Tank turned 49 this year

Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Getting back to fish tanks I went to my LFS on Sunday because I needed food. Besides clams and worms I use LRS food but I don't like the stuff for spawning because the particles are to small and I can't use the vegetarian food because I have no algae eaters and I can't use Chunky because the pieces are to big. They are out of the stuff I use, I think it is Reef Frenzy. So they gave me this stuff that they thought would work. It is supposed to be Krill but it is compressed into little sticks.

My fish hate it and spit it out in my direction while giving me the evil eye. Nothing eats it except for maybe the crabs and they will eat "Play Doh."
I have to go out and get more clams now because I have nothing else to feed them and Jenny Craig doesn't deliver here.
I really need the stuff especially for when I move because it is a ride to get live clams in my new house so I need something easy for a few weeks.

 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I am really going to hate moving this tank. The corals are reaching for the ceiling, (or they are trying to get out) :eek:
Everything really looks great and I can't understand it with my parameters. I am even afraid to have them tested. I know the real seawater I am going to use is going to kill these things. It's a shame and I think I will bring most of my scurvy water to put in my new tank and gradually change it to clean sea water. I need to go and collect some soon because when I am taking stuff out of this tank to put in buckets, I have to add more water to the tank for the fish.
The fish are also doing very well and you can tell healthy fish by the colorful shimmer you see on their fins. Fish in stores or new fish don't exhibit that kind of coloring and sometimes it is hard to see but all fish in the sea have it. It may take some experience to notice it but it is there and you can't see it much in pictures. But the clear parts of many types of fish get it. I haven't had a fish jump out in probably a year and of course nothing would dare to die.
I say one of my porcelain crabs just now and even he is very colorful and he doubled in size. I didn't even know they got this big. I think I have 3 of them in there someplace. The Duncans really love live worms I think because they squirm around when they hit the tentacles and it drives the Duncans nuts. An hour after feeding they seem huge.
I still use my baby brine shrimp feeder every day and my mandarin is still smiling. Those shrimp also feed my anthiuses and gorgonians.

I just gave my white worms a bath because I have so many that they started to stink. I added more dirt because there seemed to be nothing but worms there are so many of them. Even the baby worms are so thick they look like jelly. They also stay alive in salt water almost 5 days.

 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Today I went out to my new house even though I can't get in yet but I wanted to collect some water for when I move because I am going to bring to the new house my existing water so I needed a lot of new water so when I remove rock and corals I will have water to put back in the tank. I will probably change my water first with this new water and keep the old water to put back in my tank while I make the move.
My new collection device works great but the place where I collected was full of algae so my water was full of tiny pieces of chopped up seaweed. I needed to clean that out because as soon as the water warms, that stuff will die and cloud the water. The only problem was I already packed my diatom filters and powder.
I tried straining the water through some material but it was still green and scurvy looking so I had to dig through my packed boxes and I found some hoses. Not the right hoses but hoses none the less. Then I found some diatom powder, not enough but some. I looked and looked until I found a XL Diatom filter that I know leaks like a sieve and fills with air, but that was the best I could do. I got the hoses to fit and dumped in the powder and got the thing semi working. It will work long enough to filter the 35 gallons of water I collected. When it is finished I will try to pack this stuff back up. I can hardly move in my house with all the closets, drawers and cabinets emptied and in boxes.

I backed my car up to my workshop window and pumped the water to my workshop with my new water collecting device.

 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
That big blue container has a float switch near the top. When I make ASW I connect that to my reservoir bucket near my ceiling and when it gets full, the float makes it stop so I don't flood the house. It has been working for years but in my new house I plan to use almost nothing but NSW unless it is winter and it gets to rough to collect. The water I collected yesterday was ice cold, after it warms up I will change water in my tank and take that used water to put back in my tank when I remove the rocks. Yes I know I said that in my last post which means I am bored and waiting for my wife to get up so we can go to breakfast. :rolleyes:
I don't want to wake her because she gets tired during the day. Yesterday she dropped a tray of fish she was broiling in the oven. It splashed burning oil on her face and she had 4 or 5 burns that turned red and will probably peel. One is right on the end of her nose. It was painful. Because of the MS she drops a lot of things because she doesn't have a lot of feelings in her fingers. ​
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
So with our new house I wanted to get a new car. Well, another car anyway. We already have a new Jeep Compass but thats my wife's. I had a Very Manly, Chic Magnet PT Cruiser but like me it was getting a little long in the tooth so I wanted a newer car and something I can take on the beach near our new home. I went to a Jeep showroom because I saw on line they had something I liked. It was an orange and black Jeep Renegade. I wanted the "TrailBlazer" or "TrailHawk" Some kind of Trail Something package because I think it sounds very Manly. It comes with these very Manly red towing hooks on the front bumper for when it falls off a cliff and someone can come with, I guess a helicopter to pull you out. Anyway I go into the salesroom and pass this big sign that says "We Support Veterans" and this guy comes out to sell me something. I tell him I am interested in that orange one. So he tells me the price and explains it all to me and I ask, what is the price for a Veteran? He says, it's the same price. OK, so much for using the Veterans card.

