Tank turned 49 this year

[Paul B]

I am happy to report I found my clingfish. No, not dead and dried up on the floor like a prune, but happy and healthy near the place he used to hang out. After I removed a large rock that he used to call home, I couldn't find him for over a week.
But I fed the tank some clams today and he couldn't resist. I saw him dart out for some sushi. Now he settled in in a spot where I can continue target feeding him as he is to lazy to hunt for food himself.

 

[DaveK]

Yea, I know what it says there, yet I know people, other than yourself, that have seemed to keep them even longer than the 4 years in captivity. I suspect that we are going to find out that they like longer than the article indicates.

I don't think I have ever owned any Bangai cardinals, but I have kept the closely related species Pajama Cardinals, and had them last about 8 years. I only lost them due to a power failure that wiped out the entire tank.

We shall see.

 

[Paul B]

A fish that size should live much longer but I can see they are starting to age and get lazy. They are very big and the female spends a lot of time away from the male in the back of the tank. They were probably a year old when I got them and I will see how long they live.

 

[Paul B]

I have too many bristleworms and too many big bristleworms. They are not normally a problem unless they crawl into bed with you but they are a problem to certain invertebrates. Especially ones that shed like crabs and shrimp. I also have lost baby clams to them many times. My large arrow crab recently shed and I still can't find him, but I know it was bristle worms as I can tell by their smile. The worms wait behind a rock and trip the helpless crab when he walks by.

I designed a few traps for the worms and I normally catch 4 or 5 a night. But now most of my tiny hermit crabs grew into golf ball size creatures and if I look at my tank at night I find 4 of them with the bristle worm trap on their shoulders carrying it around the tank. This is annoying because the trap only works when it is on the gravel. The crabs are all fighting with each other, taking turns trying to get the clam bait out of the trap. Now I am looking for a bowling ball I can use as a weight to keep the crabs from carrying the trap. AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

 

[Paul B]

Tank is doing well, everything is happy and healthy. Cleaning the algae scrubber every couple of weeks is a pain and a little time consuming. The water cooled LED lights are still functioning as I expected.
Clingfish and bangai cardinals seem happy.
The biggest feeder is by far the copperband. That thing will eat all the food I put in there by himself if I didn't target feed everything.
Almost all the gorgonians are growing out of the water and if I get time I will trim them and glue the pieces someplace.
I am also thinking (not to seriously) of removing the algae trough and scraping it out. There is no algae in it as it is filled with small corals and tube worms. I would assume it is a great nursery for the numerous amphipods I have in there. I only collected amphipods twice this year and I hope to go collecting maybe once more. If not I at least want to collect some more mud, but I can get that from the shore anywhere without going to a tide pool.
The reverse undergravel filter is the oldest thing in the tank and was in there from the start. I still think of that as the heart of my system and if I started a new tank tomorrow (not likely) I would add a reverse undergravel filter.
What's not to like? Of course I doubt I could still get dolomite.
I wonder what will happen to this tank when I finally take it down. It has to come down at some point because I am not exactly 16 any more.
I was also thinking (again not very seriously) about removing my skimmer temporally to fill with vinegar and clean. That has only happened once many years ago. It is bolted to my stand so it is not really a five minute job.
Recently I re-designed and re-built the venture valve and this new one (which costs about a buck) works much better. I have 3 air pumps running my skimmer because it is about 5' tall and there is to much back pressure for the venture to suck enough air in so I supplement it with air pumps and I couldn't find one strong enough. I also use it with Ozone but I run it full power and removed the sensor from the tank as it wasn't doing anything anyway.

 

[Squatch XXL]

The water cooled LED lights are still functioning as I expected.

Thanks for the update. Your fabrication came to mind the other day while I was pondering adding a strip of "purty lights".

I would add a reverse undergravel filter.

I have been doing aquatics for quite a while, and had a reverse ugf on a smaller 20 gallon freshwater decades ago. I never had any issue with a thin substrate layer. I think there is real potential for a tank to be successful when a form of "filtering" uses the substrate somewhat actively. Really it depends on the substrate size and water flow. Eventually with additional mechanical filterings (sponge and/or sump socks), shouldn't most larger particles float out?

When you jab and fiddle with your substrate, do you see much particles floating upward?

I was also thinking (again not very seriously) about removing my skimmer temporally to fill with vinegar and clean. That has only happened once many years ago. It is bolted to my stand so it is not really a five minute job.

Who knows? If you clean it, you only need 2 air pumps to run it then?

This has got to be the saddest looking fish I have ever seen. Look at them sad puppy dog eyes. Them chompers look sad too.

 

[Paul B]

That fireclown is sad because he is about 25 years old and is still spawning. I think he misses his youth.
I noticed when clowns get into their 20s they get bags under their eyes.
As for particles floating up when I stir the gravel. I get this.

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I had to euthanize my female bangai cardinal. She was at the end of her life and could no longer swim. I saw this coming for a couple of months and she lived out her life happy and healthy. They only live 3 or 4 years. Her mate is also near his end. The pair stopped spawning and slowed down a lot and ate very little near the end.

I can tell when it starts happening.

