THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

[Paul.b]

I do have an assortment of inventions and devices as I am now basically an inventor.

Nothing in my tank was purchased including the lights, skimmer, chiller, algae scrubber, denitrificator, UG filter rocks and most of the water.

I just like to build stuff, what can I tell you. I will put some up here because I don't know where else to put them.

 

Evaporative chiller. this chiller uses less than 10 watts but only chills the water in my tank about 3 degrees. It was just a test and I would have to build a larger one if I needed more chilling.

 

 

 

This shows my LED fixture that is on a counterweight so it raises and lowers with a touch of a finger, the white thing in the back is an algae trough or scrubber. The idea for that is to offer the algae a better place to grow than in my reef. it works well to control the cycles of algae that my tank used to get,some lasting for quite a few months.

 

 

Bristle worm trap with a water supply added to keep it fresh

 

 

 

Many of the bottles are "aged" artificially

 

 

Brine shrimp hatchery and egg seperator

 

 

Overflow skimmer

 

Protein skimmer

 

This is a video of the baby brine shrimp feeder and of coures there is the Majano wand.

 

Edited October 26, 2012 by Paul.b

[albertthiel]

I do have an assortment of inventions and devices as I am now basically an inventor.

Nothing in my tank was purchased including the lights, skimmer, chiller, algae scrubber, denitrificator, UG filter rocks and most of the water.

I just like to build stuff, what can I tell you. I will put some up here because I don't know where else to put them.

 

Evaporative chiller. this chiller uses less than 10 watts but only chills the water in my tank about 3 degrees. It was just a test and I would have to build a larger one if I needed more chilling.

 

This shows my LED fixture that is on a counterweight so it raises and lowers with a touch of a finger, the white thing in the back is an algae trough or scrubber. The idea for that is to offer the algae a better place to grow than in my reef. it works well to control the cycles of algae that my tank used to get,some lasting for quite a few months.

 

Bristle worm trap with a water supply added to keep it fresh

 

You sure ARE an inventor Paul ... all of that is very interesting and I do have a question ... how does that Bristle worm trap work and why do you want to refresh the water, and what to you put inside to attract them.

 

Where they running out of hand in your tank ... I have some but no infestation so I just leave them alone as they don't seem to bother anything (they are true bristle ones not fireworms or eunice ones)

 

And in the last pic I guess those are baster type feeders correct ... why so many if I may ask, what is the difference between them ?

 

Albert

Edited October 26, 2012 by albertthiel

[Paul.b]

Albert you are correct that they do not "seem" to harm anything but have you ever noticed that you lose small crustaceans after them molt? Bristleworms which can grow enormous can and do hunt down helpless inverts that they can overpower. If I put a piece of clam near my rocks in the dark I will see a dozen of them come out almost instantly and fight over it. They are not all warm and fuzzy as we may think. They also have some big "teeth".

I can't keep small crustaceans for long because as soon as they molt, they disappear.

This trap is just a small container like a pill container with a smaller tube sticking out of it. The smaller tube is about 1/2" in diameter but a Bic Pen tube can be cut in half and used.

Just stick it in the pill container soit protrudes about an inch inside. Put a piece of clam or fish in it and position it in the dark preferably in the back near some rocks. The tube must be mnear the substrait.

Add a string so you can remove it and maybe a rock to make it sink.

In the morning it should be full of bristleworms. Sometimes I collect a dozen.

The Small tube I added in this one pictured above is for the addition of fresh water. I have found that after a few hours, the clam rots killing the bristleworms and then other worms can not enter due to the lack of oxygen, but that is not really needed and was just a test.

 

Here is some home made rock that has a PVC pipe skeleton and is hollow. A good portion of my reef is built from this and it could be made in any shape and any size for pennies.

The rest of my rock I collected, but I like this better.

My entire reef structure is off the substrait, supported on columns of this.

 

 

 

One of the supporting structures before and after

 

 

[albertthiel]

 

Thanks for the additional pics ... can you give us some details of the overflow skimmer and how the brine shrimp feeder actually works as the video is short and I could not see how it works ...

