbucks which is painful, but still a Girly man disease.    

 

How are you and your wife doing Tom?  Hope you guys are fantastic.   

[paul b]

We took the boat to the Bronx last night for dinner to my favorite clam place and on the way back to Long Island as I was driving I held the phone behind me and without looking I took this. I think it was kind of cool.

 

To make this post about fish (because I know I don't do that a lot) There were a lot of fish jumping but I doubt they were copperband butterflies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Origami]

Hi Tom, glad you survived.  I have had 16 or 17 surgeries but nothing for anything important like you.  Mine were all from breaking or tearing parts.

Of course REAL MEN do things so we tear things.

 

Sissies who never do anything except throw out the garbage of those little wooden coffee stirrers and maybe chase a bee away from their Latte or text their girl friends don't get hurt except maybe carpal tunnel syndrome from typing in an air conditioned Starbucks which is painful, but still a Girly man disease.  

 

How are you and your wife doing Tom?  Hope you guys are fantastic. 

 

I'm pretty sure that I blew out the valve while chipping/shredding some limbs that I took down. I'm sure that it was weakened already, but that the effort was just the last straw. I remember suddenly being very exhausted and sweaty, and turning the shredder off and just lying down on the ground because I didn't have the energy to walk back to the tractor for a drink or back to the house (which was about 150 yards away). That was about this time of year last year, I think.

 

We're doing great. Just returned from a college visit to Virginia Tech for our youngest. She wants to study marketing. They grow fast. The two adult kids are on their own. My son and his wife bought their first home late last month. And my daughter delivered our second grandson earlier this month. You forget how small they start out. Quite a reminder. I'm getting used to being called "grandpa" now. Not quite as "traumatic" as at first. Actually, the oldest of the two is only 2 years old, so he's yet to really say "grandpa." It won't be long, though.

 

I can do without any more big surgeries for now....

[paul b]

Congrats on the Grand Kids and I am glad you are feeling better. WE need you around for a very long time. Mine call me PopPop

 

Edited July 22, 2017 by paul b

[Origami]

Cute as a button. I can hardly wait for my first granddaughter....

[paul b]

I got two of them, we had them on the boat all day

 

http://s258.photobucket.com/user/urchsearch/media/May202_zpsqmjoyidt.jpg.html?sort=3&o=79

Edited July 23, 2017 by paul b

[paul b]

My bluestripe and Janss pipefish.

 

 

 

[paul b]

These Purple Queen Anthias are extremely cool and colorful but they do require a little different care than say a tang or manta ray. Well, actually Manta Rays do kind of eat in a similar way, kind of but these Anthias require tiny food and although they will eat it when there is no current they seem to really enjoy eating in a swift current.

 

I feed them new born brine shrimp every day but I also add either frozen new born brine shrimp, cyclopeze, fish eggs or really anything tiny. I am not sure how they can see the food moving so fast but there are tiny things they won't eat. At first they will only eat live food but they eventually get the idea and I am certain that in time they will sit at the table with me and eat linguini and clams.

 

I need to hatch shrimp every day because I have about 10 fish that depend on that diet including mandarins and five pipefish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have a picture of the Manta Ray.

[Bruleyii]

Mine loves the clams I feed. Gets right in there with everyone else.

[paul b]

Almost everything loves clams, including me. The tiny bits of clam are eaten by everything including the pipes, anthias and corals. If I could only feed one food, it would be clams

[paul b]

This "guy" is turning into a guy. "he" was a female but now is a male. You can't tell too much by this picture because he was "making a funny face". But his upper lip is longer than his bottom lip and that is a sign of Maleness. In fish I guess, not in ma, who by the way was always a male. I know that also happens to Salmon so maybe he met some Salmon when he lived in the sea.

 

 

 

 

[madweazl]

The lyretails I had loved to feed right in the current and would sit there all day long until things went south. Not sure what ultimately led to their demise but I'd love to try it again when I set up a larger tank. 

[paul b]

I want to get a few more. My concern is that I go on vacations and am away sometimes. My tank sitter feeds frozen food every other day and I can add frozen new born shrimp but I don't think that will be enough for my pipes and Queen Anthias. I hatch shrimp every day but I can't ask her to do that.

[paul b]

It seems I can't keep these small Queen Anthias as the 4 of them are gone. The slightly larger ones with the bright yellow stripe and the one with the muted yellow stripe are doing very well and have been in there for a month to 3 or 4 months so far. I think they will live their normal lifespan.

