THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

[albertthiel]

Ermmm I did Albert. They are just 2 engines from my collection I do have more.

 

Gee I guess that is yet another Hobby of yours then ... Nicely done ... so now all you have to do is to tweak and modify it so you can get your MP-10 to run off it ... that will be the day right ... :-o

 

Albert

[atoll]

My collection of Mamod steam engines is all but complete Albert as far as the engines I want. The ones I have are something of a collectors item now even though Mamod still make miniature steam engines. My engines go back to the days of my childhood even if the engines I now have are not the original ones I had all those years ago.

.

Your idea of using one of my steam engines to power my MP10 is not as far fetched as you might think as you can run small generators with them. Not powerful enough unfortunately to produce the UK 230v required as far as I know. I have a small generator which only produces around 3v when run off one of my engines. Perhaps Paul could come up with an idea to get more Volts and whats out of one.

Gee I guess that is yet another Hobby of yours then ... Nicely done ... so now all you have to do is to tweak and modify it so you can get your MP-10 to run off it ... that will be the day right ... :-o

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

I love steam engines, I love any kind of engine, diesel, gas, two cycle, 4 cycle, electric, solar, anything. I have been working for a few years on a gravity/solar motor that works great on paper and as soon as I get a free 10 minutes I will build the thing. It uses the heat from the sun, not the radiation, plus gravity to make a very efficient power source. At least I think so. We will see. Just another thing on the burner to think about. But this is the reason I can never sleep at night. Inventions, fish, boats, supermodels, where does the time go?

[albertthiel]

My collection of Mamod steam engines is all but complete Albert as far as the engines I want. The ones I have are something of a collectors item now even though Mamod still make miniature steam engines. My engines go back to the days of my childhood even if the engines I now have are not the original ones I had all those years ago.

.

Your idea of using one of my steam engines to power my MP10 is not as far fetched as you might think as you can run small generators with them. Not powerful enough unfortunately to produce the UK 230v required as far as I know. I have a small generator which only produces around 3v when run off one of my engines. Perhaps Paul could come up with an idea to get more Volts and whats out of one.

 

Well that sure is an interesting hobby you started when you were young ... I guess it a bit like those who have the original Marklin Trains ... Or the little matchbox cars .. can't remember the name, although I think it may be "Matchbox".

 

And on running the PH with those engines .... Paul I am sure would have some input on how to get it to work and what you may need t do so.

 

Albert

[kwellens]

 

Hi Albert. Got my lights all squared away and the coral is looking better.

 

Now I believe I have a bristle worm in my tank that is very long. It lives in a piece of my live rock. I had seen it once at night but 2 days ago when I fed the fish in the morning it popped out of the hole in the live rock too. At least 6 inches or so came out of the hole but there was more of it in the hole. I never saw the other end of it. Should I try to remove this? It was not big in circumference but obviously pretty long. I have a tail spot blenny and pink streaked wrasse and I really do not want them in danger. The good thing is that every time I see the worm it is in the same piece of rock which is easily removed so I could at least get the rock out for a freshwater dip or whatever is needed.

 

[albertthiel]

I love steam engines, I love any kind of engine, diesel, gas, two cycle, 4 cycle, electric, solar, anything. I have been working for a few years on a gravity/solar motor that works great on paper and as soon as I get a free 10 minutes I will build the thing. It uses the heat from the sun, not the radiation, plus gravity to make a very efficient power source. At least I think so. We will see. Just another thing on the burner to think about. But this is the reason I can never sleep at night. Inventions, fish, boats, supermodels, where does the time go?

 

Very true Paul with all those plans and all those ideas and all those hobbies there just are not enough hours in the day even if you do not sleep ...

 

Albert

[atoll]

I was always fascinated by steam engines as a child Albert esp steam trains and traction engines I have a working steam model of Stephenson's rocket. Here's a video of one of my traction engines it running in my hall way.

I have more videos of some of my engines running on my YouTube channel.

 

Well that sure is an interesting hobby you started when you were young ... I guess it a bit like those who have the original Marklin Trains ... Or the little matchbox cars .. can't remember the name, although I think it may be "Matchbox".

 

And on running the PH with those engines .... Paul I am sure would have some input on how to get it to work and what you may need t do so.