 

Man Man Paul you did make yourself a slew of DIY devices for your tank ! that is for sure.

 

Now I have another question ... did I read that you used bleach at one point and how did you use it and what for .. I saw the post but did not quite get what you were treating with the bleach

 

Thanks

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

And in the last pic I guess those are baster type feeders correct ... why so many if I may ask, what is the difference between them ?

Those baster feeders I use every day for everything.

There are so many in the picture because I had to buy the bulbs by the case and I donated them at a speaking engagement I spoke at in California.

[albertthiel]

Albert you are correct that they do not "seem" to harm anything but have you ever noticed that you lose small crustaceans after them molt? Bristleworms which can grow enormous can and do hunt down helpless inverts that they can overpower. If I put a piece of clam near my rocks in the dark I will see a dozen of them come out almost instantly and fight over it. They are not all warm and fuzzy as we may think. They also have some big "teeth".

I can't keep small crustaceans for long because as soon as they molt, they disappear.

This trap is just a small container like a pill container with a smaller tube sticking out of it. The smaller tube is about 1/2" in diameter but a Bic Pen tube can be cut in half and used.

Just stick it in the pill container soit protrudes about an inch inside. Put a piece of clam or fish in it and position it in the dark preferably in the back near some rocks. The tube must be mnear the substrait.

Add a string so you can remove it and maybe a rock to make it sink.

In the morning it should be full of bristleworms. Sometimes I collect a dozen.

The Small tube I added in this one pictured above is for the addition of fresh water. I have found that after a few hours, the clam rots killing the bristleworms and then other worms can not enter due to the lack of oxygen, but that is not really needed and was just a test.

 

Here is some home made rock that has a PVC pipe skeleton and is hollow. A good portion of my reef is built from this and it could be made in any shape and any size for pennies.

The rest of my rock I collected, but I like this better.

My entire reef structure is off the substrait, supported on columns of this.

 

 

 

One of the supporting structures before and after

 

 

 

Got you on the Bristle worms and how the trap works. Ingenious and cheap indeed ! And your point is well taken if you have small molting crustaceans ... they are indeed very vulnerable when they molt and now that you mention it I may have lost a pistol shrimp that way, not sure but one day it was just gone and I never saw it again although I did find the carapace after it molted.

 

Now on the rock and the PVC ... what is the coating you used to put around the PVC ... looks like rock but not sure if it is rock that you glued to the pipe ...

 

Albert

 

 

Those baster feeders I use every day for everything.

There are so many in the picture because I had to buy the bulbs by the case and I donated them at a speaking engagement I spoke at in California.

 

Oh now I understand ... thanks for the clarification. Was wondering why you had so many :-)

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

The brine shrimp feeder I am very proud of and it works on the same principal of another patented feeder I built years ago.

I add live beby brine shrimp to the funnel at the top of the water. They traveldown to the screened feeder on the gravel. The screen on the feeder is about the size of baby brine shrimp so most of the shrimphave a little problem swimming through it. As they are working their way through, the waiting mandarins, pipefish and copperband suck them up. Most of the shrimp stay in the feeder long enough to get eaten and don't just get lost in the tank. The mandarins perch on it all day. I bhuilt it because my little female mandarin was obtained very skinny and I wanted to fatten her up. Now I don't need the feeder any more but they like it so much I left it in there and use it every day.

 

 

 

Maybe this video is better

 

[albertthiel]

The brine shrimp feeder I am very proud of and it works on the same principal of another patented feeder I built years ago.

I add live beby brine shrimp to the funnel at the top of the water. They traveldown to the screened feeder on the gravel. The screen on the feeder is about the size of baby brine shrimp so most of the shrimphave a little problem swimming through it. As they are working their way through, the waiting mandarins, pipefish and copperband suck them up. Most of the shrimp stay in the feeder long enough to get eaten and don't just get lost in the tank. The mandarins perch on it all day. I bhuilt it because my little female mandarin was obtained very skinny and I wanted to fatten her up. Now I don't need the feeder any more but they like it so much I left it in there and use it every day.

