# Tank birthday, 40 years



## Paul B

In a couple of weeks my reef will will have reached 40 years old.
Unfortunately I don't remember when I was 40 but I remember when I set it up. I was a skinny 22 year old just back from Viet Nam.
It is still running very well, still using the same reverse UG filter, same dolomite substrait but none of the fish are original. The oldest one, a fireclown is just over 16, all of the older fish died in an accident that was due to my carelessness.

The tank is mostly LPS, gorgonians, giant mushrooms and a few leathers.
There are only three SPS corals, two of which have been with me for a few years and are growing nicely. 
I am not sure is any of the original NSW from the Long Island Sound is still in there or any of the original amphipods but maybe much later generations.
I still can't take a decent picture and the tank is not as blue as these pictures but it is what it is.


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## corE3105

wow 40 years is a long time...well done


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## M1ster Stanl3y

Holy crap!! Congrats...same tank over the past 40yrs?


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## Paul B

Thanks guys


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## Vince

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 
BEAUTIFUL 
Guess you doing it right:animated_fish_swimm


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## Tankfull Tropicals

Awesome tank Paul. I'm still scared of salt water even after 45 yrs of this. You must have seen a few technilogical changes in the time that tank has been up. Very cool.


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## Paul B

I have seen technoligical changes come and go and also Supermodels.
Everything keeps changing


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## Dean715

Congratulations. That is an accomplishment.


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## AliceInDallas

Paul B said:


> In a couple of weeks my reef will have reached 40 years old . . . it is what it is.


Oh gosh, Paul! I'm just looking at those great pictures of your tank, trying to wrap my mind around 40 years ..... thinking 'How many things did I have or did I start 40 years ago that are still of this earth ..... that are even better than I envisioned' like your wonderful salt tank? Not many, except maybe my son who is now 47! What you have done here is really an art form - a personal triumph, a work of the heart. Wish the world could say the same about its last 40 years. You have done what most of us could never have done, but always dream about. Thanks for sharing it. Happy Birthday!


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## automatic-hydromatic

wow, you're tank is 16 years older than I am! LOL

amazing looking tank; that's quite a feat to have it up and running that long!

any corals been in the tank for the entire time?


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## Paul B

Alice that is an extreamly nice thing to say, thank you.
No corals have been in there all that time. No one kept corals in those years. Coral keeping is a relatively new endeavour.
It actually started in the 80s when the German government banned the importation of angelfish and tangs to that country. Without those beautiful fish the German people looked for other things to fill their tanks with. Thats when we started to keep corals and the US followed. All of the books were written in German and translated to English


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## BETTABOUTIQUE

*pc Time to celebrate a great success!!!!! Your tank is awesome.


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## beaslbob

Paul's tank is really really amazing. and proof you don't have to spend $1,000s for the latest do dad recommended in the latest popular book.

Congratuations Paul.


Happy birthday tank.







And happy birthday Bob. Glad you made it to 64 (yesterday). Gee that's even older then Paul's tank. *old dude


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## Paul B

She is about to lay eggs again. This large watchman gobi has been with me for many years along with her boyfriend. She has also laid eggs many times but all the times except once she laid them in places where I can't get to to take a picture. This time she picked a place in the back of the tank where I hope to get a picture of. She already uncovered my UG filter and is fat. I am hoping to see some eggs this week but you never know. She could also just have eaten too many Doritoes and just gotten fat.








This was another batch of eggs from her in another place where it is hard to get a picture


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## Paul B

I went to a beach yesterday where I do a lot of collecting. I don't know why but I just didn't feel like jumping in and collecting water at that time.


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## J-Pond

Wow!! your tank is as old as I am...LOL. That is impressive, a 40 year old set up!
I love it, it looks amazing! Thanks for sharing


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## Paul B

Thank You J-Pond


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## J-Pond

I still can't figure out why you didn't just dive in to collect more!! LOL


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## mec102778

Your tank is unbelievably beautiful. Congrats on 40 years, and here's to another 40!*w3*h/b


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## Crackbaby84

I am completely envious. Amazing tank! It is beautiful. Soon I hope to get a large salt water tank as well. Congratulations!!!


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## GetITCdot

Your tank is awesome....all there is to say!


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## Paul B

J Pond I was waiting for you to jump in first.
Mec and Crackbaby, thank you, I appreciate it although I know there are many tanks on here much nicer looking them mine.


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## Paul B

To update my tank seems to be doing wery well. The only thing I notice is that my 4 SPS corals are growing very fast as my LPS seem to be shrinking a little. This happens when you mix the two types of corals and I may start to introduce more SPS but I know what will happen to the LPS which I kind of prefer. At one time, years ago the tank was all SPS. I get bored and need to change it around every so many years.
The tank looks no where near what it looked like a couple of years ago before I lost most of the corals to a make up water problem but it looks pretty good, not as good as many tanks on here but it is the way I like it.


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## beaslbob

dern

How many of us would like to have a tank so long we can talk about remodeling every few years.

I haven't even owned a house that long.*old dude

my .02


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## bruceaction

Therr you go Paul all that encouragment,,and you deserve that,,your an inspiration,,keep on keeping on


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## retiredsemi

happy birthday tank

what a beautiful saltwater tank!! I have been in and out of this hobby a few times and left a saltwater tank in a house in the states because I couldn't move it. now just into tropicals but trying to convince wife that I need a sw set up have an empty 25 gallon just crying to be set up as a sw tank with an empty 10 gallon tank to use as a sump.

Congratulations Paul on a work of art that lives on may you enjoy it for another forty years

*old dude It's great to see beauty at our age


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## Paul B

Thanks guys but I am still jealous of some of the beautiful tanks on here.


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## Paul B

I know I have been saying this for months but I really need to remove all of the rocks and re aquascape. Due to some of the spawning fish and the dragon wrasse digging holes and re arranging everything all of the entire structure moved almost all the way to the front glass and I am having a hard time cleaning the glass or positioning the corals. The gorgonians are jammed against the front glass and I don't have room for anything. There is plenty of room in the back where I don't need it. I know I should have done this in the winter as now it is boating season and this will take all day.
If I ever do it I can also remove the dragon wrasse and give it away as it has grown too large and he has become a pain in the wrasse I will also stir the dolomite and clean it.
One problem is that I really like the aquascaping now and I know I will not be able to re create it. I always have a bunch of rocks left over when I do this. I also need to find tanks for all the corals. I guess I will also collect some water, pods and bacteria the next time I take out the boat as I have not added any of that since last year.
Oh the joy of reefing.