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Hi Albert. Got my lights all squared away and the coral is looking better. Now I believe I have a bristle worm in my tank that is very long. It lives in a piece of my live rock. I had seen it once at night but 2 days ago when I fed the fish in the morning it popped out of the hole in the live rock too. At least 6 inches or so came out of the hole but there was more of it in the hole. I never saw the other end of it. Should I try to remove this? It was not big in circumference but obviously pretty long. I have a tail spot blenny and pink streaked wrasse and I really do not want them in danger. The good thing is that every time I see the worm it is in the same piece of rock which is easily removed so I could at least get the rock out for a freshwater dip or whatever is needed.

You can do that and flush it out, or you can get some aquarium Putty and close up the hole that it is in, the only issue with that sometimes that you need to make sure there is no other way out for it ...

 

Usually though there is no backdoor exit but it pays to make sure ... Now if there are no life forms attached to that rock then flushing it out is a good way ... some have suggested that spraying carbonated water on the area where it is hiding usually gets it out better and just plain freshwater. And of course you need to make sure that it comes out in its entirety.

 

Now if you have one you may have more ... and you may want to inspect your tank during the night with a Red Light to see what else is there that might be crawling around in the tank.

 

Albert

[atoll]

You can also add a few drops of iodine to the water you are going to dip it in .

You can do that and flush it out, or you can get some aquarium Putty and close up the hole that it is in, the only issue with that sometimes that you need to make sure there is no other way out for it ...

 

Usually though there is no backdoor exit but it pays to make sure ... Now if there are no life forms attached to that rock then flushing it out is a good way ... some have suggested that spraying carbonated water on the area where it is hiding usually gets it out better and just plain freshwater. And of course you need to make sure that it comes out in its entirety.

 

Now if you have one you may have more ... and you may want to inspect your tank during the night with a Red Light to see what else is there that might be crawling around in the tank.

 

Albert

[kwellens]

The rock does have 2 corals on it that we're hitch hikers on the rock. Would they survive the fresh water? Would you advise definitely getting the worm out or should I let it stay?

[albertthiel]

I was always fascinated by steam engines as a child Albert esp steam trains and traction engines I have a working steam model of Stephenson's rocket. Here's a video of one of my traction engines it running in my hall way.

I have more videos of some of my engines running on my YouTube channel.

 

That is super duper Neat Les ... I have to see if any of those are around here in the US ... I guess they probably are although I have not run across any at Toy Stores many years ago in NY (FAO Schwartz) but then maybe I was looking in all the wrong places when touring around it ...

 

Albert

PS I will have to check your U-Tube Channel ...

[Paul.b]

Atoll, very extreamly cool steam engines.

[albertthiel]

The rock does have 2 corals on it that we're hitch hikers on the rock. Would they survive the fresh water? Would you advise definitely getting the worm out or should I let it stay?

 

If you have corals on it then why don't you just push a bunch of putty into the whole where the worm is and let it be as that should IMO take care of it ..

 

Albert

[kwellens]

Thanks. I will try that.

[albertthiel]

Thanks. I will try that.

Yes that is what I would myself

Keep us posted pls.

Sent from my IPhone

Albert

[Paul.b]

Fish are smarter than us

Why do I say that fish are smarter than us? Well think about it, we as 2 legged beings can go forward, backward and from side to side. Fish can do that too, but they can also go up and down, and they can do that just by thinking about it and barely moving a fin. If we get up in the middle of the night because we hear a noise or are thinking about that Victoria Secret catalog on the table (not that we would look at something like that, I am just using that as an example and I know if you ever did look at it, it would purely be for research) But whatever the reason, we would run into walls, doors, windows and the lucky few of us may run into a beautiful cat burgler. But a fish would not run (or swim) into anything. Why? Because they have a lateral line that lets them know what is around them even in pitch darkness. Ever wonder why you could never catch a fish by chasing it with a net? If someone ran after you with a net, I bet they would catch you.
Everybody here who has a lateral line raise your hand, Higher. Thats what I thought.

Fish can do something else that "most" of us can't do. They can change sex. Then, if they get bored, they can change back. If we do that, it is very painful, (I would imagine) only works one time, is very expensive and leaves scars, (I think anyway, not that I know anything about that or am judging anyone)
I have some fireclown fish, well I had one for a long time and I decided to get another one.
That first one was either male or female, I have no idea, But then again I rode the Long Island Railroad for 40 years and many times I wasn't sure if I was next to a man or woman, but I digress. This fireclown sat there in a broken bottle for years and just looked out the glass at me. He (or she)kept guard over a nest and he would keep it neat, blow away detritus along with arrow crab poop. And there wasn't even another fireclown for, Oh I don't know 15 miles (I am guessing) Then one day I added another fireclown and they both fought. I don't know if they both thought of themselves as boys, girls or politicians, but then after a few years they started becoming friends, then they were more then friends if you know what I mean. So one of them became a female. Now I don't know what posessed that one to change into a female but I do remember walking in front of the tank in my underware, I don't know if that would have caused the transformation, my wife just tells me to get away from in front of the TV.

