Unorthodox ways to do things
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
doctorgori
New member
Clear is "clear" right?....I recall I got flamed like the mutha when I said I simply dumped my ASW in a bucket and ran a powerhead until it was clear then used it immediatley; chlorine and all ...I've never admitted it since, but I still do and haven't noticed one modicum of ill effects ....this is of course doing less than a %25 H2O change
edited to add: I use RO so no chlorine issues but I still have no nevermind about it for FW
I don't recall seeing him mention much of corals outside of that one book. The rest of his writings concentrated on fish.
I even went the first 6 years on tap water and dechlor. 2 years ago i finally joined the masses with rodi. But then im fortunate. My tap water going into my ro unit is about 14dts. But the paint mixer i think isz way better and faster than powerheads. If i run it near the surface it also arieats as it mixes. And dont mix with the drill on high...watger eruupts ike a volcanov out of the bucket!
Paul B
Premium Member
Unorthodox feeding methods
Again, I thought everyone did this stuff. OK maybe not but it was always common sense to me.:strange:
Like I said there was not always commercially available stuff to feed our animals. The hobby of keeping the animals started first, then the hobby about feeding and careing for them came about. This is about food that is maybe not available to everyone.
At one time or another I have kept everything available in the hobby except manta rays, I always wanted one of those.:fish2:
Before we kept reefs many of us kept predator tanks. I liked triggers, lionfish, moray eels, puffers and especially anglerfish.
These guys are not especially difficult to feed but many specimins will only eat live food. :fish2:
I could always get goldfish and guppies but it was always thought you should not feed these freshwater prey to saltwater fish.
In the summer I can collect saltwater fish for food but I don't like chopping through ice to collect saltwater fish in the winter so I came up with something that in my mind anyway I thought was better.
Most predators love guppies and goldfish and they are cheap so I had a tank with these fish in it and just before I fed them to my fish I injected them in their belly with fish oil. You knew I was going to get fish oil in this post someplace, didn't you?:hmm3:
Fish oil like cod liver oil is of course from salt water fish and very healthy for our fish. I figured if I injected this oil into a prey fish my predator fish would get the benefit of the salt water oil. It worked and whenever I have one of those fish that will only eat live fish, I fill the guppy or goldfish up with salt water fish oil. (I take the stuff myself every day)
I also inject live grass shrimp with oil but I don't think this is needed, I do it just because I can and I think the extra oil helps.
This also has another benefit but not so much for the guppy. The prey fish does not swim too well after this enhancement so the predator can catch it easier. Now don't be a Sissy, these are feeder fish that are going to be fed to fish anyway. I eat fish every day along with shrimp, clams, oysters and squid and I never really thought how that animal suffered before I ate it. I don't eat red meat so I don't hurt cows so it evens out.
Besides those shrimp you are feeding your fish were also happily swimming around minding their own business.
Another thing that some may find a little odd is feeding Plaster of Paris to fish. Don't re read that, I did say Plaster of Paris, the stuff your walls are made out of. OK not just plaster the way it comes out of the box. I do something to it first.
And I only do this for special fish like moorish Idols and maybe angelfish. Plaster of Paris is just calcium, you can eat the stuff, (but don't)
I also did not invent this but it was used many years ago, before we forgot some basics.
When I keep moorish Idols or any fish I want to get extra calcium into I do this. I mix a little Plaster of Paris and when it starts to set, I can ad whatever I want like banannas. Moorish Idols love banannas, I have no Idea why. I also add some vitamins and greens like nori, maybe a little flake food and fish oil.
The natural diet for Moorish Idols is sponge and in the sea that is al I have ever seen them eat. I found a sponge in New York that grows only on floating wooden docks and Idols love the stuff. They practically jump out of the water for it, but sometimes I ran out of this and needed something to fill in.
This Plaster thing, wnen set becomes the same consistancy as sponge and moorish Idols along with some other fish love the stuff. I never tasted it myself. The Plaster gives the fish needed calcium, the texture fools the fish and I can add whatever I think will benefit the fish.:beer:
I am able to keep moorish Idols for a while longer than many hobbiests do and that is, I think because I have spent some time diving with them trying to learn their secrets. In the sea I never say them eat plaster but that is only because Home Depot doesn't deliver to Tahiti.
I am sure everyone on here knows how to force feed a puffer that does not want to eat. But just in case, you just grab him, being careful not to get bit and being a puffer, he will try to puff up. So you then stick the food in his mouth with a toothpick. They don't puke too well so usually the food will stay down, but not always. Fish also don't have tongues for anyone who never looked in their mouths. Thats probably why they can't speak well.
Again, I thought everyone did this stuff. OK maybe not but it was always common sense to me.:strange:
Like I said there was not always commercially available stuff to feed our animals. The hobby of keeping the animals started first, then the hobby about feeding and careing for them came about. This is about food that is maybe not available to everyone.
