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

[Paul B]

Last night I took my new Jeep Renegade on the beach to collect water. The thing should have no trouble in sand because it says "Trail Rated" and has a setting for sand, mud, snow and rocks so I would assume it will travel on those substances.
So I put it in sand mode and we go on to the beach which is deep, loose sand. I went about 100 yards and backed up to the water which was not easy because the Jeep wants to follow the ruts in the sand and it is almost impossible to deviate out of those ruts.

It was low tide so the water was way down the dune. The Jeep had no problems getting there.
We filled the back with 40 gallons of water and now it is a lot heavier.

I tried to get the thing off the beach and it just sunk. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, two inches back and three forward, again and again. The people on the beach were all yelling advice to me like I didn't know what I was doing. Of course they didn't know I had a snow plowing business with a Jeep for ten years. or that I had 400lbs of seawater in the back, With my friend pushing, I finally got back to the sand ruts and out of there.

The next time I collect water there, I will only collect 20 gallons and only at high tide.

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday we took a Lighthouse cruise with our friends out east on Orient Point. (This is one of the things old people do)
It was on a high speed jet boat that cruised at about 40 knots, which is fast for a boat that carries 200 people.

We went to about 9 lighthouses and also went around Plum Island where they used to do experiments on animal diseases but everyone knows they were working with Anthrax, Alka Seltzer and other wonderful chemicals. There is an incinerator there where they used to cremate the cows, pigs and goats after they infected them. Now they place is for sale and you can live in the exact spot where they did that. I think that is a great buy.

This year they stopped people from going there for any reason which makes the place even more inviting to live on.

I think I will pass.. Actually when, or if they make the place for housing you still can't go near the labs. Not that I want to.

I was always fascinated with lighhouses and a few of them are supposed to be haunted, if you believe in such things. There is only one lighthouse in the US that is still owned by the Federal Government and that one is on Plum Island. That is because no one is allowed there. Isn't that special!

I would like to put a vegetable garden there.

This one, (not on the tour because it is 100 miles away) Execution Lighthouse is in the Long Island Sound and I spent many hours near it, in the water under it or on it. I went there a few times as a consultant as the guy who bought it for a dollar from the Govt. wanted to make it into a bed and breakfast. But I may have talked him out of it when I discovered it was like a million bucks to put a power cable to it. There used to be one but no one knows what happened to it and I can't find it with SCUBA. There is also no water there or sewer. They used to be allowed to dump the sewage into the water but they frown on that now. George Washington signed to have the thing built.



This is me and my main squeeze on top of the thing.



When we came home I decided to continue building my workshop and I shredded a bunch of patent applications from things I worked on all my life but never had time to finish. Some of them would have made great innovations and made good money but other things got in the way.

It is what it is. You can't keep everything.

 

[Koyfam16]

5 mins of reading and well worth it. Truly enjoy your threads.

The water change thing I agree with. My tank is much smaller and I let it be if I find everything looks good. I don?t chase after water changes and definitely don?t drive myself crazy about making it a routine.



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[Paul B]

I don't have a routine for anything. OK, maybe brushing my teeth but the tank basically runs on it's own. I still can't find my hydrometer or thermometer. I found a bucket of water today and I didn't know if it was water I collected or fresh water that I brought here for topping off. I had to taste it to make sure. It was salt water so I dumped it in.

 

[paronaram]

I don't have a routine for anything. OK, maybe brushing my teeth but the tank basically runs on it's own. I still can't find my hydrometer or thermometer. I found a bucket of water today and I didn't know if it was water I collected or fresh water that I brought here for topping off. I had to taste it to make sure. It was salt water so I dumped it in.

"I had to taste it to make sure. It was salt water so I dumped it in." :biggrin: LOL

Paul, how long you can keep sea water in storage barrel, till next WC
Do you aerate water in the "storage"?
Do you still bump the salinity after move, or you have 100% ocean water?


Thanks
Aram

 

[Paul B]

You can keep water as long as you like. It doesn't go bad. You do not have to aerate it or read to it. If you collect it I would at least strain it to remove seaweed, jellyfish etc, not that stuff is bad but it will cloud the water and stay cloudy longer. Freshly collected seawater may cloud up anyway after a day in a bucket, but will clear by itself when the bacteria die and will be crystal clear. Don't add anything to it.

Now I use 100% NSW because it is so easy to collect. I don't know the salinity because I can't find my hydrometer but it must be fine because I took the fish and corals from my last house in water that had 160 nitrates and put them in the new tank with almost all new water and I saw no change so the salinity, whatever it is seems to be OK.
I am not a big advocate of having everything Exact to where some expert says it has to be.