So fish are not as stupid as we think. If you had no thumbs to hold a pencil, how well do you think you would do on standardized tests?
Fish can do many things that we can't do. If we put some food in the tank, they will find it right away, I can't even find anything my wife puts in the refrigerator.
If a fish loses an eye, he barely notices and goes about his life as if he just had Lazac surgery. They get along fine just by relying on their lateral line. Fish don't even have to sleep, if we go like 3 days with out sleep we start halucinating about Paris Hilton or worse, her dog, but if you leave the lights on, a fish will just stay awake and, Oh I don't know, think about changing sex.
Another wierd thing about fish is that tropical fish for the most part are beautifully colored, why is that? Is it to attract a mate? to scare predators? to look good in magazines? No. Why? because where fish live the only color you can see is blue. If you decend down in the ocean about 40' everything becomes blue because blue is the only color of the srectrum that gets through that much water. (It is either 30' 40' or something like that, I am a diver but I never take a rueller with me and I forgot the depth that colors disappear, work with me)
So all fish appear blue in the sea. A copperband butterfly would be blue with darker blue bands, and red appears black. (I got a moray eel story with blood and all so if you didn't hear it, remind me) So their color is a mystery. The fish probably know why they have those colors but no one else does.
Also while we are seriously thinking about this, why do fish from temperate (or cold water) have drab colors?
Ever see a bright red or blue flounder with yellow stripes? I didn't think so, but why? I don't know but I bet you never thought about it. I did.
Why are there no copperband butterflies in Florida? You would think with all the bilge water from ships some of them would get here as invasive species. But no, what do we get for invasive species? Snakeheads that eat everything imaginable, carp, that invaded every river, stream, brook, lake, sink, bathtub and coffee pot everywhere in the world. Those things could live on a damp sponge. Zebra mussles that clog pipes and taste like snot, Japanese shore crabs that invaded every square inch of coastline on the eastern US, lionfish that are eating all the small native fish. So why can't we get invasive copperband butterflies, square anthias, sailfin tangs, bangai cardinals, Swedish massage therapists?
This is just one more thing I don't know. There is a whole plethora of things I don't know. An unimaginal vast expanse of knowledge I don't posess. I mean we could go on about what is at the end of the universe and we would all have different opinions, sort of like ich threads. I think at the end of the universe is a brick wall with tar paper on top of it, and beyond that are strawberry fields forever. Prove me wrong.

I guess we should save some room for your thoughts and then we could start on why invertabrates are smarter than we are.

I took this in Tahiti in maybe 60' of water. Notice how all those beautiful corals are blue as well as that Moorish Idol at the bottom and even the sharks. If you shine a light on them they become colorful

http://s258.photobucket.com/user/urchsearch/media/Guppies.jpg.html'>

Notice where the light is hitting that there is color, look at the lack of colors where the light does not hit. This was the same reef with a flash

http://s258.photobucket.com/user/urchsearch/media/LongNose.jpg.html'>

[Drift Monkey]

 

Got my book today! Thanks again Albert!

[atoll]

I came accross an interesting question about clown fish so I thought I would post it here with my reply. I wonder what others experiences have been. Here is the question with my reply below.

 

" I have 3 orange skunk clownfish with a rose tip anemone. They were together in the shop and I was informed they have always been a 3 hence I bought them all.

The smallest one was the first to host in the anemone, but now seems to have been pushed out for the middle one, the big one isn't hosting (yet I hope).

Is it possible that the little one is being bullied? They all seem ok together when not in the nem, but the little one is always eyeing it up and being chased away "

 

Could anyone let me know what this is about or if I'm just being paranoid while they settle in? I've only had them since Sunday so they are still very new, I just don't know what to expect!"

