almost 35 year old reef pictures

[Aquarist007]

I've been looking at this hermit crab for a week now in the LFS. It's the biggest one I have seen around here. Its got to be at least two inches. My grandkids would love it.
What problems could this hermit cause if I put him in my display tank.

[ddinox64]

Might be time to find out.

Wow! This thread moved pretty fast the last couple of days.

That's an awesome little fish Paul. Stay that size? NY? Is that for New York or something else?

Well, I added my first Tang. A brown sailfin. Doing a good job on my algae. Has an interesting look to him. Kind of like a cartoon character for some reason. Already learned the ins and outs of the place. Looks beautiful moving about in the aquarium.

So Paul, anything different about the green spots on glass? No change here.

Warm water we would recieve here on the West coast moves out West. Crashes into Asia and then heads north circling around back to Alaska as you said Paul then back down to us. Sometimes that flow moves farther North to near San Diego before heading out to sea but eventuall bumps Alaska agian and cools down.

They call it El Nino and when it cooler than normal, El Nina. Made up condition. Never heard of until the eighties. Weather here on the West coast is a major thing for some reason. Every radio station gives a weather report every 5 minutes it seems. It's 80 and clear at 11am. It's 81 and clear at 11:05. It's 82 and clear at 11:06. Rediculous.

Crazy thing is when we get warm water we get these Humbolt squid that are about 3-4 feet long. Guys will go out and catch like 4 which I believe is the limit. Totally silly when they weight in at about 20 pounds each. I don't know anyone that can eat that much Calimari. Total waste. But that's California.

Capn. My wife and kid have been in Canada for the past week. Come home on the 22nd. Their in Quebec then going to Montreal and doing a road trip to somewhere else. Too long for me. Unless I did that train ride from the East coast to the West. I heard they started that back up.

[Paul B]

Capn, that crab should not hurt anything except they sometimes punch holes in corals when they walk on them.
DDINOX, that butterfly grew very fast then disappeared. I had 5 of them but the rest were smaller and got eaten. I say my rock crab grab one and rip him in half in a second.
The green stuff is still on my glass in a few sparse places. I don't like sticking my hand in there too often so when I have to do something else in there, I will remove it.

I can eat that much squid. We eat nothing but seafood. I never ordered a steak in a restaurant in my life and here in NY I can't swing a dead cat without hitting three good restaurants which I take advantage of a few times a week.
It's always seafood. Clams, mussels, oysters, fish, lobster, squid, squingel, if it swims, crawls or slithers, I will eat it. I have so much mercury in me I could work as a thermometer.
There's nothing like taking the boat out to a good seafood restaurant and pigging out on raw oysters with a good bottle of wine.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by ddinox64
Might be time to find out.

Wow! This thread moved pretty fast the last couple of days.

That's an awesome little fish Paul. Stay that size? NY? Is that for New York or something else?

Well, I added my first Tang. A brown sailfin. Doing a good job on my algae. Has an interesting look to him. Kind of like a cartoon character for some reason. Already learned the ins and outs of the place. Looks beautiful moving about in the aquarium.

So Paul, anything different about the green spots on glass? No change here.

Warm water we would recieve here on the West coast moves out West. Crashes into Asia and then heads north circling around back to Alaska as you said Paul then back down to us. Sometimes that flow moves farther North to near San Diego before heading out to sea but eventuall bumps Alaska agian and cools down.

They call it El Nino and when it cooler than normal, El Nina. Made up condition. Never heard of until the eighties. Weather here on the West coast is a major thing for some reason. Every radio station gives a weather report every 5 minutes it seems. It's 80 and clear at 11am. It's 81 and clear at 11:05. It's 82 and clear at 11:06. Rediculous.

Crazy thing is when we get warm water we get these Humbolt squid that are about 3-4 feet long. Guys will go out and catch like 4 which I believe is the limit. Totally silly when they weight in at about 20 pounds each. I don't know anyone that can eat that much Calimari. Total waste. But that's California.

Capn. My wife and kid have been in Canada for the past week. Come home on the 22nd. Their in Quebec then going to Montreal and doing a road trip to somewhere else. Too long for me. Unless I did that train ride from the East coast to the West. I heard they started that back up.

IMO they are visiting the wrong province

"Good things grow and happen in Ontario"

El NIno has given us some really mild winters here.

Paul --won't that big hermit take out all my smaller hermits, snails and brittle stars.
I do have alot of necessarius snails in the substrate.

[ddinox64]

Looked it up. That's somewhat near you Capn. You're close enough to be considered American. She's from Edmonton, Alberta. Very nice country up there.

Now that I looked at a map. She's visiting in Toronto and staying at her cousins house. 50th anniversary. Then going in reverse of what I said.

That's a shame about those little guys Paul. Good thing they were free huh?

I see these algae scrapers on Ebay that have razor blades in them and 16" long. Get two cases(48) for 17 bucks. Also was toying with the idea of making my own magnet scrubbers with some of the crazy strong magnets on there too. A seller I've been talking to says the ones I was asking about I would never get to move, too strong. They were 2"x4" squared by 1" thick. Suggested 2"x4"x1/4" then dipping them in something to keep from corroding.

You guys are like rocket scientists. Any ideas on this? Beats the 100+ they want for what I guess are good glass cleaners.

[ddinox64]

Reading the answer to my question. 2"x2"x1" magnet, 200 pounds of pull force. Probably wouldn't work huh? 2"x2"x1/4" is what he suggested. My goof.

[Paul B]

Paul --won't that big hermit take out all my smaller hermits, snails and brittle stars.

I don't think so Capn. He would be more interested in a larger snail or crab so he can stela his shell.
I can't be positive though that he will not kill your other snails.

I have a pair of large 10 or 12 year old hermits and I also have a bunch of tiny ones along with a load of tiny mud snails. They don't seem to bother them at all.
These guys have shells over an inch long, not as large as the one you are talking about but they are many times larger than my other inverts.
They are also spawning.

[rgun2515]

Very Cool!

[Paul B]

Computer problems

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Paul B
Computer problems

another Terminator sequel

[Aquarist007]

Here he is last night---he's got a real personality

[jason2459]

Well, I'm finally back to the future. Thanks for the greeting capn. Also, I love those crabs. I had one in my last tank that I lost to a flood. He was so fun to watch and feed.

Paul, I will have several questions I'm sure. I'm starting my tank back up after loosing it to a flood last year here in Iowa. Luckily the stand was a good solid wood and didn't warp. Just got done sanding it down and restaining it. Put in some extra support on the inside as a just in case.

I've read through each post and wrote down little bits here and there that have answered most of my questions. I really like the idea of a RUGF as I've spent the past month or so researching different approaches to setting up a substrate from DSB, RDSB, SSB, Plenum, Plenum w/ DSB, blah blah blah... I grew up and lived in the keys for over 20 years and the RUGF just seems logical to me. I think of the everglades and how it is basically a big sloth of a river running over and underground.

I've actually had the pleasure of finding freshwater watering spots that come up from the bottom in the ocean and gulf sides. (No, I don't live in the keys anymore and wish I did but that's an entirely different story that has landed me here in Iowa.)

I'll be setting back up a 55g w/ 10g refugium and have ordered about a 100lbs of dolomite. Also, found a UGF plate on the craigs list and picked it up for about $3. When I picked it up it's kind of weird shaped so wondered if you would suggest I get something like a classical Lee's UGF?

This is what I picked up it's a Perfect-a-flow and looks like retail is about $30.
https://www.petsolutions.com/Perfect...0+C101861.aspx

It also has about 4 intakes collars and comes with two risers and two caps. If I was to use it should I use the inner collars or outer. Also thought I could rig up one of them to use for maintenance in the long run to suck out debri that might have gotten underneath?

To push flow into the UGF I have two fountain pumps that have built in foam filters that are easily taken out and cleaned. They push about a max of 53gph. I was wondering if I could use those on top of the tubes to push watter into them or should I try and rig up the canister filter I had like you described earlier and let gravity push water on to them? I really don't want to use the canister filter but if you like that idea better I'll go with it and just fill the inside media with just the foam I can take out and clean about once a month.

I'm a big fan of the low tech let nature take it's course approach.

[Paul B]

That UG filter seems perfect. It doesn't matter if you use the inner or outer tubes. That pump also sounds perfect at 53 GPH with the sponge filter.

You grew up in the Keys and you live in Iowa? How could you move so far from the sea?

Today I took my new boat from the South shore of Long Island to the North Shore where my marina is. The boat has twin engines and is fast so it took 3 hours to go 40 miles. Much of the trip was out in the Atlantic but it was very calm. Some of it we had to go 5 MPH. We threw a water belt hose under the Varanzano Bridge but the engine compartment is large so I was able to repair the one engine while my friend drove the boat on the other engine. We anchored off Ft Totten which is a Revolutionary fort for lunch and then made it back.
Totally beautiful day.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Paul B
That UG filter seems perfect. It doesn't matter if you use the inner or outer tubes. That pump also sounds perfect at 53 GPH with the sponge filter.

You grew up in the Keys and you live in Iowa? How could you move so far from the sea?

Today I took my new boat from the South shore of Long Island to the North Shore where my marina is. The boat has twin engines and is fast so it took 3 hours to go 40 miles. Much of the trip was out in the Atlantic but it was very calm. Some of it we had to go 5 MPH. We threw a water belt hose under the Varanzano Bridge but the engine compartment is large so I was able to repair the one engine while my friend drove the boat on the other engine. We anchored off Ft Totten which is a Revolutionary fort for lunch and then made it back.
Totally beautiful day.

Sounds like an awe inspiring day--wish I was there. Beats painting the basement/fish room floor and filling the house with noxious fumes--which I hope don't take out a few fish.

