47 year old tank

[khalid]

Almost finished "electronic Steam Punk"

 

 

 

That is cool as H-E-double hockey sticks!!!


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[paul b]

Thanks.  It would be cooler if I could grow hair on it. 

[khalid]

Thanks.  It would be cooler if I could grow hair on it. 

Lol hair is overrated


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[paul b]

Just finished my "Money Machine"

 

Not really Steam Punk so I am not sure what it is.

 

 

[paul b]

These Fireclowns just won't give up.  They just spawned again as they do every week,  it looks like they only laid a dozen eggs this time.  That large male is I think 28 years old.

 

I devised a thing to collect the eggs but I won't use it as I don't have the time to raise them anyway.  Maybe after the Holidays I break it out if I can find the thing.

The eggs are the orange things to the left of his (or her) pectoral fin just below the coraline algae.

It's not exciting to spawn clownfish as they will spawn in last weeks damp newspaper. 

 

 

[paul b]

It seems my Steam Punk pieces are worth more than I thought.  I brought them to a gallery here on the North Fork and she wouldn't let me take them home.  They are on display for more than I was expecting.    

[khalid]

It seems my Steam Punk pieces are worth more than I thought.  I brought them to a gallery here on the North Fork and she wouldn't let me take them home.  They are on display for more than I was expecting.    

I’m not surprised it’s a great looking piece. Congrats


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[paul b]

I am not certain on the age of my Copperband with the neurological problem because I am hardly certain of my age. She could be 8 or 18. (I could be 50 or 82)
I get fish, throw them in my tank and go out to dinner for some calamari and maybe try the Merlot.

Yesterday I bought an anthius. I already forgot what kind of anthius it is but I don't think I ever had one of these and I got him in a store which I don't like because I don't get a discount there and don't like the place. It is also filthy and the people working there seem like they would rather be working at Burger King running the French Fry machine. 

My wife had a Dr. appointment near there and I go there to kill time because in her Doctors office the only magazines they have are Golf Digest and Pregnancy Today. Two books that I have always wanted to read but since they have those same two books for the three years we have been going there, I already read them.

The fish was 80 bucks and I probably could have gotten it in another place for $50.00 or less. But I was there and the fish kind of looked at me and caught my attention so I had to take him home.

(I will remember the name probably in August)
Of course I threw it in the tank and he is now behind the rocks but should be out today. (or last night he became bristle worm food)
Like usual I had the guy in the store feed him as I asked him to.

I asked what they feed him and he said flakes. I said, Do you feed your kids flakes? I want to see him eat something else so he threw in some frozen stuff which the fish ate.

It's a thick looking anthius with a reddish design on it's face sort of like an American Indian Mohican,
Or Native American Mohican, whatever is PC, I don't know. I myself am Italian, Sicilian actually but I was born in Brooklyn so I am American. I don't feel bad if you call me one of the many Italian slurs as I am not a snowflake, but you may wake up with a seahorse head in bed next to you. 

[astroboy]

On 11/24/2019 at 1:29 PM, paul b said:

Just finished my "Money Machine"

 

Not really Steam Punk so I am not sure what it is.

 

I think Money Machine is called the Federal Reserve. 

 

The electric steam punk is a true work of art.

 

 

On 11/24/2019 at 1:29 PM, paul b said:

 

 

 

[paul b]

I just spent almost an hour cutting sponge out of my tank with a friend of mine.  We removed over a pound of the stuff which will not go in my dumpster along with all the associated bristle worms that live under the stuff.  I just couldn't clean the front glass any longer and it had to be removed.

 

It will grow back in a few weeks and need to be done again.

This is last nights bristleworm haul

 

[paul b]

Last night we went to the Moose Lodge for the first time.  It is right near my marina and they also have a large marina.  We have never been there before and I was relieved to know that I didn't have to wear Moose antlers or bow to the Grand Exalted  Poobah.

 

It was a Christmas party with about 150 or 200 people there.

They had a DJ, open bar and great food.  Even the Grand Marnier was free which is very surprising.

 

Our group was about 40 people as all our neighbors were there.

We are going to join, and I never join anything as I am not generally a joiner and prefer to do things spur of the moment.  I also don't do meetings, thats just not me.  I don't even belong to any Fish Clubs.

 

But they have great boat excursions where a bunch of boats sail out someplace and barbecue lobsters and bring loads of clams, steaks etc and we eat on the boats.  Thats my kind of
"meeting" and what I miss from most of my boating days at our last marine west of here.

