Tank turned 49 this year

[Paul B]

My wife went to Manhattan today to meet our five year old Grand Daughter Greta. (I put my wife on an UBER) My wife is feeling much better (I hope it lasts) and they went to the America Doll something. Greta brought her old doll to have her hair done (no really) You don't want to know how much it costs in Rockefeller Center (right near the tree) to get a "doll's" hair done. I thought the uber into the city was a little pricy, but they could have taken the Uber driver to the Caribbean and had his hair done cheaper.
Then my wife is buying Greta another American Girl doll. I hope it's hair is already done because I am already selling my house, but I don't want to get a mortgage to comb the dolls hair.
Pretty soon they will make these dolls get varicose veins and cellulite so you have to take them in for liposuction.

 

[Paul B]

I went out to my new condo today to check on the construction and take pictures of the beams and rafters because I will be doing a lot of modifications and it is much easier if I can see the construction before they close up the walls.
I am installing an elevator for my wife so she can get in the place which is built over the garage so it is a flight of stairs and she doesn't do stairs well due to MS.
I sent the elevator contractor there to check out the shaft which is outside behind the stairs.

I got the drawings for the elevator today so i can submit them for a permit and I noticed in the text that it says the "Elevator shaft has to be with in 60 and 90 degrees."
He must have thought I was putting this elevator in the Bahamas but here in long Island, it goes from zero to 100 degrees during the year.

I called him just now and asked him about it. He said, isn't the shaft in the building? I reminded him that he just went out there to look at it. Or did he make a mistake and go to the Bahamas?
He said "Aren't you going to heat the shaft?" I said, "No" and I am not going to heat the parking lot, sidewalk or dumpster either.

He said, then it won't work in the winter. Maybe he figured my wife only wants to leave the house in the summer and in an emergency, I can lower her down a rope.

Then on a whim I asked him if they make an oil heater for the oil resivour. He said, "I think so". Then Like DUH, can you find that out? He said no one ever asked about that before.

I mean, is it me!.
Why do I always have to work with Dut da dues. You know what a Dut da due is? Its a guy who doesn't have any idea what he is doing and just walks around going Dut da Due, Dut da due.
It's like everyone is in the Twilight zone and I am Rod Serling.

 

[Paul B]

Today we are putting up our Christmas tree. It's the smallest tree we have ever got as we are moving and people are coming to view the house and we want them to be able to walk around without falling into baby Jesus and the sheep and all that.
I finished the outside a couple of days ago which was great because it will snow today. I didn't go as crazy as I normally do but I have to do a decent job because my Birthday is on Christmas Day and I played Santa Claws my entire life. I build all my decorations because I am not a Home Depot kind of guy and like my tank, I like my decorations to be different. I really don't like those plastic inflatable things. They were cool when they first came out, but now they are all over the place.
I built this plane, train and Jack in the box over the last 38 years. The Jack in the Box is the newest. Sadly, after Christmas I will have to get rid of all this stuff as our new condo doesn't have any place to display them.
I will put them out with a sign that says "Free" and hope someone can use them as I hate to see them go in the garbage because I put a lot of work into them. The plane which is about 4' wide has a motor for the prop that spins slow. It needs a new motor but I won't replace it this year. Not much point to that. The train "boiler" is a 20 gallon drum and it comes out to store.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

 

[Paul B]

Today I called my elevator installer to ask him about the problem with the thing not working in the winter. I figured that was a viable question before I fork over $35,000.00 for the thing. He didn't have an answer for me so I asked for the guy who owns the company who makes the elevator. I called the guy and explained the situation to him. He said they don't recommend putting the elevator in this place with no heat.
I asked, what part of it needs to be heated? He said the motor and oil resivour along with the ten foot piston.
I asked if it comes with an oil heater? Yes it does, but not for the temperatures we have here on Long Island. I said, but you are selling the thing here on Long Island, not in the Bahamas.
He didn't have an answer.
So I said can't I just put the motor and oil resivour in an insulated box and heat that?
He said that is a good idea. But what about the 10' piston.
I said can't I just put a heat trace wire around the piston and put pipe insulation on it like we do to prevent pipes from freezing.
He said, that is also a good idea.

