Tank turned 49 this year
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Floyd not only here... he a RS Sponsor too !
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?forums/turbos-aquatics.296/
Floyd R Turbo
RS Sponsor
lol no I'm not here, you're imagining it Paul!!
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Floyd not only here... he a RS Sponsor too !
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?forums/turbos-aquatics.296/
OOH, now I am impressed.
I think he is only here by osmosis
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Tonight we are having dinner guests. Two of out very close friends, my wife went to high school together and I used to drive the both of them home from school.
Anyway 2 hours ago he called screaming that he has a flood, water all over his house and he can't use any water because it all comes out under his toilet bowl in his basement. Now I don't want them to cancel dinner because my wife and I were cooking all day and he is a Vegan which I don't understand because he is about 300lbs. He must eat a lot of grapes or he grazes in his yard all night. I told him it is cheap to cook for him because I did all my shopping in a sod farm.
I race over to his house and jump into the flood in his basement where he has enough food stored for WW3. I never saw so much canned food in my life.
So I assess the situation and see for one thing that his toilet bowl has no bolts holding it down. OK, water still should not come out from there unless you flush "that" bowl. So I know the Main trap is clogged and any water used in the house will come out the lowest place. (I was a plumber in another life) I need to open the trap.
The trap is under a DIY cabinet that some Jiboni built before he bought the house 20 years ago. Then another "architect" built a wall in front of this 8' long cabinet so it can't be removed without sawing it in 3 parts. Of course it if filled with every type of canned food there is. Beans, pickles, olives, onions, tuna fish. I could eat for two years just with what was on the top shelf.
So we make a line and hand out all the food so we can move the cabinet to the opposite wall about 10" away. Luckily I am only 11" wide so after we moved the cabinet, I snaked myself back there. It was hard because the water main is also back there and I had to crawl under it.
Now I am back there wedged in thinking how am I going to get out as I am not exactly 20 years old any more. As I am thinking, something lands on my head. Then I feel something else land on my arm, then something jumps in my eye. It is pitch dark because they are still looking for a drop light. Things are jumping all over me, on my head, my eyes etc. Then I feel something crawling up my leg, AAAAAAAAAAAAGggggggggghhhh
They are all over me. My friend comes with the light and yells, ARE THERE ANY CRICKETS BACK THERE?.. Oh yeah, you got crickets. I am surprised you have any food left because you have a cricket Zoo back here.
Then I see sticky cricket traps loaded with crickets. There were so many crickets on those traps that they were giving each other mouth to mouth resuscitation. I am swatting them off of me as they were annoying especially females who I think were coming on to me if you know what I mean.
So I look for the 3" plugs that cover the trap but of course they are covered in dirt and crickets that died of old age or rickets, (get it, rickets) This is a true story by the way.
I dig out the dirt and pry out the cap, water comes flooding out. This is not RO/DI water either.
I ask for a shop vac. Of course he doesn't have one. Now who doesn't own a shop vac! So he runs to his neighbors to get one while I am getting swarmed by these little devils and I can barely take a breath because I am on my knees wedged in between the dead cricket covered cement wall and this old cabinet with the water main sticking me in the ear.
He finally runs in with the shop vac. He puts it on the top of the cabinet and turns it on. I suck out all the "stuff" in the trap after we empty this 15 gallon shop vac three times and now the pipe is clear.
I crawl back out with a little help and they are on their way here.
I doused myself with Clorox and took two showers.
Anyway 2 hours ago he called screaming that he has a flood, water all over his house and he can't use any water because it all comes out under his toilet bowl in his basement. Now I don't want them to cancel dinner because my wife and I were cooking all day and he is a Vegan which I don't understand because he is about 300lbs. He must eat a lot of grapes or he grazes in his yard all night. I told him it is cheap to cook for him because I did all my shopping in a sod farm.
I race over to his house and jump into the flood in his basement where he has enough food stored for WW3. I never saw so much canned food in my life.