I wrote an article about it if you are interested.

http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/how-to-tell-marine-fish-dying-old-age-5782/

 

[Paul B]

I went to Boston to speak this week and I think my fish like the Supermodel who watches my tank better than they like me.

My arrow crab will shed tonight but I am worried for him because the larger bristle worms have been licking their chops waiting for this.

Everything else is doing great, even the Bangai cardinal who is near the end of his lifespan. He still eats but not like he used to. That is the first sigh of dying of old age. I am not sure what I will replace that pair with but I definitely want a pair of something that will spawn.

 

[Paul B]

This mushroom has been in my tank for years. I don't even remember how many years because it grew from another mushroom which grew from another one.
Yesterday I noticed it had all but disappeared for no apparent cause. One minute it is there, the next it is gone. There is still a little piece of it left but a tiny one. This mushroom would expand during the day to about 8 or 9" across and at night shrink a little.
Now it is almost gone but everything else is fine.
This is one of the things I find so fascinating in this hobby. How life can just appear and disappear after many years for no known reason. I am sure the mushroom knows, but I certainly don't.
Now I am not going to test the parameters, change the water or offer up tea leaves to the moon. It is what it is and sometimes creatures die. I am not sure if this one died or moved to the back of the tank because the parts that are left look perfectly healthy. This also gives me an excuse to put something else in that place where this guy was.
Very cool.
(PS. I just looked at my tank which is now just lit with a small red light and my mandarins are spawning again. I love this stuff)

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I bought a new coral to put in the place where that mushroom disappeared. While gluing it in I found some of the mushroom. It multiplied into a bunch of quarter sized pieces which I also glued in because they were under rocks in the dark. Now I am going to have to many.

 

[Paul B]

In a few weeks I am going to have some surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and torn bicep. This is the fourth time I tore this rotator cuff on my left arm and I think I had it done twice on my right arm.
(I also had maybe 5 knee surgeries) But these are Man surgeries and not Sissy surgeries so they don't bother me. I really enjoy the sleep too. (as well as the nurses)
I worked construction all my life and if you don't wear out your parts doing that, you didn't work hard enough.
I went to the surgeon today and told him to try to fix the thing this time so it stays fixed even if I pick up a heavy pint of beer. Maybe use some good toggle bolts that you don't get from Home Depot.
The recovery is three months after a month of physical therapy, which I kind of enjoy because the place I go has a couple of Supermodels working there.
Today I winterized my boat and put up the Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations around my house. My wife used to help me but she has MS so I do it myself. I put up a lot of decorations for all of the holidays. I just like my house looking good. Next week I will also winterize my sprinkler system because after this operation I won't be able to use my left arm so I want to get all of that stuff done you need two arms for.
Years ago I devised a method to winterize my boat using a shop vacuum. I disconnect the water hoses and suck out all the salt water using the vacuum. Then I installed a small bilge pump in a five gallon bucket and pump antifreeze through the engines and exhaust manifolds. I also use this to pump water through the air conditioner and water system for the sinks and showers.
I am also changing water in my reef because I only do that every 3 or 4 months anyway.

My neighbors will also snow blow for me so it all works out well.

 

[DaveK]

Good luck with the surgery.

Although it does sound like your still keeping yourself busy.

 

[Paul B]

Thank you, the surgery won't stop me from doing to much except for the first week or so while I am still screaming. After that I will just do stuff I only need my right hand for, like combing my hair.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Best of luck with the surgery Paul & speedy recovery ! Here hoping it stays fixed this time

 

[Paul B]

Thanks, I told them this time to close me up with Velcro so they don't have to go to too much trouble the next time.
I am kind of an active person and don't just push paper clips around all day so I tear things. I don't bungee jump, wrestle mountain gorillas or pull trucks with my teeth "much" any more but I still do all my car, boat and house work and I still SCUBA when I can which is a lot less than I used to, a lot less.
I also still point at Supermodels and take my wife food shopping. That takes a real Man.
This week I want to get under my car one more time before the surgery to replace the stabilizer bars. I just added new ones last year but I want to design different ones because the ones made for the car are silly. Yesterday I changed some water on my tank because that is hard to do with one arm as my fish made fun of me the last time I did that using one arm.

 

[Paul B]

That is very weird.
Today is also my 43rd wedding anniversary so I have a few things planned for my wife. !*)

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

 

[Paul B]

Thank you.

 

[Paul B]

I really need to re-design my DIY venture valve in my DIY skimmer. The skimmer used to have 3 air pumps running it because it is about 4' tall and the venturi isn't strong enough to pull air down that far so the air pumps push water into the valve. This worked well for many years but I had to keep replacing air pumps because of the high pressure so I bought a much stronger air pump. You can fill up tires and air mattress with this thing or if you like, blow your brains out through your ears from across the street. Now I think it is putting out to much air and the bubbles aren't small enough. It's OK but I want very tiny bubbles.

My old pumps produced tiny bubbles but not enough of them so I either have to re-design the valve or get a larger water pump to push water through the venture valve. The pump running that now is probably 20 years old and I really don't want to touch it because you know what happens when you touch a 20 year old pump that has never been serviced.

I am in redesigning mode.