47 year old tank

[paul b]

It's also great to have someout to pull you out.  

 

Yesterday we took a Lighthouse cruise with our friends out east on Orient Point.  (This is one of the things old people do)
It was on a high speed jet boat that cruised at about 40 knots, which is fast for a boat that carries 200 people.

We went to about 9 lighthouses and also went around Plum Island where they used to do experiments on animal diseases but everyone knows they were working with Anthrax, Alka Seltzer and other wonderful chemicals. There is an incinerator there where they used to cremate the cows, pigs and goats after they infected them.  Now they place is for sale and you can live in the exact spot where they did that.  I think that is a great buy.

This year they stopped people from going there for any reason which makes the place even more inviting to live on.

I think I will pass.. Actually when, or if they make the place for housing you still can't go near the labs.  Not that I want to.

I was always fascinated with lighhouses and a few of them are supposed to be haunted, if you believe in such things.  There is only one lighthouse in the US that is still owned by the Federal Government and that one is on Plum Island.  That is because no one is allowed there.  Isn't that special!

I would like to put a vegetable garden there.

This one, (not on the tour because it is 100 miles away) Execution Lighthouse is in the Long Island Sound and I spent many hours near it, in the water under it or on it.  I went there a few times as a consultant as the guy who bought it for a dollar from the Govt. wanted to make it into a bed and breakfast.  But I may have talked him out of it when I discovered it was like a million bucks to put a power cable to it.  There used to be one but no one knows what happened to it and I can't find it with SCUBA.  There is also no water there or sewer.  They used to be allowed to dump the sewage into the water but they frown on that now.  George Washington signed to have the thing built.

This is me and my main squeeze on top of the thing.

When we came home I decided to continue building my workshop and I shredded a bunch of patent applications from things I worked on all my life but never had time to finish.  Some of them would have made great innovations and made good money but other things got in the way.

It is what it is.  You can't keep everything.

[YHSublime]

I went there a few times as a consultant as the guy who bought it for a dollar from the Govt. wanted to make it into a bed and breakfast.  But I may have talked him out of it when I discovered it was like a million bucks to put a power cable to it. 

 

Missed the chance to buy him out for $2. 

[paul b]

Boy, I am glad I didn't buy the thing.  That guy is stuck with it and can't make a nickel from it.  And he has to maintain the Island with no dock, no power, no sewer and no supermodels  

[paul b]

So today I walked into my workshop/fishroom/workshop/ManCave and I looked at my tank.  OMG!!  The tank was totally cloudy and the fishes eyes were all smoky.  Every one of them. 
Then my wife, who followed me in said "Whats on Fire?" ..   AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGggggg.  The tank wasn't cloudy and the fishes eyes weren't smoky.   The place was filled up with smoke.    Ahhhhhhgggggggggggg.  There was also a big puddle under the tank which I jumped right into to start unplugging things.  I looked around and couldn't feel anything hot or leaking.  But then, my electricians keen eye saw this.     (see picture below)  Now I went to High School and everything so I knew this wasn't good.  There was water coming out of the brand new electrical outlet and the pumps and other things plugged into it were not running.  I checked the breaker and it had tripped.

But I still couldn't figure out where the water was coming from.  I replaced the receptacles and melted plugs and turned the power on. 

AAAAAAAHHHHhhhhhhhggggggggAAAaaaaaaaa  Flood.  Water was shooting out of a pipe coupling near the top of the skimmer and hitting the ceiling.  Then it was traveling down the side of the tank right into the outlet.  The PVC coupling that was used for many years completely split in half and most of the water that was supposed to go into the skimmer, went into my outlets.

I then turned on my really huge, Manly exhaust fan full force until my ears were clean of wax and cleared out the smoke.

Now I fixed the coupling and electric and all is again well. :D

[YHSublime]

Woof. Good thing you were home and able to catch it. Good thing the breaker tripped. Good thing you didn't have a fire. And good thing you went to high school. 

[paul b]

If the house would have burnt down, the power would have gone off too so either way, I'm good.  

[paul b]

Today I am doing a few projects in my new place.  I started doing some plumbing to connect my DIY ATO to the water supply through the RO/DI and resins and to my tank, at the same time I am taping the bathroom so I can paint it  I just built the thing and and am wiring it.   also built shelves for it.  But in between that I am staining some ratty looking "New" wood to look like barn wood and I must say, and I must, that it is coming out better than my wildest dreams.  OK, my second wildest dreams.
When I am waiting for different coats to dry on this wood and the bathroom I do other things as I hate wasted time.  I ate 6:00am this morning and have not stopped yet so I will eat lunch and dinner at the same time.  If I add oatmeal to my linguini and clams I can also call it tomorrow's breakfast.

This wood I rescued from 2 large skids outside a furniture store.

This is my finished "Barn wood".  I can buy barnwood but the farmers found out how valuable it is so they charge a fortune for it.  I will cover my Master bedroom wall with this and there will be a barn door in the middle as the headboard.  My place is very industrial/Steampunk looking

[paul b]

I built an algae scrubber and installed it but I didn't light it yet so it is just pouring water over a screen hanging over the tank.  No leaks yet.  Well there were some, but I fixed them before I had to order a canoe.  I am putting in my barn wood wall today with the barn doors in the center but first I am doing the electrical work.  (I know a good electrician.)
I am adding a switch near the bed and 2 steampunk sconces that will be over the barn doors and to the sides.  Right now I just have holes in the walls for the wiring.

