Tank turned 41 years old

[Paul B]

Pravdaseeker, thank you. The stand is built out of galvanized steel which is hollow.
It would be very hard to paint but it could be done. Even if I leave it like it is it probably had 10 or 15 more years left in it before the strength wanes.
It is easy to replace, I just need some time and a little ambition.

 

[Paul B]

I have a couple of old hermits that are spawning. I don't remember when I got them but it is at least 12 years or longer ago.
The male in the foreground has her pushed up against that bubble coral. He is pushing her so hard that he is lifting her and the 8" bubble coral. I am surprised that he can lift all of that with his right claw being he is a lefty.
How do I know they are spawning?
I will ask him when he comes back from having his cigarette.

 

[burning2nd]

oy! head admin master lord... we must rename this thread for it is now of 40 years....

big ups paul old school to the fullest.

Ive done as you said and not as you did... and Im aware of your master knowledge.





just woundering... altho i know the awnser... when wwas the last time you tested.... and what did you test?

 

[Paul B]

Lol

 

[Paul B]

This month is my tanks birthday. It will be 39 years old, I thought it was going to be 40 but my math was off. It was started in 71 but was changed a few times and crashed after the first few weeks due to using drive way gravel first, then beach sand.
So it really has only been running without crashing for 38 years.
I guess I am getting old.

 

[Paul B]

My skimmer wasn't making hardly any bubbles and I finally had some time to check it out. I found the Mother of all amphipods stuck in the venturi.
This was like a prehistoric amphipod. Too bad it got all mangled. :badgrin:

 

[Paul B]

I went out on eastern Long Island today for a big party in a beach house and I broought my sea water collecting containers but the water is 55 degrees and I just could not get myself to go in the water so I came home empty handed.
Tomorrow I am going out in my boat so I will collect some Long Island Sound water but it is far inferior to Atlantic Ocean water.
I also had to put a few green chromis in my tank because all of my fish are old bottom dwellers and they just lay around behind the rocks and wait for me to shoot some food to them. They are all spoiled and lazy so they hardly swim anymore and it looks like there are no fish in there. Even the pair of fire clowns "sleep" most of the time.
If it were not for the hippo tang I would swear the tank was fishless.
There are maybe 15 fish in there but you rarely see any of them. That happens a lot when fish get old. No need to swim anymore. So at least some $5.00 chromis give it some movement.

 

[Damsel13]

LOL sounds like some people I know. I guess that's why the young help keep us all moving a bit. Even fish need some young ones around! HA

 

[Paul B]

As I was loking at my tank today I noticed that there was hardly anything moving. Not the fish, the corals. I felt the two powerheads to determine that they were running (they are very old and may croak at any minute)
So I removed the homemade strainers to find them clogged with tiny snails, or clams. I didn't yet have time to put them under a scope to see exactly what they are.
Usually these happenings go un noticed and these animals just take their place in the rocks and go un noticed until they either die off or grow large enough to stare at me.
But at least it a good sight and a sign that everything is as it should be.

 

[Paul B]

All is well but they are definately snails. Looking closely at the rock with a scope, they are all over the place. They are not local mud snails and I did not add any rocks or corals in many months, maybe years. Cool looking little suckers, I just hope they don't grow or I will have to buy a lot of linguini to go along with them for dinner.

 

[Paul B]

Today I finally got a new male blue stripped pipefish. I had a pair for a few years but the male died last year. They have a short lifespan like seahorses. The female seemed fine being alone but as soon as the male hit the water, they became a pair, never leaving each other's side.
I think I will start seeing tiny bluestripes again very soon.
That if she is not too old.
The store has about 8 of them and I may get another pair but the males fight and sometimes if you have two pairs, the males spend all their time fighting instead of spawning and the females have nothing to do but look sexy

 

[brandon429]

excellent read!!! longest running tank Ive ever heard of that's for sure.

the one thing I didn't see covered is the color of the substrate...how do you keep it from developing coralline and assorted patches of color from various calcifiers and algaes ranging from microalgae to assorted corallines red, purple, green etc. the substrate is shallow, and in just 3 or 4 years in a normal tank with less diversity would be absolutely caked nonwhite

being able to model this clean bed is vitally important to my micro system, how do you manage it with fish and this much diversity thanks Paul
Brandon

 

[Paul B]

the color of the substrate...how do you keep it from developing coralline and assorted patches of color from various calcifiers and algaes ranging from microalgae to assorted corallines red, purple, green etc.

Maybe it's the reverse UG filter. That dolomite has been in there all of that time. I added some new stuff in 1978 or so when everything was transfered into the larger tank but most of it is original and very white as you can see from this picture.
The black pieces are tiny pieces of asphalt and other debris from local NY water

 

[brandon429]

--

Thanks for your reply. That is really neat, a bed exporting approach I have read about them but not ever seen one applied. thats a great reason for the bed to be clean, current is pressured out of the top rather than in through the top! a reverse UGF really smart. You know I wonder how that could be applied in nano reefing where nutrient sinking in the bed really is an issue

this is a 30+ year test of it you've been conducting and the only one with pics, how neat. +10
Brandon

 

[Paul B]

I feel the Reverse UG filter is what keeps this tank running with absolutely no problems al these years.
People stopped using them because we all used UG filters at first but if you use them like we did in freshwater they will crash in about a year, you need to reverse it and run it very slow.
Thats the secret.

 

[Paul B]

For some reason my tank looks real good. The corals seem to be growing, even the couple of SPS corals that usually don't do well in my tank, tiny snails are growing all over the place as well as spaghetti worms, pods and tubeworms. Many of the fish are spawning and there is almost no algae or cyano.
I have not changed any water in, well I can't remember, but it was a few months ago.
I think.
I added a few fish to give some movement because when the fish are in spawning mode, they tend to hide or stay with the nest. I wanted some more movement so I added a couple of green chromis and two scizzortails.
I am not going to change any water for another month or so. Unless I collect some.
You can just tell that everything is very healthy by looking closely at the rocks and seeing all the life, all the tentacles sticking out of holes, all the creatures hiding in the dark. The clam is fully extended as are the polyps on the gorgonians.

 

[Paul B]

Boy is this guy mad at me. I found a 3" bristle worm and put it in front of him. He looked at the worm, then he looked at me, then he looked back at the worm and tried to eat it. He immediately spit it out and looked like he was choking. He went to the back of the tank and now he is not talking to me.

 

[burning2nd]

nice one paul... way to piss off your fish...

do fish curse and then bubbles come out when the say the bad word?

 

[Paul B]

Don't be rediculous, they scratch curses on the inside of the glass.

 

[psb]

What water volume do you mean when you say run reverse ug slow?