We sit down to start the contract and he is writing, and writing, and writing and using a calculator to fill out the form. I said, I thought that was the price which is in huge numbers on the window. He says, "it is" but there are fees. I said, "What fees". Well there is $300.00 for dealers prep. I used to work for General Motors and I used to do the dealers prep. That meant I had to put on the license plate and take out the paper on the floor. I said OK, but $300.00 is ridiculous for dealers prep. Then he says there is a $50.00 transfer plate charge. If there is a charge to transfer the plates, what is the dealers prep fee for. Besides, they were my same plates. Now there is a $75.00 dealers fee. I asked, "what is that for?". Thats for the dealer. Of course it is! I assumed that was for the doughnuts and coffee they had there. Then of course there is tax and odds and ends which come to another $50.00 or so. And lets not forget a gas fee of $25.00

Now the car cost $500.00 more than the sticker. What is the sense of me pricing a car if you are going to add another $500.00 to the price. I was trading in my PT Cruiser and it had a full tank of gas. Were they going to reimburse me for the gas in it or my time to drive it there or go to the bank and wait in line for the money. I don't think so.

I liked the car but told him to keep it and wait for some Jiboni who doesn't know when he is getting taken.
So I went back online and saw a nice red one. I went there and it was essentially the same story. I said to keep it. If you show me a price, I won't argue with you, I may not buy the car if I think it's to much, but I like simple things. Give me the price, include any silly things you like and I will either buy it or walk out, but don't waste my time.

I tried one more time. I saw this yellow Jeep and it looked nice so I called them. A very nice young Lady answered the phone and explained the car to me so I figured I would go there to see if it was the same story.
My wife and I drive half an hour to get there and I can't find it so I go into a Lexus dealer to ask for directions. I was kind of sloppy and disheveled looking so they all gave me dirty looks as I went in. (Car salesman don't really impress me so I didn't get bothered and a Lexus is a Japanese car and I don't buy Japanese cars) ) The guy said "It's that way, and he pointed. I found the place and it looked like a huge warehouse and it had 65 fantastic looking cars all lined up with the price on each windshield.

This beautiful young girl comes over and she knew my name, birthday, what sign I was, How I liked my steak cooked and knew what car I was looking for. She showed me the car and explained all of it to me, very nice. I looked at the price on the window and I asked, "What is the Veterans Price". I figured I would ask, it can't hurt. She says I get $300.00 off. Sounds good to me so I asked, what do all the extra's and other nonsense come to. She said "Nothing, thats it". I asked, what about dealers prep, dealer fee, plate transfer charge, gas, doughnut charge, global warming fee, Prizapro charge, charge to charge charge, etc. She said, we have none of that.

Like really!. This keeps getting better. Then I ask, how much are you going to give me for that Chick Magnet PT Cruiser with 65,000 miles on it?
They gave me $1,500.00 which it wasn't worth.
I go to a bank to get a check and the teller looks at my account and calls over the manager who wants to take me to his desk to explain all the things I could do with my money. Buy CDs and all that. I told him I have all of Linda Ronstadt's CDs so I am good. I just sold my house and didn't pay for the new one yet so it looks like I am a bazillionaire, but it is only for a week until I use that money.

I bring the check to the dealer, she shows me the features in the car. Takes off my old license plates and Washes them, Then puts them on the new car.
She takes my picture in front of the car, offers me a cookie and says she is going to send me a gift.
I bought a lot of cars but this was the nicest experience I ever had buying a car. I was tempted to buy another one just because it was so nice and easy.

 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
That bow was put on by the girl to impress my wife. Then they took it off and covered the hood in cro bars for me. I don't need a car to be Manly but you have to be a Real Man to drive a PT Cruiser and get away with it. I have had Jeeps since they were "real Jeeps" not the sissy cars they are today. When you couldn't dent them with a hammer and you could drive them completely underwater. The axels were straight, none of that soft suspension which is made for Girly men and Sissies. If a snowflake got in there, it would just laugh. My Jeep had cinder blocks for springs so your teeth would shake loose on rough roads and you could drive through a brick wall while drinking a cup of really strong coffee.
This was a Jeep. It was built totally in America and was a military model which could go anywhere.

