Tank turned 49 this year

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I spent 8 days in the Caribbean and my tank is fine, maybe even better than when I left. I think my fish like my Supermodel tank sitter better than they like me. (I don't blame them)
She doesn't know anything about fish but I make it very easy for her.
Before I go, I make up individual portions of frozen food and put it in small containers. They are actually film containers but I realize most people on here were born last Tuesday and don't know what film is, but it is like Scotch tape and pictures stich to it.
Anyway, I make up enough food for a feeding every other day. Every day would be better but I don't want to push my luck by asking her to come over every day and I don't want my fish to get to used to looking at her.
In the containers I put some Mysis, clam, and live blackworms.
I built this frozen food feeder/defroster thing in about five minutes and use it every time I go away. It's just a small powerhead that pumps water into a small container with holes in it.
The Supermodel just has to take the frozen food from the refrigerator and dump it into the small container where it defrosts and gets distributed all over the tank. She doesn't have to mix it with water and all that or even wait for it to defrost. Just dump it in and leave.
If she were to just put in the entire lump of frozen food, one or two fish would eat it all. My copperband would get most of it. This way, all the fish get to eat.

That device is fine for most of my fish but I also have mandarins, ruby red dragonettes and pipefish and they don't have any sense of humor and won't eat any of that frozen food so I designed an automatic vacation brine shrimp hatchery/feeder that will dispends eggs, hatch them and feed the tank for that time.
There is a flake food feeder over a funnel that is at the top of the water which dispenses some brine shrimp eggs into the funnel. A small amount of water is also pumped into this funnel so that eventually the eggs sink into the hatchery where they hatch in about 36 hours and are attracted to the mesh on top.
My fish lay on the thing all day and suck out shrimp. I have been using these two devices for a few years and never had any problems.

This is the defroster, dispenser thing.


This is the hatchery/ dispenser thing.



And a video of it working.

 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
This guy stopped eating today which means he will molt in a day or two. Not a minute to soon as he is becoming to be covered in some algae and a little cyano.
After he molts I will look for a female for him to date as I want them to mate.
I have had arrow crabs mate a few times and it just seems right to get him a girlfriend to try to impress. I got him as a baby and I think he is now ready.


 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
That arrow crab shed as I knew he would and now he is much larger. So much larger that I am afraid to go to sleep at night as he has been looking at me funny lately with those beady little eyes.
I think he is mad that it is taking me so long to find a suitable mate for him but I am looking for a real cute one, sort of like a Crab Supermodel, so it is taking a while. I find that crabs seem to live forever and that the only time one would die is right after they shed and another creature finds them tasty. I am sure the numerous bristleworms I have smell him and chase him around right after he sheds. If he sheds on the gravel, they will surround him and possibly trip him so that when he falls down, they put him in a Ricky Nelson.
(Full Nelson for you young uns)
I also have some large hermit crabs that I got the size of a pea. Those too live forever and I lost a pair a few years ago that were about 12 years old. They died a week apart.


These guys lived to 12 years old. The female is the cute one with the above the knee shell and blue eye stalks.



These local New York rock crabs you can collect here all over the place. They grow to about the size of a baseball in a year so you can't keep them to long.

 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Awesome video ! I can't imagine what those guys went to get the close ups. I wouldn't want to be a flying fish in the sea of life
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Hey Paul, How is Your algae scrubber working? The one You setup after the new lighting. It's been a while ,just curious if it's working for You.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
It is working to well. Every week I have to take the thing off and scrape the algae and slime off. Now that it is boating season, I don't have that kind of time any more but If I don't clean it, clumps of algae will fall back into the tank. So I guess I could say it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.
The water cooled LEDs on the scrubber and the tank are also doing what they are supposed to do. They run very cool and so far no problems.


I was thinking of adding a couple of these guys to my tank. Look at the algae scrubber on their back.

 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
My largest montipora coral is bleaching. It is only that one and this is the third time this has happened. It seems after they grow huge, they get bored and start to bleach. I have no idea why and the rest of them seem fine. The last time this happened I had a piece that grew from fingernail size to about 10" round. Then in 2 days it turned white and croaked. It is happening again and I find it interesting. I wish I knew what was going through their head as to why they do this.
But it is what makes this hobby so much better than stamp collecting or trying to guess the phone numbers of Supermodels.
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Glad "Your scrubber" is working. As for the corals bleaching, I surely wouldn't know the why's . This is a challenging endeavor . As for the new additions? That one has a Chia Pet hairdoo. Now for supermodels phone numbers You need to get a hold of that Romanian guy the feds have. I bet he could help You ! LOL
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
My montipora actually looks a little better so maybe it is just teasing me. The fish are all great, but as I said to big and they seem to like being pregnant.