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## beaslbob

I think we should all have Paul's "problems" *old dude


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## BBradbury

Hello Paul. Good for you! This is a little unrelated to the aquarium hobby. Anyway, I wasn't quite old enough for Vietnam, but went into the Navy not too long after that. From one Veteran to another, thank you for your service and thanks for lending your expertise to this forum.

BBradbury


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## Paul B

Thany you Bradbury, and thank you for your service as well


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## Paul B

They seem to work. This is without the lenses on and with all lights at full brilliancy.
I temporarilly hung it on my tank like this and they seem to be almost twice as bright as my 300 watts of MH lights. I am seeing places in my tank I never knew existed. When I get the dimming working I will have to adjust it for more blue as it is too bright and white.




















This is the MH lights. They almost look like the same brightness in the picture but the picture lies.
The LEDs are much brighter. The MH lights have a nicer color which is why I will have to dim the white lights and leave the blue lights on higher.
Notice in the MH picture, you can't see my powerheads at the sides of the tank. Now I will have to hide those.
I didn't try that yet but the fish all hid with the LED lights, they thought they were on a stage and had to perform


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## mec102778

We said perform damn it! Looks great, however the metal halide just seem more focused on the center of the tank. Can we get more pictures? Both seemed to have background glare, I thought the LED as getting some weird blue coloration from the blue LED.


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## Paul B

Thanks, The MH lights dim towards the ends of the tank because there are only 2 MH fixtures and the fixture is 6' long. In these pictures I don't have the lenses on yet, it was just a test, and I don't yet have the dimming circuit connected so I can't install the LED fixture yet. For that picture I just temporarilly hung the fixture on strings under the MH lights that I turned off for the picture. The LEDs will be installed higher and I can dim the whites and blues to get the color I want.


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## bolram

all i can say is well done on your tank. You've had that up and running for double my life. How funny to think your tank is twice my age lol. I love the naturalness and the random bottles with growth over them. Amazing tank!!!


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## sondre

Wow ! Amazing,beautiful ! All these corals look great ! 

And 40 years ... thats what i call a hobby !  Well done Paul !


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## Paul B

Now the thing is 99% completed. Here it is with the control box with the 3 dimmers and fan switch.









Here are the old (Plaza Hotel) MH lights. Anyone need any slightly used 150 watt 14,000K MH lamps? free.











Here is the new fixture hung over the tank, that of course is in the blue mode









This is with all the lights almost at full brilliancy.
So far after 30 minutes the fixture is still at room temperature.










All I have to do next is to build the pulley system so I can raise the fixture out of the way to remove rocks and what not. Now it is still hung on string.


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## mec102778

now that looks awesome Paul, no worries about splashing or anything with the lights uncovered? even just evaporation moisture?

And the MH lights look like that would fit right in the open slots on my 100G tank.


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## Paul B

No, the LEDs have lenses glued on them and they are fairly high.


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## mec102778

Awesome, do you have a build out for the light system? Ok I'm going to be needy for a second. Do you have anything written up on this DIY LED system? Parts, vendors, rough cost?


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## Paul B

The pictures I posted is my only pictures, I got the system from "Rapid LED" as a kit.
It was the 36 LED ultra premium kit for about $325.00. It does not come with a heat sink but I didn't want one, I used aluminum tubing like in the photo with a couple of $9.00 fans that suck air through the tubes. They stay room temperature with not even a hint at heat. I may even have to put my heater back in the tank because it is cooling off.
The system comes with instructions and you can ask them questions.
This 36 LED system uses 108 watts compared to my old 300 watt MH system and it puts out about twice the light. I can't even turn it up full because it is just too bright.
I can make it all blue or mix it. The blue with a little white is really nice and it shimmers more than the MH lights.
With the savings in power and light bulb replacement, it will pay for itself in a couple of months.


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## Paul B

Now the system is 100% done. I installed a pulley system that raises the LED fixture about a foot so it goes out of the way for maintenance. I just have to slightly tough it and it rises. The plastic container (counterweight) is filled with lead shot.
I love this stuff.


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> Now the system is 100% done. I installed a pulley system that raises the LED fixture about a foot so it goes out of the way for maintenance. I just have to slightly tough it and it rises. The plastic container (counterweight) is filled with lead shot.
> I love this stuff.


So after all these years your tank is shot?






























*r2


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## Paul B

Exactly!


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## Paul B

I am happy to say that my reef is 5 degrees cooler than it should be for this time of the year. Outside it is almost 100 degrees and my tank usually runs about 87 degrees in the summer which is a little hot.
Now the tank is a comfortable 82 degrees which is fine.
The LEDs emit just about zero heat and you can put your hand right on the lenses without feeling anything.


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## Paul B

I re-designed my algae trough this morning. I thought my LED lights would supply enough light to the trough but they were not positioned enough above it so the hair algae in the trough died in a week. I bought a 4' strip of waterproof LEDs and mounted them about 2" above the trough where they illuminate it very brightly for practically free.
It took a while removing the screen from the trough as it was full of brittle stars and amphipods and I didn't want to lose any so I had to pick them out betwen the tube worms that grow all over the trough bottom.
You can make out the strip of LEDs here but I should have shut them off to take the picture as they wash out the photo.










Here it is with the tank lights out


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## cannonfish

great tank! I would love to go marine one day.


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## Paul B

Jump in *w2


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## cannonfish

Did you do tropical fish keeping before you took up marine fish keeping?


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> Jump in *w2


Doesn't that take a big tank? *old dude


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## Paul B

> Doesn't that take a big tank?


Depending if he jumps in head first or not.



> Did you do tropical fish keeping before you took up marine fish keeping?


I kept freshwater fish all my life until I was drafted, as soon as I returned home I started a brackish tank that later evolved into the tank I have now.
I bred many freshwater fish and liked to keep the odder fisk like lungfish, knifefish, puffers, leaffish, elephant noses and things like that.


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## cannonfish

That's so cool im gonna give it a while b4 going marine as I still wanna keep my tropical for now. At mo im into sp44 and other smaller cichlids.


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## Paul B

I can't believe one of my powerheads croaked. Right after I wrote that I never changed a powerhead. What a piece of junk, it is only about 20 years old. I wonder if I still have the receipt. It started tripping the GFI then it completely died with no power going to the coils at all. I may have to autopsy it.
It was made by Christopher Columbus Powerhead company and came in a wooden box.


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## Paul B

Actually I think the thing is over 30 years old as I have no recolection of ever buying a powerhead and I have 5 of these.


