Tank turned 49 this year

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
I built the thing. It is two plastic boxes glued together, one is black and one is clear. There is a hole between them. The eggs hatch on the black side and swim to the light side. I do it every day (and have for decades) all the shells stay on the black side and all the shrimp are on the clear side.


I would like to attempt to make one. Please post a picture!
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Do I see some river rocks in there?

No, no river rocks. I collected all of the rock in the Caribbean, Hawaii and the Long Island Sound.

Hatchery
Hatchery001.jpg
 

BarbMazz

Well-Known Member
Congratulations, Paul, and Happy Birthday to your tank. I love the small goby collection... that's a great idea.

Have you kept any track of the different themes/motifs the tank has gone through over the years? C'mon, reminisce a bit with us about the different things you've done with it.
 

Whiskey

Just some guy, you know?
Sweet! Glad to see the tank is still up and running Paul :) I like the new theme too,.. neat idea.

Whiskey
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Barb the tank progressed as the hobby progressed.
There is an article that was published about 15 or 20 years ago but it is on the RC cite. Reef Central Online Community
So if you are not a member there you can't access it.

This picture about 1972 or so shows the tank when it was in a 30 gallon tank. It was changed to the 100 gallon glass in about 1975 or 6.

Oldtankandme.jpg

All salt tanks then were decorated with dead coral skeletons, one of which you can still see in my new picture. It is shaped like a deer antler and is at the very right side of the recent picture.
Here the male blue devil is over his nest full of eggs. The lower picture appeared in Marine Fish Monthly magazine.
scan0003.jpg

The tank was started as brackish with mono's, scats, archerfish and bumblebees because thats all that was available before salt water animals. The damsels were the only thing out followed by yellow tangs and triggers. Oddly enough, moorish Idols were one of the first fish available and I had them in the early eightees.
The only inverts were hermit crabs and cleaner shrimp, oh I forgot anemones, they were common in the eightees.
My tank then progressed to eels, triggers, puffers, boxfish, and filefish.
When reefs became the thing, I gave away orhttp://www.breedersregistry.org/Articles/baldassano2004/SolarPoweredSlug.htm traded my predators for angels, butterflies, tangs, clowns and gobies.
I was in seahorse mode for a while and collected and bred a bunch of them. I even patented a seahorse feeder and sold 6000 of them.
JoM Article: A New Feeding Strategy for Hippocampus sp., and other fishes, by Paul Baldassano
I was also in Lettuce Slug mode for a while too JoM Article: Elysia crispata Sea Slug Spawning in a 100 Gallon Reef Aquarium, by Paul Baldassano
The lights, filters, stand, skimmers, auto fills,and even one of the ozonizers I built. Some of the water is NSW and much of the rock is homemade like those snakey looking pieces in the picture.
I used to keep records of all the fish I had, what they ate, when they bred, how much I paid for them, where I got them and when they died. I have that around somewhere.
Take care.
Paul
 

jonas

Member
:winner: for the oldest tank. congrats love the tank.the bottles is a good tuch. never seen that done or even thought about it.:drooool:
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I collect these amphipods every few weeks to throw in the tank.
This is from yesterdays collection,
amphipods003.jpg
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
how did you collect them?
This time of the year there are so many of them that I just pick up a rock in a tidepool and put my hand against the bottom of it. Thousands of amphipods jump on your hand and you swish them in a bucket of water. It's very sportsmanlike. I think thay are just dying to get into my tank
 

RNicorvo

Member
Paul - Congratulations, the fourth pic made me go oooooo and aaahhhh!

Geez, I'm just so glad that I just recently past my 38th day!!!

Best Fishes! Robin
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Thanks Robin. The tank has gone through a lot of changes in three decades but the reverse undergravel filter is still there and still working. I only cleaned it twice, once after about 25 years and once two years ago. I am good until about 2020. :rolleyes:
 

Techno-Vicki

Well-Known Member
Wow! Glad to meet the 'oldest tank' around:) Great job! The bottles are pretty funny. What is your oldest fish? Coral?
 
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