My arrow crab is still scary and I hope he also stops growing. Another molt and he may break the glass. I can't seem to find my clingfish but he shows up every few weeks and also gets bigger. Tomorrow I have to buy more chowder clams as that is my preferred food that they get almost every day along with the worms and new born brine. If it were not for the bluestripe pipes, mandarins and anthius I wouldn't have to hatch those little suckers every day. But if you want to keep such creatures you need to do that. No, you can't have long term, pregnant mandarins and pipefish by feeding pellets even if they will eat them. Your fish will hate you. I just read some older posts on this and other forums and it seems that a lot of people feel they can't use my methods to keep fish immune or pregnant. I am not sure why because for the first 40 years I had my tank I also had a regular job and still had time to properly feed my fish. Maybe like I keep hearing, I am just lucky.

Yesterday I tuned up my boat. I can't remember the last time I put spark plugs in it and I mentioned that to the mechanic at the marina. He told me that after a few years in salt water you can't get the plugs out any more and they have to pull the engines out for $4,500.00 He must have me mixed up with a Jiboni because if I spend $4,500.00 on anything it better involve Christie Brinkley or any one of the Victoria Secret Supermodels, Hawaii or Tahiti. The plugs came right out because the last time I changed them I put some anti seize compound on the threads. If you do your own work you know what you are getting and won't have any problems the next time. The job cost me $36.00 and took an hour. The actual work was probably 20 minutes and the rest of the time was spent trying to straighten myself up after cramming myself in between those engines.

 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Maybe but he knows me and realizes that I would never let that happen. See those 2 red valves on top of each engine? Those are my fresh water flushing systems that I designed for that boat as Sea Ray doesn't sell one. I connect a hose up to the fitting, turn the valves, start the engines and fresh water flushes the both engines. If you don't do that, the manifolds only last 8-10 years and they are expensive and heavy. I love re-designing anything mechanical because the engineers who get paid to do that, don't have to work on them as they are office workers. I like to design everything to be more functional and easy to maintain, just like my reef. :D
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
That montipora that was bleaching seems to be almost fully recovered. That is weird but I think I figured out what was making it fail to thrive. I tested my Alk, something I rarely do, and it was high. Higher than my test kit goes which was 13.
So I just dosed calcium maybe 6 or 7 times with no alk and the thing looks much better and almost back to normal. I didn't test the alk again but I assume it came down.
I once lost a very large monti by bleaching and was wondering what the alk was then. I think in a few days it will be as good as new.
My fish don't seem to care and continue to smile, and spawn.
The white parts were very white a week ago and I was sure it would croak.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I found my clingfish today as I was cleaning the sponge that strains the water that goes to my reverse UG filter. He disappeared for a few weeks. He is happily grazing on the "mulm" that grows on the back of my tank. I knew I would find that little sucker.


Clingfish I think he is much cooler than a boreing clownfish or tang

 
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Paul B

Well-Known Member
I assume it is wild caught as I didn't hear of anyone spawning them. But I would imagine they are easy to spawn. If I knew what sex it was, I would get another one
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Today I noticed my tank had only the blue LEDs lit. My new water cooled home made fixture had a problem. It has worked flawless since I built it but I used old LEDs from an old fixture so I figured at some point there would be an issue. I tired to fix it while it was on the tank but that was difficult because it was hard to test each LED while suspended over the tank and I really didn't want to remove it because it is 6' long and connected to a water pump and radiator. Luckily when I built it I installed unions so I could fairly easily remove it and the electrical parts unplugged. So I drained it and removed it from the tank so I could work on it on my workbench. It took over an hour to repair because two LEDs were faulty. If it was only one it is a lot easier because it is just a question of testing each one in series, but when more than one is bad, it adds some technical issues. I replaced the two bad LEDs and re-glued some reflectors that came off. I also cleaned and polished the splash guard which needed to be done anyway so now it is as good as new. Until another one goes out.

This is the fixture under construction when I first tested it.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I am glad that I found a new reliable source for clams to feed my tank. They sell clams all over the place here on Long Island but sometimes the larger ones are hard to find.
I ran out of them for a week and my fish were carving Human Racial Slurs at me on the glass. But now they are happy.


 
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