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> I can't believe one of my powerheads croaked. Right after I wrote that I never changed a powerhead. What a piece of junk, it is only about 20 years old. I wonder if I still have the receipt. It started tripping the GFI then it completely died with no power going to the coils at all. I may have to autopsy it.
> It was made by Christopher Columbus Powerhead company and came in a wooden box.


Are you sure it's not powered by someone walking on the paddles. Perhaps it came from acient times. *old dude


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## Paul B

I think I just have to change the spark plug


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## Paul B

An autopsy of the powerhead revealed that from the armature being so off center for so many years it had eaten a hole into the plastic that surrounds the magnetic armature exposing the coils of the stator. I could probably repair it depending on how severe the damage is but I already have a new pump and I think I got my money's worth out of this one.


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## Paul B

To update my tank, for the last 4 weeks I have been adding some SPS corals because I changed the lighting to LEDs and increased the circulation.
I have some nice montipora's and some acropora. The monti's actually have been growing nicely for almost a year so I added more. The acropora's look good but it is too soon to see if they will grow in my rather "natural" tank. Many years ago it was all SPS but I liked LPS better so I had mostly those. I still like LPS better and don't like mixing all of this but I want to see what happens. Gorgonians seem to grow wild in the tank so they predominate.
This monti grew from a tiny frag that broke off the main piece. It quadrupled in size in less than a year.









There are two of these, this one and a green one. I don't know the name and am too lazy to look it up but they have been growing for a couple of years also.
I only posted this because quite a few people said to me that SPS will not live in my tank because of my limited water changes and slightly "dirtier" conditions than many tanks


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## squishy

wow, amazing tank! congrats!!


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## Paul B

Thanks, It is almost cycled now. *old dude


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> Thanks, It is almost cycled now. *old dude


You mean there is a cycle in there between the jars and stuff?


Wow *old dude


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## Paul B

Yes, there was a bottle cycle, a can cycle a chain cycle and cement cycles.
Everything but bicycles


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> Yes, there was a bottle cycle, a can cycle a chain cycle and cement cycles.
> Everything but bicycles


awwwwww

something more to add.

you could get really daring and try the much maligned and dangerous

Unicycle *old dude













































*r2


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## Paul B

Today I added some more acropora that I got for a good price. Now the tank has about half LPS and Half SPS. Well maybe 3/4 LPS, I don't know but I made a mistake tonight. I am diatoming the tank like I do occasionally and there must be a hole in the bag in the diatom filter so there is diatom powder all over the tank.
I just told the corals it is "Marine Snow" so they don't freak out. Now I have to take the thing apart and make a new bag. I have three of these filters and between all of them I can make one decent one. They are a horrible design and the engineer that designed them should be smacked. They are real bad in saltwater, they rust and they shock you also. I love designing and building things and I hate to see such a badly designed piece of machinery. I use them because the end product is what I am looking for and they have very good preasure, when they do not stall, over heat or just rust away.
Today I used it to blow preasurised water down the UG filter tubes, there is a lot of smutz under there. That is a polite word for detritus.
When (and if) I get time I will build my own diatom that will work much better than these things.
With my reverse UG set up I need something to stir up the gravel and canister filters don't have enough umph.


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> Today I added some more acropora that I got for a good price. Now the tank has about half LPS and Half SPS. Well maybe 3/4 LPS, I don't know but I made a mistake tonight. I am diatoming the tank like I do occasionally and there must be a hole in the bag in the diatom filter so there is diatom powder all over the tank.
> I just told the corals it is "Marine Snow" so they don't freak out. Now I have to take the thing apart and make a new bag. I have three of these filters and between all of them I can make one decent one. They are a horrible design and the engineer that designed them should be smacked. They are real bad in saltwater, they rust and they shock you also. I love designing and building things and I hate to see such a badly designed piece of machinery. I use them because the end product is what I am looking for and they have very good preasure, when they do not stall, over heat or just rust away.
> Today I used it to blow preasurised water down the UG filter tubes, there is a lot of smutz under there. That is a polite word for detritus.
> When (and if) I get time I will build my own diatom that will work much better than these things.
> With my reverse UG set up I need something to stir up the gravel and canister filters don't have enough umph.


old bags are known to get holes in them.

Hopefully things will settle down.

Hey what's an opps every 40 years? *old dude


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## Paul B

Yeah the bags are easy to repair but I have been making my own for quite a while now.
This one that broke is one of the original diatom bags.
The tank is all cleared up


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> Yeah the bags are easy to repair but I have been making my own for quite a while now.
> This one that broke is one of the original diatom bags.
> The tank is all cleared up


gee I wonder if a 40 year old original diatom bag is worth anything on ebay? *r2


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## Paul B

> gee I wonder if a 40 year old original diatom bag is worth anything on ebay?


I don't know but I have some Playboy Bunny costumes that I got when I re built the NY Playboy Club in the 70s.
I think they are worth something, and the girls signed them.
They don't really fit me any more *old dude


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## Paul B

I fed new born brine to my tank as I do every day and I got in one of those moods where I had to put on magnifying glasses and take a close look at things. For some reason I am facinated by all the microscope life in the tank.
As I was watching the gorgonians eat the baby brine I noticed a different animal about 3 times larger then the shrimp. Then I saw a few more of them. There are quite a few of them.
They are definately crustaceans and not fish. The only spawning fish I have now are watchman gobies and I can tell these are not them.
The only other thing that can spawn now besides fish are hermit crabs.
I have had them spawn many times before and I know the larvae will not live but they are interesting to watch. They find themselves stuck all over the place to those serpulid worm sticky threads.
This is just another reason I find this hobby so facinating.


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> I fed new born brine to my tank as I do every day and I got in one of those moods where I had to put on magnifying glasses and take a close look at things. For some reason I am facinated by all the microscope life in the tank.
> As I was watching the gorgonians eat the baby brine I noticed a different animal about 3 times larger then the shrimp. Then I saw a few more of them. There are quite a few of them.
> They are definately crustaceans and not fish. The only spawning fish I have now are watchman gobies and I can tell these are not them.
> The only other thing that can spawn now besides fish are hermit crabs.
> I have had them spawn many times before and I know the larvae will not live but they are interesting to watch. They find themselves stuck all over the place to those serpulid worm sticky threads.
> This is just another reason I find this hobby so facinating.


