almost 35 year old reef pictures

[MyMonkey]

Great looking Goby pair above. Still looking great Paul.

[Arati]

Great tank! congratz and greetings from wading river

[MPeer]

Paul, you're the only one I've seen to have success with raising a Moorish Idol for that long.

Again, you are truly an inspiration for new hobbyists like me! I suppose since you're retired now, you can afford to go on trips to Bora Bora!

[MPeer]

Sorry - double post

[Paul B]

Great looking Goby pair above. Still looking great Paul.

Thanks Monkey, I have five of those and besides the breeding pair, they fight a lot. I got the other three as babies and they were bright yellow. I diden't know they were the same fish until they grew and turned brown stripped.
As for Bora Bora, it is my favorite place for diving and I would love to go back, unfortunately there are also many other places where I have not been where I would also like to dive. My wife who also likes to dive wants to go to boreing places like England, Ireland, Italy and Germany. Not too good diving around there.
Paul

[Zoos]

Not only is the tank 36 yrs old, but this thread is aging nicely as well. always nice to see new pics paul.

[Paul B]

This morning I took 5 people from another forum on a collecting trip in my boat.
I have been doing this for a few weeks now and it is a lot of fun and very productive.
This is someone from last week in one of the tide pools we collect in. This is low tide, there is 8' of water during high tide.
We collected a few pounds of grass shrimp in just two drags of a scene net and amphipods are there by the bucketful.
We also collected some nice macro algae with holdfasts which will probably not live too many months.
There were dozens of tiny horseshoe crabs (which we don't collect) along with fiddler crabs which we also don't collect.
Japanese shore crabs are plentiful and people use them to feed octopus.



I took this from my boat on the fourth of July, it is un retouched, just as it came from the camera. That is the Bronx under that sun.

[MPeer]

Paul - Out of curiosity, what are the places where you dove besides Bora Bora?

My husband says the Cayman Islands is nice place to dive too and you can convince your wife that it is also an English territory.

[Paul B]

Paul - Out of curiosity, what are the places where you dove besides Bora Bora?

That is a tough one, I have been diving since the seventees. I have about 150 dives in New York, I dove on three Tahitian Islands, Australia, Bermuda, most of the Caribbean Islands including Nevis, Bequa, Ildesants, St lucia, Barbadoes, Aruba, Caymans etc. etc. five or six lakes in upstate NY, Three Hawaiian Islands a few in the Bahamas and I can't think of any more right now.
Why do you ask?

[MPeer]

Jus curious and I was looking for recommendations for our next dive trip.

[Paul B]

They are all logged in my log book. The problem with good dive sites is they are all not in the greatest vacation spots.
Diving only takes a couple of hours so it is nice to have other things to fill in the day.
For my wife and I there is nothing better than the Windstar Cruises. I posted a picture of the ship. There are three of them, one holds 300 people and one holds 130. Very small ships which have sails which are automated, no one climbs up the masts, and engines. A nice dive shop is in the ship and the rear of the ship completely opens up to allow the dive boats, jet skies, sail boats and kayaks to depart. Being a smaller ship, and having no children under 21 aboard, it gets to smaller more intimate ports where large cruise ships can't get in. We have been on many cruises both large and small. After going on the Windstar cruise 3 times I would not go on one of those large Caribbean ships if it is for free. The last one we went on, my daughter took us on, they were playing Bingo or some other God Forsaken Game, The prize was a free week on this ship. I was not playing so one of the girls who worked for the ship came over to ask why I wasen't playing. I told her, I was afraid I would win.
I was praying for a torpedo to sink us and put me out of my misery.
Kids jumping all over the place, beer belly contests.
Like I said I did go on many until I found a really great cruise.
When we docked at Tahiti I think 6 people got off the ship, when that Caribbean ship docked at Jamaica 4000 people got off and next to us there was another ship with 4000 people and another next to that. We tried to go diving, and of course out of those 16,000 people who got off those ships, about 15,000 of them wanted to dive and of course bring the little kids, dogs, cats parakeets etc.
Off the Windstar our Zodiacs had a maximum of 8 divers in water where you could only see another ship with the Hubble telescope.
Although we have been to many places, I don't consider myself a tourist.
The Windstar is not cheap but I would rather go on one good vacation than two lousy ones.
I guess I am spoiled and a snob, it comes with age.
Of course if you have small kids you need different places to go. We have a daughter and did all the Disney things and many all inclusives which I enjoyed. Now I enjoy different things.
On one of those Windstar Cruises we docked off an Island I never heard of in the Caribbean. We went to a local bar where there were maybe 15 people. The bar was in the sea in a small lagoon where all the chairs were suspended from trees.
It was not a tourist spot as we were the only tourists there.
In Bora Bora we went by Zodiac after a dive and found a tiny restaurant on the other side of a volcano. It diden't look like the island had electricity or inhabitants but there was a small dock. We tied up and was treated to a great meal with very fresh harpooned fish. The beach was covered with tridnaca clams. There were maybe 8 of us there.
Another place you will not go on a large cruise ship.
Have a great day.
Paul
Bora Bora