Last night my wife won the fifty fifty, over $300.00

 

They also have great dinners every Friday.  All you can eat for 13 bucks.  You can't eat at Burger Dirt for that and the drinks are always $4.00.   A lot of times Veterans drink and eat free.  

If I knew that, I would have stayed another year in the Jungle.

 

Quite a few people knew me because at our condo we have a huge pool and many of these people go there as I do.  But I have a memory like an arrow crab so I don't recognize a lot of people.  I danced with a lot of the Supermodels.  OK, Older Supermodels as I am kind of a good dancer.  Just like "Fred Upstairs."  If you start dancing and they can see that you can dance, they all want to dance.  Of course I can also do the "Electric Slide" because as an electrician, it was required.

 

I realize today people don't dance because you can't dance and text at the same time, but I spent my younger days going out a lot and much of that included dancing.  Our Daughter didn't even want to dance at her own wedding and if young people today dance, they just jump up and down to some noise then go and text someone in Tibet or go on facebook to show their selfie to 14,000 strangers who don't know you from a piece of cyano. 

 

Yes, I know, I'm old but my generation used to do so much more than text, which we couldn't do (I still have a hard time doing that)

 

But we used to go to Disco's (Think John Travolta) to meet girls.  Then if she liked you, you got her number.  She had to answer the phone because we didn't have the thing where your name came up on the phone and you couldn't leave a message or send an emoji.   Everyone also had the same ring and the phone was attached to the wall. 

 

Then you had to meet her and actually make intelligible words come out of your mouth. LOL was not an option.

Then maybe you  took her out "after" you opened the door for her.  The girl would never say to you that you were a sexist for doing that because they knew it was the Manly thing to do and no one was a snowflake. 

 

At dinner you "always" paid for her meal and didn't dress with your pants falling off.  In those days, if you had a Mohawk and weren't an Indian, they would put you in jail, or maybe just shoot you where you were.

 

Anyway, it was a great party..:p

 

 

 

[paul b]

Today I picked up a female blue stripe pipefish and a bleeny.  They are in my tank and seem happy.  The pipefish insists on hanging out right next to the snout of my much larger Janss pipefish which constantly tries to bite the little one in half.  I guess there is not much intelligence in that tiny pipefish brain.   I feel like saying "just swim away stupid".

 

I only have a couple more weeks to donate the profits from my book to the MS Society because I want to do it before the end of the year.

My wife is on the phone now trying to figure out how we go about doing that because we want all of it to go to research and not the office staff, rent etc.

 

We ran a few MS Bike tours and did the same thing.

I don't get much profits from the book because it is a limited audience and will never sell like the Bible.

 

( most people also don't want to hear about the advantages of undergravel filters)

 

 But I will kick in a few hundred so it is worthwhile.  I am giving them 100% of the profits which isn't much but it is what it is and before the year is over, I would like to thank the people who bought one.

[paul b]

I only have a couple more weeks to donate the profits from my book to the MS Society because I want to do it before the end of the year.
My wife is on the phone now trying to figure out how we go about doing that because we want all of it to go to research and not the office staff, rent etc.

We ran a few MS Bike tours and did the same thing.
I don't get much profits from the book because it is a limited audience and will never sell like the Bible.

( most people also don't want to hear about the advantages of undergravel filters)

But I will kick in a few hundred so it is worthwhile. I am giving them 100% of the profits which isn't much but it is what it is and before the year is over, I would like to thank the people who bought one.

[paul b]

Today I went to Lowes and Home Depot to buy a 5' flag pole for my American Flag.  The old pole broke.

Then I spent a good amount of time on Amazon looking for one but all I can find are poles made in China.

 

I would rather not have a flag than hang my American made, American Flag on a pole made in China.

The bracket also broke so I built my own.  Now I have to build my own pole which is disappointing because a country such as the USA which I fought for can't even make a flag pole any more no matter how much you would spend. 

I am not a happy camper.   

[paul b]

My tank is doing great and the few SPS that I thought would croak are growing "arms" all over the place.

My old copperband who I have not seen eat in a month is also fine and doesn't look like he lost any weight, kind of like me. 

 

I am also surprised my janss pipefish is still living as I never thought that fish would make it but I have him maybe 4 years or so. I never remember these things. But I do know that in 14 months my tank will be running for 50 years. o_O

I am kind of proud of that. I am also proud that I got to this age.  

 

The only paired fish I have continuously spawn, thats fireclowns and watchman gobies. One of them is obviously a Watchgirl.

 

My Hippo tang is beautiful (because I never quarantined, medicated, dipped or sang to) She is a little fat but doesn't have a mark on her. I have also never fed her any greens, just clams, worms and LRS food like everything gets but I do have some algae growing although I have never seen her eat any of that. I wish she would.