cool!*old dude*w3


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## Paul B

I was concerned that my algae trough would not grow any algae with the new LEDs I installed over the trough but although it took a while, the trough is stocked full of hair and turf algae with none at all in my main tank. So the thing is working fine.
I did have to install supplimental LEDs over the trough because the tank LEDs don't give me any "waste" light to light the trough. But the strip I installed is only about 20 watts so it does not add much to power consumption. The new tank LEDs are so much cheaper to run than the MHs were and the tank temp is about 5 degrees cooler that I have nothing to do anymore. I don't need to put frozen Clorox bottles in any more to cool the thing off, no more cleaning light bulbs or burning my hands on the fixture, no more buying $100.00 light bulbs or struggling to get my hands around the big fixtures to work in the tank.
Now I need another hobby to waste money and time on


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> I was concerned that my algae trough would not grow any algae with the new LEDs I installed over the trough but although it took a while, the trough is stocked full of hair and turf algae with none at all in my main tank. So the thing is working fine.
> I did have to install supplimental LEDs over the trough because the tank LEDs don't give me any "waste" light to light the trough. But the strip I installed is only about 20 watts so it does not add much to power consumption. The new tank LEDs are so much cheaper to run than the MHs were and the tank temp is about 5 degrees cooler that I have nothing to do anymore. I don't need to put frozen Clorox bottles in any more to cool the thing off, no more cleaning light bulbs or burning my hands on the fixture, no more buying $100.00 light bulbs or struggling to get my hands around the big fixtures to work in the tank.
> Now I need another hobby to waste money and time on


dern you. *r2

I still post on one site where things like your algae trough are considered total junk.


But you know better. *old dude


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## Paul B

> I still post on one site where things like your algae trough are considered total junk.


Most things in my tank are considered total junk, but that is usually by people with those newby 20 year old tanks. *old dude


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## Paul B

Yesterday while hanging out behind the boat this little 2" pipefish swam into my hand.
He was a cute little fella and he just came by to say hello. I could tell by his eyes that he wanted to stay in his home so after the short visit I let him swim away. The water is just full of pods and I had them all over me (and the boat) when I got out of the water.
In a little while we will be going back to that spot (where we have been going for many years) for some partying, I mean nature watching.
I will bring my net and hold it behind the dinghy as I putt around the inlet collecting amphipods. What can I tell you? It's what I do.


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## Pigeonfish

Paul B said:


> What can I tell you? It's what I do.


Sounds like a lot of fun. :3


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## Paul B

Somebody's got to do it


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## singlee118

It looks great.


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## Paul B

I will be doing this cleaning/aquascaping job tomorrow, monday. I have vats all over the house along with tanks and mixed up water. 2 diatom filters are standing by for after I remove all the corals, fish, rocks, bristleworms, Loch Ness Monsters etc.

I will remove all the water except about 30 gallons, then I will stir it all up (with gloves on because of the huge bristleworms) and suck that out. Then I will add more of the old, clean water and stir that up and suck it out.

After a few cycles of that, I may lift the UG filter plates but it depends on how much time I spend on the initial cleaning because I need to complete this in one day as the next day I have a big job on my boat I want to do. I like to see what is under the plates as I have only done it a couple of times.

Also the fish and corals will be in small tanks and the last time I did this I was called away for a family emergency (my Mother died) and so did a bunch of my fish including a moorish Idol.

So I want to get these things back in the tank as fast as possable.

I built some new cement supports for the rocks and I will put everything back and run the both diatom filters.
I will also catch the 5" dragon wrasse to give it away to someone who can take care of him

It's a good thing I like to do this stuff.


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## Paul B

I finished in just 4 hours. I didn't lift the UG plates because the gravel was not that dirty.
I was surprised. I took out everything except about 3" of water, then I stirred that up and dumped it out. Then I added some of the clean water that I removed, stirred that up and dumped it out.
Then I ran the two diatom filters with just a few inches of water so they didn't have much water to clean. After an hour of stirring and diatoming, it was crystal clear and I started adding the rocks. First of course I added the cement stands that I built previousely. Very little of the rock is touching the substrait. It is almost all suspended on cement pillars so I can see all the way to the back under the aquascape.
This is what I was going for. It is kind of flimsy in spots so I have to be careful not to move too much.



























Here is one of the rock supports









All done


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## Paul B

Now that I gave away the dragon wrasse one of this pair stays in the front now. Ever since I had that wrase both of them would hide in the back. I noticed after I removed all the rocks that one of this pair is missing. I am not sure how long watchmans live but this pair I got as babies and I think it was about 10 years ago. But I am not sure.
They have spawned numerous times during that time and I saw the both of them a couple of weeks ago. The missing one could have jumped out but I never found her or she could have died of old age, but I would assume them to live at least 15 years.
I am just not sure. I know she was not sick because their last spawning was just a few months ago and my fish generally don't get sick.


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## Paul B

My tank now is much too clean. Next week I need to go collecting for worms and amphipods. I will also add some mud for bacteria. I was at my collecting place today but I had a boat full of company so I didn't collect anything.
But I really don't like it this pristine.


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## Paul B

Today I added a copperband and long nose butterfly. These have always been my favorite fish and I have always had them in my reef. The copperband is not in the greatest health, he has flukes and some wounds. It is not very easy getting a very healthy one of those.
I knew that when I saw him but I got a deal I couldn't refuse.
There are a bunch of local NY grass shrimp in my tank and the copperband thinks they are cleaner shrimp. He keeps hanging around next to the shrimp waiting to be cleaned, but they just look at him funny.









I just felt like adding these pictures


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## MissPisces

Wow, this is amazing! You obviously put a lot of thought and effort into your tank, and it shows!


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## Paul B

Thanks, I had a lot of practice


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## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> Thanks, I had a lot of practice




Let us know when you stop practicing and get it right? *old dude

FWIW to newbies Paul and I share many many common ideas with his being much more superior as this tank represents. But to me he does represent the idea one should establish (and maintain) a tank so that is basically (and withint some very wide parameters) just takes care of itself. So he IMHO doesn't work but has fun.

Still just my .02

And I'm still jealous.


----------



## Paul B

If any of this "hobby" starts to feel like "work". I will throw the entire thing in the trash.
I worked long enough, now I just have fun.