The Jeeps you see today with all the fancy lights, huge tires, weird grills and all that are for show. They are really just Girly Dodge Darts with new clothes. Under the hood all cars are almost the same. The Jeep engine is nothing special, but it used to be totally different from regular cars. I took that Willy's engine apart to replace the pistons because it was a working truck and didn't try to impress anyone. The connecting rods were about a foot long which gives it torque. A car like a Corvette or Ford have connecting rods half the size because they are not made for power, but speed and gas mileage. It's the piston travel that gives the engine torque or power. The Willy's had what is called an "F" head engine. The valves were so big they didn't fit in the cylinder head so there was one valve in the head and one in the block.
Almost All cars today have a timing chain or belt to open and close the valves at the right time. The Willy's had a cast iron gear that weighed about 4lbs. And it had a pipe over it to pour oil on to it constantly. It will never wear or break.
The ignition system, wires and cap were encased in plumbing pipe and the distributer cap was steel and was waterproof. You could attach a snorkel and drive it under about 5' of water. Try that with your Camry.
The front axel was straight for strength, no rubber boots to break. The 4 wheel mechanism was encased in a 10" round steel ball impervious to dirt, water and mud and it would never wear out. The clutch was twice the size it needed to be so the thing could climb walls.
I like machinery and was in awe at how they built that beast. But you certainly were not going to impress any girls with it. They were real happy though when I pulled their cars out of the snow or mud sideways.

 
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Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys, I still have one computer working, but I will take it down very soon. I can barely get to it because of all the boxes. I am a little concerned about my fish because I removed the largest out of the 3 heaters to put in the new tank out east and the water cooled down quite a bit. If I could get some firefish and flame scallops to throw in there to heat the water that would be great.
They did a lousy job of tapping my ceiling in my new house so I can't hang my lights there yet, but I have so many boxes to carry around that I won't have time anyway.
I rented a 16' truck yesterday and today and moved my tools and a lot of my fish stuff there yesterday. I have my new tank in the truck and hopefully today I will get it out there with some help and carry it out of the truck and level it on the stand. We are both Geezers so I am not sure we can get it off the truck. I guess I could always break it in half. :eek:
Of course first I have to put the vinyl tile under the stand. If that all goes well I will go to the beach and collect a lot of water now that I have this truck and dump it in the tank. I will have to diatom filter that water because where I collect it my pump lays on the sand and the water is full of seaweed and parts of Manatees that the pump chops up into tiny pieces. I hope I can get at least one of my diatom filters working.
If that all happens I will come back here this week and in one shot bring out the fish, coral, rocks and gravel and try to keep them heated in the vats while I take the gravel to a beach to clean. Of course that is going to be a horror and very heavy. I also don't think I will have help with that but I may.
My good friend from my favorite LFS will help me with the fish at the new house but he is also a Geezer and between the two of us this will be a job. If this was 20 years ago i would have thrown the tank on my back and walked into the ocean to fill it up, but age prevents you from doing certain things. :rolleyes:
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Good luck with you move, especially your livestock. Yea, I know all about getting old. On the other hand, with age comes the experience of knowing how to do things right and do the job as easy as possible.
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Thanks Dave. All seems fine.
I put a toilet bowl in my new workshop today and it is the type they use in Europe where it flushes out the back. Anyway I have installed dozens of toilet bowls and they are a no brainer. I got this thing from Amazon and it came in a nice box. I am sure the box costs much more then the fixture.
There was no bowl there before so I cut the main and put in the plumbing which went smoothly. I actually like working as long as no one bothers me and I have good music. So I get the thing installed and try the first flush.

Water shoots all over the wall. It is coming from in between the bowl and the tank. I remove the bowl, take the tank off, check out the seal, which looks good, I put some silicone grease on it and put it back together a little tighter.
Try another flush, and water shoots all over the wall.

I take the tank off again, look at it, scratch my head, wipe off the silicone grease, put on more silicone grease, put the thing back together. Do a test flush.

Water shoots all over the wall. Now after all this time I get smarter and put my reading glasses on and lay down under the thing with a light to see exactly where this water is coming from. I didn't want to do this because once I get under there, I may not get up.

I patiently wait for the tank to fill. Get my light aimed at the seam between the tank and bowl. Do a test flush and see where the water is shooting out.
There is a tiny pin hole in the ceramic bowl. I have seen cracks but never a hole. When they made the thing there must have been a spaghetti worm or pod in the clay and it formed a hole. Great. Now what am I supposed to do, pack it up and send it back to Amazon?