So I assess the situation and see for one thing that his toilet bowl has no bolts holding it down. OK, water still should not come out from there unless you flush "that" bowl. So I know the Main trap is clogged and any water used in the house will come out the lowest place. (I was a plumber in another life) I need to open the trap.
The trap is under a DIY cabinet that some Jiboni built before he bought the house 20 years ago. Then another "architect" built a wall in front of this 8' long cabinet so it can't be removed without sawing it in 3 parts. Of course it if filled with every type of canned food there is. Beans, pickles, olives, onions, tuna fish. I could eat for two years just with what was on the top shelf.
So we make a line and hand out all the food so we can move the cabinet to the opposite wall about 10" away. Luckily I am only 11" wide so after we moved the cabinet, I snaked myself back there. It was hard because the water main is also back there and I had to crawl under it.
Now I am back there wedged in thinking how am I going to get out as I am not exactly 20 years old any more. As I am thinking, something lands on my head. Then I feel something else land on my arm, then something jumps in my eye. It is pitch dark because they are still looking for a drop light. Things are jumping all over me, on my head, my eyes etc. Then I feel something crawling up my leg, AAAAAAAAAAAAGggggggggghhhh
They are all over me. My friend comes with the light and yells, ARE THERE ANY CRICKETS BACK THERE?.. Oh yeah, you got crickets. I am surprised you have any food left because you have a cricket Zoo back here.
Then I see sticky cricket traps loaded with crickets. There were so many crickets on those traps that they were giving each other mouth to mouth resuscitation. I am swatting them off of me as they were annoying especially females who I think were coming on to me if you know what I mean.
So I look for the 3" plugs that cover the trap but of course they are covered in dirt and crickets that died of old age or rickets, (get it, rickets) This is a true story by the way.
I dig out the dirt and pry out the cap, water comes flooding out. This is not RO/DI water either.
I ask for a shop vac. Of course he doesn't have one. Now who doesn't own a shop vac! So he runs to his neighbors to get one while I am getting swarmed by these little devils and I can barely take a breath because I am on my knees wedged in between the dead cricket covered cement wall and this old cabinet with the water main sticking me in the ear.
He finally runs in with the shop vac. He puts it on the top of the cabinet and turns it on. I suck out all the "stuff" in the trap after we empty this 15 gallon shop vac three times and now the pipe is clear.
I crawl back out with a little help and they are on their way here.
I doused myself with Clorox and took two showers.
AndtheBonus
Member
Omg.
I'm impressed. I got to say, you do a lot for your friends. If I received a call like that, I think I would have referred them to a 24 hour emergency service, even if I didn't know about all the stuff in the way and the crickets.
I'd say plumbing problems are the ones where your most likely to find additional issues that need to be dealt with right away. Each one I seem to get involved with usually ends up being 3 trips to the hardware store for that one final part you need to finish the project.
I'd say plumbing problems are the ones where your most likely to find additional issues that need to be dealt with right away. Each one I seem to get involved with usually ends up being 3 trips to the hardware store for that one final part you need to finish the project.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I would never leave one of my friends in a predicament like that and my friends know that which is why they know they can call me at any hour for any problem. That's why I have friends from grammar school and I would do anything for them.
Another friend called me once when her husband was soldering some plumbing pipes in a small closet and he fainted from the fumes or lack of oxygen. It was in the middle of the night so I had to go there and fix the pipe because they couldn't turn on the water.
But the best one was when we were going to a wedding. WE were supposed to pick up our friends on the way. He was finishing his basement. Just before we left, he calls me screaming (I get that a lot) saying he broke his water main coming into his basement. You can't shut that off because the valve is out by the street buried somewhere in his grass a couple of feet down. By the time you find it, you will have to get out a canoe to get through your basement.
So I run to my friends plumbing supply and get a slip fit fitting and bring my wedding clothes to his house. Our wife's go to the wedding. My friend is no dope so he found a broom handle, shaved it down and banged it into the broken pipe stopping the water, but only after 50 gallons or so of water flooded his newly finished basement.
