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Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
I remember that! And seeing the wizard of oz go from real life black and white to the colorful land of oz... Best special effect 'ever'.
Paul B
NJRC Member
Being that I am a Geezer (like many of us) I hear all the time that Geezers are old school and don't change their ways or don't know about new technologies. I run a reverse UG filter and that is not old school as DSBs, SSBs and BBs are newer. Regular UG filters are definately old school and I will be the first to admit, they don't work in salt water.
That is not a rumor and like almost everything, I didn't learn that on the internet. I run a Reverse UG filter because it works long term and has very little maintenance and the system most likely "Not" to fail if something dies or goes bad like the power. How do I know? Everyone with an older tank that does not use reverse UG filter raise your hand.
Thats what I thought. So I can prove the thing works, but as for newer systems, for the last 42 years I (and the other Geezers here) have not been in a coma. We didn't start our tanks decades ago and did nothing else but go bald and watch re-runs of the Ed Sullivan show. Yes Ed Sullivan, he was on with Lincoln and I know you have heard of the Beatles and Elvis Presley. Their first appearence was on that show, and I saw both of them. Anyway, as time went on, sometimes I would awake from my coma to notice "new" methods that was the rage for the time. Jaubert, live sand, wet dry, Berlin, etc. I saw all those systems come and go and I tried all of them. I also had a fish tank during Ed Sullivan's time.
I also know about dosers, controllers, Vodka, Katie Perry, vinegar, reactors Justin Bieber, Lindsey Lohan, designer clownfish and refugiums and was here reading about all of them when they were invented. (or born) I still use Vodka near, but not in my tank. I run a reverse UG filter and that is not old school as DSBs, SSBs and BBs are newer. I remember all the lighting from whale oil lamps to incandescent, to flourescent, to VHO, to PC to MH to LEDs and have had them all. Now it is hard to get whale oil. (unless you find a whale willing to sell you some) By the way, do you know why vintage tanks had slate bottoms? No, it was not cheaper. Years ago, before electricity whale oil lamps were placed under tanks to heat them. See us Geezers know all sorts of things.
Do you know who the rich women in England hired to build their tanks? Ship builders. Yes ship builders because that was the trade where they melted tar to seal ships. Geezers know all sorts of things and we didn't have to google the internet to find out. (computers were made of wood then and so were TVs)
Do you know what the first glass tanks were used for? Ferns. Fern keeping was the rage before fish. It started In England. Like the Beatles.
And for you young uns that think we had it easy, remember there was this thing called the draft, where they would take you right out of high school and stick you on an army base hundreds or thousands of miles from home, way before cell phones or internets, then most likely put you right in the middle of a war where you had a very good chance of not coming home. Then when (and if) you got out, many of us had to go right to work so there was no chance of college and Daddy didn't finance us like some, but certainly not all now.
Oh and you didn't have to show up for the draft, you could have just spent that time in prison where it was safe.
So we did have a few little inconveniences in our time.
That is not a rumor and like almost everything, I didn't learn that on the internet. I run a Reverse UG filter because it works long term and has very little maintenance and the system most likely "Not" to fail if something dies or goes bad like the power. How do I know? Everyone with an older tank that does not use reverse UG filter raise your hand.
Thats what I thought. So I can prove the thing works, but as for newer systems, for the last 42 years I (and the other Geezers here) have not been in a coma. We didn't start our tanks decades ago and did nothing else but go bald and watch re-runs of the Ed Sullivan show. Yes Ed Sullivan, he was on with Lincoln and I know you have heard of the Beatles and Elvis Presley. Their first appearence was on that show, and I saw both of them. Anyway, as time went on, sometimes I would awake from my coma to notice "new" methods that was the rage for the time. Jaubert, live sand, wet dry, Berlin, etc. I saw all those systems come and go and I tried all of them. I also had a fish tank during Ed Sullivan's time.
I also know about dosers, controllers, Vodka, Katie Perry, vinegar, reactors Justin Bieber, Lindsey Lohan, designer clownfish and refugiums and was here reading about all of them when they were invented. (or born) I still use Vodka near, but not in my tank. I run a reverse UG filter and that is not old school as DSBs, SSBs and BBs are newer. I remember all the lighting from whale oil lamps to incandescent, to flourescent, to VHO, to PC to MH to LEDs and have had them all. Now it is hard to get whale oil. (unless you find a whale willing to sell you some) By the way, do you know why vintage tanks had slate bottoms? No, it was not cheaper. Years ago, before electricity whale oil lamps were placed under tanks to heat them. See us Geezers know all sorts of things.