 

Maybe this video is better

 

 

Yes now I see it happening and how it works ... how ingenious indeed paul .... did you patent that one too ?

 

Of course anyone can build one like that once they have seen how you put it together. Very clever indeed.

 

Thanks for the posts. I appreciate it and I did not know that you had come up with all of the ones you showd pictures of here. I knew of a few from reading up on your tank, but now I see that you have many many more.

 

Power to you

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

The overflow skimmer is used because I don't use a sump, they were not invented when I started the tank. The overflow skimmer (very old as you can see) takes water from the very surface and also below the surface through that grill. It then feeds the DIY venturi skimmer that runs with ozone.

This ozonator was purchased but my first one I built.

It is designed to remove surface film.

 

The bleach you are referring to was invented by Robert Straught the "Father of salt water fish keeping"

("The Salt Water Aquarium in the Home)

I have used it many times with fantastic results but your chemistry knowledge could explain it better.

In the very beginning of the hobby when everything had ich and there was no copper except pennies I would sometimes want to sterilize my water and kill all the ich and everything else, algae, cyano, diatoms, bristleworms, Godzilla etc.

Bleach does it all and the best part is that you don't have to throw out the water. My reef has the same water in it that was bleached many times. I also sometimes use it to purify NSW that I may find questionable like if it has red tide for instance.

The dosage to sterilize a tank is one cup of "Regular" Clorox to fifty gallons of water. Let it sit for a couple of days then add twice the dosage of chlorine eliminator and airate for a few days until any bleach smell disappears. Then it is safe to use.

The first squid eggs were hatched in this type of water and for some reason that maybe you can explain, bleach treated water seems much better for the animals than untreated water. I don't know why.

Clorox is chlorine gas in water, the gas evaporates leaving nothing in the water. Nothing hazardous anyway as my tank attests to.

But only "Regular" bleach must be used, no scents or you will kill all of your animals in seconds, Don't ask.

[albertthiel]

Some more Pictures from the New Tank at My Doctor's Office

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

Albert, no this feeder is not patented and anyone can make it in five minutes. It is copied from this patented one

 

http://breedersregistry.org/Articles/v4_i3_paul_b/paul_b.htm

[albertthiel]

Albert, no this feeder is not patented and anyone can make it in five minutes. It is copied from this patented one

 

http://breedersregistry.org/Articles/v4_i3_paul_b/paul_b.htm

 

Yes that is what I thought as i would be hard to patent that one I think ... as anyone who makes slight modifications would come up with something similar that would not go against the patent. That is often the problem with them, how do you protect yourself from others making very slight modifications and not violating your patent !

 

But the one you made looks great and hopefully some of the readers of the post can construct one if they have a need for it as it is easy to do from what I see and does not need any complicated parts or tools to make.

 

On the Bleach ... I'll respond to that in another message later today.

 

I think I have the Straught book somewhere in a box in my garage with many other older books. I have so many that I have to store them in boxes :-).

 

One I recently got out to re-read is this one :

 

 

as it has some real old articles in it by various authors and was published in 1964.

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

how do you protect yourself from others making very slight modifications and not violating your patent !

You give a patent lawyer about $40,000.00 and he writes every conceivably modification that you and him can think of. It comes out to volumes of drawings but that is the only way to do it.

[albertthiel]

You give a patent lawyer about $40,000.00 and he writes every conceivably modification that you and him can think of. It comes out to volumes of drawings but that is the only way to do it.

 

Yes that is how it goes indeed and then someone finds a way around somehow anyway right ? But the more conceivable modifications you include the less the chances that it will get copied ...

 

And it is amazing what patent lawyers charge ... not to speak of when they have to defend you in a lawsuit unless the Judge gets the other party to pay your Lawyer's costs too.