I then said, then why am I designing this project instead of you?
Like Duh. As I said, I am dealing with Jibonies.

 

[Paul B]

I am today building the lights for my new condo. They are called Wine barrel lights built "obviously" from old wine barrel hoops. I need three of them for over the Island in the kitchen.
I saw them on line for about $115.00 which is not bad but I would rather build them. I built the white form out of poured concrete and embedded a bolt near the top to hold the hoop as I bend it. I bent the hoops around the cone shaped mold. Later I will put a clear coat on them and add the socket and bulb. I am going for the industrial look.
I am also building our bed. It will be built to look like a big, industrial dolly with huge steel wheels on it. The platform will be re purposed barn timbers and it will be really cool looking and have quite a bit of hidden storage.
I buy very little because anyone can do that.



This is the one sold, mine will look just like it.

 

[Paul B]

I just read back over a couple of pages and noticed I don't have much fish stuff.
I apologize for having all of this non fish stuff posted. I am surprised they didn't throw me off of here with all this un fishy stuff.
I will try to post some underwater stuff as soon as something hits me.
I cleaned my algae scrubber yesterday, that is fishy.

 

[Paul B]

OK I will try to post some fish stuff. Nothing happened in my tank today. The pipefish are still spawning, the fireclowns are spawning, the cardinals are spawning, the mandarins are spawning and the copperband is looking at them because he is jealous that he has no one to spawn with. He tried to spawn with the urchin and his insurance didn't cover the aftermath.
Everything looks happy and are doing the macarana. I tested the water............Maybe 6 months ago. I forget. The water cooled lights are doing what lights are supposed to do.
I don't know what to say. I wish my perchlet, whatever it is thing would get acne so I had something to post. 2 or 3 pods died of old age but thats about it.
I woud like to say I was battling something but I think I won all the battles. I would even be happy if I found a hitchhiker, even a duck billed platypus, but I got nothing. Sorry.
I better talk about lights, elevators, Santa Claus or global warming as I am at a loss.

He still looks good, if only he would sneeze, something.

 

[Paul B]

OK, I found something. A large montipora is bleaching and most of it died. I knew I could come up wit something.

 

[Paul B]

I just noticed something else. I shouldn't have looked at my tank. One of my bluestripe pipefish is not swimming exactly like he should be. I looked at him closer and someone took a bite out of the middle of him. There isn't much meat on a bluestripe in the first place so I know he needs a chiropractor. The other one is fine. The only fish that doesn't like the male bluestripe is the Janss pipefish and he has a smirk on his face. He once bit the tail off this bluestripe. If he is alive in the morning he will make it. He is very old for a bluestripe pipefish and way past his lifespan so I am not sure how he will fare.
If he croaks, I won't get another one until after I move. It will be one less fish to catch.

 

[Paul B]

The Bluestripes are probably my favorite fish, if not my smallest. That injured guy is still kicking. I hatched extra shrimp and he is eating like this is his last meal. I can tell he has some nerve damage but it doesn't look infected. If his insurance covered it, I would get him an MRI. Him and all my fish have a great immune system so I feel he will recover. That is if the Janss pipefish leaves him alone. I don't really have any aggressive fish except for an old fireclown but I have never saw him attack the bluestripes. But I have seen the Janss pipefish go after him a number of times. It's a good thing none of them have teeth or he would have been bitten in half which wouldn't take much.

 

[Paul B]

My bitten up bluestripe pipefish seems completely healed. He has a scar that goes through his beautiful blue stripe so now his bluestripe looks like Morse Code but I think he feels well and keeps (stupidly) taunting the much larger Janss Pipefish who has absolutely no sense of humor.
Fish in spawning mode heal very quickly. He hasn't resumed spawning yet and I am not sure if his mate thinks he is a wimp for losing the fight but if I look close, I can see him smiling.