 

I "think" I have two possum wrasses but they hide so good that I have never seen the two of them at the same time so I am not sure if I have one or two.

 

My new Starburst Anthius only comes out into the open if I shut the lights, don't play Rap music and put a bag over my face. If I get back to that LFS that has them I will get another one as they are kind of nice and not very common like those silly tangs that I find boring.

 

I also have a very large long spined urchin that I think I got as a tiny baby. I have no recollection of buying it but It must have been ten years ago. I think I got it in a place in Flushing and I have not been there in at least that long.

 

My female bluestripe pipefish is very well and I would like to get her a male but my much bigger Janss pipefish doesn't play well with male pipefish of any species and he killed my last one.

The Janss Pipefish is about 4 times larger than the bluestripes.

 

I also need a male for my female Mandarin. Her mate died probably of old age. I think they only live about 10 years but I lost his birth certificate so I don't know.

 

I really should write down when I get these fish.

 

 

For Christmas my Son N Law gave me a book about the Dawn of man and how we evolved over a few million years.

I actually love this kind of stuff especially the fact that we are the last of dozens of Hominids that were "almost" human.

 

I feel some people today still fit into that category but I won't go into that. 

 

I find it amazing when these anthropologists find a relic like I was just reading about. They found a "piece" of a tooth

and a tiny piece of bone fragment from a femur.

 

From that they named the "Guy" with a Latin name. He was from Africa so maybe his name was Latin like Homer or Moses as opposed to Jim, Bill, Eddie or Bubba  

 

They surmised he walked upright, probably with a Manly swagger, wore stylish clothes, ate buffalo wings and hot dogs.

Preferred red wine, was a decent dancer. Didn't like Rap music, preferring the classics and his Mother was a Sagittarius.

 

Then they had an artist rendering of the guy and he looked like Ringo Starr.

I am amazed they can get all of this from a tooth and bone fragment. 

 

My wife has been a lot of pain lately and tomorrow is going to get fitted for a leg brace which is supposed to help her walk better. I hope so but unfortunately it will do nothing for the pain and fatigue.

 

Maybe some of the money I gave the MS society will hasten a treatment in our lifetime. 

Edited January 5, 2020 by paul b

[sethsolomon]

I am sorry to hear your wife is going through such pain.

 

 

I love that your tank has pipefish in it.  I tried keeping them in my seahorse tank back in 2012 but only the banded pipes would take to frozen food.  have you still been feeding baby brine in that little disk feeder you have?

[paul b]

I really should go and collect some water as it has been a while and it will be in the 60s today which is weird for the middle of January.

As a kid we never saw this weather and in the winter the lakes would freeze and we would ice skate until April. Now we can plant tomatoes in February which isn't good for many things.

The pesty insects don't die nor do the infectious bacteria's and viruses. The birds forget to fly south and we get all sorts of tropical fish here (which isn't a bad thing)

Trees start to grow, then with a quick cold snap, they die.
The killer bees and fire ants which we can live without are moving north. We would rather you southerners keep them.

Near my friends house about 20 miles from here there are hundreds or thousands of tropical parrots that escaped from some pet thing 10 or 20 years ago and they have been breeding like crazy.
It's very cool but they are noisy and I have no idea what they eat in the winter as I have not seen one near a McDonalds.

When it snows now, which is very very rare, it melts the next morning when it gets to 50 degrees.
Ski resorts are teaching polities and macrame.
Sled manufacturers took up stamp collecting.

They used to have horse drawn sleigh rides around here, now the horses pull Toyota's.

I love warm weather but this is not right. 

I will like to collect water but my knee re replacement is in a few weeks so in anticipation of that, my knee is trying to talk me out of doing it. But if I don't do it now, it will be many more months before I can carry any water.

Yesterday we were invited to a Valentines Day dance. I wanted to go until my wife reminded me that that is 3 days after my surgery and dancing would not be prudent at that time as my knee would probably fall out and roll across the dance floor. Thats true "Break Dancing" 

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

I am curious to see what the sponges looked like before and after you cut them out.  Bristle worms bore me but sponges on the other hand are really interesting. Did you throw them away?

[paul b]

Done

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8KJXFo6X5g

[paul b]

One of my 30 year old powerheads croaked last night so my skimmer and algae scrubber was dry.  No water was going into the reverse UG filter either.

 

I took the thing apart and repaired it with some shrink tubing which is the repair they need every 30 years.

 

I think this was made in Germany and I really don't want to buy a pump from China so I am hoping to get a few more decades out of it.  If I can find another piece of stainless steel for the shaft, I will change it.