 

Not sure if you remember when I had the issue with Dupla and John B. about the Dupla food ... I won the case but the Lawyer's fees Dupla had to pay for their Lawyer and mine were like winning the lottery numbers !

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

I know, I won't even send my lawyer a Christmas card because he will charge me $60.00 to read it and another $60.00 to thank me.

 

I keep my library up to date as you do.

 

 

Being we are using old pictures, here is one of my first blue devils and was among the first salt water fish imported to New York circa 1971. He is above his nest of eggs in in that barnacle shell in my first salt water tank.

He and most of the 6 females I had lived for about 7 years which was pretty good in those days.

 

[Spirofucci]

Paul B here on NR? How cool is that!!!!! I have admired you and your tank and your "methods" for years!

 

I hope you stick around here!!!

 

Thanks Albert!

[albertthiel]

Paul B here on NR? How cool is that!!!!! I have admired you and your tank and your "methods" for years!

 

I hope you stick around here!!!

 

Thanks Albert!

 

Yes indeed ... how he got on Nano is interesting ... I got on another Forum Mark, and suddenly I got a message from him as he was on that forum, and one thing lead to another and now Paul is here, and "Paul" now, that you have shown us a few of all your goodies "you better not leave Nano-Reef" ! :-)

 

And I am sure you have a lot more of your decades and decades of experience to share with us ... the Moorish I Idol one was just the beginning right ... I know you have a lot more tricks up your sleeve :-) that we all want to know about ... Thanks for sharing !

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

I know, I won't even send my lawyer a Christmas card because he will charge me $60.00 to read it and another $60.00 to thank me.

 

I keep my library up to date as you do.

 

Being we are using old pictures, here is one of my first blue devils and was among the first salt water fish imported to New York circa 1971. He is above his nest of eggs in in that barnacle shell in my first salt water tank.

He and most of the 6 females I had lived for about 7 years which was pretty good in those days.

 

 

Yes I see you do ... personally I had so many that I had to dispose of when we moved from New Mexico back to Georgia, that I feel so bad that I had to let some go (lots of similar ones to yours and tons of FAMAs and Marine Fish Monthly and a ton of German ones I had, but they were all magazines, I kept all the books, I was not going to let those go!).

 

Of course with Amazon and eBay one can nowadays practically buy just about any book or magazine that one is looking for ...

 

Nice first fish indeed ... do you remember what you paid for it in 1971 ?

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

I may have a few ideas.

 

Now on the rock and the PVC ... what is the coating you used to put around the PVC ... looks like rock but not sure if it is rock that you glued to the pipe ...

 

Albert, these are the things in my reef now, over the 50+ years I have been at this I have built up a good stash of devices, some good some bad and some just useless.

Reefing is just one of my hobbies, my entire house and boat is an invention. I really don't like the way most things are designed or built so I feel I have to re-build everything.

 

Anyway, about the "rock". I love this stuff. This rock has a core of PVC pipe that is bent in odd ways. It is formed to have areas to attach corals and fit in a particular place. I don't like corals to just be situated on a rock or the gravel, I like everything up on pedistals so I design the "rock" to allow for that.

 

I bend up the PVC using a heat gun, this must be done outdoors or you will become very sick.

This is a must.

You can use a torch but then you really need to go outside and have a hose near by because it will catch fire and it usually does.

After it is bent (or before) I drill many holes in it just for circulation. Sometimes I add an acrylic stand.

I then wrap, very tightly cotton string like a bakery uses all around the pipe. Cement will not stick to PVC.

I mis "Sakrete mortor mix" or concrete kind of loose and stick it on with my fingers.

 

Very little of it will stick, just a thin coating and you let this cure for a day or two. Then you add more cement and this time a very little more will stick. Let it cure a day or two. Now more cement will stick. You need about five coats but by then you can get creative and lump it on. Do not be neat, just blob it on and make places to stick in frags. Let it cure for a few weeks in fresh water then it is good to go.

 

 

 

 

This 10 pounder was built differently. It is just old smaller pieces of live rock cemented together to make a large piece.

