Tank Thread Tank reached 38 years old...in 2009!

[ReeferGirl]

Your stories crack me up. I love reading them. Beautiful tank btw.

 

[Paul B]

Thank you ReferGirl. I have a couple of very good friends in Jacksonville, especially my Viet Nam Buddy so if you see him, say Hi for me. He's the better looking one on the left. :tongue1:

 

[Paul B]

So I had this knee replaced over 4 months ago and if Christie Brinkley was 20' from me giving out free frags, I would not be able to beat a two year old with diaper rash to get over there. :irked:

The Doc says I have a neuroma. That's great and just what I wanted. I don't think I will be able to SCUBA in a few weeks when I go to the Caribbean, Not that I like diving there anyway, but I figure if I am there anyway, I would at least get wet.

We are Babysitting our 5 and 6 year old this weekend and my knee aged 10 years in 10 hours. I took them down to a pond to look for tadpoles (I know they are not there as it is too cold but I am looking for anything to occupy them). They started to fight so I had to carry one 100 yards back to my house while I pushed the other one on a rusty tricycle and at about 50 yards I almost had to call a helocopter with 6 paramedics (four men and two females) to air lift me to a hospital.
But I made it back alive....Barely.

I have these small, very manly stress cracks in my spine from all the real man work I did all my life and crashing in two helicopters probably didn't help. These things rarely affect me but like ich occasionally flair up. If you get to my age and nothing hurts, you probably had a Girly, sissy man job where you moved some papers around or typed something once in a while as you looked out the window at the pretty birds saying Doot do do, Doot da do and humming the theme song from The Sound of Music. The play, not the movie.

 

[Paul B]

I put this on here someplace, but I like it so I will post it again. If you saw it, go and watch Oprah.

How times have changed.
I was just reading a Sharper Image Catalog and now they sell so many things that we didn't have when I was a kid. Did you ever look through one of those catalogs?

We used to play this game where you got a ball and you threw it at the other person to see if you could hit him. Now I see they got this thing where each of you get this stick looking thing and you can shoot real lightning bolts at each other.

They also have this little drone helocopter thing that you can fly right into your neighbors window and see what they are having for dinner. I would imagine the thing can also steal a drumstick right off their table. How much fun would that be! I am sure your neighbors would really like that.

Then you can walk around with this virtual reality thing on your head so you never have to visit the real world. You can have a virtual reality girlfriend, go to a virtual movie, drive a virtual car and I would imagine you could eat all your meals virtually. I amnot sure if it comes with a virtual doctor for when you starve to death. There is even a program where you can watch yourself watching a virtually reality show of yourself doing nothing.
There is virtual ping pong where you hit a ball of light. That seems really good for your muscle tone and overall fitness. I mean you probably have to change the batteries every so often and if you lift a lot of those AA batteries it can get exhausting.

Of course they have a few radios that you can listen to in your shower. Like, how long do you stand in the shower, are you really that filthy that you can't miss one version of Lady GaGa's Papparazi.
There is this Hover board thing that costs $300.00 and it goes 3 1/2mph. Isn't that walking speed? Why would anybody spend $300.00 to go as fast as you can walk? Maybe it's me!

I don't know how many nose hair clippers there are but apparently this is very important. Just last night I woke up from a dream where I was on a tropical Island sipping a Pina Colada with all 12 apostles, Leonardo DiVinci and 2 of the Radio City Rockettes and I realized I didn't clip my nose hairs. Today these things are so powerful that you can put it up your nose and it will clip your ear hairs at the same time. You can't make this stuff up.

Oh this is something I can't live without, right here on page 25. For just $100.00 you can order your own personalized bobble head doll, with your head on it. Wow, how great would that be. You stop at a light and your head nods up and down like you are some sort of an alien nerd weirdo. I can't wait to order that. I wonder if I can get one with hair on it.

This can save you some time, There is this Lady's hair drier that is so powerful that if you open your window while you are using it, it will melt up to 6" of snow on your sidewalk. I am not kidding.
Some of the things seem to stretch the truth just a little like this car vacuum that is so powerful you need to wear earplugs, not because of the noise, but because it may pull the wax right out of your ears and God Forbid if you are wearing earings, or worse, a nose ring.

I really can't see much value in this one. You hang this thing over your toilet bowl, and it lights up the water. I won't comment on that as I don't want to go there and if I saw that in someone's house, I would go to the bathroom in their neighbors house. Wierd.

