• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Now that my water cooled light works I think I will build another one for my algae scrubber. I think this one will be an air cooled copper one because it will be to small for a water pump. I just need to buy a copper plate about 8" square and I am going to solder fins all over the back and add a small fan. I have a bunch of extra LEDs I can use.
Another fun project.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
My closest friend and dive partner, Richie Natoli just moved to Key Largo and here is a couple of pictures he sent me,
Below water


And above

 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I finally found a use for the waste water from RO/DI. It was looking me in the face for years and all of a sudden as I was looking at my worm tank I said. "Like Duh". I am wasting all this water and my blackworm tank is right under my RO unit. So now the waste water goes into the worm keeper, then to a drain. My tank evaporates about a gallon a day so that makes about 4 gallons of waste water. My worm tank only holds about 2 gallons so it is a win win situation.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Two more days, Christmas Day is my Birthday and I am very happy because everyone celebrates it with me.

 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
So today I am making stuffed Calamari with linguini for one of the seafood dishes we will have tonight for Christmas Eve dinner. We are Italian so we have to have at least 7 types of seafood today. Last year we had 21 because we all bring something.
Anyway I am stuffing the squid and I had to go downstairs for more olive oil. I immediately sense something is wrong. I look at my tank and it is totally dark. Oh No. These things only happen on Easter, Mother's Day or Christmas Eve. I put down the oil and go in the back of the tank. Now I have this new water cooled LED fixture that I built a week ago and it has been running great with no problems. I see water on the floor and the sight glass on my fixture is empty. Oh No. The first thing I do is look at the corals with a flashlight because this fixture is made of copper pipe and if the water from the fixture went in the tank, the corals would be looking like snot from the copper. The corals look good and I can't see anything leaking. So I slowly add water to the system and OH NO. Water is shooting out from a union. I tighten the union and add more water. OH NO, it shoots right out. So I remove the union and remember I have a bunch of calamari in the middle of being stuffed. The Calamari will have to wait. It's dead anyway so it won't notice.
I put the union on my workbench and check it out but it looks fine. I screw it back on to the fitting using new Teflon tape, fill it with water, turn on the system and ......Oh No. Water is spitting all over the place. AAAAHHHHHH.
I really need to get these calamari finished. I remove the union again and take it to my workbench. This is not easy because I am covered in Olive oil and garlic. This time I look closer and the thing has a big crack in it. The crack only shows up when it is screwed to a pipe. I have a spare union and I install it and slowly fill the system with water. The light goes on, then it goes off, it goes on, then off. It takes about an hour to get all the air out of the system for it to stay running. After all the air is out, there is no more maintenance or adding water because it is a closed system like a car radiator. Luckily I built this thing with a fail safe built in. It worked as it was designed, if it runs out of water or the pump stops, the LEDs turn off so they don't burn out. The fail safe is how we design things on a construction job and it means if the thing dies, or leaks, it will leak outside the tank and the LEDs will turn off. All the plastic parts are outside the tank and I know my soldered pipe joints won't leak as I pressure tested them and now the system has no pressure in it. So now all is well. The fish and corals are happy, I even gave them some squid which they don't like nearly as much as clams because it is much more chewy.
Merry Christmas Everyone.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
My book party is today. I have a big poster of the book and it should be fun. We couldn't get the New York Aquarium because it is still closed due to Hurricane Sandy. Why knew? But we are having it in an Italian restaurant that I go to often and know the owners well. It should be fun. My Daughter will read the foreword and I will read part of the introduction, but if no one is paying attention, I will punish them and read the entire book :eek:
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I just love making typhoons with my diatom filter. I am not sure how the fish and corals like it though. But they will thank me later.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
This morning when the lights came on in my tank I said to myself, "Self" this tank is gorgeous. Not because I have the nicest corals, fish, aquascape, lights or anything else but because my tank, and "every" tank is a work of art. Especially today after I stirred up everything with a diatom filter and sucked every thing out. The fish seem to be suspended in air as there is not a particle floating anywhere. I am sure the corals enjoyed the typhoon as they all seem to be smiling and extending their tentacles, probably only to be disappointed that they are not collecting anything. But that will change at dinnertime when I cut up some clams for the fish, but more importantly for the clam juice that the corals seem to enjoy. My tank depends on this treatment because I run a reverse undergravel filter. I am not sure how other people maintain their tanks as I have always ran this type of system. I like it because I can maintain it and truth be told, I enjoy doing it. Seeing the clouds of very fine detritus floating over the gorgonians (with the pumps off) and their tiny tentacles pulsating with enjoyment as they ingest this stuff. The fish flitting about trying to catch something that they hope is food. I realize many people would think of this as work. But if maintenance is work, why would you be in this hobby? "Work" or maintenance, feeding, cleaning, scraping, changing water etc. Is "all" fun to me. I had a job all my life where people threw money at me every week and every five minutes for forty years I looked at my watch to see if it was time for me to go home, partly to see my tank. That was work. Tank maintenance! That is fun. Every part of it. If it were not, I would go back to work, God Forbid.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