At one time or another I have kept everything available in the hobby except manta rays, I always wanted one of those.:fish2:
Before we kept reefs many of us kept predator tanks. I liked triggers, lionfish, moray eels, puffers and especially anglerfish.
These guys are not especially difficult to feed but many specimins will only eat live food. :fish2:
I could always get goldfish and guppies but it was always thought you should not feed these freshwater prey to saltwater fish.
In the summer I can collect saltwater fish for food but I don't like chopping through ice to collect saltwater fish in the winter so I came up with something that in my mind anyway I thought was better.
Most predators love guppies and goldfish and they are cheap so I had a tank with these fish in it and just before I fed them to my fish I injected them in their belly with fish oil. You knew I was going to get fish oil in this post someplace, didn't you?:hmm3:
Fish oil like cod liver oil is of course from salt water fish and very healthy for our fish. I figured if I injected this oil into a prey fish my predator fish would get the benefit of the salt water oil. It worked and whenever I have one of those fish that will only eat live fish, I fill the guppy or goldfish up with salt water fish oil. (I take the stuff myself every day)
I also inject live grass shrimp with oil but I don't think this is needed, I do it just because I can and I think the extra oil helps.
This also has another benefit but not so much for the guppy. The prey fish does not swim too well after this enhancement so the predator can catch it easier. Now don't be a Sissy, these are feeder fish that are going to be fed to fish anyway. I eat fish every day along with shrimp, clams, oysters and squid and I never really thought how that animal suffered before I ate it. I don't eat red meat so I don't hurt cows so it evens out.
Besides those shrimp you are feeding your fish were also happily swimming around minding their own business.
Another thing that some may find a little odd is feeding Plaster of Paris to fish. Don't re read that, I did say Plaster of Paris, the stuff your walls are made out of. OK not just plaster the way it comes out of the box. I do something to it first.
And I only do this for special fish like moorish Idols and maybe angelfish. Plaster of Paris is just calcium, you can eat the stuff, (but don't)
I also did not invent this but it was used many years ago, before we forgot some basics.
When I keep moorish Idols or any fish I want to get extra calcium into I do this. I mix a little Plaster of Paris and when it starts to set, I can ad whatever I want like banannas. Moorish Idols love banannas, I have no Idea why. I also add some vitamins and greens like nori, maybe a little flake food and fish oil.
The natural diet for Moorish Idols is sponge and in the sea that is al I have ever seen them eat. I found a sponge in New York that grows only on floating wooden docks and Idols love the stuff. They practically jump out of the water for it, but sometimes I ran out of this and needed something to fill in.
This Plaster thing, wnen set becomes the same consistancy as sponge and moorish Idols along with some other fish love the stuff. I never tasted it myself. The Plaster gives the fish needed calcium, the texture fools the fish and I can add whatever I think will benefit the fish.:beer:
I am able to keep moorish Idols for a while longer than many hobbiests do and that is, I think because I have spent some time diving with them trying to learn their secrets. In the sea I never say them eat plaster but that is only because Home Depot doesn't deliver to Tahiti.
I am sure everyone on here knows how to force feed a puffer that does not want to eat. But just in case, you just grab him, being careful not to get bit and being a puffer, he will try to puff up. So you then stick the food in his mouth with a toothpick. They don't puke too well so usually the food will stay down, but not always. Fish also don't have tongues for anyone who never looked in their mouths. Thats probably why they can't speak well.
jacob.morgan78
New member
wow. that is awesome... you should go ahead and write a book!
Thank You!
Thank You!
Scary stuff. 
I did one bit of surgery (freshwater)---had a veiltailed angel get chewed, massively, not even side fins left; I arranged a bubbler to agitate the water extremely so that he was bounced off the bottom with his poor stubs of fins, and after a few days, (he was still struggling to swim, as he breathed) he began getting a little growth. The side fins grew out normally, except the right was always folded; and when the tail started to grow back, it was going to be totally bunched and a detriment to him. I got a razor, laid the poor fellow on a board, and sighted carefully to clear the peduncle and have only straight tissue. I cut off the twisted growth to new fin, medicated, and put him back in: I was feeding him off a toothpick, to be sure he could eat; but by then, nothing stopped him. That fish lived for years and years, with a pretty straight tail---just a little ripple in it.
I did one bit of surgery (freshwater)---had a veiltailed angel get chewed, massively, not even side fins left; I arranged a bubbler to agitate the water extremely so that he was bounced off the bottom with his poor stubs of fins, and after a few days, (he was still struggling to swim, as he breathed) he began getting a little growth. The side fins grew out normally, except the right was always folded; and when the tail started to grow back, it was going to be totally bunched and a detriment to him. I got a razor, laid the poor fellow on a board, and sighted carefully to clear the peduncle and have only straight tissue. I cut off the twisted growth to new fin, medicated, and put him back in: I was feeding him off a toothpick, to be sure he could eat; but by then, nothing stopped him. That fish lived for years and years, with a pretty straight tail---just a little ripple in it.
doctorgori
New member
^^^ that took nerve....
