THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

[atoll]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGG Flood!!

 

 

 

 

I hate when I have a flood, but I really hate to have a flood when we have 8" of snow on the ground and are expecting a lot more, and I really hate having a flood, with 8" of snow on the ground when I also have a Doctors appointment and I know the doctor won't be there because she is a Sissy and didn't call me to cancel and they never answer the phone so I have to "write her a letter". I also hate having a flood when the water that is on my floor is supposed to be in the tank and the hermit crabs are shaking their claws at me, "Above the water" and I don't have any salt water to put back in the tank.

 

This morning I went downstairs (we have a finished basement) where the tank is. I immediately knew something was wrong by the sound of the powerheads spitting a watery mist on the walls. That is usually a bad sign.

 

My wife was in the kitchen making coffee and I didn't tell her about the flood. The reason I am happily married for 45 years is that I never told my wife we have a fish tank.

 

So I get to the tank and see the five gallon bucket under the skimmer that collects the skimmer effluent overflowing all over the place. My prize, "State of the art" projector that I watch my video's on is getting soaked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The High Tech, DIY auto shut off that is supposed to shut off the pumps when that bucket fills didn't work! Oh No. It always worked. So I jump in the water and start pulling out all the plugs. The pumps stop but the bucket is full so I dip a cup in it and slowly remove the water.

 

I go and look in my workshop, move all the Steampunk stuff out of the way and get to the bucket that I keep with new salt water. OMG, It's empty, just spider webs.

 

My wife yells "COFFEE is READY" I don't answer. Instead I go to my RO/DI and drain it into a bucket, throw some salt in it and fill a gallon bottle with hot water to float in there to warm it up as it is freezing and corals don't have a sense of humor when you douse them in ice water. I test the salinity, Way off the chart. OK, that will have to do as I don't have any more RO water to add. I didn't let the fish see my swing arm hydrometer but it is probably so far off that maybe the salinity is fine. After five minutes I figure the water is warm enough and I dump in the water. Wife yells COFFEE is GETTING COLD. I make up an excuse but mumble it so she doesn't know what I said.

 

You can see the bucket under my skimmer that normally takes 2 months to fill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I run to the closet and pull out 6 or 7 towels to throw on the floor trying to soak up an inch of water. They immediately get soaked and I need more. "WHEN ARE YOU COMING UP FOR COFFEE". I YELL, I am taking a shower. Only a small lie because I was all wet. I get more towels. Now I look in the tank to see if anything is complaining that the water I added was way to cold and so salty that when I dropped a pencil in the bucket, it stood up. No problem because I run a revrse undergravel filter and that allows you to do anything you want. Well almost, I mean I can't drop a dead moose in the tank, but almost anything else and it will be fine.

 

I just turned around to see if the fish were still alive. The yellow wrasses are spawning so I assume they are fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I go to see why my auto shut off didn't work. It is basically a GFCI that the pumps are plugged into. A pair of wires go from that GFCI into the bucket so that when salt water hits those wires, the GFCI trips shutting off the pumps. I test it and see that the GFCI did in fact trip, but the pumps were still going. OMG. The GFCI croaked. In all my years as an electrician I have never seen one of those fail in the on position. They usually just don't work.

 

So I change the GFCI, turn it all back on and get ready to shovel snow. "I THREW OUT THE COFFEE"

Hope you got it sorted and no losses apart from the salt water and at least you got to do a long overdue water change.

Living in a first floor apartment that is my biggest fear, I can't afford a major flood and the guy below me won't want a saltwater shower and a ceiling pretending to be the floor.

[atoll]

I have added a 32mm gate valve below the ball valve I already had on my DT to sump return. Gate vales are much easier to balance and fine tune. I can now shut of the water to the sump using the ball valve above and use the gate valve to fine tune the water level in my weir. Just a small mod but a worthwhile one for anybody having difficulty getting the ideal height of water to the overflow in their weir.

 

[Paul.b]

We got back from Disneyworld last night and today as I was feeding the tank I noticed something moving in my old bio pellet reactor.  I built and installed this silly thing a few years ago as an experiment and figured it was a stupid idea because the pellets made the tank run so much worse so I threw them out.  I keep the reactor there with nothing in it only because I am to lazy to remove it as it is plumbed in series with the skimmer. It is filled with brittle stars who seem happy so I leave it alone and forget about it.  I see now that it is filled with shrimp.  I have not had any shrimp in the tank in many months or maybe years except a pair of pistol shrimp that I figured were mating so it must be from them.  I don't know how long they have been in the reactor and I am surprised they are in there because water flows through it and into the skimmer.  I can't get them out because if I shut off the skimmer, the water drains out of the thing and back to the tank.  They seem happy so I will leave them there and see what happens.  I doubt they will reach adult size in there but like everything else, it is an experiment.

It is the thing on the right.

 

[Paul.b]

Why you need a feeder for certain types of fish

 

[atoll]

10 minutes ago, Paul.b said:

Why you need a feeder for certain types of fish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsGrL9nxJPs

 

Great video Paul. 