----------



## Paul B




----------



## Paul B

I am very happy with the way my tank is running now. It has gone through many cycles over the years and now the LPS, SPS and fish all seem very healthy and there are no problems that I can see. These cycles usually only last a year or so and then something or other changes and either the LPS, or SPS gets in moods or too much or too little algae grows, flatworms will cover everything or an invasive algae will start to take over. Actually I do have a new, wierd red bubble algae but it does not seem to be advancing on much "yet". I find all this stuff amazing and never worry about any of it. Remember, it's a hobby and if it is not fun, or is a cause for worry, or if I can't afford it, it goes in the garbage. There are plenty of things I could go broke on, my boat for one and there are plenty of things I could worry about, My family's health but one thing I will never lose any sleep over is a fish tank.
Last week I added a few things. A combination shrimp /gobi, but they seemed to have lost each other in the tank. And a yellow wrasse.
There must be an abundance of bristle worms because I see them sticking out of the rocks in the daylight and if I look close I see large amphipods scurrying from rock to rock.
Brittle stars are having a hard time finding homes because all the real estate is taken up and they are on a waiting list. Today I found a large snail in my algae trough. I am not sure how he got in there but I don't want him there so I put up a "keep out" sign at the entrance.
This year I added a load of local NY grass shrimp which are kind of cool, but, unfortunately, they are clear so they don't add any color. I also added a dozen or so local mud snails which are free and are great at finding errant pellets or any othet left over food.
I have a grape coral that I got when a LFS went out of business and it was in terrible shape with very little tissue left alive. for about 8 months I have been feeding it every day with fish oil soaked pellets and about 3/4 of it is back to full health. I would imagine that in a few years it will re grow the dead portions. I got the thing for free so it is a win win situation. I also have been feeding the frogspawns every day with the same thing and they have almost doubled in size in the same time.
I have been experimenting with jell food mixed with fish oil and they eat it but it is too soon to know if it does any good.


----------



## Paul B

A few weeks ago I added one of those silly gobi/shrimp pairs. As soon as the pair hit the water, the shrimp lost the gobi and found a burrow of his own. I didn't see the shrimp for a while and figured he croaked but now I see him hanging out with this old guy pictured below.
He lost his mate of 12 years a few months ago and I guess got bored. Now I see both of them digging tunnels. The shrimp starts digging and the gobi who is about 5" backs in and with a few swipes of his tail, cleans out a nice hole. I am glad they found each other and seem happy. Of course the original gobi that I bought with the shrimp is carrying a torch and is all alone.
Poor little guy.
This is the original gobi I got with the shrimp









This one is about 12 or 13 and is the new buddy of the shrimp. He is about 5"


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## joevw007

Congratulations on the 40 year Milestone! It takes a lot of dedication to stick to any hobby for that amount of time and I admire that. I feel like this is a degrading statement compared to what this tank deserves but... Good job!  
tank is very impressive and hopefully there are many more years for it to come


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## joeyhatch11

WOW That's so awesome!!! Happy Birthday fishes!!! LOL I hope I can keep my Nano going that long.


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## Paul B

Thanks guys, I am hoping to keep it going for 50 years, if I last that long *old dude


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## drnszgy

Really amazing. It reminds me the nice fish i had a few years ago. Yeah, now i am in China, if anyone wants to set up the nice aqua, here is a good start
FireAQ�. You can find good Crystal fish tank and lighting system from there.


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## brett.kasa

Congrats on the anniversary!


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## Paul B

This week I added this guy. I was afraid my larger, old male watchman would kill it and at first he chased it all over the place but after a few hours he tired of that and now they just ignore each other and get on with their lives. 
I am amazed at my algae trough and it is filled with all sorts of thick algaes of diferent colors. The water is having a hard time getting through but there is none of it in my tank. This thing has really stopped the algae cycles I used to get in this tank where it would cover everything. 
Also for some reason a 3" montapora bleached a few weeks ago, I am not sure why, but I left it in the tank and didn't niotice it any more as it fell behind the rocks. Today my urchin carried it to the front like he does with everything that is not nailed down and the thing is growing back. There are 4 dime size patches of life on it and it was completely bare. I am happy about it but it is wierd. Another montipora is also growing faster than I have ever seen these things grow. This is just one of those strange things that we can't explain. I am leaning towards coral wars as nothing I can see happened and the rest of the corals are fine. The same thing happened to my Birds nest and now it is growing relatively fast.
In this hobby many of us go crazy when a coral dies but most of the time if it is only one or two specimins and everything else is OK there is nothing you could do. When we mix all of these complex creatures, sometimes from different oceans in a closed system, they, like us, don't always get along. They all exude chemicals and those chemicals degrade but sometimes not fast enough. These chemicals were designed to keep corals from growing too close in the vast sea, in a confined tank it is a wonder anything survives


----------



## GetITCdot

just so impressive.....I'm always envious when i see your tank.


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## Paul B

Thank you. Don't be too envious, it is far from the nicest tank on here.


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## heninquins

Looking very good.


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## Paul B

Today I had to clean out my algae trough as the water in it was almost overflowing. It grew so much brown hair algae that it was clogged.

As I was doing that I noticed this acropora and I would swear the thing grew an inch in a month.
It is hard to tell and I can't find a picture of it older than a month ago.
This is it 4 weeks ago









And this is it today.
Even some branches that I broke off and left there, fused back to the main structure. I only really added this guy because so many people told me that SPS corals will not live in my dirty tank.
The one to the left of the acropora is the oldest one in there and has also put on more than 25% of it's size. But, what do I know?


----------



## vincent_01

WOW!!! 40 years that's just amazing man. 
good job,

vincent_01


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## Paul B

Today I think I will go to a new LFS that opened up near here. I have a choice of about 6 LFSs with in a few miles of my house but most of them always get the same old boreing, common things. How many yellow tangs, angelfish and triggers do we need?
I want to get a male mandarin to date my female now that she became an adult and wears eye make up. I also need a male blue stripped pipefish before the female gets too old. She is already on social security and past what their lifespan usually is but I think she is a cougar and a male would do her good. Her last boyfriend died after a lifetime of, well, you know. 
I would also like to get a female watchman gobi but they are very hard to tell the sexes, unless you can see her eyelashes. The female died after 10 years of egg laying and the male looks bored.
You rarely see anything new and exciting any more, but I guess if you do this long enough, you have had everything there is a number of times. :strange:
I have this grape coral that I got for almost free when a LFS went out of business. It was just about dead with only a sliver of tissue left. Now it is almost completely re grown and is my largest coral. It gets oil soaked pellets every day. I am still experimenting with this gel food and I am still not crazy about it. Clams are still my favorite food next to worms. Clams are also my favorite food and I have them every week. For the tank I buy a live chowder clam for about fifty cents and freeze it. Then I slice off thin pieces to feed the corals and fish. Clams are great because it is one food where you can feed the entire animal. Shrimp, scallop, squid and octopus are not as good because we are only feeding the mussle tissue where the least amount of nutrition is. That is the parts we eat, but we are not fish. Most of us anyway.  :fish2:


----------



## Paul B

I took some pictures. I can't get a full tank shot because the tank is so long and shallow.



