I think I have 5 or 6 of those old pumps, most of them still running but you need to watch the old ones as they sometimes stop.

 

They are not doing anything important so nothing will happen.  You really don't need a skimmer, under gravel filter or algae scrubber running 100% of the time.

[paul b]

I just came back from my knee Doctor. Kevorkian.  

My knee surgery is postponed for at least 6 months so now we can go to a Valentines party.

That is not the reason we cancelled it though.

 

It seems that even though the last surgery didn't work, a new one may make it worse due to neuroma.

I already had 5 surgeries on that knee before they changed it so I think I will give it a rest for a while and see what happens.

 

The recovery is the same as my last surgery, like a year and he isn't giving me any good feelings if it will make it better or possibly worse.

Christie Brinkley hasn't invited me to any dances so I can be in some pain for a while.  I don't mind as long as no more of my hair falls out.

 

On my way home  I hit a LFS.  This one always has great,unusual stuff even though it is the filthiest place I have been since Viet Nam.

Those are the kinds of places I like to go because they have stuff hiding under the mulm that they didn't even know they had and they are very cheap.

I bought 4 fish and they are already swimming around doing the Macarana. 

[paul b]

GraffitiSpotCorals, No, I didn't throw them away.  I put them in my wifes underwear drawer. 

 

I finally got my resin printer to print.  All the problems were my fault.  I had to upgrade my computer and remove a piece of plastic from under the printing platform that read:

"REMOVE BEFORE PRINTING"

like Duh.  So I designed and printed this test gear.  It won't be able to function as a real, working gear but that to is my fault and perfectly fine.  This was mostly a test.  The gear is slightly crooked and so is a couple of teeth.  The entire thing is also a little oblong but that is all my fault in the designing and can easily fix that, I think.

Those supports get cut off.

[paul b]

I finished a new Steam Punk Lamp.  This one is strictly Steam Punk and there are no gears or motors.

 

You push down the lever with the weight on the chain and it contacts a magnet on the top of the vintage telephone box lighting the lamp.  The water valve handle dims it.

 

That is a temporary bulb, the much cooler one is ordered.

 

This is going in the gallery.  I think I have 7 or 8 pieces there now and need at least ten for a show.

 

I like it. 

[paul b]

Yesterday on the way home from taking my wife to a Dr. on the side of the road I see this huge sign

"Aquarium".  So of course I swerved, almost killing us by turning over my Jeep to get to this store which I didn't know existed.  

 

It is 50 minutes from my house and not hard to get to.  I can't believe that I never knew it was there.

 

I went in and there was this very nice Asian Girl there starring at a couple of yellow tortoises .

I love turtles and used to keep them even before I kept fish when Eisenhower was President.

 

He was the Commanding General for the US during World War Two, which for you kids was a big disagreement between this German guy with a silly mustache and the rest of the world.  They were so mad at each other that they kept sending Mean Emoji's at each other, but those Emoji's tended to blow up. 

 

Japan, where Sushi comes from also didn't like us much.

 

Anyway, The girl was very nice and we discussed tortoises.  (I will make any excuse to talk to females anyway) 

 

I told her on an Island we went to last year "Mustique" they are all over the place.  Here is one of them.

 

 

 

Of course here in New York we have these Eastern Box Turtles.

 

I saved this guy by helping him across the street here.

 

 

I know there was a point to this story.

 

Oh yeah.  This store, which I forgot the name, was pretty good.  Nothing looked sick, tanks were clean, no dead fish, nice variety, decent prices, it has it all and I can't wait for my wife to go back to that Dr. so I can go back.

I almost bought a small tassled filefish, but they grow a little bigger than I want. 

 

I bought a Rainsford gobi to try to pair it with my old one,but they seem to be ignoring each other.

 

I can't get a picture of either one of those because they live on the side of the tank picking stuff out of the algae on the glass and I can't get there with a camera.

[paul b]

Finally, after a few failed attempts, I succeeded in getting this 3D resin printer to do what I want.  The first issue was with my computer which didn't have enough RAM so I installed another card, doubling the capacity of my 10+ year old computer.

 

My second problem was trying to determine how to position the supports on the model.

With a Resin printer the resin is liquid and while it is "printing" the model is still soft so you have to design in supports to hold it as it is forming.  You can see them on that gray piece which was a disaster.   The gear was a test and I didn't even design the teeth correctly but it taught me a few things.

 

 

The last two pieces are perfect and will be used on top and bottom of a glass tube which will hold an LED "Firelight" for one of my Steam Punk pieces.  They will be artificially "rusted" for the piece.