I have the slip fitting ready, we open all the faucets and we put on our SCUBA goggles and snorkels. No really. I know as soon as we remove that broom stick, water will shoot out so fast, we won't be able to see. So we are ready and he tries to take out the broom stick. It won't move. It swelled up in the pipe. Now we have to cut the pipe. Before we do, we prepare another broom stick in case this doesn't work. Now we are wearing large plastic garbage bags with our heads sticking out, SCUBA masks and snorkels and start cutting the pipe. Water is gushing out in all directions as we cut, the water is hitting the walls, our faces and everywhere in 8' sweeps. Good thing we had the masks or we wouldn't be able to see. Now I am feverishly trying to connect the two cut ends of the pipe together but it is hard due to the deluge so we are working by feel.
We finally get the two ends of the pipe in this fitting and clamp it down.
The water stops and is now coming out the faucets. We carefully shut those off one by one and there are no leaks.
That was 25 years ago and that pipe has not leaked yet.
After the wedding I went home and immediately put a bracket on my water main so it can't be moved.
Another friend called me once when her husband was soldering some plumbing pipes in a small closet and he fainted from the fumes or lack of oxygen. It was in the middle of the night so I had to go there and fix the pipe because they couldn't turn on the water.
But the best one was when we were going to a wedding. WE were supposed to pick up our friends on the way. He was finishing his basement. Just before we left, he calls me screaming (I get that a lot) saying he broke his water main coming into his basement. You can't shut that off because the valve is out by the street buried somewhere in his grass a couple of feet down. By the time you find it, you will have to get out a canoe to get through your basement.
So I run to my friends plumbing supply and get a slip fit fitting and bring my wedding clothes to his house. Our wife's go to the wedding. My friend is no dope so he found a broom handle, shaved it down and banged it into the broken pipe stopping the water, but only after 50 gallons or so of water flooded his newly finished basement.
I have the slip fitting ready, we open all the faucets and we put on our SCUBA goggles and snorkels. No really. I know as soon as we remove that broom stick, water will shoot out so fast, we won't be able to see. So we are ready and he tries to take out the broom stick. It won't move. It swelled up in the pipe. Now we have to cut the pipe. Before we do, we prepare another broom stick in case this doesn't work. Now we are wearing large plastic garbage bags with our heads sticking out, SCUBA masks and snorkels and start cutting the pipe. Water is gushing out in all directions as we cut, the water is hitting the walls, our faces and everywhere in 8' sweeps. Good thing we had the masks or we wouldn't be able to see. Now I am feverishly trying to connect the two cut ends of the pipe together but it is hard due to the deluge so we are working by feel.
We finally get the two ends of the pipe in this fitting and clamp it down.
The water stops and is now coming out the faucets. We carefully shut those off one by one and there are no leaks.
That was 25 years ago and that pipe has not leaked yet.
After the wedding I went home and immediately put a bracket on my water main so it can't be moved.
It's not that I don't want to help a friend out. It's that in some situations I know I'd be getting into an area where I don't have the expertise or ability to do the job. A flood from a toilet and clogged sewer would certainly be something I wouldn't take on myself, even in my own home.
I actually did have the incoming water main to my place break. It was outside, and broke about one foot from the foundation. The water was rising up along the foundation, into a window well and into my basement. I was lucky here because my basement is a walk out, so by opening the door, the water didn't accumulate inside.
Since this is a townhouse condo, a call to the condo management people brought out the contractor. Then they sent a few guys out and shut off the water at the street valve, and dug the 6 foot deep hole needed to reach the failed pipe. They made the repair and all was well in a few hours. This is something I never could have done myself. This also had the side benefit of getting rid of a large overgrown shrub I hated. (grin)
I actually did have the incoming water main to my place break. It was outside, and broke about one foot from the foundation. The water was rising up along the foundation, into a window well and into my basement. I was lucky here because my basement is a walk out, so by opening the door, the water didn't accumulate inside.