(not a recent picture)

 

[Paul B]

You can see the bite mark in the middle of him. It healed nicely and his color may return as it is much bluer now then it was yesterday.

 

[Paul B]

Unfortunately I think I will have to do another big water change and I just did one not very long ago. I don't know what my nitrates are but they are way up there due to too many fish and I want them spawning. But I am sure I am feeding to much and due to my impending move, I have been ignoring the tank almost completely. A couple of SPS have a little algae growing on them so their tips died. That is not to bad because SPS should not live in my tank anyway as the water conditions are probably the same as a cesspool in Bayone New Jersey.
My algae scrubber is so full of algae that people have been ringing my door bell asking if I have spinach to sell. I also have not stirred the gravel in I don't remember but it could have been over a year or two ago so I need to do that. Maybe I will stir it up just before I change water so I can suck some of the muck out.
The fish are all fine but I ran out of live blackworms a week ago so they are mad at me. Blackworms are a little harder to get because of the drought in California so I would imagine the worms there are thirsty and on strike. For some reason, they want to save the water for people.
If I have time, I will go and collect some real water but it is very cold now and I am not that ambitious to get wet.

 

[Paul B]

I just collected some Atlantic water and I am thawing out. now.
I collected 15 gallons because thats all I care to carry and I was getting frostbite. I tested the water for nitrate which is zero and the salinity is a little low but that reading doesn't mean much now because the water is about 39 degrees. After it heats up I will re test it and probably add some salt.
I have to filter this water through my diatom filter because it is very green and has a lot of floating particles in it. After going through the diatom, it is crystal clear. I also mixed up another another 30 gallons which comes to 45 gallons. That is much more water than I have ever changed but I want to bring my nitrates down to at least where I can read them because I don't think I will have another opportunity to change any water for many months due to my move. I will be too busy to change water. That is if the tank survives the move. If it doesn't I will have a lot of salt water to soak my feet in.

 

[Paul B]

Is this thing on? Where is everybody? You are not all out collecting water are you?
I am making some nice juicy tuna steaks for dinner but I don't have enough for everyone. It doesn't seem like anyone is around anyway!

 

[Pat24601]

Is this thing on? Where is everybody? You are not all out collecting water are you?
I am making some nice juicy tuna steaks for dinner but I don't have enough for everyone. It doesn't seem like anyone is around anyway!

I’m home on PTO, which means I’m taking care of 4 year olds while my wife drinks in a corner or something.

So, I haven’t been doing much more than hitting the like button.

 

[Paul B]

I am going to have both my Grand Kids in a few days. OMG, I won't have enough energy. Collecting water is so much easier. I know how you feel

Here I am giving a class about lobsters to a bunch of 3 year olds including my Grand Son

 

[Pat24601]

That’s an awesome picture! Did they like the lobsters?

 

[DaveK]

I just collected some Atlantic water and I am thawing out. now.
I collected 15 gallons because thats all I care to carry and I was getting frostbite. ...

You are brave. I collected NSW in winter, once, and that was in my youth. It can be great stuff, but a very cold job in winter. I get cold just thinking about doing that.

As for people not being around, I think it's because it's close to the holidays. I'm leaving later this morning to visit my brother over Christmas. Come to think of it, I'll be going almost right by you, since I'll be going up I-95 and around NYC at some point.

Don't worry though, I'm sure we'll get back to normal posting once we get past New Years.

 

[Paul B]

Pat, they liked to touch the lobster, near his tail. My Daughter ate the thing later.
Dave, I will be in Manhattan a few times in the next week as my Grand Kids live in the West Village. But I really hate the place. I am 23 miles away on Long Island
I also have to go there Christmas Day, and that is also my Birthday.