 

 

 

 

These small purple ones didn't live to long. They either jump out or just disappear, I guess from not having enough of the right food even though I fed them new born shrimp a couple of times a day. Some fish "I" just can't keep long but many people can keep them. Luckily, they never die from disease. I also can't keep banded pipefish very long. But copperbands I have no problems with as they are large eaters and seem to be able to store food. I got this one as a baby and now she is the size of a hub cap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not in my fully stocked reef anyway. You really need a species tank for them and some fish and you need to have a constant supply of tiny, preferably living food. I do like those kinds of tanks but I only have my one 100 gallon reef tank (which I think is really a 90 but was sold as a 100)

 

If you have no life, I mean if you can spend all day tinkering with your tank, you can easily keep any kind of fish, but if you are active and are out all the time, forgetaboutit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were out late last night with other people for dinner as we do a lot and when I got home, the lights were off in my tank, so they didn't eat. They will be mad at me this morning but I will be going out before the lights come on, so they won't have breakfast either.

 

But I will be home to give them lunch so they will still be talking to me.

 

WE also stay out in the boat late and those days the fish don't eat, unless I collect something for them for desert.

 

 

 

Not eating for a one, two, three days or more won't hurt most fish. But for planktivores, they just don't have the storage capacity to cope with thea and they starve. It's a fact of fish life.

 

I try to be here all the time, but I can't.

 

When I travel, I am sure I will lose some of those types of fish as I can't ask my Supermodel tank sitter to do what I do which is hatch brine shrimp every day, strain them and put them in a feeder twice a day, collect mud from my white worm culture and separate out the white worms, suck up blackworms and baster them to both sides of the tank so all the fish get a chance to eat them before the copperband and blue wrasse gets it all.

 

Supermodels have other things to do such as do things that Supermodels need to do to continue to look like a Supermodel.

 

 

 

I only ask her to put a pre made frozen food package, that I make, into the defrosting cup and dispenser I have hanging on the tank, and I only ask her to do that every other day. There is some frozen baby brine and cyclopese in there which those fish eat, but it's not enough and I normally target feed some fish like the Janss Pipefish which live in a cave with a possum wrasse.

 

I am sure those fish will find some food but with about 25 fast feeders they won't get enough. I also have a small perchlet that I target feed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the guys that seem very hardy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't do to well with this guy either. I have only a few SPS corals or the types of corals he eats and with all the other special feeders I have I couldn't spend the time that this beautiful fish needs to keep him long term. A few months is not long term so I will say I sucked at keeping him.

 

 

 

[paul b]

I see a "problem" coming soon to my tank. The 3- 1" tubes that feed my reverse UG filter have been growing those worm tubes for decades and there is no simple way to remove the growth. My vertical algae scrubber uses gravity to feed the manifold where the tubes emerge from the bottom and feed the UG filter. The manifold normally only has 1/4" of water in it as the water goes down the 3 tubes as soon as it goes into the manifold. But for the last few days, that manifold has been filling with a few inches of water. I never built an overflow on to it because the water always instantly drained down the tubes. If the manifold overflows the way it is now designed, the water will be pumped on to the floor which my wife frowns on. The fish also frown on that as the tank would completely empty.

 

Now I have a few things I need to do very soon.

 

The first thing I will do is drill a hole a few inches up in the manifold in case it fills, the water will just flow back into the tank.

 

The next thing I will do is make a tiny "Rotor Rooter" snake to twist down through the tight bend the tubes make near the gravel. I will try to grind up the growth in small enough pieces that they get deposited under the UG filter plates.

 

I can't remove those tubes without breaking many year old coral growth to get to the back of my tank so I will try not to go that route.

 

 

 

 

I can't remember when I removed those tubes for cleaning but it may have been 20 years ago before I had a lot of things growing back there. There was a time when I could remove the corals and rocks, but now it is mostly montipora which are very delicate and I would rather not break.

 

 

 

 

The thing gets fed from the big white pipe that is the bottom of the algae scrubber. It's things like this that keep me interested in the hobby. If nothing happened, I would get bored.

 

 

 

 

[madweazl]

I can only imagine the number of tube worms living back there over the course of decades. Do the downtubes become brittle over time?

[paul b]

I don't think the tubes are brittle as they are acrylic, if they were vinyl like air tubing, they would have crumbled away years ago.  Acrylic is what they make some tanks out of and it is stable.

[rtelles]

Given the number of fish you've alluded to that have jumped out of your tank and died, is incorporating some sort of cover not an option?

[paul b]

I have "almost" every possible escape route covered. Remember I don't have a sump so my 3 pumps, protein skimmer, algae scrubber, algae trough and all the wiring are hung on the tank.

