almost 35 year old reef pictures

[Paul B]

I have had chromas many times in the past and they do look nice. There are over 25 fish in there but many of them are spawning or are gobies and hang out in the caves.
I should put some swimming things in there.
The butterflies look like racoon butterflies, I forget the real name and the triggers are not very colorful. Last year we got a big eye which was very nice. We also get dozens of seahorses and trumpetfish, which get too large and hundreds of pipefish which I release. We got four or five tiny puffers also

It's very hard feeding this coral. I have to keep pushing the hippo out of him. Especially when I give him blackworms as in this picture. The coral eats slow and the hippo is fast

[Alaska_Phil]

I have a similar problem feeding my open brain. My Banded Coral Shrimp tries to steal the food before the coral can ingest it.

Phil

[ang_99]

Wow, I'm so jealous. So tell me, how do go about getting a big ole house, right along the water line and a killer boat to enjoy my weekends with?

You sir, are living the life.

Originally posted by Paul B
I bought the boat near you in Seaford. It was next to this dock in Seamans Neck. There are only sponge growing there. This is my friends back yard. I drove the boat around to the Sound.

[WaterKeeper]

It just take $$$, The house lakefront I lived in, Candlewood Shores, Ct, during my junior high school years, cost my dad $37,500 in 1955. It sold two years ago for 2.65 million.

You miy get it cheaper with the housing decline.

[ang_99]

Originally posted by WaterKeeper
It just take $$$, The house lakefront I lived in, Candlewood Shores, Ct, during my junior high school years, cost my dad $37,500 in 1955. It sold two years ago for 2.65 million.

You miy get it cheaper with the housing decline.

yeah, it was kind of a rhetorical question.

[Alaska_Phil]

Like I tell my clients, with enough time and money you can have anything. Problem is that it takes time to earn the money, so you never have both.

Phil

[mr.wilson]

Hey Paul, great article as usual. I agree with everything you said. Aren't you one of the members of the air-driven protein skimmer club, or am I crossing my wires?

[Paul B]

Wow, I'm so jealous. So tell me, how do go about getting a big ole house, right along the water line

I don't know, thats my friends house. But it is my boat.

That house is on the south shore and it is only about one and a half million. If it were on the north shore it would be closer to 5 million. I can't afford either. I also can't afford the $17,000.00 he pays in tax.

Mr Wilson, my skimmer is a home made venturi which also uses an air pump. It is 5' tall and is too deep for the venturi valve to suck enough air so I added an air pump.

We had a boat full for dinner last night. You could not get near the Tiki bar. Great dinner. With oysters of course. There must have been 200 people just near the bar. On weekends they have a band and dancing but it was too crowded.
Today it is just me and my wife on the boat. We are trying for some quiet time. Tomorrow is another full boat and also tuesday night I have a bunch of my wife's friends coming out to dinner. I am taking them to the Bronx to a marina restaurant.
I am getting too old for this. Maybe I should hang out with WK

The house lakefront I lived in, Candlewood Shores, Ct, during my junior high school years, cost my dad $37,500 in 1955. It sold two years ago for 2.65 million.

There is a home on the water near my marina which a guy bought for his daughter's wedding present in 1973 for 3 million. The marriage lasted 6 months. Today that house is closer to 15 million.

[Paul B]

Well so much for a quiet day on the boat with my wife. Our friends just called and want to go boating. I am sure in a few minutes more will follow and we will tie up with a few other boats.
It's not going to be as quiet as I had planned but I am bringing a collecting bucket and a net so at least I will be alone in the tidepools. I want a few more hermit crabs and a lot more amphipods. I always take the grass shrimp and I will also get some of those small green anemones.
Life is good.
Unless, like WK you are in Ohio and are resigned to collecting cigarette butts, match sticks and other odds and ends.

OK so maybe Ohio is not so bad, what do I know?

[luther1200]

Hi Paul, I have a question for you. I bought a Goby a few months ago after not having 1 for 2 years. I have always used a gravel vac to clean my SSB(1"-2") when I do WC. But he has lately really been digging around in the back and spots I can't get with the siphon. My parameters are fine, but the water has had some particles in it lately. Its not cloudy, just fine particles in it. I have read some of your posts where you talk about a Diatom filter. Do you think a Diatom filter would help me clean my water? I am not exactly sure what it does. I thought it was a kind of mechanical filtration, is that correct? And it isn't something you have to have going 24/7 right? I can use if for and hour a day or something like that? Any info you could give me would be great, Thanks Matt.

[ddinox64]

Luther. Do a search on Vortex Diatom. Probably the best filter out there, but also the most difficult to get into a rythm to use.

24/7, I'd say no because they filter so well they clog after after a while. Like most if not all filters, fine particles make it through the filter media. Not the Vortex, it uses diatomaceous earth which cakes onto the filter media used, and the more it filters, the tighter it compacts so it restricts flow.

Once you get a system down on using it, it goes pretty smooth. Never used mine on my reef setup. Plenty of times on my freshwater planted tanks. But only when I disturbed the substrate. I'd already have it in running before I started reeking havoc in them.