[Paul B]

Well the gobi mode that I am in is going a little too well. I just have too many of the little suckers and some of them get larger than I would have liked. Only one pair is now breeding but I am not removing the eggs or fry. I really don't have time for that right now. I just like to know they are breeding which means they are in the best condition. Many of the other "pairs" seem to be females.
My female blue stripped pipefish disappeared after hatching many babies. They only live about two years and I had the pair longer than that. The male does not seem to mind.
I am surprised I still do not have any nitrates with all the fish. There are maybe 25 or 30 fish along with a dozen or so crabs.
About half the fish are an inch long, the rest larger. There still is an old hippo tang and a very old fire clown who is maybe 13 or so.
I am really glad I decided to take the tank in this direction with the many unusual smaller more interesting fish than the usual tangs and butterflies.
There is two spotfin butterflies that I collected locally in NY.
There is also a red scooter bleeny, I never saw a red one before, now I see them all over the place. Of course you have to have a mandarin. Rainsford gobi and a smaller more colorful gobi or bleeny of some type that looks somewhat like a rainsford. An annoying engineer gobi, some clown gobies and a long skinny unknown gobi. (many unknown gobies, too many) Three or four pink spotted gobies. I guess I could look up all the names, but I don't really care what the real names are and I would forget them anyway. It comes with age.
Almost everything eats baby brine which they get every day along with live black worms. I would not be able to keep these small fish without hatching shrimp.
Have a great day.
Paul

[IridescentLily]

Holy moly. I just read every page.
I bow.

You're truly an inspiration to everyone here. Thank you.

[KRASHPD]

You and your tank are an inspiration Paul.

I love those pictures of the tide pools and the sunsets. To me, there is nothing more peaceful then having my toes in the sand and watching the sun drop down into the water. I'm on the West coast though but I'm sure the serenity of the ocean and boating is the same on either side.

[jbc123]

I can only hope I am able to still do this hobby in 38 years. Very nice work sir.

[heyfredyourhat]

Paul i havent read the entire thread so excuse me if this has been answered, what is your water change routine like?

[kryppy]

Originally posted by Paul B
Vince, the bottles are in there because thats what a reef looks like. I have been diving since 69 or 70 and have never seen a place without bottles. Of course there are also rain coats, tires, tool boxes, paper cups and oldsmobiles but I went with the bottles. I also want to put in a semi crushed soda can because those are more common than bottles so I am working on a way to do that without killing everything. Aluminum is really not that bad but I think I will encase it in something anyway. I will see if I can find a really old can while diving locally here in NY.
I also have plenty of very rusty chain.
Take care.
Paul

I just realized I am replying to a two year old post.... I just have to compliment you on a very beautiful tank.

I found this old flat top deep in the Everglades last year and it is yours if you haven't found a suitable can yet. I knew I was saving it for a reason!

[Paul B]

Holy moly. I just read every page.

Holy Moly that must have taken a lot of time. It took me two years to write it and I don't think I read the entire thing.

My water change schedule is wnen I get the time and I collect some water which would be about 5 or 6 times a year. Give or take a few times.
I was in California this year, we have friends in San Clementi. Beautiful place but much different. Sunsets are the same except for the palm trees we have oaks.

Thanks for the can offer. I already put it's brother in the tank a long time ago. It looks like the same can.

If you live long enough, there is no reason not to have this hobby for many years but you really have to have it in your blood.
Have a great day.
Paul

[Micki]

Good to hear from you Paul! The tank looks awesome as usual!