[RayWhisperer]

Was that a striped clingfish I saw in the upper right of the frame? Or more likely a shrimp fish?

[Paul.b]

shrimpfish.  But I do also have clingfish

[RayWhisperer]

How do they do for you? I've never tried them. I know your feeder would greatly increase survival rates, as lack of adequate food is probably their biggest killer.

[Paul.b]

Shrimpfish, not so good.  They need more live brine shrimp than mandarins, a lot more.

I was just jerking around with my water cooled LED lighting system and noticed that my empty reactor is still filled with baby shrimp.  They grew a little and I am surprised they are still in there because the water goes into the bottom and out through the top so if they are day dreaming, they will be carried into the skimmer where they will have a nice sauna due to my ozonizor then, if they live through that, into my tank.

I also think my male bangai cardinal is near the end of his life.  I know I said that last year but he is way past his normal life span and although looks like the picture of health, he is dying of old age and barely eats.  Their lifespan in the sea is only 3 years and I have him longer than that.  I thought I would have lost him months ago but he is still hanging in there.

When a fish dies of old age they act somewhat like we do.  He slowed down and just hangs around his usual haunts starring at me thinking over his life, what he accomplished and what legacy he will leave behind.  He lost most interest in food and I think he is too lazy to eat.  We do the same thing as we age and I saw my own Mother, Mother N Law and last week ,my best friends Mom do the same thing just before they died.

Their body lost the capacity to digest food so even if I wanted to stupidly force feed him, it would do no good.  Fish that are dying of old age also show no disease symptoms.  Eventually he will start to go blind then other fish may pick on him.  At that point, if I can grab him, I will euthanize him.  No I won't hit him over the head with a hammer or lay him in the street until a school bus runs him over.  Instead I will put him in salt water in the freezer where he will slow down until his heart stops.   Cold blooded creatures all slow down when chilled.  Turtles, lizzards, snakes, bears and Paris Hilton all slow down.  (Yes I know bears are not cold blooded and I knew you would correct me.) 

 

No need to feel bad for the fish as he lived a full and happy life.  He also spawned many times.  Even though he looks perfect, I give him another week.  I could be wrong but that is my guess. 

 

 

I am not sure if Mermaids are cold blooded.  Maybe only the lower half of them

 

[RayWhisperer]

Lol. The kid is looking the wrong way.

[Paul.b]

Yes, but I was looking at her for him.

[RayWhisperer]

It's nice knowing you're around to pick up the slack when needed.

[Paul.b]

Tank reached 46 years old. 

Picture is from last year but it looks almost the same except the gorgonians are larger and the few SPS are bigger.  Not the nicest tank on here, but it is what it is.

 

 

This picture was maybe 3 years ago.

[Paul.b]

Floating stuff

 

I was just messing around with my tank and I noticed something that is so obvious but we never seem to remark or think about it.  "Floating stuff".  Floating stuff in our tanks and in the sea is actually very important, maybe the most important thing there is besides Supermodels and maybe Brillo. 

 

We all know about the food chain in the sea but our tanks, if they are successful also have a food chain and that food chain starts with bacteria.  Actually viruses but we don't have to think that small right now.  Bacteria run our tanks and we are just there so they have something to make fun of.  Next in line are the copepods and amphipods.  We as aquarists call anything small a pod but there really are such animals.  Copepods and amphipods are crustaceans with a shell and as they grow, they shed that shell.  All of our crustaceans shed their shell and most of those shells are not calcium, but chitin or the stuff your fingernails are made out of.  Either way, it doesn't de-compose very quickly but builds up along with un eaten food, dead bacteria, algae and possibly lint from Columbus underwear depending on where you collected your water.

 

It all becomes detritus.  In boating we call it "flotsam and jetsum".  We think of it as bad like we think of algae, cyano, flatworms, parasites and some Lawyers.  Especially the ones on that commercial that say, "If you have ever been injured, anywhere, doing anything, near anyone, you can sue and get big bucks from somebody by doing nothing" .

 

If we have enough water flow in our tanks the lighter parts of detritus will float around just as it does in the sea.  This is actually a good thing and without all this floating detritus we would not have corals, sponges or any filter feeders.  As a matter of fact without detritus in the sea we would not be here so what does that say about our kids?

 

If you just have a tank with a few fish and nothing else, detritus is not that important.  Neither is color TV but I digress.

 

If you have ever gone SCUBA diving even in pristine waters of the South Pacific you will see this stuff because it is all over the place just as it should be in our tanks.  Not so much of it that if you stuck an umbrella in your tank it would stand up, but a little.  Most of us keep corals, sponges, barnacles, clams, scallops etc . and those things don't have hands or credit cards so they can't eat hot dogs or Chicken Mc Nuggets.  They sit there doing nothing with their mouth open waiting for some thing that they can call food to float in.  I used to date a girl like that, but my Mom hated her.

