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Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
It was kind of overcast on my beach walk this morning, but I need my exercise, so I got up as I normally do at about 5:00 and went out.

No one there as usual, no Supermodels, celebrities from Dancing with the Stars, or America's Got Talent, just me and the seagulls which is the way I like it.

i also didn't have to save any horseshoe crabs but I did come across this boat, probably from one of the early explorers, maybe Balboa, Rocky Balboa or Rocky and Bulwinkle. (Google Him)
Colombus Boat.jpg



The tide was coming up so I had to hurry because in a few minutes, I wouldn't be able to get back without climbing on these 7' pilings and most of my piling climbing days are over.


High tide.jpg



There are very few places in New York where you can walk on a beach and look both ways about 5 miles, and never see anyone.

Thats the main thing I love about this place. Peace and solitude. Early in the morning anyway.

I need this quiet time before I start my day and the smell of ocean breezes gets into your blood like dope so if you don't get it, you crave it.

I was stationed in Colorado for a few months before Nam and I loved it. There is a lot of solitude there, but I always thought it needed an ocean. I missed that.

On my way back the water came up over this rock so I had to climb over it, Not that big of a deal and I did find this red sponge. Too bad is was not alive.

Sponge.jpg
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
This morning the beach was littered with Codium seaweed as far as I could see and much of it had a holdfast on it so of course I had to collect some.
Codium on beach.jpg



I stuck it on small rocks and threw it in my tank.
Codium in tank.jpg


Codium and Clown Gobi.jpg



I also collected this beautiful red seaweed that I think is some sort of bladderwrack but I am not sure. It isn't easy to see it here but it is a foot high on the right.

Red seaweed.jpg



FTS August.jpg
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I discovered a new, much faster, much cheaper and much easier to glue corals, and seaweeds to rocks. I used it on these seaweeds so if they don't go floating around the tank, I will make a post about it.

Besides that, I know all these seaweeds I added to my tank won't last very long. As soon as my urchin gets hungry, he bites off the holdfast and they float around and get stuck in my pumps where I remove them. But they should last a few months.

I did notice small creatures in the seaweed some were probably tiny crabs and shrimp. So we will see how that works out and I may be surprised one day with a baby Godzilla. :eek2:
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I discovered a different way to "glue" corals and seaweeds to rocks.
Now I did this about 5 hours ago so I can't comment on long term results yet.

This morning I collected about 6 Macro seaweeds on the beach and brought them home. 5 were codium and one was I think, bladderwrack.Codium on beach.jpg

Normally I would put some Crazy Glue on a rock, then put on Reef Putty, then another coat of Crazy glue and stick on the coral or seaweed. But I wanted to try something different, and I get all the seaweeds I want for free, so there was nothing to lose.

I first put some Crazy Glue on a stone, that I used for a weight. Then before it dried, I plopped on Hot Glue from a glue gun.

Before the hot glue solidified, I put on more Crazy glue and stuck on the seaweed.

After about 10 seconds, when the hot glue cooled, I threw them in the tank. So far, every one of them are holding together.

In other words, I just replaced the coral epoxy with hot glue. I like it.
Seaweed.jpg
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Normal beach walk this morning.
Sunrise.jpg

Sunrise.jpg

I did rescue a couple of conch before they became seagull food and I did see a lot of this red seaweed. I love this stuff but it never comes with a holdfast and it is thin and delicate so hard to glue to anything.

Besides that, the fish treat it like an all you can eat buffet so no use putting it in.



The most interesting thing was this huge sailing yacht that was heading south, towards me. I never see a boat there and this twin masted one was about 60' long. I think he was coming to collect amphipods.

Sailboat.jpg
Sailboat.jpg
 
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Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I am so happy. I just came back from a pulmonologist, and the nurse pulled me into the office. I went there because when I went to the hospital last month for doing a wheelie on my wife's motorized chair and flipped over backwards, and had a CAT scan. The doctors in the hospital told me I have to go to a pulmonologist so I went.

The Dr. came in and said, "I have been reading your chart and see that you think you are Evil Knievel and like to flip over on wheelchairs. :cool:

He was the nicest doctor I have ever met. His wife is Sicilian (like me), and he has been to the town my family comes from in Sicily. His Daughter is a Major in the Air Force, which impressed me, as I love hearing about Patriotic people. (Also like me)

He sat down and spoke to us for quite a while, not about doctor stuff, just life in general. Very nice guy.

But besides that, he said although I am loaded with asbestos and Agent Orange, it is not causing me any problems, and the fact that I can walk up 17 flights of stairs every morning and walk two miles, uphill without getting out of breath, he was impressed and said, He wished he could do that. So did his 8-year-old nurse.

I was a little concerned about the asbestos because I need to stay healthy to take care of my wife. :cool:

My blood pressure, after 5 cups of coffee is 120 over 78 which is better than perfect, especially for my age and I also aced my stress test.

I am very happy, just concerned for my wife. :unsure:
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Vice President
Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
Paul, new study shows 5 to 6 cps a coffee a day is healthy. I used to drink that many but won't go into how much sugar used in each cup...ahem, it was a lot. While dating my wife she yelled at me and made me stop all the sugar in my coffee 13 years ago. Now I can't stand sugar in my coffee but I do use half and half, not fat free.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
MadReefer, I also can't stand sugar in my coffee but I use skim milk. I drink 2 cups at 5:30AM before I take my walk then another cup when I get home about 7:00, then another one or two with breakfast at about 7:30.

I don't know how people function without coffee. My best friend who lives next door never drank coffee. But he sleeps late and falls asleep while I am talking to him and can't watch a movie because he can't stay up. How do you function like that?
I don't get it. :cool:

I think I do more before 8:00 in the morning than most people do all day. Maybe all week. :biggrin:
I hate to sleep and I am terrible at it and wish the world got up at 4:00 so I could make some noise.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
This morning I went collecting. The tide was a little too high for amphipods but I found some nice bladderwrack seaweed about a foot high.

The pieces I added last week still look great so I figured I would add some more even though I doubt they will last very long.

Bladdedwrack in tank.jpg


I also collected some beautiful, "stringy" red seaweed but I know this won't last long. It is very delicate and the fish and urchins eat it but it looks nice temporarily so I threw it in.
Red seaweed in tank.jpg


None of these had a holdfast so I also collected some small rocks to attach them to. Now my tank is filled with different seaweeds and I like it.

For now anyway.

I think my tank looks pretty natural. :biggrin:
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I thought this little gobi was going to croak a couple of weeks ago. He is very old and looks to have ich.

But he must have prayed to Saint Peter and now is all better. I'm not sure why. :unsure:

 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Very foggy beach walk this morning. I thought it would be perfect for collecting amphipods as it was low tide and the water was smooth like the top of my head. :cool:
Foggy beach.jpg


I couldn't find one amphipod. :sick:

I did find, and I always do find these invasive Japanese Shore Crabs. There are like 10 of them under every rock.

Japanese Shore Crab.jpgThese things look similar to Sally Lightfoot Crabs and took over every inch of shoreline that used to be occupied by local Green crabs all of which are gone now.
These Japanese crabs do well in a species tank and you can't kill them. In a reef they are OK and don't get more than about an inch and a half but I wouldn't put one in on purpose. I have some tiny ones because I collect amphipods and seaweeds here and tiny ones get in, but I never seen one grow probably because when tiny, the fish eat them.

There are also small eels, about 3 or 4 inches long under many rocks and they are also fun to keep, but not in your reef where they will grow to 3' long and eat everything including you. I couldn't take a picture because they are very fast.
 
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