Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Mark Gray]

Very nice I always had good luck with UG filters too maybe I will give it a try again

 

[Paul B]

Sounds like a plan

 

[Paul B]

I started a dosing plan using yeast. I have been dosing yeast but now I found the correct yeast. I take the stuff myself and feed it to my worms. It's nutritional Yeast and supposed to prevent and cure everything. I even think I feel my hair growing.

 

[Brew12]

I started a dosing plan using yeast. I have been dosing yeast but now I found the correct yeast. I take the stuff myself and feed it to my worms. It's nutritional Yeast and supposed to prevent and cure everything. I even think I feel my hair growing.

Your fish might be happier if you used brewers yeast. Just saying... we know they love bottles!

 

[Newb73]

Twice ive tried with copperbands and twice ive failed.

The achilles tang is doin great.

The whole tank is calmer since the bluethroat trigger went carpet surfing back on Thanksgiving day.

Still cant keep shrimp...orchid dottyback sees them as snacks.

 

[Paul B]

Your fish might be happier if you used brewers yeast. Just saying... we know they love bottles!

I was dosing brewers years for a couple of months. I notice no difference so I am trying nutritional yeast, on myself, the worms and fish.

Newb, what was your problems with copperbands? I know a lot of people have problems with them but I think the biggest problem is they are not feeding correctly. I dove with just about every fish I have ever kept and copperbands in the sea hunt worms and that is one of the foods they should be eating. I feed them and all my fish worms and clams along with some other things.

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday it snowed here in New York a little and I decided to buy a new pair of snow boots. I have my good snow boots that I used to work in but I just wanted to replace my pair that I wear to shovel snow or throw out the garbage. Something easy to slip on and off with no laces.

My wife ordered me new boots from LL Bean. I didn't even see them yet because she knows I go nuts if I can't buy something made in USA and I would start yelling at the computer (maybe it is my PTSD)

So last night we go to dinner at an Italian place and I wore my old snow boots. I wanted to replace them because they had some cracks on the top and were no longer water proof.

On the way out from the restaurant I felt like I was dragging a Pizza box. I looked at my foot and didn't see anything. I took a few more steps and could hardly walk so I looked at my foot again. Nothing!!

This is weird, so I lift my foot, and the bottom of the boot falls off.



At my friends house he gave me duct tape to fix the boot so I could at least get into my car without walking barefoot in the snow. I got the boots home and looked at where they were made even though I knew what to expect. China, of course.

I myself would never purposely buy something from China and this is one reason.

Have you ever seen the bottom fall off an American Boot? No, you haven't.

Of course there are no more American boots so it is hard to compare.

It drives me nuts that in such a big, beautiful country like the US we can't buy a simple boot. Or much of anything else.

I don't even care what it cost, just build me something in the US that does not fall apart. If I had time, I would make my own boots.

We only have this garbage for sale because so many people bought it to save money. That's great but we should also make something here, just charge more, I am willing to pay for quality.

Did you ever go to Home Depot and buy hardware like screws, nuts and bolts?

You can't use that stuff on something important that must stay together because the steel in that stuff is garbage. I am not sure what they mix their steel with, probably I Phone 4s or 8 Track tape players but it is trash. When I build something I want it to be strong and last so I have to go to a good hardware store, not Home Depot. If you understand hardware you will see that there is a big difference. If you just want to hang a picture on a wall, it's fine, but if you had to hang out of a plane on that bolt, I wouldn't buy it in home depot.

 

[Paul B]

I just bought a garden eel because I don't remember ever having one. I vaguely remember having one many many years ago but It could have been a garter snake a piece of rope or a dream.
The thing is about a foot long and a quarter inch wide. I am not sure if I should go by that 2" of fish for every five gallons of water which means I would have to throw out all the rest of my fish or just tie it in a couple of knots and measure it that way to make it shorter.
I was bringing it up my driveway I had thoughts of just saving time and throwing it on the ground there or waiting for it to climb out of my tank where I won't be able to find it until it finds it's way to my wife's underwear drawer, which would not end up well with me.
So I acclimated it while I was having dinner and picked him up with my hand and placed him in the center of tank. He immediately found a place in the far corner under a powerhead. I am quite sure that is the last time I will see that fish.
Make believe there is a picture of it here --------------------------->

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

What brand of yeast are you using Paul?
And good luck with the eel, I hope you see it again.