 

In my tank I keep anemone crabs which are filter feeders as are the numerous gorgonians and multitudes of tiny feather dusters and spaghetti worms that populate all the places under my rock.  Those creatures need to feed all day and night so those flakes and pellets you throw in there once a day and call food won't do it. 

 

In my opinion detritus, in moderation is a good thing. 

 

Ever wonder why new tanks with all new water, new rocks and a Noob look lousy?  I don't mean the Noob looks lousy, I really don't know what the Noob looks like and I imagine some Noobs are quite nice looking, but the tank is probably not very natural looking and not very healthy.  It takes time to build up the correct types and numbers of bacteria and detritus helps bacteria to grow by giving it someplace to live where it can suck up nutrients.

 

We should remember detritus is mostly organic "waste".  But waste to some things is food to others. 

 

It isn't good enough to just have some detritus, we need some of it to float up into the water column so it can be captured by the animals that need it.  To help it along it is great to have larger creatures that perform that task for us.  Did you ever watch a sea ray eat?  They make huge clouds of sand and detritus which the smaller creatures rush into to feed.  I have a few wrasses that like to dive into the substrate and clowns that constantly clean a nest to spawn.  By doing that they stir up the detritus so it can be used by sedentary creatures for food.  When my water looks to clean, I use a baster looking thing to stir it up as well as I can.

 

I realize this and much of what I propose goes against what we all learned at one point or another but it is what it is and you don’t have to believe me, but your filter feeders probably hate you.

 

 

 In this video of my fireclowns spawning you can see it.  It looks like snow.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS6c9sFV0X8

 

You can also see it here where my mandarin is in a whiteworm feeder where the copperband can't go.  The fish are stirring up the detritus as in both video's the pumps are off.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGBCNOkyPQY

[RIP Sebastian]

@Paul.b I just wanna say that you're amazing.  I've been reading through your RC thread. It's great stuff.

[Paul.b]

Thanks RIP Sebastian.  I don't post on RC any longer which I miss because I have quite a few friends there but I find their policy of not being able to link to anything other than RC and the attitude of one of their Mods annoying.  I like it here and a few other quieter places.

[RIP Sebastian]

5 minutes ago, Paul.b said:

Thanks RIP Sebastian.  I don't post on RC any longer which I miss because I have quite a few friends there but I find their policy of not being able to link to anything other than RC and the attitude of one of their Mods annoying.  I like it here and a few other quieter places.

I'm not really an active poster on RC, either. They're a little too strict in my opinion. Congrats on 46 years with the tank, by the way! I'm always amazed at the beauty of your tank. Simply stunning.

[Paul.b]

Thank you very much.  I usually get something like "That tank looks like a Noob tank that was started last Tuesday because you don't have SPS growing up the walls"  Or something like that.

[RIP Sebastian]

4 minutes ago, Paul.b said:

Thank you very much.  I usually get something like "That tank looks like a Noob tank that was started last Tuesday because you don't have SPS growing up the walls"  Or something like that.

Really? It's one of the best, if not the best, tanks I've ever seen. 

[sprite]

Awesome tank Paul! I quietly follow most forums and always enjoy reading your post.

[Paul.b]

Sprite, why are you so quiet.  Make some noise like I usually do. 

[RayWhisperer]

That tank looks like a Noob tank that was started last Tuesday.... 

[RayWhisperer]

After 30 minutes of searching....

 

 

Posted August 8, 2016 · 
'Reefer Progression' (you know this *could* be you)  
 
In the beginning there was a tank, a pump and heater, a thermometer, a hydrometer, an ATI combo test kit, some IO salt and a few hardy corals/fish/inverts...
 
Fast forward a few years and there is a more expensive/bigger tank(s), fancier salt, some crazy fancy/expensive equipment, more test kits than you can shake a stick at, some mighty expensive fish and frags worth more than their weight in gold and a hefty post count...
 
Fast forward a few decades and there is a geezer of an old reefer, an old tank, an old pump and heater (likely the 9th or 10th), an old thermometer, a hydrometer that is older than the kids, just a few test kits (some likely expired), a bunch of huge old 'legacy' corals (too much trouble to get new ones), and a join date/post count that no one believes could be real.
 Quote

[Paul.b]

I use a swing arm hydrometer that is so old it probably came in a wooden box.  Wood is the stuff we make trees out of.  We all know swing arm hydrometers are vastly inaccurate so to calibrate it I pack it up and hail a cab to the airport, get on a plane to a tropical location where my last fish came from.  Get off the plane and rent a car.  Drive to a boat rental place and rent something with a motor.  Power out to a coral reef or mangrove Island, jump out of the boat with the swing arm hydrometer and fill it with water.  Bring it back to the boat and ask your wife for a towel that doesn't have Coppertone all over it and dry off the hydrometer.  Then draw a line on it exactly where the pointer is floating.  Take the boat back and get your deposit back, take the car to the airport and get your deposit back, get on the plane to your home and test your water. 

It's simple and accurate so that's what I do whenever I get a new fish.

 

[RayWhisperer]

Who doesn't? Is all I have to ask...