 

[Paul B]

So today I walked into my workshop/fishroom/workshop/ManCave and I looked at my tank. OMG!! The tank was totally cloudy and the fishes eyes were all smoky. Every one of them.
Then my wife, who followed me in said "Whats on Fire?" .. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGggggg. The tank wasn't cloudy and the fishes eyes weren't smoky. The place was filled up with smoke. Ahhhhhhgggggggggggg. There was also a big puddle under the tank which I jumped right into to start unplugging things. I looked around and couldn't feel anything hot or leaking. But then, my electricians keen eye saw this. (see picture below) Now I went to High School and everything so I knew this wasn't good. There was water coming out of the brand new electrical outlet and the pumps and other things plugged into it were not running. I checked the breaker and it had tripped.

But I still couldn't figure out where the water was coming from. I replaced the receptacles and melted plugs and turned the power on.

AAAAAAAHHHHhhhhhhhggggggggAAAaaaaaaaa Flood. Water was shooting out of a pipe coupling near the top of the skimmer and hitting the ceiling. Then it was traveling down the side of the tank right into the outlet. The PVC coupling that was used for many years completely split in half and most of the water that was supposed to go into the skimmer, went into my outlets.

I then turned on my really huge, Manly exhaust fan full force until my ears were clean of wax and cleared out the smoke.

Now I fixed the coupling and electric and all is again well.

 

[Paul B]

Today I am doing a few projects in my new place. I started doing some plumbing to connect my DIY ATO to the water supply through the RO/DI and resins and to my tank, at the same time I am taping the bathroom so I can paint it I just built the thing and and am wiring it. also built shelves for it. But in between that I am staining some ratty looking "New" wood to look like barn wood and I must say, and I must, that it is coming out better than my wildest dreams. OK, my second wildest dreams.
When I am waiting for different coats to dry on this wood and the bathroom I do other things as I hate wasted time. I ate 6:00am this morning and have not stopped yet so I will eat lunch and dinner at the same time. If I add oatmeal to my linguini and clams I can also call it tomorrow's breakfast.

This wood I rescued from 2 large skids outside a furniture store.



This is my finished "Barn wood". I can buy barnwood but the farmers found out how valuable it is so they charge a fortune for it. I will cover my Master bedroom wall with this and there will be a barn door in the middle as the headboard. My place is very industrial/Steampunk looking

 

[Koyfam16]

Nice Paul. We?ve been slowly turning our home into a rustic feel.

I?ve been using metal pipe to make furniture, shelves etc.


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[Paul B]

Very nice.

 

[Paul B]

I built an algae scrubber and installed it but I didn't light it yet so it is just pouring water over a screen hanging over the tank. No leaks yet. Well there were some, but I fixed them before I had to order a canoe. I am putting in my barn wood wall today with the barn doors in the center but first I am doing the electrical work. (I know a good electrician.)
I am adding a switch near the bed and 2 steampunk sconces that will be over the barn doors and to the sides. Right now I just have holes in the walls for the wiring.

 

[Paul B]

I finished my barn wall. I just need to trim the top.

 

[Paul B]

My tank had cleared up quite nicely and I can start adding some more corals. Most of the algae is gone and the rest is dying and I will suck it out. Today I also added a temporary light on the algae scrubber to see if it does anything. I also had a small flood. I have been having a lot of floods lately and I am starting to feel like Noah.

I was putting up some sheetrock next to the tank and the sheetrock hit the fitting that comes out of a 7 gallon bucket hanging from the ceiling.
The fitting broke off and the bucket, which was full and started to shoot water all over me and the sheetrock. I had trouble putting down the sheetrock because it was a big piece and I had to wrestle it in the spot to get it there and now water was shooting all over my face so I couldn't see what I was doing. I eventually put down the sheetrock but I was soaked and water continued to pour out of the bucket. I could put my finger on the fitting to stop it but I had nothing to put under it and I didn't want to stay there all night. I let go and ran to get a bucket while the water was shooting out like 3'.
I got the bucket under the hose and collected the rest of the water. Then I got a mop.

The fish are still laughing.

 

[Paul B]

Today I had to take my wife to a Neurologist in our old neighborhood so I went to my favorite LFS. I picked up 2 very cool gobies which I have never seen before. (Andy, what are they?) I will take pictures when they come out to the front. I also got a pair of bluestripes. The janss pipefish killed my old male bluestripe and these are babies so I may be taking a chance.
My last female died of old age just after I moved here. They only have a lifespan of five years or so.
My algae issue is almost gone and the tank is crystal clear. I will add more corals when I get back to the store. This tank is bigger so I need more livestock.

 

[LongIslandAndy]

Paul here is some info they are called prioleips nocturna or gecko gobies. Here is a good article
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/fish/index.php

 

[Paul B]

Cool Gecko Gobies. They hide all the time in caves, no wonder I have not seen them yet. My tank is nothing but caves. Thanks. Very cool fish

 

[Paul B]

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.

 

[Paul B]

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]

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 Fierclowns
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]

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.
(Hello Andy)