But my absolute favorite if this refrigerator for a lonely bachelor who wants to feel he is married. Every time you pass it, it says,
"HEY LAZY, THROW OUT THE GARBAGE. TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES. DON'T DRINK OUT OF THE MILK CONTAINER. TAKE OUT THE DOG. FILL MY CAR WITH GAS. RUB MY FEET. GET ME A BEER".
These are all things you can buy now. We didn't have toys and stuff like this when I was a Kid. I remember asking my Dad once to get me a toy and he came out with a piece of wood, a couple of nails and a hammer. I played with that until I got married. Now I can get rid of that talking refrigerator.

 

[Paul B]

Last night I was feeding my tank, (and sipping some Grand Marnier) and I saw this huge claw sticking out under a coral. I thought to myself, then I said it out loud OMG, what is that? At first I thought a Godzilla Larvae somehow survived my very strict quarantine routine (NOT)
I looked closer and saw that it is a porcelain crab.
One of these. But they usually don't get more than about an inch. I figure this one, from his claw is more like 2".
I have, or had 5 of these guys in there but I didn't see any for months and thought they all went to crab Heaven, but I thought wrong.
They are filter feeders and I am very happy he is still with me.
Their claws are just for trimming their toe nails.



I just hope he doesn't change into one of these.

 

[Paul B]

While I am waiting for my wife to get up so we can go to breakfast I figured I would ramble, or waste time because there are no new posts that I am interested in or should comment on for fear that I would be banned for my "Avant Garde" procedures. I have been up since 1:00, not on purpose but that is for another post. If you Google "Lousy nights sleep, you see me". Uh Uh she just got up and I was going to say something so Earth shattering that you have no idea. Neither do I.

I was looking at my tank last night in the dark with a little Grand Marnier and I thought, OMG, I have too many fish. I have a lot of hiders so at first you don't see half of them. (kind of like Supermodels on a bad hair day) I like the hiders best because they, kind of like me are loners. (but I have a ton of friends, some with hair)

The hiders I have are a Janss pipefish, possum wrasse 2 Gecko Gobies (I really love them but never saw an entire fish as they really hide) mandarins, but they do what they do, scooter bleeny (which are not really bleenies) and 3 or 4 other fish that are so secretive that I forgot what they are but are very cool. (I think one is a basselet, or maybe stripped bass).

Speaking of loners, even though I have a lot of very close friends on many occasions, especially when I was young 87 years ago I always did better on my own. In those days real Men, like me spent our time searching for girls. (no I was not a Perv, that's what all Real Men did)

These were just singers at a Veterans event.


If I wanted to have luck at that I would go off on my own. (We didn't have web sites then as the only webs were made by spiders) I would go to a beach or park, find one hitch hiking etc. and have a nice date on a beach and maybe we would make a connection and I found a girlfriend.
I could talk the chrome off of a 1957 Chevy bumper.

I didn't look like Brad Pitt but not Tim Conway (like I do now) either. But many men didn't know how to do it and they went around in mobs, loud mobs. I tried to be a little more sophisticated and it seemed to work out.

My own BFF who I married 45 years ago (and stopped searching for girls) I met at a wedding. She was too young for me but I dated her older cousin.



I even air brushed her picture in Vargas style when she was 18



OK time to go out. Sorry for the rambling, I will try to think of some fish stuff to post.

 

[Paul B]

Today my wife and I are going to clean the boat as it is to dirty to go out in tomorrow. We will just do a light cleaning as I am having the marina compound and wax it. I did that myself all my life but I got old (er) and now let them do that.

I inadvertently left a beer and an energy drink in the refrigerator where of course they exploded when they froze and turned into a sticky punch that needs to be scraped out.

The boat started right up and I hope to take some long rides this year. I have saved for boat gas all winter as the boat is not all that efficient.
It costs something like $1.25 a minute to run so I won't be going to Europe any time soon.
(I just figured that out in my head so I could be way off)

I hope this year to find an amphipod collection place because the water here on the South Shore is not rocky and I hardly found any last year. I can collect mud anywhere so I will be sure to get some of that.

 

[Paul B]

We had some visitors yesterday and I let a very cute little girl feed my tank. The fish got enough food for a month so they should be very happy.

My wife and I went to clean the boat yesterday and the thing was filthy. I can't take it out today and it is the first Memorial Day I will miss boating in more years than I can remember. It's just to dirty and moldy. This is the first winter I stored it here on the south shore of Long Island and it must be damper here as it was never this dirty. The marina can't clean it for 2 weeks so I will go down there this morning before it gets too hot to do another preliminary cleaning so we can at least go out on it. I like my boat to be pristine, even the bilge so I have a lot of work to do.

