almost 35 year old reef pictures

[Paul B]

I like the idea of santa being italian!

Santa is actually Sicilian and his birthday is on Christmas.

About the open top to the manifold, the last one I had was closed and it had problems. Sometimes a bubble would start going down a tube and it would not rise to the top because of the preasure there due to the closed top. It just works better and gets more even flow if there is no preasure in the manifold and any bubbles can rise. I can also occasionally stick a hose down there all the way under the gravel and siphon out some water from below the plates.
I ran it with a closed manifold for years and always had flow issues. Gravity feed works much better. Also with a closed manifold (which is harder to make anyway) when one tube slows for some reason, the other tubes get more preasure and the slower tube will start to fill with bubbles and it will stop. The pump will have to be shut down to start it again.
It is just so much easier open.
I don't know if you can still get dolomite anymore.
You could use crushed coral as long as it is not too small. Rice size or a little larger is fine

[Paul B]

I have been increasing my hatch of brine shrimp by almost half by heating the water. I have this 5 or 10 watt heater that works in a pint of water and really pushes these things to hatch. I diden't even realize that it was so cold in my workshop not that it is 9 degrees outside.
I have so many small fish that I needed to increase my hatch to two hatchings a day.

There are so many things I do that I take for granted and feel I could not run my tank any other way and then I realize, very few people do these things and still have a successful tank. For instance I have these things that are a rubber bulb with an acrylic tube that I use ten times a day to feed, clean, collect fry and baby brine, I have been using these for all my life.

Baby brine shrimp. How do you keep tiny fish without hatching these?
Live blackworms, My fish would go on strike and never spawn if I did not feed these almost every day (with other things)

Diatom filter. I could never have an old tank without that and I am on my fifth or sixth one. It's my main maintenance thing.

Live bacteria from the sea, well I guess you need to be near the sea for that.

Ozone, I believe, very important.

Algae trough, well thats just me and not really needed.

Then of course my favorite, the RUGF. The most important part of my set up. Again, I am just about the only one.

And, of course, building your own hollow rock is a personal choice,

(the thing under it, is a chain, again, not needed

[Micki]

Please tell us your thoughts on ozone.

[Paul B]

Well Micki I have been using ozone continousely ever since they invented the thing for tanks and that was in the very beginning.
It oxidizes anything organic in the water and leaves nothing, what could be better. Bleach also does that but unfortunately bleach is not as easy to remove after it does it's job although I do occasionally use bleach on NSW Ozone will do the same thing safer.
I also do not run the ozone over or through carbon after it exits the skimmer, I feel that this is too hit and miss and the carbon could be exhausted allowing free ozone to enter the tank. I use much more ozone than is recommended (100MG/HR/100 gallons) but then I let it run through my 5' long algae trough before it re enters the tank. Any residual ozone would be eliminated there.
I don't know how my tank would fare without ozone and I am not willing to find out. I do know that I can have a large animal like a carpet anemone die or have 24 urchines all spawn at once and the tank is not affected at all. I have never had a bacterial bloom or anything else including ich in decades. Of course I don't know if ozone has anything to do with that.

[Micki]

Thanks for your thoughts Paul, I'm running ozone as well and really wondered if it was worth it or not.

[jerryvan]

Hello Paul--I just tag along and love this thread!!! This might sound stupid but what is Ozone-how do you put it in the water and what does it do?----Jerry

[Paul B]

Ozone is a gas that is produced naturally in the atmosphere by lightning or any electrical spark. It is also produced by an ozone generator that looks like an air pump but usually you connect your air pump to it and instead of regular air coming out of it, ozone gas comes out.
You don't want to put it directly into your water as it would affect the animals adversely but instead you want to inject it into a skimmer. Almost all of the ozone would be used up in the skimmer and just clean water and oxygen would emerge. Usually people run the outflow of the skimmer over carbon to eliminate any free ozone from returning to the tank.
Ozone generators are not cheap, usually 3 or 4 hundred bucks but they last very long with almost no maintenance. The better once come with a controller that shuts the thing off when the water is as clean as you want, it's called ORP but that is not too important now. Orp is a measurement, we used to call it oxidation threshold and it just means the capacity your water has to reduce or eliminate organics.
I am going to copy something for you:

Through ozonation we reach values which are otherwise found only in the cleanest and purest waters in the world. The coral reef and the mountain brook. All reducing compounds are oxidized at the quickest speed; undesirable intermediate compounds which often disturb the water for an uncomfortable long time and are the cause of critical complications, are soon made non toxic; and the highly reductive reducing agents originating from many processes of de composition and the very dangerous bacterial toxins are prevented from developing at all.
In other words, dangerous complications are simply avoided.
This and this alone is the real advantage of using ozone.