 

My reply

 

"The nem also needs to be large enough in many cases for the smallest to be accepted. Often the smallest clown will hang out near the nem until lights out when it will sneak into the nem under the cover of darkness. However no 2/3 clowns are the same with regards to accepting others. A small clown maybe chased away and even killed while others simply accept a small sub adult readily it seems. The sub adult is kept 3rd in line unless one of the others dies or one is removed. Should the sub adult change into a male or female then all hell can let loose."

 

There were other replies before mine so I did not repeat them with my post response.

 

Les.

[atoll]

Seeing Albert appears indisposed this morning here is a couple of links to articles about Goby Pistol shrimp relationships.

 

http://www.fishchannel.com/saltwater-aquariums/species-info/goby/gobies-and-pistol-shrimp.aspx

 

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5250

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/1/fish

[albertthiel]

Seeing Albert appears indisposed this morning here is a couple of links to articles about Goby Pistol shrimp relationships.

 

http://www.fishchannel.com/saltwater-aquariums/species-info/goby/gobies-and-pistol-shrimp.aspx

 

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5250

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/1/fish

Thanks Les.

 

No DSL. Outage in my area. Cannot log on from laptop for now

Albert

Sent from my IPhone

[kendrid]

Seeing Albert appears indisposed this morning here is a couple of links to articles about Goby Pistol shrimp relationships.

 

http://www.fishchannel.com/saltwater-aquariums/species-info/goby/gobies-and-pistol-shrimp.aspx

 

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5250

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/1/fish

 

I just received a Alpheus randalli from Liveaquaria this past week. The darn thing hasn't even touched my sand yet, it is living at the highest point in my tank in the rocks. My yellow watchman circled it for a while then gave up and went back to his burrow.

[albertthiel]

Fish are smarter than us

Why do I say that fish are smarter than us? Well think about it, we as 2 legged beings can go forward, backward and from side to side. Fish can do that too, but they can also go up and down, and they can do that just by thinking about it and barely moving a fin. If we get up in the middle of the night because we hear a noise or are thinking about that Victoria Secret catalog on the table (not that we would look at something like that, I am just using that as an example and I know if you ever did look at it, it would purely be for research) But whatever the reason, we would run into walls, doors, windows and the lucky few of us may run into a beautiful cat burgler. But a fish would not run (or swim) into anything. Why? Because they have a lateral line that lets them know what is around them even in pitch darkness. Ever wonder why you could never catch a fish by chasing it with a net? If someone ran after you with a net, I bet they would catch you.

Everybody here who has a lateral line raise your hand, Higher. Thats what I thought.

Fish can do something else that "most" of us can't do. They can change sex. Then, if they get bored, they can change back. If we do that, it is very painful, (I would imagine) only works one time, is very expensive and leaves scars, (I think anyway, not that I know anything about that or am judging anyone)

I have some fireclown fish, well I had one for a long time and I decided to get another one.

That first one was either male or female, I have no idea, But then again I rode the Long Island Railroad for 40 years and many times I wasn't sure if I was next to a man or woman, but I digress. This fireclown sat there in a broken bottle for years and just looked out the glass at me. He (or she)kept guard over a nest and he would keep it neat, blow away detritus along with arrow crab poop. And there wasn't even another fireclown for, Oh I don't know 15 miles (I am guessing) Then one day I added another fireclown and they both fought. I don't know if they both thought of themselves as boys, girls or politicians, but then after a few years they started becoming friends, then they were more then friends if you know what I mean. So one of them became a female. Now I don't know what posessed that one to change into a female but I do remember walking in front of the tank in my underware, I don't know if that would have caused the transformation, my wife just tells me to get away from in front of the TV.

So fish are not as stupid as we think. If you had no thumbs to hold a pencil, how well do you think you would do on standardized tests?

Fish can do many things that we can't do. If we put some food in the tank, they will find it right away, I can't even find anything my wife puts in the refrigerator.

If a fish loses an eye, he barely notices and goes about his life as if he just had Lazac surgery. They get along fine just by relying on their lateral line. Fish don't even have to sleep, if we go like 3 days with out sleep we start halucinating about Paris Hilton or worse, her dog, but if you leave the lights on, a fish will just stay awake and, Oh I don't know, think about changing sex.

Another wierd thing about fish is that tropical fish for the most part are beautifully colored, why is that? Is it to attract a mate? to scare predators? to look good in magazines? No. Why? because where fish live the only color you can see is blue. If you decend down in the ocean about 40' everything becomes blue because blue is the only color of the srectrum that gets through that much water. (It is either 30' 40' or something like that, I am a diver but I never take a rueller with me and I forgot the depth that colors disappear, work with me)

So all fish appear blue in the sea. A copperband butterfly would be blue with darker blue bands, and red appears black. (I got a moray eel story with blood and all so if you didn't hear it, remind me) So their color is a mystery. The fish probably know why they have those colors but no one else does.