Since this is a townhouse condo, a call to the condo management people brought out the contractor. Then they sent a few guys out and shut off the water at the street valve, and dug the 6 foot deep hole needed to reach the failed pipe. They made the repair and all was well in a few hours. This is something I never could have done myself. This also had the side benefit of getting rid of a large overgrown shrub I hated. (grin)
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Dave, so far in my life I have never hired anyone for anything except dentists and if I could see in there I would do that myself as I am not sure they always do it to my satisfaction. Of course I would have to take my screaming.
I have been an electrician but before that worked as a plumber, mechanic for GM, furniture maker etc. I have also done quite a lot of cement work and general contracting. These last two years I surprised myself by doing my own taxes and not going to jail. That is why my friends call me for everything.
Once my Post Master friend and fellow Viet Nam Veteran friend called me because his wife was getting shocked when she touched their electric stove. I went there and touched the stove, nothing happened. So he told me to touch the stove and refrigerator at the same time, nothing happened. So he told me to touch the stove, the refrigerator and put my tongue on the sink. I said: "Wait a minute, how does your wife cook anyway?"
I have been an electrician but before that worked as a plumber, mechanic for GM, furniture maker etc. I have also done quite a lot of cement work and general contracting. These last two years I surprised myself by doing my own taxes and not going to jail. That is why my friends call me for everything.
Once my Post Master friend and fellow Viet Nam Veteran friend called me because his wife was getting shocked when she touched their electric stove. I went there and touched the stove, nothing happened. So he told me to touch the stove and refrigerator at the same time, nothing happened. So he told me to touch the stove, the refrigerator and put my tongue on the sink. I said: "Wait a minute, how does your wife cook anyway?"
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I was just jerking around with my water cooled LED lighting system and noticed that my empty reactor is still filled with baby shrimp. They grew a little and I am surprised they are still in there because the water goes into the bottom and out through the top so if they are day dreaming, they will be carried into the skimmer where they will have a nice sauna due to my ozonizor then, if they live through that, into my tank.
I also think my male bangai cardinal is near the end of his life. I know I said that last year but he is way past his normal life span and although looks like the picture of health, he is dying of old age and barely eats. Their lifespan in the sea is only 3 years and I have him longer than that. I thought I would have lost him months ago but he is still hanging in there.
When a fish dies of old age they act somewhat like we do. He slowed down and just hangs around his usual haunts starring at me thinking over his life, what he accomplished and what legacy he will leave behind. He lost most interest in food and I think he is too lazy to eat. We do the same thing as we age and I saw my own Mother, Mother N Law and last week ,my best friends Mom do the same thing just before they died.
Their body lost the capacity to digest food so even if I wanted to stupidly force feed him, it would do no good. Fish that are dying of old age also show no disease symptoms. Eventually he will start to go blind then other fish may pick on him. At that point, if I can grab him, I will euthanize him. No I won't hit him over the head with a hammer or lay him in the street until a school bus runs him over. Instead I will put him in salt water in the freezer where he will slow down until his heart stops. Cold blooded creatures all slow down when chilled. Turtles, lizzards, snakes, bears and Paris Hilton all slow down. (Yes I know bears are not cold blooded and I knew you would correct me.)
No need to feel bad for the fish as he lived a full and happy life. He also spawned many times. Even though he looks perfect, I give him another week. I could be wrong but that is my guess.
I am not sure if Mermaids are cold blooded. Maybe only the lower half of them
I also think my male bangai cardinal is near the end of his life. I know I said that last year but he is way past his normal life span and although looks like the picture of health, he is dying of old age and barely eats. Their lifespan in the sea is only 3 years and I have him longer than that. I thought I would have lost him months ago but he is still hanging in there.
When a fish dies of old age they act somewhat like we do. He slowed down and just hangs around his usual haunts starring at me thinking over his life, what he accomplished and what legacy he will leave behind. He lost most interest in food and I think he is too lazy to eat. We do the same thing as we age and I saw my own Mother, Mother N Law and last week ,my best friends Mom do the same thing just before they died.