Unfortunately I am also building a wall in my living room for the 7' (electric) firefplace and TV I am building.
I built the entire wall on wheels in a different part of the living room and when it is finished, I will just roll it into place.
The thing is all surrounded in 18 gauge steel panels that I had custom cut and I polished and sprayed them with a clear coat. It goes along with the industrial look of the rest of our place. I will take some pictures eventually.

If it doesn't come out good, I will just hang a picture of Christie Brinkley, or better yet, my Grand Daughter and call it a day.

(getting her ears pierced)

 

[Paul B]

My reef is doing exceptionally well and I am not sure why but I am as happy as I can be. Well I could be happier but I don't hear Christie Brinkley ringing my door bell so I am almost as happy as I could be.
I have 6 or 7 SPS for over a year since I moved here and they have been growing nicely and almost doubled in size. All my gorgonians are also growing fast and the LPS are all smiling and doing the Macarana.

I do have to trim my blue sponge as it is trying to take over and is growing faster than the Macropora.

I see multitudes of tiny creatures climbing on everything and no, they are not pods. They look like tiny lobsters and may be Godzilla Larvae. I will have to microscope one of them to make sure.
All my fish are also dancing especially the Janss pipefish, possum wrasse, gecko gobies, scooter "bleeny" and copperband. I need to put the copperband on Jenny Craig as I think she is a little too rotund and it is not flattering.

I don't know how many fish I have because I have 5 or 6 hiders which I only see every other Tuesday on a leap year but I guess there are about 25 or so.
Nothing has died or gotten sick (which I knew wouldn't happen) in the year since I moved. Nothing has gotten sick in over 30 years so that is not a big Whoop.

Spaghetti worms and asternia stars are all over the place but I consider them free inverts. I did see two aiptasia today which I killed but I am sure there are more. They don't bother me and years ago I used to feed them because they were the only inverts we could get.

This tiny boxfish did get stuck to a powerhead and got crushed just before I went to the Caribbean and I have not found him so I figured he croaked. But that doesn't count. I can't keep those little guys as they swim as well as a bumper from a 1966 Ford Fairlane.

 

[Paul B]

Last night while my wife was making dinner she fell face down on the kitchen floor. She didn't get to hurt but it scared the moose out of me.
She does fall occasionally and I just hope she doesn't break anything.
But today she seems fine so far.
Nothing to report on fish because the light is still out and I have not looked at them yet. But if the water is still in the tank, I will call it a good day.

 

[albano]

Hope your wife is feeling better

 

[Paul B]

Thank you. The MS makes her fall occasionally

 

[Paul B]

If anyone wants this clam coffee table, it is free. I have the glass top which is chipped. Pearl is not real. It is about 17" high.
No, I am not going to ship it. I am in Suffolk Long Island



I also have a de humidifier, also free, it is about 2' high works well, someone just gave me another one. :cheers:

This is all fish related because the thing is a shell and the de humidifier is for fish tank humidity. :tongue1:

 

[Paul B]

Sponges. As I was washing my car yesterday I was thinking about sponges. I added this light blue sponge to my tank maybe 15 years ago and the thing really took off. I feel that is a good thing because for it to grow like that it has to be filtering a lot of gunk out of my water which is probably why it looks like gin. I may have accidently spilled a bottle of gin in there but I am not sure.

The sponge tries to grow over everything but it is very easy to trim with an Xacto knife or razor blade.
I feed my tank a lot of clams and there is a lot of clam juice that comes from that. Corals love clam juice (I think) but I am sure the sponge sucks it all up. Sponges filter about 20,000 times their own weight of seawater every day so I am sure all of my water goes through my sponges every day.

I wrote this about sponges a couple of years ago:
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/?s=sponges

 

[Paul B]

Table is gone.

I just fed my fish and gave them some white worms. OMG I have a lot of those suckers. They go through a stale, frozen slice of whole grain bread with yogurt on it in a couple of days.

They are totally different than the worm culture I started out with and looks like I mixed in Godzilla DNA but I don't remember doing that.
Of course the fish love them but I also feed all the other LPS little mouths that I could swear smile after they have a bite.
LPS are growing up the walls as are the SPS but I am not sure what they are eating besides clam juice. All is well.