Also while we are seriously thinking about this, why do fish from temperate (or cold water) have drab colors?

Ever see a bright red or blue flounder with yellow stripes? I didn't think so, but why? I don't know but I bet you never thought about it. I did.

Why are there no copperband butterflies in Florida? You would think with all the bilge water from ships some of them would get here as invasive species. But no, what do we get for invasive species? Snakeheads that eat everything imaginable, carp, that invaded every river, stream, brook, lake, sink, bathtub and coffee pot everywhere in the world. Those things could live on a damp sponge. Zebra mussles that clog pipes and taste like snot, Japanese shore crabs that invaded every square inch of coastline on the eastern US, lionfish that are eating all the small native fish. So why can't we get invasive copperband butterflies, square anthias, sailfin tangs, bangai cardinals, Swedish massage therapists?

This is just one more thing I don't know. There is a whole plethora of things I don't know. An unimaginal vast expanse of knowledge I don't posess. I mean we could go on about what is at the end of the universe and we would all have different opinions, sort of like ich threads. I think at the end of the universe is a brick wall with tar paper on top of it, and beyond that are strawberry fields forever. Prove me wrong.

I guess we should save some room for your thoughts and then we could start on why invertabrates are smarter than we are.

I took this in Tahiti in maybe 60' of water. Notice how all those beautiful corals are blue as well as that Moorish Idol at the bottom and even the sharks. If you shine a light on them they become colorful

 

Notice where the light is hitting that there is color, look at the lack of colors where the light does not hit. This was the same reef with a flash

 

 

 

 

I loved it Paul ... thanks for sharing your thoughts and "deep thinking"

 

And I guess since I am posting ATT finally fixed the DSL problem in the area here. We had been DSL'less since about 6:30 this morning when I just tried to log on to my Laptop ... oh well .. that's hi-tech for you

 

Thanks again for those great and insightful thoughts Paul

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Got my book today! Thanks again Albert!

 

You are welcome .. glad it arrived .. enjoy the reading !

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

I came accross an interesting question about clown fish so I thought I would post it here with my reply. I wonder what others experiences have been. Here is the question with my reply below.

 

" I have 3 orange skunk clownfish with a rose tip anemone. They were together in the shop and I was informed they have always been a 3 hence I bought them all.

 

The smallest one was the first to host in the anemone, but now seems to have been pushed out for the middle one, the big one isn't hosting (yet I hope).

 

Is it possible that the little one is being bullied? They all seem ok together when not in the nem, but the little one is always eyeing it up and being chased away "

 

Could anyone let me know what this is about or if I'm just being paranoid while they settle in? I've only had them since Sunday so they are still very new, I just don't know what to expect!"

 

My reply

 

"The nem also needs to be large enough in many cases for the smallest to be accepted. Often the smallest clown will hang out near the nem until lights out when it will sneak into the nem under the cover of darkness. However no 2/3 clowns are the same with regards to accepting others. A small clown maybe chased away and even killed while others simply accept a small sub adult readily it seems. The sub adult is kept 3rd in line unless one of the others dies or one is removed. Should the sub adult change into a male or female then all hell can let loose."

 

There were other replies before mine so I did not repeat them with my post response.

 

Les.

 

Indeed Les, and changing aquariums can suddenly change the whole interaction and relationship between all of them ... and as you say if the Nem is small, and it may take a while for it to to get back to what it looked like at an LFS when placed in a new tank, the Clowns may will often indeed start to act differently than they had in that other tank ...

 

The there is the factor of light and water current etc ... so what happens in one tank is not what happens in another as many of us know well ...

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Seeing Albert appears indisposed this morning here is a couple of links to articles about Goby Pistol shrimp relationships.

 

http://www.fishchannel.com/saltwater-aquariums/species-info/goby/gobies-and-pistol-shrimp.aspx

 

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5250

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/1/fish

 

Thanks Les for posting those LInks ...

 

And I lost DSL again but only for a few minutes, I guess ATT/Bellsouth is having some problems in the area here or they are doing work and cutting service on an off while they upgrade some of the POP's around here. ... hopefully there will not be any lengthy downtimes.

 

Albert