[Paul B]

Thanks Micki. It is still evolving but it is evolving into what I find interesting rather than what most people would consider beautiful.
Paul

[psteeleb]

Awesome set up Paul B. It's great to see some of the "old school" stuff still being used. I often consider setting up a RUG again, I still have a bunch of Dolomite and crushed coral from my tanks back in the mid 70's / early 80's. I just can't seem to part with it despite my wife asking my about once a year why I keep those boxes of sand Maybe one day, but for now I'm tinkering with my current setup. I did a write up for our local club on old school versus now, not very elaborate but it reminded me that even though equipment may have changed over the years, the basics have not.

Great job and very inspiring.

[mistermikev]

I was just about to ask "aren't you the guy with the beer can..."
and then i saw it.
love the fact that you take a 'thumb-to-nose' approach towards the typical reef formula... hands down most unique tank I've seen. Don't ever change!
cheers
mv

[paintballer768]

Paul,

I have read most of your thread just now as I sit in the library at my university, and I must say...wow. Truely amazing to see a tank like this, in every aspect. I have a 24 gallon thats been set up for a year almost now, and only hope that one day I can have a tank like yours. I plan on upgrading to something a little larger, well a lot larger, like a 75-120 gallon this holiday season. Any advice you can offer? One thing I will always keep is my tank, I love everything about it, even my ever-looming reading of nitrates and PITA chromis.

Regards

[Paul B]

Paintballer, I really should not give you advice on setting up a larger tank. My methods are now mostly lost to technology.
My reverse UG filter is as you know only used by me. It seems that UG filters got a very bad name by people who used them incorrectly and instead of trying to use them correctly, they opted for a DSB which is not necessarily bad, I just don't like them. I feel that they can not be incorporated in the way I like to maintain my reef.
I like to stir everything up, I mean everything. I like typhoons.
I like to powerwash my rocks, every nook and cranny. IMO for a reef to become what I would consider old, it needs this radical treatment. There are of course many beautiful reefs with DSBs, most much nicer than mine but none of them are very old.
I believe it is rare to see a DSB running after 10 years. I know there must be some, maybe a lot but I can't imagine where all that muck goes to. Sand by nature has tiny particles which in time become smaller particles due to water movement and the activities of the microscope inhabitants. Those smaller and smaller particles will clog in time. A clogged substrait is the same as concrete.
Of course this is all just my opinion and out of the 10,000 people on this forum, about 10,000 of them will disagree with me, which is the reason I don't like to give advice on how to set up a tank.
If you want to know about "my" methods, or low tech, or old methods, I can tell you. If you want to know how to cure something, I can tell you (although you may not like the cure)
If you ask me how to get a fish to live 10 or 20 years I can tell you that too.
I will say that I have not felt the need to have a test kit since maybe the eightees. Every year or so I will bring in a sample to be tested and the nitrates and phosphates are always zero or just about so.
I also don't get any cycles, mini cycles, unicycles or bicycles.
I get some hair algae occasionally which I believe is a natural thing. There is some cyano in there along with multitudes of tiny creatures that I have no Idea what they are or where they came from. Today I saw a tiny shell of a mantis shrimp. Sometimes I catch a huge worm, 4" or so. Or a large crab that must have escaped from my dinner.
If you ask me to name a certain fish or coral, I probably can't. I have a terrable memory for names. When I first dated my wife, for about 6 weeks I would call her and hope she would not answer the phone on the first few rings until I could remember her name.
I know the species of a fish and what it eats, where it lives and from years of diving, I probably know what it does in it's spare time but don't ask me to name it.
I was born with a tank about 60 years ago and never lived even one day without one.
Many people try to tell me about some new method of doing things thinking I have been in a coma for 40 years. I know the new methods, I remember when all of them were invented and I know many of the authors that write this stuff.
I don't know why I start to ramble, maybe I am in a coma.
Take care and have a great day
Paul
I guess it comes from my ancestry. My family were all fisherman in Sicily from the beginning of time.
I like my Father am from Brooklyn but the genes are there.

[myerst2]

Paul. You are an absolute legend. If there were a reef keeping hall of fame, you would be first ballot all the way. I have been following your threads for some time now and always find them very inspiring. More importantly you use the KISS mantra which seems to work in every aspect of life. Hopefully we can meet someday. I live out east and collect frequently on the flats near the Ponquoge bridge. Ever in the area would love to shoot the Shat. Keep up the great work. Tim