I have been building this fireplace/TV thing in my living room that is coming out very nice. I will post pictures. Tomorrow I hope to get the stone that will be on the hearth. I also am trying to get a non pressure treatd railroad tie for the mantle. I am having a lumber yard cut one for me.

 

[Paul B]

I have to change the exhaust manifolds on my boat and it is breaking my heart that I will not be able to do it myself. I really have never hired anyone for anything especially something like my car or boat but there comes a time when this stuff is just to heavy. I have changed them on my last two boats but I was a lot younger then. The manifolds are the 4 big iron things, one on each side of the engine with the worm gear clamps on the far end.
This boat has two engines and there is very little room to work. They weigh maybe 25lbs each and you have to be able to twist yourself in there to lift them out, then align them up to get them back in. It is not a complicated job but it is a heavy one. You are supposed to change them (in salt water) maybe every 5 or 6 years and I have this boat 12 years and never changed them. They could be 15 or even 20 years old.

If they allow seawater to leak into the cylinders you could break a connecting rod or crack the block, two reasons to junk the boat. I don't trust anyone's work and I just like doing this type of work.

But age and strength just won't allow me to do it again. Getting old stinks but it is better than the alternative (I think)
It's the end of an era when I can't repair my own boat.
They are also not real cheap. To do it myself would cost about $1,500.00 and to have them to do it is almost tipple that. And I wanted to buy a clown gobi. :fish:

 

[4Fish]

Thanks for helping with my decision to buy a boat!! Sounds great on paper, but wow. I suspect with an outboard engine this would be less of an issue?

 

[Paul B]

You don't have to change the manifolds on an outboard but they have their own problems and issues. Now the outboards are almost all 4 cycle just like your car and just as complicated but much more expensive.

My last 140 horse outboard "blew up" while I was out, that was a 2 cycle but the top of the cylinder blew off. We were out with friends and I heard this noise and the engine stopped. I opened up the engine cover and a bunch of parts fell into the water. The piston came through the side of the block knocking the starter off the engine. I had a pliers and maybe some tape. My wife asked if I could fix it.

4 Months and $3,000.00 later with a new powerhead (basically a new engine) I fixed it.
The manufacturer said it was a manufacturers defect which is why the parts were so "Cheap".

If you are not a mechanic, I would not get a boat as they always break and they were designed by a Jiboni. :bigeyes2:

 

[Paul B]

So last night we took our Grand Daughter Greta to the beach behind out house to launch these hot air balloons. They are these 3' paper bags with a wax fire in them. We got on the beach with the Jeep as the sand is very deep and soft. The thing went fine going in.
After we lit and flew the fire things (and they go for miles and so high you can barely see them) we got in the Jeep to go home.

The thing wouldn't let me put it in 4 wheel drive. It didn't light up or anything but the Jeep kept going. Then the "Check Engine" light came on. Then something was flashing that said
"Torque Steering something" needs service" Then the "Air Bag, not working" light came on. I felt like I was driving a Christmas tree.

It didn't seem to effect the drivability or 4 wheel drive capabilities but when I got home I checked into it. I found out I have this "Trail Hawk Trail Rated" model which is the Super, Duper Jeep with the drivetrain that allows you to drive under the Pacific Ocean or on craters on the Moon. I think that may impress some CPA. I also found out it was built in Italy, which didn't make me happy at all.
I have a Test module you plug in to tell you what is wrong, but there is something wrong with my test module that tells you whats wrong. It didn't give me any codes to tell me whats wrong. It's either a module or a software problem because when they invented computers and put them in cars, they invented all these silly problems.

My old Willy's Jeep didn't have any of these issues because it was a 1960 Willy's and the thing was built to just work. No issues, no breaking, no modules, just steel parts.
When you wanted to put it in 4 wheel drive you pushed this big steel lever, it made a big noise and then you could drive through a house and not even dent the thing.

Now they have these silly, plastic, electronic modules that allow the vehicle to do all sorts of things that used to be done with iron and steel. The new electronic assisted vehicles do not run any better, there 4 wheel drive is no better, they are certainly not cheaper or more reliable. What they are is disposable because you need to be Houdini and Einstein to fix them. I could fix anything on my Willy's with a hammer and maybe a torch.

I went to the Jeep dealer and they said they have to check it out to see if it is under warranty even though Jeep Corporate headquarters told me it is.
If it is not, I will just have to fix it myself or take it to some Jiboni with a drawer full of modules and software programs.

 

[Paul B]

I also have this for the wife. :wink1: