almost 35 year old reef pictures

[myerst2]

Also one last thing that I never asked you. What type of writing do you do? Where can I get some of your writing???? Please PM me if you can with direction to get your writing. Thanks

[Paul B]

Tim I would love to talk to you.
We are going out to the garlic festival out east next week.
Here are some more pictures I found that are maybe 20 years old.

Those shrimp spawned every few weeks and lived about 7 years.
I don't remember how old the tank was here.
People worry about hair algae. I had hair algae all over the place. It disappears on it's own unless you have grenades.

[nowell]

Paul, thanks for the great posts. For the last 2 days I have been reading bits and pieces as I go through my day at work. I just lost my father 4 years ago. He also served (E co 75th Ranger LRRPS 68-69) and when I read your posts I was hearing him talk.

So thank you for not only the great pictures and advice, but also for keeping my fathers voice strong in my head. You and your tank are a real inspiration.

Nowell

[Paul B]

He also served (E co 75th Ranger LRRPS 68-69) and when I read your posts I was hearing him talk.

I am very sorry to hear about your Father. He was there a year before me, I was in the First Cav 70-71

[Paul B]

I think a big part of this hobby is having a spouse that even if they don't have any interest in it at least tolerate it and understand that it is a continuous endeavour and when something goes wrong it needs to be taken care of now, even if you happen to be going to a wedding or something like that.
If there is a leak or the temperature rises or the pump is stuck or the skimmer is overflowing you need to take time to do it.
I am very lucky that I married a girl that knows the way I am about this stuff. Don't get me wrong, if something is going to go wrong, it will always happen when you are either going to a wedding, surprise party or to the airport and she is not going to be happy, but she knows the tank will win. I had a tank long before I met my wife.
Here she was when she was about 18. We were probably going to a wedding and I was probably operating on something with Pop Eye.

Hey girls, remember that Farrah Faucett look?

[Paul B]

Now she usually looks like this.
It is awkward to swim with that third leg coming out of my back

[savethereef]

Wow nice tank. I'm speechless really!

[savethereef]

Wow your wife is beautiful (with respect of course) she looks the same from the 1st pic. she has not really changed.

you are a lucky man

[Paul B]

THanks, she will be glad to hear that.
Now she looks more like this.
I know this picture was on here dozens of times but I like it.

[Paul B]

Here is a pair of seahorses I collected locally in NY. The female is depositing eggs into the male. You can see the transfer.
This was in my reef

[Micki]

That is awesome! How long did you have them?

[sanababit]

Paul, my respect, you and your wife seem to love and live life, i just hope i would be as happy as the both of you, congrats on the tank, man 37 years its almost as old as me, lol, thanks for sharing

sana

[paintballer768]

Originally posted by Paul B
Paintballer, I really should not give you advice on setting up a larger tank. My methods are now mostly lost to technology.

I didnt copy the rest of the post, because it was quite a doosie. I hear ya there, your methods and knowledge are mostly based on just letting things take their course, and from experiences. In my opinion that is best. I too have not tested in ages. I do water changes once things start to get too funky, or go over a month without one. Usually bubble waste-product from algae shows up on the rocks, and it tells me its time. Id like to be able to let things just take their course, but I seem to have my hand in the tank every day doing something.

[Paul B]

Micki I don't remember but I think about a year. I collected a lot of them.
Sana we try to do a lot of things. We seem to be doers instead of watchers. We travel but we are not tourists.
We are older now and although she still goes to the gym four times a week and for me there just isn't enough time in the day,
Age catches up on you and I don't dive anywhere as near as much as I used to. We still boat a few times a week and have many very good friends most of which are from high school.
I love my life and have been very lucky. My wife is still my best friend and we still hang out every day. I don't have any debt and don't plan to. Actually my wife taught me a system when we got married so we would never be in debt. I guess it works.
Paintballer, it is a hobby so whatever you like is the way to go. It's not weather your tank looks great, it's if it makes you happy.
Have a great night

[myerst2]

Hey Paul, as always great stuff! Where is the garlic festival? Garlic may be my favorite thing for cooking. Besides going to get a new truck and Bass fishing, (which is amazing right now at the mouth of Mecox bay to the ocean), I have no plans. Let me know about the festival so we all can meet up and have really stinky breath! Tim

[Crush Coral]

Hey Paul, Am I glad to have run into your thread. I thought I was the only one out there still running a reverse flow undergravel. I put out a couple posts to see if anyone else was and never hot a hit. I have a 75 with the output of a Rena XP3 running the UG. I do gravel vacs when I do my water changes, but as time goes by I find less and less in the gravel - tons of bugs though. I think the demise of our way was instigated by the companies producing aquarium equipment. "Undergravels are out of date biological bombs" is what they want all to think, but what they are is the most efficient septic system available. I wish more reefers would give it a try and see what they are missing. Can't beet 50 pounds of crushed coral for surface area! Guess I will have to be sure to schedule a tank breakdown in the next decade or so.
P.S. The Mandarin Goby and Flame Lip Scallop I successfully keep in my tank think the system is good too- they love the bugs and natural marine snow.

[raen]

Wow Paul B, This last page ACTUALLY made me cry~! the picture of your beautiful wife......it got me. All of the wonderful tank pics. and advice, FNTASTIC, but that one was the one that got me. I love reading your posts. Thank you!

[raen]

Originally posted by Paul B
Here is a pair of seahorses I collected locally in NY. The female is depositing eggs into the male. You can see the transfer.
This was in my reef

My dream, to have a sea horse tank..........WOWWWWWZA!

[ang_99]

thats just gross!

[yrema]

Your tank is just awesome, Paul. Thanks very much for sharing.

(Oh, and I love the green bottle too. )

[MPeer]

Originally posted by Paul B
Here is a pair of seahorses I collected locally in NY. The female is depositing eggs into the male. You can see the transfer.
This was in my reef

I rate that NC-17!!!!

That is so cool! I've never seen seahorses mate. Thank you so much Paul for providing us with the most rare and beautiful pictures in this hobby. You are indeed a master at this hobby.

[Paul B]

Myers. The festival in in Riverhead I will try to find out exactly

I thought I was the only one out there still running a reverse flow undergravel. I put out a couple posts to see if anyone else was and never hot a hit.

Crush Coral, your kidding, another hobbiest with a RUGF.
I gave up a long time ago trying to convey the benefits of total substrait filtration. All of the authors downplay them but I have had the thing running before any of them became experts. Bob Goemans once came to my home to see my tank and he was pretty impressed. He wrote about it somewhere.
There is just much more life in a UG filter with water flowing in it than a DSB which is basically bacteria.
I think when you and I are gone the technology will be lost along with all the biodiversity that goes with it. If I ever start up another tank, it will have the exact same trouble free system.
If I can have a 39 year old tank which is overcrowded, over fed and under maintained but very healthy, it must work.
My tank however has issues. From so many years of water input especially with my town constantly adding zinc orthophosphate to the water, I can't keep corals anymore. I may have to change the dolomite which has been in there since the tank was brackish over 40 years ago.
I like my old gravel and the life it holds so I really don't want to do that. I also like the way I have the tank now with all the smaller gobies which don't seem to mind the zinc.
It may also be why there are never paracite problems and I don't have to quarantine.
Have a great day.
Paul

[psteeleb]

well here's a potential third. I use to run UG's and UGF's back in the days. I built several of my own in the late 70's. It may be a while off but I intend to build a custom seahorse tank using a RUGF and crushed coral and rubble. I want a failry high urnover but not directed flow, Plus it's the best haven for pod growth I've seen. As for detritus, I was (still am) a believer in stirring it up. Back then, I use to stir up the bed weekly, now (non UGF/RUGF) I just agitate the surface when I clean the glass. Again - great tank, thanks for sharing.

[Paul B]

You got to stir that sucker up.
Anyway I am curious, how old is the oldest DSB here? 5 or 10 year olds?
And were there any issues, maintenance situations or crashes?
I would be the last person to flame anyone I just would like to know for my own knowlege.

[IslandCrow]

You know, I think there are a lot of us out here who don't even know exactly what a RUGF is. I mean, I assume it's an UGF, except the water flow is going the opposite direction, but is there a good reference out there on how to set one up? I have no plans to tear down my current tank to try one out, but it is an intriguing idea, and something I just might want to try out some day. It obviously works for you (and others it appears), and who know, I (and others) may prefer it over more "modern" methods.