Tank turned 49 this year

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I can see my bluestripe pipefish frolicking around but I have yet to see my new "Gecko Gobies" I read that they live up side down in caves but they are really hiding and may be in a bottle. I know they didn't jump out so I know they are in there some place.
Since I moved I have not hatched brine shrimp or fed live blackworms. I have to drive fairly far to get them but I still have my white worms which I feed a few times a week. I may start hatching shrimp soon but that part of my ManCave/workshop/fishroom is not completed yet.
Tomorrow we are getting the Grand Kids for a few days so I have to find that sunken ship they gave me that opens and closes with bubbles. :confused:

 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
... Tomorrow we are getting the Grand Kids for a few days so I have to find that sunken ship they gave me that opens and closes with bubbles. ...

I can see that this is an item that "obviously" got "lost" in the move, but "as soon as it's found" you'll add it back. (grin)​
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
The hair algae in my tank (from my tank move and all new NSW) is coming off in big clumps so I can easily suck it out. If I had time (I am watching the Grand Kids) I would start my diatom filter and get it all sucked out before it dies and rots all over the place. But I don't see that happening for a few days.
After it is all out I may change some water. "Not" changing water is what is killing the algae. After this phase, the tank will be much better looking and healthier as hair algae is the best water purifier there is. When you remove it, you also remove whatever was making it grow but another benefit is that the algae somehow add beneficial elements to the water (I didn't make that up but I forgot who did) If you keep changing water when you have nuisance algae, it will keep growing. Look at how much water people change to eliminate it and it doesn't work.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
My tank is looking real sweet now that most of the algae is gone. I can suck it out in huge clumps and it clogs my sink. The corals are at full extension and all the fish are smiling.
I am going to try to list the fish although I am not sure of their names. I think some may be Tom or Harry.
1 copperband
2 blue stripe pipefish
2 anthius
2 bleenies
2 gecko gobies
2 Fireclowns
1 Janss pipefish
1 Some kind of red fish?
1 Some other kind of red fish?
1 Something that may be a type of anthius? (I am not real good at remembering names)
1 Wrasse looking thing.
I need to re plumb my reverse UG filter because there is almost no water going into it. Normally the water that flows over my algae filter goes into it but I didn't finish that yet so the water flows over the algae mesh and goes right back into the tank. I need to remedy that but too many other things to do first with the house.
I am finishing the vinyl tile in my workshop and I need to epoxy the garage floor, build a few more closets, add more outlets in the workshop and garage and build a rock wall in the living room with a fireplace and TV. Need to keep the wife happy.
Yesterday I drove the Grand Kids back 88 miles to the West Village in the City where they live, that was fun.
Of course while they were here, I couldn't do anything productive as I had to play Ninja, Princess, Batman, Little Mermaid, and go to a horse ranch to see miniature horses.


(The Ninja is killing the algae with his scary looks)


The workshop is coming along. My workbench is on the other side.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Yesterday we had to go to the old neighborhood to doctors. When you get ancient you go to doctors as much as I used to go to Disco's. (Google it) I need a knee replaced and I just had some finger operations. I wore out my fingers pointing at pretty girls, I mean pointing at interesting fish in stores. I also want to go and buy a rug for my head or maybe get one of those cool comb overs.

My wife has her own issues.

So the LFS didn't have any small interesting fish that I wanted, just the normal, boring stuff like tangs, angels, moray eels Manta rays etc. So I really wanted to come home with something and I got this Moon Wrasse. Thats what they said it was although i think the guy in the canoe who collects these things makes up the names. It was probably a full moon when this thing jumped into his boat.

It started to eat as he was being put into my tank and never hid. He thinks he is an anthius and "schools" with the two I have, but they just think he's weird.

 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
We Went to thew library here yesterday and they have a shelf for Long Island Authors. There were very few books there so I told the girl working there that I live on Long Island and I wrote a book. She got all excited and ran to get the head Librarian. They want my book there as I am sure they would want any Long Island writers book. While I was looking at the Long Island authors I was surprised to see this book there.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250024951/?tag=reefsanc-20

I didn't know the author "Philip Keith " was from Long Island. But I was in that battle that the book is about so they again got all excited because Philip Keith is coming to speak there in November and they want me to speak about the battle. I am all excited. I have spoken about this before in front of various groups and on the radio, but this time it will be with the author of the book who by the way, was not in the battle.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Paul - this looks like an interesting book and to think you lived it 1st hand - wow ! Is the book an accurate well written account?

Fire Base Illingworth is an epic, never-before-told true story of a North Vietnamese Army attack and how the men of this nearly overrun Fire Base survived.

In the early morning hours of April 1, 1970, more than four hundred North Vietnamese soldiers charged out into the open and tried to over-run FSB Illingworth. The battle went on, mostly in the dark, for hours. Exposed ammunition canisters were hit and blew up, causing a thunderous explosion inside the FSB that left dust so thick it jammed the hand-held weapons of the GIs. Much of the combat was hand-to-hand. In all, twenty-four Americans lost their lives and another fifty-four were wounded. Nearly one hundred enemy bodies were recovered. It was one of the most vicious small unit firefights in the history of U.S. forces in Vietnam.

and...

