rogermccray
Active member
Is that a picture of your wife? Very pretty.
How this Geezer did it in the beginning
- Thread starter Paul B
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Paul B
Premium Member
Roger, very nice. We have to teach them young. We got our Daughter certified to SCUBA dive when she was 13 but she doesn't have much interest in fish except to eat them.
That is my wife when I married her when she was 18. We are a little older now and have been married for 38 years.
WOW I found this thread late last night and couldn't stop reading it, wondeful insites and experience! First thank you for your service! Secondly thank you for imparting your knowledge on us, I for one truly respect your experince and thoughts on a hobby you have successfully navigated for over 30 years!
I am probably in the older age group of the folks on this forum and have been keeping reefs for 13 years and feel that I still have the very base of knowldge of the hobby. I enjoy it t the fullest I can! I am teaching my 2yr old son and he loves the aquarium, knows the fish by name! We are moving to Florida to be closer to family and I am looking forward to upgrading and being able to use NSW! Thanks again for imparting your knowledge on the undeserving masses.
I am probably in the older age group of the folks on this forum and have been keeping reefs for 13 years and feel that I still have the very base of knowldge of the hobby. I enjoy it t the fullest I can! I am teaching my 2yr old son and he loves the aquarium, knows the fish by name! We are moving to Florida to be closer to family and I am looking forward to upgrading and being able to use NSW! Thanks again for imparting your knowledge on the undeserving masses.
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Paul B
Premium Member
I may as well throw another :mtool: In here. I have one test kit, a nitrate kit and I tested the water I just collected from the Long Island Sound and it reads zero. I tested my tank water and today it is close to 40.
Now 40 stinks and is very high for a reef tank. It would be OK for a fish tank but much too high for a reef.
The last time I tested it it was about 10. I know where the nitrates came from and I can correct it but I will get into that.
What interests me is why do the corals look so good and why are the SPS growing so fast? I love it when I find out something like this and I find it facinating because as we all know, nitrates of 40 is much too high for SPS, or is it?
Nitrates are a sign that your bacteria are not doing their job or you are adding too much food. I purposely did not mention water changes because I feel that water changes should not be done just to lower nitrates, they should stay low even with no water changes.
This high reading in my tank came about from a few things that happened in a row. The first one was when I went to Europe and I left a tank sitter in charge. She let the water lever drop about 7". Many of the corals were above the water and died and some of the ones in the water could not take the strong salinity and started to die, but most of them are hanging on.
That is one thing that happened. The second thing is that 2 weeks ago I removed all of the algae from my algae trough and installed a new, clean screen in there which has absolutely no algae on it. I should have put some of the old screen in there to get some algae growing.
The third thing is that my Daughter is having a baby very soon and I spent all of my free time in the last 6 months painting her room along with the bassinet and other baby stuff. I did not maintain the tank in many months. Notmally I stir up things with a diatom filter and suck out the detritus in the gravel. I don't remember the last time I did that. Now with the corals growing all over the place it is almost impossable to get a tube in there to do some maintenance.
I also have a little cyano growing and I am surprised it is not growing more.
These things don't bother me and they give me a chance to experiment.
I am not sure why the corals look so well but I wish I did. I will not change the water to lower nitrates, that is cheating and will not get the tank back in sync. I did change 5 gallons that I collected.
I wanted to do some experimenting with a Denitrification coil, and I will do that next week (If I get time.)
If these things never happened we would never know anything.
As I am writing this I have our washing machine completely taken apart. It has an issue and I should fix it and get it back together before my wife comes home. :lol2:
Now 40 stinks and is very high for a reef tank. It would be OK for a fish tank but much too high for a reef.
The last time I tested it it was about 10. I know where the nitrates came from and I can correct it but I will get into that.
What interests me is why do the corals look so good and why are the SPS growing so fast? I love it when I find out something like this and I find it facinating because as we all know, nitrates of 40 is much too high for SPS, or is it?
Nitrates are a sign that your bacteria are not doing their job or you are adding too much food. I purposely did not mention water changes because I feel that water changes should not be done just to lower nitrates, they should stay low even with no water changes.
This high reading in my tank came about from a few things that happened in a row. The first one was when I went to Europe and I left a tank sitter in charge. She let the water lever drop about 7". Many of the corals were above the water and died and some of the ones in the water could not take the strong salinity and started to die, but most of them are hanging on.
That is one thing that happened. The second thing is that 2 weeks ago I removed all of the algae from my algae trough and installed a new, clean screen in there which has absolutely no algae on it. I should have put some of the old screen in there to get some algae growing.
The third thing is that my Daughter is having a baby very soon and I spent all of my free time in the last 6 months painting her room along with the bassinet and other baby stuff. I did not maintain the tank in many months. Notmally I stir up things with a diatom filter and suck out the detritus in the gravel. I don't remember the last time I did that. Now with the corals growing all over the place it is almost impossable to get a tube in there to do some maintenance.
I also have a little cyano growing and I am surprised it is not growing more.
These things don't bother me and they give me a chance to experiment.