[paul b]

I got my newly designed diatom filter motor yesterday and ran it all night.  The thing works beautifully and I will thank the guy who builds them.  It is so much better than the original diatom filter.
It is plastic so it doesn't rust.  You can run it continousely and it doesn't leak.  My tank is so clear that the fish are freeking out because they think they will fall to the bottom. 
I am eliminating the algae and it is slowly dying so this filter can suck it out.  Thats because i don't think inside that silly box.  If I was inside the box I would have changed the water, then came on here all beside myself with that look on my face.  You know the look.  :confused:  Thats the look people get when they get algae and they keep changing water and the algae keeps growing longer until they give up and open a produce stand from their tank, then when they run out of water to change, they become the manager of the french fry machine at Burger King. 
The algae will leave when it wants to.  Unless of course you keep changing the water.
But thats what that box is for.  All that excess algae.

Yesterday I bought a baby watchman gobi, an algae bleeny, a big decorator crab and something else, but I forgot what it was.  I threw them all in there and they are loving the new place.  My long spine urchin, that I got as big as a marble is really liking the algae as he never gets any.  He grew about 6" but I have no idea what he was eating.
But anyway, all is well.  I hope everything is great with you guys and girls, if anyone is mistakingly reading this

[YHSublime]

Hey Sissy Man! Just kidding. Here is the headboard I built out of pallets for my queen bed:

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[madweazl]

That's pretty awesome!

[paul b]

Very nice.  I am just finishing my project now and will take pictures.  I love pallets

[YHSublime]

That's pretty awesome!

Very nice.  I am just finishing my project now and will take pictures.  I love pallets

 

It took very little work, aside from breaking down the pallets, mostly because I had to borrow a sawzall. I don't have the space to keep all the equipment I would like to, plus the HOA already has my name on a list, I'm sure of it. 

 

I'm looking forward to finished pictures, I got the idea from an old WAMAS'er who did a whole wall, but not out of pallets. 

[paul b]

I finished my barn wall.  I just need to trim the top.  All pallet wood. 

[madweazl]

I finished my barn wall.  I just need to trim the top.  All pallet wood. 

And that is awesome as well! 

Edited August 22, 2018 by madweazl

[YHSublime]

I finished my barn wall. I just need to trim the top. All pallet wood.

Looks fantastic!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[paul b]

Thanks.  It was my wife's idea to make it curved,  I wanted it straight which would have been easier to finish

[Origami]

Beautiful. I love the finish that you put on the boards. Are those doors actually hung or is the rail just for show?

 

I like the platform under the bed, too. Your work as well?

[Prunfarm]

Those are both really sharp!  I imagine the barn sliders are used to stash the supermodels.

[paul b]

Tom, The doors are functional and they open.  There is nothing behind them except a picture of me in my Speedo

 

The bed has huge steel wheels on it that also work. 

 

Supermodels can easily fit behind the doors. 

[Origami]

Tom, The doors are functional and they open.  There is nothing behind them except a picture of me in my Speedo

 

Ha! Best to keep them closed then. This is a family-friendly site after all. 

[paul b]

My tank had cleared up quite nicely and I can start adding some more corals.  Most of the algae is gone and the rest is dying and I will suck it out.  Today I also added a temporary light on the algae scrubber to see if it does anything.  I also had a small flood.  I have been having a lot of floods lately and I am starting to feel like Noah.

I was putting up some sheetrock next to the tank and the sheetrock hit the fitting that comes out of a 7 gallon bucket hanging from the ceiling.
The fitting broke off and the bucket, which was full and started to shoot water all over me and the sheetrock.  I had trouble putting down the sheetrock because it was a big piece and I had to wrestle it in the spot to get it there and now water was shooting all over my face so I couldn't see what I was doing.  I eventually put down the sheetrock but I was soaked and water continued to pour out of the bucket.  I could put my finger on the fitting to stop it but I had nothing to put under it and I didn't want to stay there all night.  I let go and ran to get a bucket while the water was shooting out like 3'.
I got the bucket under the hose and collected the rest of the water.  Then I got a mop.

The fish are still laughing.

[madweazl]

They tend to get the last laugh. Two nights ago my ATO shot 3-4 extra gallons of water into the system for some reason. Doesn't look like it affected anything but it did it anyways; not sure what the heck happened so I'm not sure what to "fix."

[paul b]

I hate when that happens.  I like it when things stay broken at least long enough so I can fix it.

[paul b]

Today I had to take my wife to a Neurologist in our old neighborhood so I went to my favorite LFS.  I picked up 2 very cool gobies which I have never seen before.  I will take pictures when they come out to the front.  I also got a pair of bluestripes.  The janss pipefish killed my old male bluestripe and these are babies so I may be taking a chance.
My last female died of old age just after I moved here.  They only have a lifespan of five years or so.
My algae issue is almost gone and the tank is crystal clear.  I will add more corals when I get back to the store.  This tank is bigger so I need more livestock.