 

[Mark Gray]

Yesterday it snowed here in New York a little and I decided to buy a new pair of snow boots. I have my good snow boots that I used to work in but I just wanted to replace my pair that I wear to shovel snow or throw out the garbage. Something easy to slip on and off with no laces.

My wife ordered me new boots from LL Bean. I didn't even see them yet because she knows I go nuts if I can't buy something made in USA and I would start yelling at the computer (maybe it is my PTSD)

So last night we go to dinner at an Italian place and I wore my old snow boots. I wanted to replace them because they had some cracks on the top and were no longer water proof.

On the way out from the restaurant I felt like I was dragging a Pizza box. I looked at my foot and didn't see anything. I took a few more steps and could hardly walk so I looked at my foot again. Nothing!!

This is weird, so I lift my foot, and the bottom of the boot falls off.



At my friends house he gave me duct tape to fix the boot so I could at least get into my car without walking barefoot in the snow. I got the boots home and looked at where they were made even though I knew what to expect. China, of course.

I myself would never purposely buy something from China and this is one reason.

Have you ever seen the bottom fall off an American Boot? No, you haven't.

Of course there are no more American boots so it is hard to compare.

It drives me nuts that in such a big, beautiful country like the US we can't buy a simple boot. Or much of anything else.

I don't even care what it cost, just build me something in the US that does not fall apart. If I had time, I would make my own boots.

We only have this garbage for sale because so many people bought it to save money. That's great but we should also make something here, just charge more, I am willing to pay for quality.

Did you ever go to Home Depot and buy hardware like screws, nuts and bolts?

You can't use that stuff on something important that must stay together because the steel in that stuff is garbage. I am not sure what they mix their steel with, probably I Phone 4s or 8 Track tape players but it is trash. When I build something I want it to be strong and last so I have to go to a good hardware store, not Home Depot. If you understand hardware you will see that there is a big difference. If you just want to hang a picture on a wall, it's fine, but if you had to hang out of a plane on that bolt, I wouldn't buy it in home depot.

dam I had some red wing do that too but they replaced them for me, Red Wing used to be made in the US but not anymore china now.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Red Wing used to be made in the US but not anymore china now.

Noooooooooooo

 

[Mark Gray]

Hey Paul you are raising black worms can you give me any details on your grow out, oh and hey is the yeast growing your hair back ?

 

[Brew12]

oh and hey is the yeast growing your hair back

I hope it is growing his hair back. Otherwise it could be growing his back hair.

As for boots.. I've been tempted to try some of these.
http://www.theunionbootpro.com/products/dsp_productlinks.cfm?advsearch=&saletype=USA&salename=insw

 

[Paul B]

Hey Paul you are raising black worms can you give me any details on your grow out, oh and hey is the yeast growing your hair back ?

I wrote this: http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/feeding-blackworms-healthy-marine-fish-whiteworms-3124/

What brand of yeast are you using Paul?
And good luck with the eel, I hope you see it again.

The Nutritional Yeast is made by "Kal". It must come from Krypton.
I doubt I will see that garden eel. I can't get to the back of that end of my tank because it is in a wall under a staircase and I don't want to take the tank apart to look for him. I should have put him on the other end of the tank. I assume he is fine, but I may not know for years.

dam I had some red wing do that too but they replaced them for me, Red Wing used to be made in the US but not anymore china now.

Then I won't buy them any more, not even for free. I know the ones I have are American or I would not have bought them, and they are probably 20 years old.

I hope it is growing his hair back. Otherwise it could be growing his back hair.

As for boots.. I've been tempted to try some of these.
http://www.theunionbootpro.com/products/dsp_productlinks.cfm?advsearch=&saletype=USA&salename=insw

Those are great looking boots and should last forever.
And due to my back hair, I no longer have to wear a sweater.

I recently wrote a letter to General Motors because they are opening a plant in China. I told them I used to be a GM Mechanic and I will no longer buy their cars. They even answered me.

 

[Paul B]

OMG I accidently came down and glanced at the tank. My garden eel came to the front of the tank and started to dig down into the gravel. He assumed the gravel was a foot deep but boy was he disappointed. He just discovered what an Under Gravel filter plate is and I don't think he is happy. His head and tail are under the gravel but about 11" of him is waving in the current. I am sorry for him that I don't have a bigger tank but he will have to get over it because fish are not allowed to die in my tank. I hope he just figures out how to deal with this situation.