Do you know who the rich women in England hired to build their tanks? Ship builders. Yes ship builders because that was the trade where they melted tar to seal ships. Geezers know all sorts of things and we didn't have to google the internet to find out. (computers were made of wood then and so were TVs)
Do you know what the first glass tanks were used for? Ferns. Fern keeping was the rage before fish. It started In England. Like the Beatles.
And for you young uns that think we had it easy, remember there was this thing called the draft, where they would take you right out of high school and stick you on an army base hundreds or thousands of miles from home, way before cell phones or internets, then most likely put you right in the middle of a war where you had a very good chance of not coming home. Then when (and if) you got out, many of us had to go right to work so there was no chance of college and Daddy didn't finance us like some, but certainly not all now.
Oh and you didn't have to show up for the draft, you could have just spent that time in prison where it was safe.
So we did have a few little inconveniences in our time.
Did you know the first terrariums were in England and they were made because the air was so bad the houseplants died? Ha maybe I got you.
I have seen most of the pictures of your tanks Paul and some of your wild inventions. But could you actually give a rundown of what you are running equipment wise on your tank?
Are you still using your giant skimmer? I remember something broke but don't remember the outcome.
I have seen most of the pictures of your tanks Paul and some of your wild inventions. But could you actually give a rundown of what you are running equipment wise on your tank?
Are you still using your giant skimmer? I remember something broke but don't remember the outcome.
Paul B
NJRC Member
Quote:
Ha maybe I got you.
Think again. When I am asked to speak to aquarium clubs, my topic is the History of the hobby. You didn't get me yet. But I am sure you will. Keeping ferns was as big as reefing is now, maybe bigger. And it was harder because the ladies had to tromp through medieval forests to collect ferns and they were not allowed to wear pants, hot pants, Daisy Dukes or shorts. After they collected all the different kinds of ferns and drew pictures of them while they were waiting for photography to come out, no less digital photography they would mail those pictures to other collectors. They didn't sell ferns in LFSs (local fern stores).
They kept the ferns in glass tanks with wooden backs and they were not waterproof. That's where the ship builders came in.
Then they started wading around the shallows (in their long dresses) collecting tidal creatures to put in their newly waterproofed tanks. Eventually they learned that a little algae in the tank allowed them to keep these creatures longer. Eventually they had Grand Sons and they became the Beatles
As for the equipment in my tank, most of it has been in there for decades. Of course the heart of the system is the RUGF, then the 5' DIY skimmer. I no longer use my DIY chiller because I threw out the Plaza Hotel MH lights and replaced them with home made LEDs. The algae trough has only been in there maybe 5 years and just yesterday I removed the LEDs over that trough and replaced them with a fluorescent fixture. The LEDs over the trough got coated with salt and rotted out. I happened to go to a LFS yesterday and they were selling used 4' fluorescent fixtures for 20 bucks, so I bought one for that purpose. I will eventually re build another LED fixture for that purpose.
I did build a bio pellet reactor for a few months but some of my SPS started to croak so I removed the pellets but the reactor is still there empty. I just like the look of the thing. Maybe I will put ping pong balls in it or something. (I see some of the pictures didn't post so just make believe)
I also re designed and re built my surface skimmer as the old one was almost completely filled with tube worms.
Counter weighted pulley system for lights
DIY, hollow rock
Skimmer
Algae trough
LED fixture (under construction)
Surface skimmer with powerhead to feed protein skimmer
Bio Pellet reactor, used empty just for the coolness factor.
Ha maybe I got you.
Think again. When I am asked to speak to aquarium clubs, my topic is the History of the hobby. You didn't get me yet. But I am sure you will. Keeping ferns was as big as reefing is now, maybe bigger. And it was harder because the ladies had to tromp through medieval forests to collect ferns and they were not allowed to wear pants, hot pants, Daisy Dukes or shorts. After they collected all the different kinds of ferns and drew pictures of them while they were waiting for photography to come out, no less digital photography they would mail those pictures to other collectors. They didn't sell ferns in LFSs (local fern stores).
They kept the ferns in glass tanks with wooden backs and they were not waterproof. That's where the ship builders came in.