I love this algae although most people would not


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## Paul B

My 5' algae trough just about fell into the tank. It was so full of hair and other algae's that it filled up with water and became too heavy for the flimsy acrylic angles that I had holding one side of it to the side of the top rim. I remove the entire thing to make new (flimsy) angles. I don't have time right now to re design the thing.
I cleaned out the algae and it was very thick and heavy. I also rescued uncountable brittle stars and amphipods but I also lost plenty of them.
It is back together and working like a charm. My skimmer is going crazy now from all the "****" that came off the trough when I removed it.


----------



## beaslbob

dern

Paul had a major disaster.

Hey everyone in the reef hobby jump in.

Belittle this experimental, unproven technology.

sell more filters, additives, water changes, salt, uv's, little bitty mag thingies, pumps and so forth.

After all the 40 year old tank had a disaster noone should have to put up with.

It dumped fish food, pods,and thingies that consume ammonia, phosphates, nitrates, carbondioxide while producing oxygen in the tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Don't tell everyone everything the tank actually enjoyed all that.


----------



## beaslbob

Paul

I envy you and the tank.*old dude


(actually sorry you had the 'failure' but even that is much better then most)


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## Paul B

The tank is fine and I think the animals loved all the stuff I dumped back in. I will maintain the trough better in the future by cleaning it out more frequently.
At least it gave me a chance to do a little maintenance on the back rim by cleaning off some salt and cleaning the LEDs over the trough.
All is well.


----------



## Topfeeder

Paul B said:


>


wow........


----------



## sanling

Paul B said:


> In a couple of weeks my reef will will have reached 40 years old.
> Unfortunately I don't remember when I was 40 but I remember when I set it up. I was a skinny 22 year old just back from Viet Nam.
> It is still running very well, still using the same reverse UG filter, same dolomite substrait but none of the fish are original. The oldest one, a fireclown is just over 16, all of the older fish died in an accident that was due to my carelessness.
> 
> The tank is mostly LPS, gorgonians, giant mushrooms and a few leathers.
> There are only three SPS corals, two of which have been with me for a few years and are growing nicely.
> I am not sure is any of the original NSW from the Long Island Sound is still in there or any of the original amphipods but maybe much later generations.
> I still can't take a decent picture and the tank is not as blue as these pictures but it is what it is.



Wow , nice pics , great results , could you please share your experiences ?

:fish-in-bowl:


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## sanling

Paul B said:


> The tank is fine and I think the animals loved all the stuff I dumped back in. I will maintain the trough better in the future by cleaning it out more frequently.
> At least it gave me a chance to do a little maintenance on the back rim by cleaning off some salt and cleaning the LEDs over the trough.
> All is well.


Fantastic !!! I like the blue moon lights on the tanks , what brand light to get such great results ?


----------



## Paul B

That is a DIY LED system shown here raised. It is on a pulley system so it can be raised or lowered about a foot.


----------



## LegitFish

How often do you vacuum up your gravel...with your regular water changes, or do you do it much less often?


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## Paul B

Once or twice a year I stir up the gravel where I can reach with a diatom filter and suck out the gunk. This is the maintenance you have to do with a reverse UG filter and also the reason DSBs fail. Nothing will last without maintenance.
It takes me about 10 minutes.


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## LegitFish

I'm trying to decide whether I ciphon my gravel too often. I usually do it on my weekly partial water change. Do you think this is too often?


----------



## Paul B

It depends on what you are using. Is it just gravel on the bottom glass? If it is, then you are not vacuuming too much but you don't have to do it quite that often.


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## Paul B

I noticed that I have this wierd bubble algae growing only on my cement rocks. Randy gave me an Idea and suggested that it "may" be the iron that is attracting the algae to the cement. It could be another chemical in cement but I will try iron first.

I made a slab of cement about 6 square inches and I ground up some nails with a grinder into the surface of the wet cement. I will let it cure for a week then put it in my algae trough. The trough is there to grow algae anyway and I want to see if I can enhance that ability with iron filings.

I want as much algae growing in the trough as can fit.

I love this stuff.


----------



## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> I noticed that I have this wierd bubble algae growing only on my cement rocks. Randy gave me an Idea and suggested that it "may" be the iron that is attracting the algae to the cement. It could be another chemical in cement but I will try iron first.
> 
> I made a slab of cement about 6 square inches and I ground up some nails with a grinder into the surface of the wet cement. I will let it cure for a week then put it in my algae trough. The trough is there to grow algae anyway and I want to see if I can enhance that ability with iron filings.
> 
> I want as much algae growing in the trough as can fit.
> 
> I love this stuff.


Hello reefing world.

Atention

Attention.

Paul b's new reef tank method:

Iron your tank.

*old dude


congrates as always


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## Paul B

That is exactly correct. And I bet it works *old dude


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## Scottyb442

amazing looking tank! Congrats on the 40 year milestone. In a couple weeks mine will be 40 days old.


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## Paul B

Scotty, congrats on your 40 days. That is also a milestone, well maybe an inchstone but revelant in any case. :fish10:


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## Paul B

I think I have too many animals in my tank now and I need to stop adding things.
I also realize that In all these pages I don't think I ever mentioned what is in the tank.
I am going to try to list the animals but not the corals because I can't remember names to save my life.
I now have a copperband
2 fireclowns
a bluestriped pipefish
2 mandarins
an algae bleeny
a yellow wrasse
a rainsford gobi
2 unidentified red and yellow stripped cardinals
yellow clown gobi
4 various gobi's one is a watchman
and 4 chromis, two of them I got today and I never seen this type before. They are silver with a yellow horizontal stripe. Not extreamly great looking but If I never seen it before, I got to get it.
I don't know how many grass shrimp are in there, maybe a dozen and about the same with hermit crabs and mud snails. But there is a cool decorator crab and of course an arrow crab, you got to have an arrow crab.

I am sure I missed a few but thats all I can remember.


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## Paul B

I'm still on a quest to take a decent video but I am not there yet. Here I tried with the pumps off. I am going to keep trying. These new camera's have so many settings on them that it could take a half an hour just to set the thing the way you want it. But they still come out kind of lousy. I will get it some day.
Click on it to start the video


----------



## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> I'm still on a quest to take a decent video but I am not there yet. Here I tried with the pumps off. I am going to keep trying. *These new camera's have so many settings *on them that it could take a half an hour just to set the thing the way you want it. But they still come out kind of lousy. I will get it some day.
> Click on it to start the video


1) twist the round knob to movie.

2) point at tank

3) press and hold the shutter button.