OK I did not write that, it was Guido Huckstead
(water chemistery for advanced chemists)
You don't have to know it but you should know that ozone will make your water as pure as possable.

[Swimming Jewel]

Very cool! I am so intrigued!

Paul, I'm from Southold, where do you live?
I too like to walk the beaches and collect weird odds and ends.

[gary faulkner]

Swimming Jewel




To Reef Central

[Swimming Jewel]

Thanks Gary!
We used to llive in NC when my hubby was stationed at Camp Lejeune.
He retired a couple days before 9/11 and now we're back in our hometown, both grew up here.

[gary faulkner]

Originally posted by Swimming Jewel
Thanks Gary!
We used to llive in NC when my hubby was stationed at Camp Lejeune.
He retired a couple days before 9/11 and now we're back in our hometown, both grew up here.

Congrats on the retirement, I've got about 10 more years.

If you decide to go the reef route, it can be a very rewarding experience. Read all you can on here before and during your new hobby.

Best wishes and God bless.

Gary

[heyfredyourhat]

I havent read through all of this thread. But this is truely amazing. One question i had was, have you always had the same tank and tank location? Or has this been upgraded from time to time?

[Paul B]

Paul, I'm from Southold, where do you live?

I live on Long Island new York, New Hyde Park, USA.

This is the second glass this reef has been in. In 1971 we lived in the city in a small apartment and the tank was a 40 gallon. In about 1978 or so we moved to Long Island so I bought a new 100 gallon long tank and transfered all the gravel, water, livestock and rocks to the 100. I had to go to the Caribbean to get more rock and I also had to buy a larger UG filter. It has been in the same place ever since.

[jerryvan]

Hello Paul--Thanks for the info!! I have never seen a Ozone machine for sale although I never knew what one was. I don't know but I don't think many use them around here or I am sure someone would have told me I should have one or need one. I just added a Calcium Reactor to my tank a few days ago and am still trying to dial it in and see if it working properly. ----Thanks Jerry

[Paul B]

Jerry a calcium reactor is nice but IMO an Ozone generator is more beneficial.
I add calcium that I make from ice melting salt.
It costs me about $5.00 for a five year supply.
Ozone generators are not cheap but you could get them on line from one of the sponsors.
Good luck.
Paul

[conorwynne]

A calcium reactor really is necessary for an SPS tank, but not for a soft coral tank. Soft corals do take up alk & calc, but at a much reduced rate by comparison.

[Paul B]

A calcium reactor really is necessary for an SPS tank, but not for a soft coral tank. Soft corals do take up alk & calc, but at a much reduced rate by comparison.

I did not mean that you should not add calcium, I meant that calcium is easy and cheap to add but there is no other way to add ozone except for buying an ozone generator.
Both a calcium reactor and an ozonizer are not a necessity but are tools to benefit us.

[Paul B]

I was going to collect some amphipods and mud today but I thought it would not be prudent at this time.

[Micki]

Oh my gosh!!! I've never seen anything like that before! WOW!

[bebereef]

Ain't that santa's contry!

[Paul B]

As a matter of fact, it is not my neighborhood but I liked the picture so much, I made it into my screen saver.
We get ice but not like that

[conorwynne]

Q: What temp is the water around your area? I assume it's the same as in Ireland (Atlantic side) correct?

The (Irish Atlantic) sea temperature swing is 7.8 in January to 15.1 in August. Do you think that would be suitable?

If so, then I may just go and do the same as yourself, go pod collecting.... I've thought about it before, but I didn't wish to add viruses/bacteria or whatnot into the tank. I did assume that they would all die off in the tropical water.

Conor.

[Paul B]

Our water temp here now is about 40 degrees farenheight.
You can collect amphipods here under the ice.

[Paul B]

To get back to warm things, these guys are about 10 years old.
I think they are spawning but I never find any babies and I don't think I will with the ozone and all that.

[Paul B]

Yesterday I acclimated a bumblebee gobi to the tank. Yes I know they are a brackish fish but it is just a test. So far he is doing well and if he lookes stressed or does not eat I will try to remove him. My last brackish fish, a figure eight puffer lived 12 years in full saltwater. These bumble bee gobies are about $3.00 and I would like to see if I can get the same longivity from them. If they can acclimate well, they would be great for a nano as they are under an inch, are captive bred and very cheap.
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_bumble.php