Then they started wading around the shallows (in their long dresses) collecting tidal creatures to put in their newly waterproofed tanks. Eventually they learned that a little algae in the tank allowed them to keep these creatures longer. Eventually they had Grand Sons and they became the Beatles
As for the equipment in my tank, most of it has been in there for decades. Of course the heart of the system is the RUGF, then the 5' DIY skimmer. I no longer use my DIY chiller because I threw out the Plaza Hotel MH lights and replaced them with home made LEDs. The algae trough has only been in there maybe 5 years and just yesterday I removed the LEDs over that trough and replaced them with a fluorescent fixture. The LEDs over the trough got coated with salt and rotted out. I happened to go to a LFS yesterday and they were selling used 4' fluorescent fixtures for 20 bucks, so I bought one for that purpose. I will eventually re build another LED fixture for that purpose.
I did build a bio pellet reactor for a few months but some of my SPS started to croak so I removed the pellets but the reactor is still there empty. I just like the look of the thing. Maybe I will put ping pong balls in it or something. (I see some of the pictures didn't post so just make believe)
I also re designed and re built my surface skimmer as the old one was almost completely filled with tube worms.
Counter weighted pulley system for lights
DIY, hollow rock
Skimmer
Algae trough
LED fixture (under construction)
Surface skimmer with powerhead to feed protein skimmer
Bio Pellet reactor, used empty just for the coolness factor.
Paul B
NJRC Member
Quote:
Ha maybe I got you.
Think again. When I am asked to speak to aquarium clubs, my topic is the History of the hobby. You didn't get me yet. But I am sure you will. Keeping ferns was as big as reefing is now, maybe bigger. And it was harder because the ladies had to tromp through medieval forests to collect ferns and they were not allowed to wear pants, hot pants, Daisy Dukes or shorts. After they collected all the different kinds of ferns and drew pictures of them while they were waiting for photography to come out, no less digital photography they would mail those pictures to other collectors. They didn't sell ferns in LFSs (local fern stores).
They kept the ferns in glass tanks with wooden backs and they were not waterproof. That's where the ship builders came in.
Then they started wading around the shallows (in their long dresses) collecting tidal creatures to put in their newly waterproofed tanks. Eventually they learned that a little algae in the tank allowed them to keep these creatures longer.
As for the equipment in my tank, most of it has been in there for decades. Of course the heart of the system is the RUGF, then the 5' DIY skimmer. I no longer use my DIY chiller because I threw out the Plaza Hotel MH lights and replaced them with home made LEDs. The algae trough has only been in there maybe 5 years and just yesterday I removed the LEDs over that trough and replaced them with a fluorescent fixture. The LEDs over the trough got coated with salt and rotted out. I happened to go to a LFS yesterday and they were selling used 4' fluorescent fixtures for 20 bucks, so I bought one for that purpose. I will eventually re build another LED fixture for that purpose.
I did build a bio pellet reactor for a few months but some of my SPS started to croak so I removed the pellets but the reactor is still there empty. I just like the look of the thing. Maybe I will put ping pong balls in it or something.
I also re designed and re built my surface skimmer as the old one was almost completely filled with tube worms.
Counter weighted pulley system for lights
DIY, hollow rock
Skimmer
Algae trough
LED fixture (under construction)
Surface skimmer with powerhead to feed protein skimmer
Bio Pellet reactor, used empty just for the coolness factor.
Ha maybe I got you.
Think again. When I am asked to speak to aquarium clubs, my topic is the History of the hobby. You didn't get me yet. But I am sure you will. Keeping ferns was as big as reefing is now, maybe bigger. And it was harder because the ladies had to tromp through medieval forests to collect ferns and they were not allowed to wear pants, hot pants, Daisy Dukes or shorts. After they collected all the different kinds of ferns and drew pictures of them while they were waiting for photography to come out, no less digital photography they would mail those pictures to other collectors. They didn't sell ferns in LFSs (local fern stores).
They kept the ferns in glass tanks with wooden backs and they were not waterproof. That's where the ship builders came in.
Then they started wading around the shallows (in their long dresses) collecting tidal creatures to put in their newly waterproofed tanks. Eventually they learned that a little algae in the tank allowed them to keep these creatures longer.
As for the equipment in my tank, most of it has been in there for decades. Of course the heart of the system is the RUGF, then the 5' DIY skimmer. I no longer use my DIY chiller because I threw out the Plaza Hotel MH lights and replaced them with home made LEDs. The algae trough has only been in there maybe 5 years and just yesterday I removed the LEDs over that trough and replaced them with a fluorescent fixture. The LEDs over the trough got coated with salt and rotted out. I happened to go to a LFS yesterday and they were selling used 4' fluorescent fixtures for 20 bucks, so I bought one for that purpose. I will eventually re build another LED fixture for that purpose.