 

Oh wait, this is the Brooklyn Bridge, I didn't make that. I don't think so anyway.

 

 

[Paul.b]

In 1971 I think those blue devils were $7.00 each. To let some people know how much that was in 1971, gas was about 50 cents a gallon and I brought home about $52.00 a week as a union electrician apprentice in Manhattan

 

I know you have a lot more tricks up your sleeve

Yes but now we will get into very old school methods and you will look at me and say. "Really"

Does he Really want us to believe that?

Well I guess the Clorox was kind of up there but I didn't invent that.

I do know how to cure ich in a day and Pop Eye in a minute. Of course our fish should never get ich, mine don't because I found the secret while diving but I think it is too much typing for one day and I don't want to bore you too much on my first day.

I will let Albert talk for a while as he is very good at this fish stuff.

 

 

I can build space shuttles in my workshop, but they alrady have those so I won't build one. LOL

 

 

Oh I forgot the live blackworm keeper. I don't know how you guys can keep a fish tank without live worms, I would not be able to do it

 

 

This is my LED fixture. I kind of like it.

 

[albertthiel]

I may have a few ideas.

 

Albert, these are the things in my reef now, over the 50+ years I have been at this I have built up a good stash of devices, some good some bad and some just useless.

Reefing is just one of my hobbies, my entire house and boat is an invention. I really don't like the way most things are designed or built so I feel I have to re-build everything.

 

Anyway, about the "rock". I love this stuff. This rock has a core of PVC pipe that is bent in odd ways. It is formed to have areas to attach corals and fit in a particular place. I don't like corals to just be situated on a rock or the gravel, I like everything up on pedistals so I design the "rock" to allow for that.

 

I bend up the PVC using a heat gun, this must be done outdoors or you will become very sick.

This is a must.

You can use a torch but then you really need to go outside and have a hose near by because it will catch fire and it usually does.

After it is bent (or before) I drill many holes in it just for circulation. Sometimes I add an acrylic stand.

I then wrap, very tightly cotton string like a bakery uses all around the pipe. Cement will not stick to PVC.

I mis "Sakrete mortor mix" or concrete kind of loose and stick it on with my fingers.

 

Very little of it will stick, just a thin coating and you let this cure for a day or two. Then you add more cement and this time a very little more will stick. Let it cure a day or two. Now more cement will stick. You need about five coats but by then you can get creative and lump it on. Do not be neat, just blob it on and make places to stick in frags. Let it cure for a few weeks in fresh water then it is good to go.

 

This 10 pounder was built differently. It is just old smaller pieces of live rock cemented together to make a large piece.

 

Oh wait, this is the Brooklyn Bridge, I didn't make that. I don't think so anyway.

 

 

 

Thanks Paul for the explanation and the one step I did miss when I tried it a long time ago is wrapping the rope around as like you say not much stick to PVC pipe except other PVC pipe as long as you use the right "pipe glue and cleaner". I was going to say pipe cement but that would have been confusing although it is referred to it as pipe cement :-)

 

Gee some of that has been in the tank for that long ... unbelievable ! Amazing that it lasts that long. Of course by now it is all cemented (there is that word again) together due to the chemical processes that have happened in the tank.

 

Great shots of how you did it, and on the Brooklyn Bridge ... well you say you did not do it, but I am not so sure Paul ... you may have :-).

 

I can remember the GARF days when the late LeRoy used to put how to fabricate rock formations on his web site using some of what you just described ... wonder whether he actually got the info from you and your posts on the forums that existed in those days (CompuServe and Prodigy and the fish forums on them, and the Billboards we used to post to in those days when their were no websites yet ... gee what memories that all brings back).

 

Since I mentioned LeRoy I guess you are aware that Gary Meadows has finally been given the recognition he deserves as a Memorial Reef is being built in his memory. I posted a picture of Joy and Gary and myself that was taken many years ago in Chicago.

 

Albert

[Spirofucci]

This is too funny cause I was just reading "How this Geezer thinks........" on another forum. You need to bring all that stuff over to here.