They manage to jump over or in between the PVC panels I have all over the thing. There is an algae trough at the top and back of the tank, sometimes they jump in there. There is a water cooled LED light fixture with a plexiglass bottom for splashing, they get on that. They get out the 1" opening under the algae screen. Every time one jumps I try to figure out how he got out and cover it. It's an ongoing process. The spawning fish chase the other fish away and they jump. One jumped and hit me in the head a few weeks ago as I was feeding them.

[paul b]

I couple of weeks ago my wife and I are invited to go out on my friends boat with him and his wife. Great, let someone else use some gas for once.

 

He has the same size boat as I have but some people really shouldn't be allowed to own a boat.

 

We get on the boat and his wife tells me that everything is wrong with the boat even though it is very new. They only use it once or twice a year and they bought it new for like $130,000.00.

 

So it costs them like $10,000.00 every time they use it so far.

 

 

 

 

We are supposed to go to Connecticut which is about an hour ride. I figure "everything: is wrong with the boat so I will ask a simple question. (It's the Boat Captain in me)

 

I asked if he has flares.

 

He says "Of course I have flares"

 

I ask if they are expired?

 

His wife tells me, "they don't know because they are in that cabinet, and they can't open it".

 

OK, great. I force open the cabinet and ask for some WD-40 so they can open it easily.

 

 

 

 

He tells me the mechanic is fixing "something electronic" on the boat.

 

I ask, "What is he fixing?"

 

He doesn't know. That makes me feel great now that we are taking this thing for an hour ride to another state, Thoughts of "Gilligans Island" flash through my head.

 

 

 

 

I say, what do you mean "You don't know what he is fixing?"

 

"I don't know but he fixed it temporarily". Temporarily with what! Like a paperclip!

 

 

 

 

OK so we head out. I say, put on some music!

 

"The radio doesn't work" Of course not!

 

I say I think we are in for a storm so we should not go to Connecticut (or anywhere else further than the lines tied to the dock)

 

 

 

 

So his wife convinces him to stay in the harbor.

 

 

 

 

The storm I predicted hits us with a fury. I yell, "Drop the Anchor".

 

 

 

 

(In a storm, the first thing you are supposed to do is drop the anchor so you don't crash into the other boats moored there.)

 

 

 

 

So I see him climb out to the front of the boat and start to kick the anchor.

 

I ask, "What are you doing? " Don't you just push the button near the steering wheel to drop the anchor?

 

 

 

 

Of course, but first I have to "kick it".

 

Why, are you mad at it?

 

 

 

 

He asks, "Don't you have to kick your anchor?"

 

No, I don't. Why would I? I said "Does the Captain of the aircraft carrier Enterprise have to kick the anchor?"

 

 

 

 

He said, it doesn't go down unless you kick it. I ask if he ever read the manual. He told me that the boat came with too many manuals and he doesn't like to read manuals.

 

I said "It Shows!"

 

 

 

 

So he kicks the anchor a few times until it falls into the sea. We ride out the storm and get ready to leave for port. Now it is pitch black and about 10:00pm. He is driving with the plastic front window wrapped around his face and trying to see through the inky darkness. We are traversing through many boats and moorings. I said, "Don't you have a floodlight?"

 

He says "Of Course", I say "Where is it?" He says "In my garage" I said "I hope it's on".

 

 

 

 

Then I stupidly ask, Why don't you just follow the dotted lines back on the Chart Plotter?

 

 

 

 

(The chart plotter on a boat puts dots on the screen that follow the boats course, this way, when you want to return, you just follow the dots so you know exactly how to get back.)

 

 

 

 

He asks "What Dots?"

 

I look at his chart plotter and the entire screen is white. Since he has the boat he never deleted the dots so they kept adding up until now the screen is pure white as it is "all" dots.

 

I said Why didn't you delete the previous courses? He says "You can do that?" Like Duh, and I almost went to Connecticut with this Jiboni. (He is one of my closest friends)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we are getting near his dock and I see a wooden work boat, then about 35 feet back a nice Yacht and we had to "park" in between them. Our wives are in the cabin probably discussing cellulite or anti perspirants that don't leave stains on silk and all of a sudden, it was like the Titanic. CRASH, we hit the work boat. Our boat runs up on to it and slides back into the water.

 

I said, "Would you like me to dock this for you?" He said, Would you please.

 

 

 

 

So tomorrow I am going there to fix his radio, chart plotter, anchor, cabinet and everything else wrong with the thing.

 

His boat is very similar to mine but a foot longer.

 

 

 

 

[paul b]

Stuff on top of my tank.

 

 

 

 

Old picture, new lights now.

 

Reverse UG filter manifold. (Old one, new one now)

 

Counterweights for light (New Light now but still have the counter weights)

 

Edited August 2, 2017 by paul b