Their body lost the capacity to digest food so even if I wanted to stupidly force feed him, it would do no good. Fish that are dying of old age also show no disease symptoms. Eventually he will start to go blind then other fish may pick on him. At that point, if I can grab him, I will euthanize him. No I won't hit him over the head with a hammer or lay him in the street until a school bus runs him over. Instead I will put him in salt water in the freezer where he will slow down until his heart stops. Cold blooded creatures all slow down when chilled. Turtles, lizzards, snakes, bears and Paris Hilton all slow down. (Yes I know bears are not cold blooded and I knew you would correct me.)
No need to feel bad for the fish as he lived a full and happy life. He also spawned many times. Even though he looks perfect, I give him another week. I could be wrong but that is my guess.
I am not sure if Mermaids are cold blooded. Maybe only the lower half of them
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I think that bangai cardinal is making a fool out of me as he is eating well and looks better than he ever did. He is well past his supposed lifespan so maybe he is taking suppliments.
My copperband also had this dark mark on his side and now it is almost gone. This is how he looked a few months ago.
Then a few weeks ago it faded.
Now it faded even more which leads me to believe he drew that black mark on his side with magic marker.
My copperband also had this dark mark on his side and now it is almost gone. This is how he looked a few months ago.
Then a few weeks ago it faded.
Now it faded even more which leads me to believe he drew that black mark on his side with magic marker.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I just finished a new one which I really like. The glass is two liquor bottles cut in half and the necks also cut off. I am not crazy about those bottles so am drinking heavily to get two more, nice looking bottles. I hope my liver holds out.
The part where the antique radio switch is in is a quart paint can. I cut out about 3" of the middle and squashed the ends together and the base is oak. There is an 11" 40 watt bulb in there.
The part where the antique radio switch is in is a quart paint can. I cut out about 3" of the middle and squashed the ends together and the base is oak. There is an 11" 40 watt bulb in there.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
That is supposed to be a vintage Edison looking bulb. It is much longer than those old aquarium bulbs. This one has a cool looking, very long filament. I can't take a picture of it on as it washes out the picture even though it is only 40 watts.
I get them on this site.
https://www.amazon.com/Antique-Light-Bulbs/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i:aps,k:Antique Light Bulbs
I get them on this site.
https://www.amazon.com/Antique-Light-Bulbs/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i:aps,k:Antique Light Bulbs
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I just finished my first pass with the snowblower. We already got about 10" of mostly icy looking snow. I had to wear ski goggles because the ice is driven very hard by the wind and I had trouble seeing without the goggles. Early this morning I delivered some bagels to some older people I know but I had to clear my driveway first to get my Jeep out as the plows build up huge piles of snow on both sides of the street and I tried to plow through it but even in 4 wheel drive I got stuck because the ice builds up under the car and lifts the wheels off the ground. I got it off the mountain and it was fine.
Blue Space
Well-Known Member
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I just thought of this and figured it may be interesting. When we were first married my tank was a 40 gallon which was considered pretty big then. I had the tank before we were married so naturally the tank came along with me when my wife and I got our first apartment. That apartment was on the first floor of an attached home and it was the smallest apartment I have ever seen. But we couldn't rub two nickels together to make a dime so it sufficed for a few years. We had one tiny closet in the entire apartment and that was under a stair case. The "living room, dining room and kitchen" was really one small room. The other room was the bedroom. In the part of the apartment we called the dining room, which was really just the tiny entrance into the place we had the fish tank. The tank took up almost a quarter of the hall way/dining area, which had no table, we just called it that to make it sound like we had a dining room. We really had two stools at the kitchen counter as that was all that would fit.
When our Daughter was born, we put her in the same whicker bassinet that I was in when I was born. Luckily it was on wheels because we had to wheel her back and forth to be able to walk past the bassinet and the fish tank.
I am surprised my new wife put up with that for so long and still does.