My dopey air pump for my home made skimmer croaked. Even though it is a venture skimmer it needs an air pump because it is 5' tall and my home made venture valve needs a little "help" getting air that far down. I don't remember when I got this pump but I know I didn't buy it. Someone must have gave it to me many years ago. I can normally fix these things but the silly little one way valves cracked as did the housing they are in. It is a "Luft" air pump which puts out 7lbs of pressure which is what I need. They sell repair parts but of course not the parts I need. That would be silly because then, you could fix the thing. I ordered a new pump but fixed the old one just to spite the company. I repaired the cracks in the valve housing with Goop glue and attached acrylic, spring loaded one way valves to the diaphragm to by pass the damaged valves. The thing works "almost" as good as new. The air pump is behind the white "controller" ($8.00 light timer) on the very neat shelf. Try not to comment on my phone wire. Yes I do have a wireless phone there but that one is just covering the hole in the wall for now. It is also from the 70s.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Today I saw on another forum someone had a "smart" watch that they could use to check on their tank and change the colors of their lights, see the temperature and a number of other things which I have no idea of. My day consists of getting up at about 5:30 and "if" I decide to go to my finished basement to do something I will walk past the tank and put my finger on the front glass. That is my temperature check. Then.........Well.....That's about it. Of course I will hear if the pumps are running and while my finger is on the glass if the tank leaked all over the floor, I will hear the squishing but if I don't hear that I will go about my day knowing that my fish will be fine. If there is a problem, they may text me.
Then I will go about my day exploring the meaning of life, drinking coffee with friends while searching for Supermodels until I again come home.
I am not quite sure what my fish do all day but they are almost all spawning so I assume they are dating. I go to the freezer and remove a clam, scrape off some paper thin pieces, add some live blackworms and, after turning off the pumps, squirt it in the water. I squirt some on the right side so the copperband goes over there, then I squirt some on the left side so the bangai cardinals can eat, then, the copperband goes over there so I squirt some over to the right side again so the wrasses can eat and so on. Of course I have to fill my mandarin feeder with new born brine shrimp and maybe clean the glass with a DIY magnet thing but that's about it.
My RO unit has a piece of white electrical tape on it and it reads 4/15/07. It seems like yesterday that I changed that membrane but I guess it is time to replace it. I am surprised the thing still makes water. Every six months or so, If I think about it or if something seems off, I will bring some water to a LFS to test it. And of course I do change some water. If it is the summer I may collect 10 gallons at a beach but usually I make it like everyone else. I don't do that very often but I do change some water. That's my maintenance for the most part.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
So I went to the surgeon today who did my hand and knee surgery a few weeks ago. My right hand is not healing because I am using it to much. Like Duh, it is my right hand.
So I am not allowed to use it "especially" with tools. On the way to the Doctor's office I noticed a loud screech coming from my front right wheel. When I got out I checked it out through the wheel and I can see a big groove in the rotor.
So now I need to jack up the car, remove the wheel, take off the rotor to have it cut and change the front brake pads. Simple, but not by using only my left hand. I used to be a mechanic and can normally do this in 15 minutes, but without using my right hand, this is going to be an interesting repair. Oh, I forgot, he also operated on my left knee at the same time so I can't kneel down on it. I am going to see if I can do this using osmosis. :eek:
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Paul, you're old school....when we use to get rotors and drums turned by our local machinists. Now you simply buy new rotors (or drums) and throw the old ones out. I just did my Ford truck with new hubs (old school I would have put in new races), bearings, rotors, and brakes. Cost less than $150. Amazon is amazing for car parts!
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I am old school and like my old rotors. My friend has a machine shop a few blocks away and hopefully can still turn rotors. It may be too chewed up then I will get a new one, but I like fixing things better. It is also practically free and takes 20 minutes.
If people knew how easy it is to install disk brakes, they would be surprised they charge so much. I used to be a mechanic for General Motors in a past life.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I recently acquired this beauty, the coral, not the fish. It's a blue "something" I don't normally remember names and was married to my wife for about 6 years before I stopped calling her "Hey".
I know by the color that it is not photosynthetic so it needs to be fed. Most tanks are far to clean to keep something like this (mine probably is also) so a couple of times a day I take one of these squeeze things and stir up a nice place in the gravel that I have not touched for a while and make a storm. The coral seems to enjoy this and I am hoping it is getting some nutrition out of this along with the clams with their juice I feed daily.


I use one of these to do the stirring.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top