I put some sealer on it which "fixed " it so it can be used but I am going to mail Amazon to ask them if they got this bowl from the Amazon.
I want a new one and I am not sending this one back. Good luck. :rolleyes:
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I just checked my tank and the temp was about 70, the lights were also on for the last 2 or 3 nights and the water level is about 6" low. The fish and corals don't seem to mind and it is not something I did on purpose. I am just a little busy now with the move.

Many people have had solutions as to why my tank and a few others don't ever get parasites or anything else and a few things have been theorized. UG filter that traps parasites, but my UG filter has not yet been connected here. Ozone kills parasites. Maybe it does, I don't know but I can't even find my ozonizer, much less connected it to anything. My skimmer is in the far corner of the room with a few pieces missing so I didn't hook it up yet.
I have not diatom filtered this tank yet. I tried but the diatom filter I found leaked like a sieve so that didn't work. I just collected the water in the sea and let it settle. Hopefully there are parasites in it to keep up their immunity. I don't have blackworms or clams but I do still have live whiteworms and dirt.
I can't hatch brine shrimp and don't yet have the LRS food they are used to. The new NSW they are in along with about 25 or 30 gallons of my old water probably has a nitrate reading of 30 or so. The water they came from had a reading of 160. I didn't check it but the NSW here has no nitrates. Just old frankfurter water after it passes NYC. I didn't hook up my RO/Di until yesterday so I have to use some tap water.

The fish are healthy because they are immune, not because of UG filters, Ozone, diatom filter, stable parameters or the best one, my fish are all easy and not susceptible to ich.





Fish are not delicate creatures that need to be coddled. We make them that way by messing with them and their immune system.​
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
The trip to our Daughters was uneventful for the most part. Except that I really hate Manhattan. I was born in New York city (brooklyn) and worked in Manhattan all my life but after I retired I figured I would never even have to see it on TV any more. Then our Daughter married a guy who grew up in the West Village so I have to go and see our grand kids. But I would rather jump off a huge pile of quarantine tanks full of ich infected fish into a very shallow lagoon in the center of an Atoll with 3" deep water filled with long spined urchins dancing on a plateau of fire coral while wearing nothing but my "Best Grand Pa" shirt while sipping a slurpy. Some day I will mention how I really feel about Manhattan.

We slept there and I had the horrors all night in between the tractor trailer horns, sirens, gun shots and filming CSI. They have a leak in their ceiling and I discovered it is the air conditioner on the roof. The condensate line was clogged and went through the ducts all through the house. (or apartment that they own on the 16th floor) He is looking at many thousands of dollars in repairs to the finished walls..

Anyway, I made coffee this morning there and he likes strong coffee so he only has Boustella coffee which is like tar. I made a pot and had to scrape it out of the pot with a spoon. It not only looked and tasted like tar, but it also smoked like hot tar. They were repaving the street downstairs so I couldn't tell if it was the coffee or the road. It didn't seem to matter.
We couldn't drink it or eat it with a fork so I scraped it into the garbage shoot and went out to buy some coffee and breakfast.

They live in the West Village (NYC) and nothing is a real bargain there. The coffee shop is next to their building and I ordered a paper cup of oatmeal and my wife wanted something healthy so they gave me a piece of toast with a little avocado and "grass" on top. That came to $21.00. Where I live now is mainly sod farms so the next time we go, I will bring my own grass.

They are very ecology minded there so they have a bunch of garbage "slots". One is for cans, one for bottles, one for cardboard, one for paper, but specifically marked, "not napkins", one is for napkins, one is for food. There is also one for garbage but there isn't much left to put there.
You spend so much time sorting out recyclables that your coffee gets cold and your oatmeal clumps up by the time you leave. There is a longer line at the garbage than the food line.

Well it is time to go home so we call an UBER and go to 44th street and Lexington Ave.
WE board the Hampton Jitney which is a big beautiful bus that gets us all the way home, 100 miles in an hour and a half .

As soon as we get out of Manhattan and through the Midtown Tunnel. The thing gets stuck. We pull over to the shoulder of the road and the driver gets out and I can hear him talking on the radio. All I heard was "Overheating". I thought we were going to have to get out and push or empty all our little bottles of water they gave us into the radiator but something happened and the thing got going again.

Now we are home and all is well.



​
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I really need to add my skimmer because I have foam that looks like hot chocolate that was made with bad milk forming on the surface of my water. Being that there is no top on the tank and it is in my workshop where the door is open all day to the outside the tank is also collecting a bunch of beatles that are up side down on the surface. One of them looks like Ringo.
I am also getting some lightning bugs in there but I feel that is a good thing because they are supplementing my lighting. I am not exactly sure of the spectrum though and they may grow cyano. :confused:

I need an archer fish in there to eat them because they don't sink and are starting to form an Island. :rolleyes:​
 
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