4) release to end movie.

*r2

FWIW I returned to an old model airplane friend last october. I had not flown for 30 years. Gave his wife the camera setup for movie and told her to press the button. She pressed and the released and therefore only go 5 seconds before the flight. *r2

my .02


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## debisbooked

Paul B said:


> In a couple of weeks my reef will will have reached 40 years old.
> Unfortunately I don't remember when I was 40 but I remember when I set it up. I was a skinny 22 year old just back from Viet Nam.
> It is still running very well...


That is a beautiful tank and quite an accomplishment. Very few people can say they do ANYTHING consistently for 40 years. Congratulations and thank you for sharing this accomplishment with us! :good-news:


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## Regiampiero

Awesome job Paul, I can't seem to resist the urge to take my tank apart and start over every two years. How do you do it? Incredible!


----------



## Paul B

> Very few people can say they do ANYTHING consistently for 40 years.


Debisbooked, thank you. I am also married almost 40 years. Same woman too.

Regiampiero, I also take it apart occasionally to change things around, but I always put everything back in. It gets boring looking at the same aquascape all the time.

I don't remember when I took this but you can see the aquascape is much different.


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## Aquatic Castle

3) press and hold the shutter button.

4) release to end movie.

She pressed and the released and therefore only go 5 seconds before the flight. *r2

my .02[/QUOTE]

I've never heard of a camera that you had to hold the button down the whole time. Usually it's press to record; press again to stop. You bought a silly camera and that's why you got 5 seconds of film.


----------



## LegitFish

Paul B said:


> It depends on what you are using. Is it just gravel on the bottom glass? If it is, then you are not vacuuming too much but you don't have to do it quite that often.


Yes, it is gravel on the bottom of glass. I have been doing it every other week or so, and there seems to be a lot of "junk" that comes out. I suppose I should carry on doing what i have been, since everything seems to be doing well.


----------



## Paul B

I just added another pair of bluestripes. Here is the old, larger female with a new small male. There is also another small female.


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## Paul B

It's been a little over a month since I installed this thing and I love it. My tank has 3 bluestrip pipefish, and two mandarins along with some small clown gobies and shrimp. They all hang around this thing for a few hours that it has shrimp in it. In this tank I really don't have to supliment their diet because there are plenty of pods but I like everything to spawn and the only way fish will spawn is by eating more food then they normally can and food with a high oil content such as new born brine shrimp are even better than pods.
Two of the pipefish are to young to spawn but I feel that in a couple of weeks they will be ready. Also my female mandarin is to young so this will fatten her up.
My copperband is a regular visitor here although he gets live worms every day.
It is just another thing for me to get facinated about.


----------



## ShrimpDiver

Cheers to a tank twice my age.  
It's absolutely beautiful.


----------



## Paul B

This is so cool. My decorator crab found some hair algae growing right at the water's edge behind the top black rim of the tank. I didn't even notice it. He is hanging on to it and eating it like spaghetti. It is hard to tell but that top bubble coral is a reflection off the water surface so it is confusing.
He stuck bubble algae in to his shell that allowed him to float.
Not as dumb as he looks


----------



## Paul B

This month my tank is 41 years old. I don't remember when I was 41 years old.


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## whitetiger61

Happy birthday to your tank..looks great..

Rick


----------



## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> This month my tank is 41 years old. I don't remember when I was 41 years old.


Cool!!!!!

What i find so interesting is that for the last 8-9 years I have been posting there have been many experts exposing all the modern techniques then 5-6 years later the tank deterioriates and is torn down while other methods have come back into favor.


meanwhile paul b's tank has just been successful all these years.


Congratuations!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Paul B

> there have been many experts exposing all the modern techniques then 5-6 years later the tank deterioriates and is torn down


Some of those modern techniques leave much to be desired.
Some of the older technology which worked for decades like UG filters and gravel still work today which is the reason they worked for decades. People get a good feeling if they buy an expensive piece of technology and feel it will do wonders.
I also think people rely too much on commercially prepared foods when worms and clams are the cheapest and IMO, work the best. *old dude


----------



## whitetiger61

Paul B said:


> Some of those modern techniques leave much to be desired.
> Some of the older technology which worked for decades like UG filters and gravel still work today which is the reason they worked for decades. People get a good feeling if they buy an expensive piece of technology and feel it will do wonders.
> I also think people rely too much on commercially prepared foods when worms and clams are the cheapest and IMO, work the best. *old dude


worms and clams as in store bought.

Rick


----------



## Paul B

> worms and clams as in store bought.


The clams and worms are store bought except for me in the summer when I collect the clams. The worms come from California.
These foods are not commercially prepared. They are not prepared, processed, frozen or packaged in any way.


----------



## Paul B

I finally got that new DIY rock into the tank, but I had to remove about 15lbs of rock to do it and make a mess. I am still working with one arm so it was a little job.
You can see it on the right side of the tank, it starts to the left of the large gorgonian under the back of the bottle and arcs up and to the left. It was supposed to span over the rocks freestanding but I really don't have the room. Maybe if I remove most of the rock someday but it aint going to happen now. I had to move some large cement stands to the left side of the tank and I was able to return all the rock to the tank. It is still a little cloudy and the corals are not fully open but here it is.









This is the rock I put it. It is over a foot high










Then I did some work on the other side of the tank. That acropora is too close to the glass and I can't move it back so I ether have to frag it or do more major work.









Now I will have to make a bristle worm trap because every rock I move is loaded with them. I don't mind them but there is just too many. I will build something that collects a lot of them at once.


----------



## Paul B

I had to re design slightly my algae trough. The LEDs I had over it just were not bright enough so I got a strip of LEDs that are about twice as bright. When I had MH lights the trough used to get the spill light but the LEDs are more directional so I had to add supplimental light to the trough because it was only growing red and brown algae. Now hopefully It will grow green hair algae. I also re designed the way the water enters the trough from the skimmer. I used to have unacceptable splashing that used to make salt creep all over the place. Now I have multiple layers of plastic screening around the skimmer outflow and now there is no splashing and no bubbling which burst and splash on the lights and rear wall.










This acropora has grown at least three times it's size in a year and I can't clean the glass in front of it any longer. Whenever I go near it I accidently break off pieces so I have frags of the thing all over the place. Now I am going to try to move it to a larger space and move the giant mushroom in that place to where the acropora is now. I wonder how many frags I am going to have because there is no room to move it so I have to lift it out of the tank to re locate it.


