49 Year Old Tank

One of my 30 year old powerheads croaked last night so my skimmer and algae scrubber was dry. No water was going into the reverse UG filter either.

I took the thing apart and repaired it with some shrink tubing which is the repair they need every 30 years. :cool:

I think this was made in Germany and I really don't want to buy a pump from China so I am hoping to get a few more decades out of it. If I can find another piece of stainless steel for the shaft, I will change it.
I think I have 5 or 6 of those old pumps, most of them still running but you need to watch the old ones as they sometimes stop.

They are not doing anything important so nothing will happen. You really don't need a skimmer, under gravel filter or algae scrubber running 100% of the time.
 
looks like a Via Aqua or Atman pump.
 
I just came back from my knee Doctor. Kevorkian.
My knee surgery is postponed for at least 6 months so now we can go to a Valentines party.
That is not the reason we cancelled it though.

It seems that even though the last surgery didn't work, a new one may make it worse due to neuroma.
I already had 5 surgeries on that knee before they changed it so I think I will give it a rest for a while and see what happens.

The recovery is the same as my last surgery, like a year and he isn't giving me any good feelings if it will make it better or possibly worse.
Christie Brinkley hasn't invited me to any dances so I can be in some pain for a while. I don't mind as long as no more of my hair falls out.

On my way home I hit a LFS. This one always has great,unusual stuff even though it is the filthiest place I have been since Viet Nam.
Those are the kinds of places I like to go because they have stuff hiding under the mulm that they didn't even know they had and they are very cheap.
I bought 4 fish and they are already swimming around doing the Macarana.
 
I finished a new Steam Punk Lamp. This one is strictly Steam Punk and there are no gears or motors.

You push down the lever with the weight on the chain and it contacts a magnet on the top of the vintage telephone box lighting the lamp. The water valve handle dims it.

That is a temporary bulb, the much cooler one is ordered.

This is going in the gallery. I think I have 7 or 8 pieces there now and need at least ten for a show.

I like it.
 
OOOOOHhhhhhhhhNNNNOOooooooo. I was sneaking around my tank, looking for something to clean, re-build, re-design or just hide from my wife and my biggest fear materialized.

Well, not my biggest fear as that would be if Christie Brinkley, Angelina Jolie and one of the Victoria Secret Supermodels all came to my house to help me clean my tank and I was at the foot doctor getting a toe check up. :001_wub:

But my other biggest fear would be losing my Female Blue stripe pipefish, Patti.

I looked on the floor, and OMG, there she was, all dry, dusty and stiff. NNNNOooooo, not Patti. I raised her from a tiny little pipe and she was almost at the end of her normal lifespan anyway. Oh Why did little Patti jump out

I didn't want to flush her, I figured I would give her a proper burial so I found a little box and went to pick up her stiff body.

I bent down and she looked like a crooked piece of wire as I gently picked her up.

I looked at her little pointy face into her beady little eyes and noticed.....

Those aren't eyes and that isn't a face. As a matter of face, that isn't even a fish. It's a blue piece of crooked electrical wire left over from wiring the tank.

I turned around to look at the tank, and there was Patti, smiling as usual. If she had eyelids she would be batting her eyelashes at me. :biggrin:

I really need to wear my reading glasses when I work around the tank.

Here she is pregnant, cute little Mother, isn't she. :p

 
Finally, after a few failed attempts, I succeeded in getting this 3D resin printer to do what I want. The first issue was with my computer which didn't have enough RAM so I installed another card, doubling the capacity of my 10+ year old computer.

My second problem was trying to determine how to position the supports on the model.
With a Resin printer the resin is liquid and while it is "printing" the model is still soft so you have to design in supports to hold it as it is forming. You can see them on that gray piece which was a disaster. The gear was a test and I didn't even design the teeth correctly but it taught me a few things.


The last two pieces are perfect and will be used on top and bottom of a glass tube which will hold an LED "Firelight" for one of my Steam Punk pieces. They will be artificially "rusted" for the piece.



 
Yesterday we were at an art gallery where my SteamPunk "Art" pieces are displayed along with other artists and there was a photographer there because it was a huge crowd that could barely fit in the small gallery.

The photographer noticed my pieces and apparently liked them so she took pictures of myself and my wife in front of one of them for "Dan's Papers".

Dan's Papers is the largest free paper on Long Island New York (USA) and covers all of eastern Long Island . About 2,000,000 people. It is in every restaurant, bar, supermarket, card store, laundromat and lfs.

So they tell me that this Thursday I will be in there. Christie Brinkley I am sure gets that paper so I am sure she will want me to make her a piece. OK, Maybe not. :rolleyes:



 
OOOOOOOhhhhhhNNNNNoooooo. My Fireclown has cataracts.
His eyes are also a little cloudy.
I think it's because he constantly spawns, like every day and it is affecting his eyes.

He is about 29 years old but I lost his birth certificate.
His mate is only about 21 or so but I could be off by 4 or 5 years because I got her when I bought my last pair of socks, and I don't remember that either. :oops:

 
Last week I put in another Sunburst Anthius and I haven't seen hyde nor hair of him. I searched every day behind and under the rocks even at night with a flashlight and still couldn't find him.
I looked at the screens on the powerheads and all over under the tank on the floor. Still couldn't find him.

That is until now. I fed a bunch of live white worms and he came out to say hello. I don't know where he was hiding but I have a lot of fish that do that. Probably half my fish I rarely see.
But this one is happy and healthy and I will get another one this Sunday I hope. Really nice fish.

 
Thanks for the info on making your own rock. I was led to believe cement would be toxic no matter how long it had been in water. Clearly this isn't true...
 
Tonight I got the first good look at one of my Gecko Gobies. They have been in my tank over a year and I have never seen the entire fish as they are always hiding in a cave where they live.
I have an enormous supply of white worms now and I shoot a bunch in the back of the tank. I looked through the algae overgrown back glass and saw one of them sucking up worms.

They are one of the best looking fish I have ever seen, I just wish they would come out at least every 6 months or so.
 
I haven't had a salt water tank in 4 years & I just spent a whole week reading this entire thread from start to finish, in every spareb bit of time I got. @Paul B, you're a legend! Keep writing & inspiring!
 
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