[jason2459]

Thanks for the reply.

I really miss the Keys a lot. Wife and I have a 5 year plan, well 4 year now, to get moved back down to Florida. Never thought about having a tank before as I was out in the water probably 4 days a week on average. It definitely helps cure some homesickness.

Definitely right about finding all sorts of "natural" things on the bottom of the ocean. Grandfather and I used to salvage all type of things like outboard motors and get them running again.

[Aquarist007]

Paul:
J Hemdal has posted a reference to a new camera/laser he has perfected for measuring the sizes of fish under water. I think you might be interested:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...9#post15371049

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by jason2459
Thanks for the reply.

I really miss the Keys a lot. Wife and I have a 5 year plan, well 4 year now, to get moved back down to Florida. Never thought about having a tank before as I was out in the water probably 4 days a week on average. It definitely helps cure some homesickness.

Definitely right about finding all sorts of "natural" things on the bottom of the ocean. Grandfather and I used to salvage all type of things like outboard motors and get them running again.

Ever run into the SS Minnow down there Jason

[jason2459]

Capn I have seen several boats much like it though and much bigger. And as for the oldsmobile mentioned in previous posts, in the canals you'll often find a car or two or more.

[stumpovrtyme]

Originally posted by Paul B
I don't think so Capn. He would be more interested in a larger snail or crab so he can stela his shell.
I can't be positive though that he will not kill your other snails.

I have a pair of large 10 or 12 year old hermits and I also have a bunch of tiny ones along with a load of tiny mud snails. They don't seem to bother them at all.
These guys have shells over an inch long, not as large as the one you are talking about but they are many times larger than my other inverts.
They are also spawning.

Off key, I noticed those bubbles in the pics and some red alge does that seem to bother any thing having those bubbles? Recently I'v been getting the red slime alge and I don't know why. I read in your post that you think it's just cycles the tank goes through were you including red slime alge? I also wanted to ask how old are the watchmen when they change in your exsperiences with them? Thanx again for the great pics and the priceless info!

[woodiecrafts]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
Here he is last night---he's got a real personality

That is one fantastic looking crab Capn. I have not ever seen one with the coloring like if before.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by woodiecrafts
That is one fantastic looking crab Capn. I have not ever seen one with the coloring like if before.

thanks---I toyed with buying one that size but I am glad it did.
So far it goes across the front of the reef at night and hids under a toadstool mushroom during the day.

[Paul B]

Stumpovrtyme, that red stuff in that picture is not red slime although it looks exactly like it. I do get a little of red slime but only under the gravel on the glass. I don't have any now.
In that crab picture that was from last year, that is red algae from the Long Island Sound. It covers everything in the Sound and sometimes when I use rocks and water from there, it grows in my tank. It is all gone now and there is no algae in my tank anywhere except a little in some bottles. I will get some of that red stuff again when I start collecting from the Sound. It is very short and the fish and crabs eat it. Pods grow all over it. It differs from red slime because it grows very slow and it doen't clump up and it is also hard to remove. This tank is very natural and whatever is growing in the place where I collect water also grows in there. I find it interesting.

Capn, yes it was more fun that painting a floor. I see above that I wrote I broke a water hose belt, there is obviousely no such thing. It was the water pump belt. Under the Varazzino bridge is not the Ideal place to get stuck. There are tug boats, cargo ships and oil tankers all over the place. Luckily I was able to repair it while we were under way with the other engine.
This was with my closest friend, fellow Capt. and SCUBA partner.
We have been friends since high school.
This is another friends back yard on the south shore of Long Island. I kept the boat there for a week while I got it ready for the trip to the north shore.

[Paul B]

I forgot about the watchman gobies. It seems that they change color, in my tank anyway in les than a year. Of course I don't know how old the fish is when I get it. The one I have now seems to be starting to change. She is showing spawning behavior and her fins shortened a little. I think she will change soon.

In this recent picture there is no red algae or any other kind of algae. I don't find algae to be a bane, on the contrary, I love algae. If there is no algae in your tank, it is not as healthy as you think it is. I am sure algae will return to my tank soon. It always comes in cycles. Most tanks are not old enough to get cycles. Even the sea has cycles. In the Sound where I did most of my diving I was amazed at the changing fauna from week to week. Sometimes the bottom was covered with a thick mat of seaweed and sometimes it was gone. Red algae would be everywhere and then it was gone. My water comes from there so it acts the same way.

[jason2459]

Thanks for the help so far Paul. I'm getting things ready to start adding the dolomite, rock, and water to the tank.

Here's a thread I started if you ever get bored enough to check it out.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1673282

[Aquarist007]

[/B]

That is a fanatastic boat Paul. I am happy for you. When you work hard all your life and serve your country so admirably you deserve some toys that your efforts have rewarded you.
Does your wife enjoy the boating too--or is it an escape for you