One day just two days after we moved in I came home from work to find my wife hysterical crying. I said, whats wrong. She said the stove (which was brand new and she never used it yet) blew up right after she closed the oven door to check on some Chinese food she was warming up for dinner. She wanted me to call the stove manufacturer and tell them they almost killed her. There was Chinese food all over the newly painted apartment and the fish tank. Luckily the fish didn't mind the salty food. I inspected the oven and it looked like a pot belly stove. The insulation was coming out and the sides were bent out. The bottom of the oven was also bent down.
In those days you had to turn on the gas to the oven, then light it with a match. Now they are all electric start. I pulled out the stove and started to take it apart to see if I could find the cause of the explosion.
My wife was just yelling about the manufacturer.
Then I found the problem. As I said this was a tiny apartment, (and a tiny stove) My wife was just 18 and we had just came back from our Honeymoon two days prior to this. We also had no money to replace the stove.
I found an exploded can of "PAM" spray in the oven. The stuff you spray in a pan so stuff don't stick. I can tell you that PAM doesn't keep Chinese food from sticking to walls or fish tanks.
She would store stuff in the oven for lack of any other place to put it and that can must have rolled in the back where she didn't see it.
I had to take every part out of that stove, insulation, rivets, everything and straighten it out. I got it looking almost like new and it worked for the next five years until we moved.
This is her then
When our Daughter was born, we put her in the same whicker bassinet that I was in when I was born. Luckily it was on wheels because we had to wheel her back and forth to be able to walk past the bassinet and the fish tank.
I am surprised my new wife put up with that for so long and still does.
One day just two days after we moved in I came home from work to find my wife hysterical crying. I said, whats wrong. She said the stove (which was brand new and she never used it yet) blew up right after she closed the oven door to check on some Chinese food she was warming up for dinner. She wanted me to call the stove manufacturer and tell them they almost killed her. There was Chinese food all over the newly painted apartment and the fish tank. Luckily the fish didn't mind the salty food. I inspected the oven and it looked like a pot belly stove. The insulation was coming out and the sides were bent out. The bottom of the oven was also bent down.
In those days you had to turn on the gas to the oven, then light it with a match. Now they are all electric start. I pulled out the stove and started to take it apart to see if I could find the cause of the explosion.
My wife was just yelling about the manufacturer.
Then I found the problem. As I said this was a tiny apartment, (and a tiny stove) My wife was just 18 and we had just came back from our Honeymoon two days prior to this. We also had no money to replace the stove.
I found an exploded can of "PAM" spray in the oven. The stuff you spray in a pan so stuff don't stick. I can tell you that PAM doesn't keep Chinese food from sticking to walls or fish tanks.
She would store stuff in the oven for lack of any other place to put it and that can must have rolled in the back where she didn't see it.
I had to take every part out of that stove, insulation, rivets, everything and straighten it out. I got it looking almost like new and it worked for the next five years until we moved.
This is her then
Florida Sunshine
Member
She is beautiful!
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Thank you. My wife is beautiful and was especially beautiful when that picture was taken, probably the same week she blew up our stove.
After 43 or so years of being married we are still best friends and rarely fight except for the normal stuff that all married couples fight about. She has gone to the gym 4 times a week since I know her and still has a perfect figure. I on the other hand could afford to lose a couple or three pounds. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 19 years ago and now walks with a cane.
We are hopeful that this Stem Cell procedure will help with this condition but it is experimental and no guarantees.
I am very lucky that I married a good one as I know many people don't get along after 10 or 15 minutes.
I would be lost without her.
I think she still likes me.
After 43 or so years of being married we are still best friends and rarely fight except for the normal stuff that all married couples fight about. She has gone to the gym 4 times a week since I know her and still has a perfect figure. I on the other hand could afford to lose a couple or three pounds. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 19 years ago and now walks with a cane.
We are hopeful that this Stem Cell procedure will help with this condition but it is experimental and no guarantees.
I am very lucky that I married a good one as I know many people don't get along after 10 or 15 minutes.
I would be lost without her.
I think she still likes me.