I am not sure why the corals look so well but I wish I did. I will not change the water to lower nitrates, that is cheating and will not get the tank back in sync. I did change 5 gallons that I collected.
I wanted to do some experimenting with a Denitrification coil, and I will do that next week (If I get time.)
If these things never happened we would never know anything.
As I am writing this I have our washing machine completely taken apart. It has an issue and I should fix it and get it back together before my wife comes home. :lol2:
as always Paul totally intrigued by this thread. I'm not as aged in this hobby as you (only about 17 years) but have noticed that fish eat the guts first and usually leave the tasty part there to rot against the filter, kinda intriguing. Anyway working at a fish store for the last 8 years i've had to figure out how to describe Ich to people in such a way that they kinda get the idea they stressed out their fish. In the past i've compared it to people getting stressed out and ending up with hives or acne outbreaks, lower the stress and it goes away. I'd enjoy any opinions on that thought process??
Paul B
Premium Member
The washing machine is fixed and almost all put back together.
Fish know where the good parts are and eat those first. I am not a big fan of fish guts but thats where the nutrition and the oil is. We as humans can't deal with too much fish oil but I do take a capsule of it every day as well as eat fish 3 or 4 times a week.
You can tell a healthy, unstressed fish usually by just looking at it. They will be calm in their surroundings and not dive for cover whenever someone moves. They will not stay in a cave and peek out to see if the coast is clear. They will be interested in their surroundings and go about their business (depending on what type of fish it is) picking up rocks or if it is a copper band butterfly, looking in caves for food. They will never be swimming around just looking for a way out. Porcupine puffers do that a lot.
Tangs don't ususlly look "happy" because they are "always" stressed. That is of course because they are looking for their school and can not easily function on their own.
(Ever see the Borg on Star Trek)
Anyway, unstressed fish that are properly fed "and" in breeding condition don't get ich.
I explained it as my Theory and I can't say anything else about it.
I personally have never seen a fish that was ready to spawn with ich, unless it was just transfered into the tank, then it is anybody's guess.
If you have a spawning fish with ich, Sue me. Stuff doesn't work 100% of the time.
As I said, I didn't say that quarantining is bad. If I had a new tank I may quarantine because fish don't like new water (sorry to all you guys that change water every day)
But I really don't think putting a fish in a small practically bare tank is good for it's well being. What can I say? :bum:
Fish know where the good parts are and eat those first. I am not a big fan of fish guts but thats where the nutrition and the oil is. We as humans can't deal with too much fish oil but I do take a capsule of it every day as well as eat fish 3 or 4 times a week.
You can tell a healthy, unstressed fish usually by just looking at it. They will be calm in their surroundings and not dive for cover whenever someone moves. They will not stay in a cave and peek out to see if the coast is clear. They will be interested in their surroundings and go about their business (depending on what type of fish it is) picking up rocks or if it is a copper band butterfly, looking in caves for food. They will never be swimming around just looking for a way out. Porcupine puffers do that a lot.
Tangs don't ususlly look "happy" because they are "always" stressed. That is of course because they are looking for their school and can not easily function on their own.
(Ever see the Borg on Star Trek)
Anyway, unstressed fish that are properly fed "and" in breeding condition don't get ich.
I explained it as my Theory and I can't say anything else about it.
I personally have never seen a fish that was ready to spawn with ich, unless it was just transfered into the tank, then it is anybody's guess.
If you have a spawning fish with ich, Sue me. Stuff doesn't work 100% of the time.
As I said, I didn't say that quarantining is bad. If I had a new tank I may quarantine because fish don't like new water (sorry to all you guys that change water every day)
But I really don't think putting a fish in a small practically bare tank is good for it's well being. What can I say? :bum:
Paul, I love reading your posts. In not near a geezer yet. Although im close in the hair loss department...I started my fist tank 10 years ago or so. Never quarentened, never lost a fish to ich. Ive lost fish to stupidity and from inexperiance and hard hard to keep fish. I had a damsel for about 7 years before he died in a kalk od accident. Ive gone 3 months without a water change using tap water to have my nitrates get up to 20. I went 8 years on tap water before rodi. (Although im lucky to have tap water with a tds of 15 tp 20). I dont panic when i see a bit of hair algae. I test my water only when my corals tell me to. Currently im copying you brine shrimp hatcher, moee or less, to experiment with live food. Id use nsw and mud it it wasent 2.5 hours to the ocean. And thats the sf bay. My tank has never been tank of the month level. But ive always had great sucess and most of all fun.
Dave Thebrewguy
New member
Subscribed. Thanks for sharing!
I may have to give NSW a try sometime, I'm on the water almost every weekend from April to November but I'm not sure that Barnegat Bay is the best source.
I may have to give NSW a try sometime, I'm on the water almost every weekend from April to November but I'm not sure that Barnegat Bay is the best source.
Paul B
Premium Member
Mine either, not on this forum at least. They don't really want experiments for TOTM, they want really nice looking tanks.