I did build a bio pellet reactor for a few months but some of my SPS started to croak so I removed the pellets but the reactor is still there empty. I just like the look of the thing. Maybe I will put ping pong balls in it or something.
I also re designed and re built my surface skimmer as the old one was almost completely filled with tube worms.
Counter weighted pulley system for lights
DIY, hollow rock
Skimmer
Algae trough
LED fixture (under construction)
Surface skimmer with powerhead to feed protein skimmer
Bio Pellet reactor, used empty just for the coolness factor.
Paul B
NJRC Member
It is not hard to stump me, just ask me the name of something. I can't remember the names of anything. I have been married to "Whats her name" for 40 years and when we used to date and I used to call her, I hoped she didn't answer right away until I could get the piece of paper out of my pocket with her name on it. I used to date girls and call them by a different girl's name which as you know, didn't make points.
I don't know how many corals I have in my tank but I can only name 4 types. When I used to work I was a construction "electrician" general foreman sometimes running 120 men. Once I fired a guy, and he was a plumber.
I don't know how many corals I have in my tank but I can only name 4 types. When I used to work I was a construction "electrician" general foreman sometimes running 120 men. Once I fired a guy, and he was a plumber.
Paul B
NJRC Member
I have been wanting to re design my workshop since I moved here 35 years ago, I just "almost" finished it today. I got that little lab sink At Home Depot and I built those drawers under the bench. It took me a few decades to think about adding that sink, and between yesterday and today, I finally did it. I also built that cabinet with the four drawers in it to the right. Now if it doesn't take me another 35 years to paint it, I will be all set. It is a pleasure having a sink in there so I don't mess up the "real" sink in my finished basement and I won't have to make sure I clean out every worm before my wife sees it.
Paul B
NJRC Member
My dragon faced pipefish has an issue. He is bloated and floats. That is a common problem with fish in the seahorse family. The males have a pouch and they give birth. When Mother Nature decided that males of some species should give birth she designed this pouch for the males to nurture the baby fish. The problem is that the fish has no way to clean out the pouch and bacteria often grows in there from either a still born fry or just gunk as the fish can open the pouch just for the heck of it, maybe to clean out lint or look for spare change.
If I could catch the fish, I can do a little arthroscopic surgery, an in office procedure to correct the problem. But he managed to get to the back of the tank and I can't find him. He has to wedge himself under a rock top stay submerged. If I can't locate him, he will die as he can't eat in that condition. But it is what it is and that is fairly common with that type of fish.
If I could catch the fish, I can do a little arthroscopic surgery, an in office procedure to correct the problem. But he managed to get to the back of the tank and I can't find him. He has to wedge himself under a rock top stay submerged. If I can't locate him, he will die as he can't eat in that condition. But it is what it is and that is fairly common with that type of fish.
I have been wanting to re design my workshop since I moved here 35 years ago, I just "almost" finished it today. I got that little lab sink At Home Depot and I built those drawers under the bench. It took me a few decades to think about adding that sink, and between yesterday and today, I finally did it. I also built that cabinet with the four drawers in it to the right. Now if it doesn't take me another 35 years to paint it, I will be all set. It is a pleasure having a sink in there so I don't mess up the "real" sink in my finished basement and I won't have to make sure I clean out every worm before my wife sees it.
Come on Paul, lets tell the truth....I found some old pictures too....when someone leaves their Photobucket account open. Now lets try this again, who put in that sink?
Paul B
NJRC Member
Thank you, I love being an inventor and I stay up all night thinking of things to invent, unfortunately most of the good stuff has already been invented, things like pooper scoopers, SPAM, hamburger helper, pet rock, Slinky, bubble gum and five day deodorant pads. But if you and I were stranded on a desert Island I could make you a flat screen TV out of two coconut shells and a blue legged hermit crab. With a red leg hermit crab I could make it in HD.
Of course if I was there with a Supermodel, there would no need for a TV, flat screen or otherwise and I would be able to have all the food for myself as Supermodels just need to split an M&M in half for two meals. Dance
Of course if I was there with a Supermodel, there would no need for a TV, flat screen or otherwise and I would be able to have all the food for myself as Supermodels just need to split an M&M in half for two meals. Dance