----------



## Paul B

After moving this all over the tank, getting bit to death and breaking a few pieces off this and other corals, I realize there is no room for this acropora. I temporarilly put it on this rock but it is just about out of the water and not sitting well. When I get time I need to do a major rock move. Of course I just re-aquascaped and removed a bunch of rock, but it is time again.


----------



## Paul B

I was looking at the tank today (with the top opened) and I saw a spark, then another one, then another, then the LED strip over my algae trough sputtered and started to melt and smoke. The thing melted through the acrylic tube I had it attached to.
Cheap LED strip from China.
Luckily it was 6" from the end and I was able to cut off the melted part, the rest of the strip works fine but for how long?
If I get time I will just make a LED strip for the algae trough myself.
I really hate buying ready made stuff and like to build everything myself, that way I know what I have and it will last forever.


----------



## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> I was looking at the tank today (with the top opened) and I saw a spark, then another one, then another, then the LED strip over my algae trough sputtered and started to melt and smoke. The thing melted through the acrylic tube I had it attached to.
> Cheap LED strip from China.
> Luckily it was 6" from the end and I was able to cut off the melted part, the rest of the strip works fine but for how long?
> If I get time I will just make a LED strip for the algae trough myself.
> I really hate buying ready made stuff and like to build everything myself, that way I know what I have and it will last forever.


ooooo possible ouch! Glad you weren't hurt.

FWIW I like diy also but sometimes forever is shorter then I expected. *old dude

my .02


----------



## Paul B

I don't get hurt with electricity, remember I was an electrician for 40 years so I laugh at electricity Ha Ha Ha (ouch)

Such a councidence. That thing is low voltage and I think it would just have melted. I doubt it would have caused a fire.
I fixed it and now the light is just 6" shorter. I wonder how long the rest of it will last.
Piece of junk.


----------



## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> I don't get hurt with electricity, remember I was an electrician for 40 years so I laugh at electricity Ha Ha Ha (ouch)
> 
> Such a councidence. That thing is low voltage and I think it would just have melted. I doubt it would have caused a fire.
> I fixed it and now the light is just 6" shorter. I wonder how long the rest of it will last.
> Piece of junk.


No wonder you have an electrifying personality *old dude


----------



## sonardesigns1

She doesn't look a day over 21. What a beauty.


----------



## Paul B

> No wonder you have an electrifying personality


Yes, that is a "shock" isn't it.


----------



## Paul B

The thing keeps evolving by collapsing and being re built. I am sure all tanks go through this









This is a fairly new gobi, I don't know what type it is and I am to lazy to look it up.
You can also see a red scooter bleeny above his tail.
I love this stuff


----------



## Paul B

Today I decided to clean the algae out of my algae trough. There was just too much algae and the water was having a hard tiime getting through. The thing has a plastic window screen in it that I normally just roll up, then brush off the algae in the sink and put it back in but this time it was just too much of a job. The screen was covered in those hard tube worms and bubble algae. There was also just too many amphipods in it to save. I swirled the screen in some salt water and collected as many amphipods as I could and threw them back in the tank. Then I threw out the screen and installed a new one. I don't like to do that because I like a coating of algae on it and algae takes a long time to grow on a new screen.
I also like to smear a coating of cement on the screen because algae grows very fast on cement but I didn't have time to prepare a screen so I just put in a new one. Now it will take a good 3 weeks before algae grows significantly on it.
I may make a cement covered screen in the meantime for next time.
Today I will go to my marina to "play" with my boat and I will collect a bunch of amphipods to replace the ones I lost.
Have a great day


----------



## Lego Star Wars

fyi, Paul is unique. I've never seen someone like him who can truly take nothing and make something amazing out of it. Great job Paul. Congratulations on an amazing 4 decade milestone so few can reach.


----------



## Paul B

Thank you Lego Star Wars.
I was once stranded on a desert Island so I made a flat screen TV out of a coconut.
Then I found a better coconut and made one in HD.

OK, Maybe I was dreaming that day. *pc


----------



## NJfishman

That's inspirational. 

NJFishman:fish10:


----------



## beaslbob

Paul B said:


> The thing keeps evolving by collapsing and being re built. I am sure all tanks go through this
> 
> ....


Bull!!!!! 


Not every tank has lasted so long that 3-5 years cycles are noticed. Most are lucky to notice the 3 week type cycles. *old dude


congrates.!!!!!!

and my .02


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## Airy

Happy Birthday tanky! 
Wow 40 years! Amazing!! Its beautiful.


----------



## Paul B

Today I went to a large LFS and they have a huge selection of corals and they are cheap so I picked up some pipe organ. I also got a yellow clown gobi to keep my older one company. As soon as I put her in the tank, the older one swam right over and did his spawning dance which looks similar to the Macarana. I love these little clown gobies and always have a few in my reef. I now have a couple of yellows and a black guy.
Their only problem is they only live a few years and they need tiny food. That is no problem in my tank because I hatch baby brine shrimp every day and they also eat the smaller blackworms. The best part about these little guys is that they are about $5.00 and are bright yellow. They stay in the front in a piece of acropora but I don't know how they avoid predators in the sea being a real Sissy looking tiny fish.
They come in yellow, green and black but the black ones are larger and hide a lot.


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## nanoreef

Paul B said:


> In a couple of weeks my reef will will have reached 40 years old.
> Unfortunately I don't remember when I was 40 but I remember when I set it up. I was a skinny 22 year old just back from Viet Nam.
> It is still running very well, still using the same reverse UG filter, same dolomite substrait but none of the fish are original. The oldest one, a fireclown is just over 16, all of the older fish died in an accident that was due to my carelessness.
> 
> What is your biggest advice on aquarium equipment?
> and fish Disease?


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## weissinphoenix

Paul B said:


> I still can't take a decent picture and the tank is not as blue as these pictures but it is what it is.


Trick for correcting color on a picture is to take the photo with a control in there such as something white. This allows the picture to be color corrected afterwards.


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## ionix

That's pretty awesome! 

How long has this run been? You said it collapsed or crashed, not sure if that means start over but thats what I take it as?


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## rtmaston

21 year old tank that's great.what brand is the tank and have you ever had it resealed.very nice looking.


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## Paul B

I guess I will update this thread. I bought a new computer and re installed everything on this old one. But I lost the link for this forum.
I took a long picture. Still no great color in the picture but the tank looks better in person.


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## Reefing Madness

Still looks great man. Should get some more close ups of the matured Corals, most have never seen them so big or so old.


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## lucky07

WOW, gives a whole new meaning to cycling a tank. 

How many gallons is that thing?


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## Paul B

Thanks, I try. It's 100 gallons.


















And a video if it works


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