I used tap water for many years, then I started to run it through a PVC pipe filled with carbon, then I did that for many years until my town added zinc orthophosphate to the water to control corrosion in the pipes. I lost most of my corals when they did that and the LFS around the corner also lost their corals.
It happened again years later while I was using RO/DI. It immediately exhausted my resins and I am not sure how it got through the RO, but I lost many corals then also. Now I have resins that remove Zinc orthophosphate.
If it were not for those accidents, I would have some really old corals.
I don't know, I guess you are far from the Jersey Shore, there is some good water there. :hmm5:
Dave Thebrewguy
New member
If I got out the inlet once in a while I'd certainly fill a few carboys, but inside the bay is is likely to be pretty high in neutrients and toxins. My wife freaks out if we get too close to the lighthouse
markaren
New member
OMG , looking left and right and not hesitating a second " My Wife" whew , Im clear now from that shrapnel.
I should have listened to Paul. I am new again and asked Paul his Opinion...I repeat "his opinion on a new tank start" and he suggested perhaps NSW...I went with state of the art EXPENSIVE OVER THE TOP SALT...and got fornicated. I actually wish I spent the last two days driving to the beautiful Atlantic Ocean an used NSW. I now have milk as salt water and have to start again. I am SERIOUSLY considering Paul has his own advise that is actually brainless simple..."keep it simple stupid" how would you like to spend 84.00 on this salt and mix it and see this 30 hours later?
OMG , looking left and right and not hesitating a second " My Wife" whew , Im clear now from that shrapnel.
I should have listened to Paul. I am new again and asked Paul his Opinion...I repeat "his opinion on a new tank start" and he suggested perhaps NSW...I went with state of the art EXPENSIVE OVER THE TOP SALT...and got fornicated. I actually wish I spent the last two days driving to the beautiful Atlantic Ocean an used NSW. I now have milk as salt water and have to start again. I am SERIOUSLY considering Paul has his own advise that is actually brainless simple..."keep it simple stupid" how would you like to spend 84.00 on this salt and mix it and see this 30 hours later?
Don't toss it...heat and circulate...red sea coral pro mixes slowly if its not really turbulent mixing...
jenjen
New member
Hey Paul
Another one of the silent 5000+ who have read this thread (well I guess not silent now that I'm posting). I always love your posts. I've only been in the hobby a few years, but I have a tank I love and it seems to be doing well. My cardinals regularly spawn, my clowns finally laid eggs recently (much to the delight of the wrasse!), and my corals are growing - so I guess things are coming along alright.
I love all the opinions and ideas shared on this forum. I learned early on that while there are some 'popular' or 'trendy' ideas that are often repeated by memory from one poster to another, this hobby is also like any other. It has it's 'old' ways, the current 'trendy' ways and everything in between. It's up to each of us to research, then do what seems best to us.
Kinda like parenting in a way. I slept my baby on her stomach when it was far from popular to do so. She started sleeping for more than 20 mins at a time (after 11 weeks!), and miraculously she is still alive today (13 years later) despite the doctor and everyone else warning me that I should prepare myself for the worst. She still sleeps on her stomach.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and thoughts on reef keeping with this community, despite the 'hate mail'. It's a wonderful balance to all the 'trendy' talk we hear day in and day out. Hopefully most of us are dilligent enough to take it all in and then make our OWN choice. And even if not, it's a most interesting read!
Another one of the silent 5000+ who have read this thread (well I guess not silent now that I'm posting). I always love your posts. I've only been in the hobby a few years, but I have a tank I love and it seems to be doing well. My cardinals regularly spawn, my clowns finally laid eggs recently (much to the delight of the wrasse!), and my corals are growing - so I guess things are coming along alright.
I love all the opinions and ideas shared on this forum. I learned early on that while there are some 'popular' or 'trendy' ideas that are often repeated by memory from one poster to another, this hobby is also like any other. It has it's 'old' ways, the current 'trendy' ways and everything in between. It's up to each of us to research, then do what seems best to us.
Kinda like parenting in a way. I slept my baby on her stomach when it was far from popular to do so. She started sleeping for more than 20 mins at a time (after 11 weeks!), and miraculously she is still alive today (13 years later) despite the doctor and everyone else warning me that I should prepare myself for the worst. She still sleeps on her stomach.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and thoughts on reef keeping with this community, despite the 'hate mail'. It's a wonderful balance to all the 'trendy' talk we hear day in and day out. Hopefully most of us are dilligent enough to take it all in and then make our OWN choice. And even if not, it's a most interesting read!
Mikez1207
MrReef 101
No thats not normal...i have red sea and mine looks nothing like that.....sorry about your water mark
Your signature says 10 gallon nano...are your mixing anywhere near 35 gallons at once that isn't up to temp? I'm not trying to be a smart a**, i'm asking....it does that all the time for me when its not up to temp...or i i just use powerheads rather than my big pump...
If you mix slow, it doesn't do it..if you dump the salt in a new tank, and add water, i would expect to see that...
but thats just my exprience with red sea coral pro...
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