15933-thank-you-for-serving-1.jpg
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
It is, but the book is about the personal accounts of 6 or 7 guys that were there. They did not interview me and I didn't know anything about the book until a couple of years ago.
I thought the fight was all happening just around me because it was the dry season and the ground was powdery red dust so I could only see 10 or 15 yards.
Of course when it was over and I saw about 100 bodies and all of our own dead and wounded, I realized it was on the entire firebase.
(I think there was closer to 200 dead enemy) I learned a lot about the battle from the book even though I was there because I had just gotten there 10 days before and I didn't know anything prior to that.
I don't think the book would be interesting or understood to someone who has not been in combat. But I am not sure.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
I am watching the military channel right now, I prefer it and the history channel to much of what I call trash, that airs on TV now. The Vietnam war ended when I was a youngster and I never served, but I have always honored those who did. I have watched 100's of hours of it on TV and our other wars, WWI & WWII it's all interesting to me, not sure why... much of it is very sad. Will never forget the day I heard my cousin died, he was a medic, died in battle in 1968.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
It is, but the book is about the personal accounts of 6 or 7 guys that were there. They did not interview me and I didn't know anything about the book until a couple of years ago.
I thought the fight was all happening just around me because it was the dry season and the ground was powdery red dust so I could only see 10 or 15 yards.
Of course when it was over and I saw about 100 bodies and all of our own dead and wounded, I realized it was on the entire firebase.
(I think there was closer to 200 dead enemy) I learned a lot about the battle from the book even though I was there because I had just gotten there 10 days before and I didn't know anything prior to that.
I don't think the book would be interesting or understood to someone who has not been in combat. But I am not sure.
I know exactly what you mean. I served with the Royal Marines, and I have also been involved in operations. I actually learnt more about what went on afterwards than I did when it was all happening around me.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
...
So the LFS didn't have any small interesting fish that I wanted, just the normal, boring stuff like tangs, angels, moray eels Manta rays etc. ...

I know the feeling.

My tank had been a massive algae farm due to a long power outage last winter. It's finally back to the point where I can add new clean up crew and restock some fish. I went our shopping yesterday to two different stores, and saw few fish I'd be interested in. I didn't even see much in the way of "tangs, angels, moray eels Manta rays etc.". I did get some red leg hermits, and some snails, but far fewer snails that what I wanted.

To be fair, I may have hit them on an off day and I did see a lot of nice frags, but I didn't want to add any new corals at this point.

I may try a few other stores over the next couple of days.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Dave, unfortunately after so many years, decades actually you get tired of the common fish that you see everywhere and had so many of them. I instantly buy something that I have never seen before and after 60 years of this hobby and 50 years of SCUBA diving it is rare that I can find something I have never seen. These fish they collect by accident and don't know much about. Many of them are considered un interesting, bland or hard to keep. Those are the specimens I want. I am not in this any more to have a beautiful showpiece. I want to experiment, to learn about unusual, hard to keep animals.
I have 2 fireclowns in my tank, the male is 27 years old but they are clownfish and I don't pay any attention to them even though they are fireclowns and kind of rare and they spawn constantly. Clownfish are just clownfish. Now clingfish are brown, non descript fish with whiskers that you rarely see because they hide. But they fascinate me. Of course anyone looking at my tank will just notice the big copperband or the bright orange Janss pipefish, mandarin and queen anthiuses.

Clingfish.


Clingfish target feeding
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
You bring up some good points about what to keep. Here are a few of my thoughts.

Right now I'm down to two fis, a powder blue tang and a clownfish, the rest being lost in the near disaster last winter. The up side of this is that I get to rebuild the fish population. If I'm showing the tank to someone also in the hobby, then all the more unusual fish are appreciated. However, most of the time it's people that are not into the aquarium hobby and like you have see, they are drawn to the big showy fish that can be seen from across the room. One "advantage" of having my tank viewed by non-reef keepers is that they usually have little idea about what they are looking it, so that inexpensive fish that looks nice is just as good as that out of sight expensive exotic fish. This can result is saving a great deal of money on purchases (grin).

I know I'm never going to have some of the fantastic fish you have, mostly due to feeding requirements, but I have a few I especially want to add. I like the hawkfish species. This is one of the few fish that the non-reef keepers notice at some point, since they hid so well in plain view. I'm also partial to many of the gobies. but they often hide, so I have the same problem you do here.

I'm going to try a couple of other LFSs in the next few days. Hopefully I'll find some more snails, and a few nice fish to add. Yea, one of them might be a dwarf angel (grin).
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Dave there are very few LFSs here in my new place. Only one really and it is not real good so I drive 60 miles to my old one.
But they let me know if something cool comes in.

Yesterday we did another Geezer thing. We took the Jitney about 3 hours upstate to a Purple Heart Museum. It was very cool and I didn't know some of the things about purple hearts. The Govt. minted a million of the medals during WW2 because that is how many men they figured we would lose if we invaded japan. Luckily, we didn't have to but they have a lot of medals left.
We are enrolling my wife's Father who was wounded in the Pacific in that war. He spent a year in the Hospital in Hawaii and received a Purple Heart.

Then they took us to a very nice seafood restaurant on the Hudson and treated us to a 2 hour boat ride on the Hudson. Very nice, and they had a bar.

My fish are all doing well and I will change some water if I ever get time as it has been 3 months. :D
 
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