[Paul.b]

Who you calling a Geezer?

Albert, I think he is talking to you.

 

I am going out to dinner but I wanted to share something. I just looked at my new revolving algae scrubber and it was stopped. I looked closer and this huge snail, about 1/1/2" in diameter crawled up onto he revolving belt and got stuck about 10" above the water. He kept crawling down as the belt went up so he could not get back into the water. Now I have to post "Keep out Snail" signs near the thing.

That snail I think is a local New York snail (I could tell by his leather jacket)

 

I also found this on line about how I started my tank. It is on the Majano Wand site but some of it may be interesting about the start of this hobby.

Of course after i was in it for a number of years I read all of Albert Thiel's books and articles.

He is more of a Geezer than I am, by about 5 years so I am a kid next to him.

 

http://majanowand.com/about/about-the-inventor/

[albertthiel]

In 1971 I think those blue devils were $7.00 each. To let some people know how much that was in 1971, gas was about 50 cents a gallon and I brought home about $52.00 a week as a union electrician apprentice in Manhattan

 

Yes but now we will get into very old school methods and you will look at me and say. "Really"

Does he Really want us to believe that?

Well I guess the Clorox was kind of up there but I didn't invent that.

I do know how to cure ich in a day and Pop Eye in a minute. Of course our fish should never get ich, mine don't because I found the secret while diving but I think it is too much typing for one day and I don't want to bore you too much on my first day.

I will let Albert talk for a while as he is very good at this fish stuff.

 

I can build space shuttles in my workshop, but they alrady have those so I won't build one. LOL

 

Oh I forgot the live blackworm keeper. I don't know how you guys can keep a fish tank without live worms, I would not be able to do it

 

This is my LED fixture. I kind of like it.

 

Yes I think it is hard for the younger ones on this forum to realize what things cost in those days. I remember being in Chicago in the late 1960's and the gas prices had gone up for some reason to 65 cents a gallon and everyone was outraged that it was suddenly so expensive ... and then it went down again some months later.

 

And the same for take home pay and the cost of food etc ... gee in those day I could buy cigarettes by the piece not the pack !

 

On all your equipment ... yes I can image you could build robots and shuttles and whatever else you set your mind to ! No doubt about it ...

 

I pulled up some old info on bleach and will post it later or tomorrow as I have to write it out here in long form.

 

Now on the cures for SW ich and pop eye ... you'll have to share those Paul ... and not with the penny method ... as that would be somewhat of a problem in reefs :-(

 

Interesting that you bring up Blackworms as I posted an article about them a few days ago but by now it is many pages back but the search feature below on the left should bring it up if you want to find it.

 

And on posting ... whenever you want Paul ... not a problem at all

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Who you calling a Geezer?

Albert, I think he is talking to you.

 

I am going out to dinner but I wanted to share something. I just looked at my new revolving algae scrubber and it was stopped. I looked closer and this huge snail, about 1/1/2" in diameter crawled up onto he revolving belt and got stuck about 10" above the water. He kept crawling down as the belt went up so he could not get back into the water. Now I have to post "Keep out Snail" signs near the thing.

That snail I think is a local New York snail (I could tell by his leather jacket)

 

I also found this on line about how I started my tank. It is on the Majano Wand site but some of it may be interesting about the start of this hobby.

Of course after i was in it for a number of years I read all of Albert Thiel's books and articles.

He is more of a Geezer than I am, by about 5 years so I am a kid next to him.

 

http://majanowand.com/about/about-the-inventor/

 

Not sure who the Geezer is but Mark can tell us that ... I guess at my age maybe it is me indeed.

 

Yes do put out those signs Paul .... they have to stay out of there :-) or they'll get in serious pain !

 

Have a nice dinner and let us have some more posts from you tomorrow or later tonite if you are up late.

 

Thanks for the link ... in your post so others can go and read it if they wish. I also posted a lot of links yesterday to some other articles of yours.

 

Albert