Pretty old school. I'm sure todays hobbiest would absolutey hate them.

[luther1200]

I put in a Polyfilter and it has helped more than I thought it would. But I still think I am going to get something like a Diatom or canster filter to use periodically.

[Paul B]

Pretty old school. I'm sure todays hobbiest would absolutey hate them.

That is true, but it is absolutely the best filter there is. You use it for an hour occasionally and the water will disappear. It is made by Vortex. Keep salt water off the motor as they rust. I am on my 6th one.

Today was an interesting day of boating and collecting. I went to my usual place at low tide, the tide pool goes under a road and on the other side there is a lake that spills over these 20' long walls ibnto this tide pool. At high tide the lake is almost the same height as the sea.
Anyway these walls are about 4 or 5' high with freshwater spilling over into the salt water. The walls look like they are made of barnacles. There are no cement patches, it is all barnacles. As I was checking them out as I always do I noticed the walls loked like they were crawling with something. At first I thought it was just the barnacles which a lot of it was (I didn't have my reading glasses on) Then I noticed it was tiny creatures, different from any amphipods I have ever seen, and I have seen more amphipods then most people, believe me.
These things look like tiny trillobites about 3/16" long. There were billions of them.
I collected a bunch along with sheets of barnacles to put in my reef. I know the barnacles will not live more than a month but I am curious about these "pods". Wierd.
I also collected a few hermit crabs for my local tank.
We tried to get some blue claw crabs for dinner but all we got were two, so we let them go. One of them was the largest blue claw I have ever seen.
I am going back tomorrow then tuesday it is the south shore for tropicals.

Barnacles


NY hermits

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by iamwhatiam52
Capn,

Is that 4 tangs in a 110?

How do you escape the Tang Police?

They collared me for considering putting one in less than a 220, but I got off with just a slap on the wrist.

yeah--4 healthy tangs with excellent colouration and very non agressive towards each other---a real issue for the tang police
there is 5000 gph flow in that tank---I think it makes a difference

[mr.wilson]

Diatom filters are great for occasional water polishing and even disease control, but they can increase your water temperature if you have a smaller tank (<100G) so keep your eye on it and shut it down at night if you think it might get to hot.

I put the diatom filter in a rubbermaid container, as the seal can be tricky some times. If you want to save a few bucks, you can buy the diatom powder at a pool supply or garden centre. Be very careful with the filter "bag" as it rips easily when removing from the jar. If you get a small hole it can be patched with silicone. The powdered carbon works well too, but it's a bloody mess to set up. SeaClear, Rainbow, and NuClear make pleated cartridge diatom filters, but they aren't as fine as the good ol' Vortex. It's just about the only marine product that hasn't changed in 50 years. They can be a little hard to get going at first, but tipping it upside down helps get it primed.

[ddinox64]

I have a nice size Tupperware container of DE I got from the pool shed here in our neighborhood. A thin layer of Vaseline on the rim before attaching pump usually helped with leaks.

More often than leaking, it would suck in air at the lid and create micro bubbles.

TPITA(finally learned what that meant) but works great. I still have the box I keep mine in. Clean it and put it away after each use.

[mr.wilson]

Yeah, the air suction is a common problem. I've tried silicone grease as well, but it just has to be tightened exactly bang on. The XL version is the same story. The main part I find goes on them is the little black "sombrero" shaped seal that goes around the shaft. It gets hard after a decade and it really starts to suck air. That's the part that really needs the silicone grease. I love the box, it still looks like the 50's.

[Paul B]

They are very badly designed. I never open them up. That causes problems. Once you have to replace that seal, your problems start. I fill it with a funnel, and clean it by backflushing with a hose from the sink that fits into the diatom hose.
I replaced the bag with a homemade one. They are also badly designed. Saltwater also eats the motors up.
The principal is great but they need a little help in the design process.

[mr.wilson]

After 50 years with no changes, I wouldn't hold my breath for a new design. I've been almost in tears with these things trying to fit the bag and rigid "straw" into the jar in one piece. The rubber band hose clamps are also funny. Whatever you do, don't leave it for more than 24 hours closed with dirty water in it, man does it stink.

[Paul B]

True, I re designed the entire thing. They work great but bad design

[ddinox64]

Paul. Did you get lucky on the sexing of your gobies, know how to pick them, or buy them still young enough that morphing(lack of a better term that I know) hasn't happened yet?

I'm glad mine, gumdrop, citron, clown, and fire all have made my barnicles into condos. Every night they curl up inside one to sleep in. Feather dusters have moved in as well. The tiny ones.

[luther1200]

The Polyfilter has helped quite a bit, much more than I really thought it would. But I still think next payday I am going to get 1. I have to still figure out which 1 will be good for me.

[Paul B]

Didnox, I guess I just got lucky, or they did

[ddinox64]

I guess that's how it goes. Did we pick them or did they pick us?

Not like freshwater where you walk in, tell the guy you want that female and that male. Go home and a week later you have babies.

[Aquarist007]

I finally located by chance the bumblebee gobies only they are listed as bumblebee chiclids
same fish??