...Moorish Idols ...I kept a trio for like a year I think...I wanna say I fed them Formula II .... they are fast growers
...Moorish Idols ...I kept a trio for like a year I think...I wanna say I fed them Formula II .... they are fast growers
miwoodar
Likey the bikey
I was recently involved in a thread about cleaning rock with bleach and muriatic acid that went astray. After a few stupid back and forths with a guy making wacky assertions I threw my hands up and actually deleted my posts. His comments didn't have basis in either tradition or in the literature.
Paul, I want to hear more. I bet you have a properly-tattered copy of the Marine Aquarium Reference laying around somehwere, yes?
Paul B
Premium Member
I got a bunch of them
You mean you guys dont do this stuff? ( How do you keep anything alive?
What would you have done before the internet, that was invented, when? Like last tuesday. The world existed a little while before computers. When you had to think on your own. Figure things out. experiment.
learn, cry. It was all exciting and not just look it up on Google and do what every one else does.
The hobby is bordering on boreing now, everything is done for us. There is no need to experiment.
No, let me try this and see if it blows up.
No, let me see how many pennies I have to add to cure ich.
No, how rotten can my pump get and still be able to put my hand in the water without getting electrocuted?
No, OMG it's eye popped out.
The temperature is 92! is that bad?
You mean you guys dont do this stuff? ( How do you keep anything alive?
What would you have done before the internet, that was invented, when? Like last tuesday. The world existed a little while before computers. When you had to think on your own. Figure things out. experiment.
learn, cry. It was all exciting and not just look it up on Google and do what every one else does.
The hobby is bordering on boreing now, everything is done for us. There is no need to experiment.
No, let me try this and see if it blows up.
No, let me see how many pennies I have to add to cure ich.
No, how rotten can my pump get and still be able to put my hand in the water without getting electrocuted?
No, OMG it's eye popped out.
The temperature is 92! is that bad?
Gorgok
New member
Wait, you are supposed to let water sit after mixing it? I mainly use NSW to fix my salinity from my skimmer being a little wet, but i just eyeball the mix, use a wooden spoon to stir it for about a minute, then add it once i see its clear. I actually changed salts because the one i used before wouldn't clear up in a minute, and it annoyed me that it took so long....
Back when, cities used chlorine to treat water and you could get rid of it by allowing water to sit in a warm spot. The chlorine would bubble out of solution, making bubbles over all the surfaces, you whack the container a few times to shake it up to the surface and wait until it'd stopped bubbling, usually 24 hours. Then it was safe to use. Nowadays cities use chloramine, a chlorine compound that won't come out of solution. There was a period of unfortunate incidents as hobbyists who'd gotten their info from mum tried letting water with chloramine sit that way.
When I started out, aged about 6 and in charge of my own tank, we had Metaframe tanks whose joints were sealed with a tarlike substance, and capped with a longish triangular metal corner frame and rim. If you got a leak, you emptied the tank and either pressed in more tar, or, later, shot in a nasty black plastic substance. For years, filtration was a small plastic box with two tubes, one for the airline in, one for the flow out. You filled the bottom of the box with carbon, the top with white filter floss. I use something similar in my koi pond in the worst of algae season: it's called a pot filter. You put a submersible pump in a bucket, put filter medium and a rock atop, and sink it. Works like a charm.
When I started out, aged about 6 and in charge of my own tank, we had Metaframe tanks whose joints were sealed with a tarlike substance, and capped with a longish triangular metal corner frame and rim. If you got a leak, you emptied the tank and either pressed in more tar, or, later, shot in a nasty black plastic substance. For years, filtration was a small plastic box with two tubes, one for the airline in, one for the flow out. You filled the bottom of the box with carbon, the top with white filter floss. I use something similar in my koi pond in the worst of algae season: it's called a pot filter. You put a submersible pump in a bucket, put filter medium and a rock atop, and sink it. Works like a charm.
Rybren
Well-known member
Had the same tank, same filters, and even made the same pond filter.
I also started out at about 6 years old and learned a very important lesson in my very first week - NEVER place an aquarium next to a dart board.
jacob.morgan78
New member
I very much wish I could motivate you more to do this. You have such great stuff to share! If anyone knows a publicist, send them this way!
I take care of one of those metaframe tanks to this day! It is a 40 breeder with matching chrome hood and striplight.
Dr Colliebreath
New member
Glad I found this thread. I started around 6 also. I recall people looking at me funny when I was trying to cure a fish of swim bladder problems.
Surely you have used Tums for calcium and Alka Seltzer to aerate the water, no?
Surely you have used Tums for calcium and Alka Seltzer to aerate the water, no?