Tonight we have a house guest. She is actually a Supermodel. Her Mother and my Wife's Mother were best friends from when they were babies so my wife knows her all her life. We made linguini and crabs (I caught the crabs) which she loved because, like us, she is Italian and will eat anything from the sea. (I also made Tapioca, not the instant garbage either)

She is sleeping here and I have her room decorated in Steam Punk, but she loves it and is one of the few people that knows even what it is.

 

[Mark Gray]

OMG I accidently came down and glanced at the tank. My garden eel came to the front of the tank and started to dig down into the gravel. He assumed the gravel was a foot deep but boy was he disappointed. He just discovered what an Under Gravel filter plate is and I don't think he is happy. His head and tail are under the gravel but about 11" of him is waving in the current. I am sorry for him that I don't have a bigger tank but he will have to get over it because fish are not allowed to die in my tank. I hope he just figures out how to deal with this situation.



Tonight we have a house guest. She is actually a Supermodel. Her Mother and my Wife's Mother were best friends from when they were babies so my wife knows her all her life. We made linguini and crabs (I caught the crabs) which she loved because, like us, she is Italian and will eat anything from the sea. (I also made Tapioca, not the instant garbage either)

She is sleeping here and I have her room decorated in Steam Punk, but she loves it and is one of the few people that knows even what it is.

Hey this is your excuse to get that 5000 gallon Aquarium you have always wanted

 

[Paul B]

Yeah, maybe she will get it for me.

 

[Paul B]

For a couple of days I could only find two of my four porcelain crabs. Yesterday, right at the front of the tank, I see my big hermit crab munching on my smallest porcelain crab. He was pulling off the arms, sucking on the legs and cleaning his teeth with the antenna. I know what people will say, it is his cast off shell.

Well in that position in the jaws of a large hermit, it is very hard to tell.

So early this morning, before the lights came on, I counted them. One, Two, Three and yes, four. It is lucky for the hermit crab that he was just munching on an empty shell or I would have had to put him in time out.

The little crab now has a nice new, and larger shell so he can go and try to impress his three older cousins. I love those things.

 

[Paul B]

Busy morning like many people had. After we came back from breakfast I decided to do a little maintenance. For some reason I got ambitious. I had to put air in my car tires and add some oil and wiper washer fluid. Normal things that we don't want to do in the winter, but it is fairly warm today.
Then I saw my tank and figured I was in a maintenance mood so I better do this today. One of my gorgonians touched a sponge and the sponge started to grow up one of the stems. So I now have a very long, skinny sponge connected to a purple gorg. An encrusting gorg drifted against another purple gorg and started to grow over that so I also have two types of gorgs growing together on the same stem. Two corals fell or were pushed down by the big hermit crabs and were turned over on the gravel. The hermit crabs didn't seem to care and were wiping their "feet" on it.
I have a powerhead laying behind the rocks blowing water over the top of the center of the reef. At least that is what it was supposed to do but it wasn't doing anything for a while. I really didn't want to remove it because the cord was running behind the structure and I had to move large rocks to get it out. I cleaned it and noticed that it stopped because, as always happened with these after many years, the hole in the center of the magnet gets worn and enlarges, usually in an egg shaped fashion. When that happens the magnet hits the sides of the hole and eventually wears through which isn't good if you don't like getting shocked.
You can of course buy a new rotor, but anyone can do that. I take a piece of shrink tubing and put it over the shaft which enlarges it. If the hole in the magnet is misshapen or not large enough, I drill it out. Now the thing will run another year or two when I can do it again. Most of my powerheads are "fixed" in that fashion.
I also noticed that my algae scrubber was growing lettuce so my porcelain crabs could open up a produce stand so I had to take that apart and clean it.
All normal maintenance like everyone does.

 

[Paul B]

As I was doing this maintenance I noticed all the sponges I have. I love sponges.

Each sponge filters 20,000 gallons (I made up that number because I forgot the actual number) of seawater a day and are great at removing car wash soap from your tank.

I feed every day along with other things, clams. Clams come with clam juice that clouds the water. I like the fact that it clouds the water because clam juice is actually microscope particles of clam. Along with, I imagine, clam spit. My water clears in a very short while due to the sponges, some of which are 10" across and 10 years old. Most of them I didn't even buy and have no idea where they came from. Many of them, especially the white ones only grow in the dark. If you move one of those white sponges into the light, they grow algae and croak.

I think we should have as many sponges in our tanks as we can fit. Fantastic creatures.

All this blue stuff is a sponge. I keep cutting off pieces and giving it away so it doesn't encroach on my bed because my wife frowns on that.