49 Year Old Tank
- Thread starter SchyffS
- Start date
Thanks, I only have pictures that came out too blue or too yellow.
Algae trough
Algae trough
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dbl
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Thanks Paul, i will be giving it a try in a few months, i might add some pieces of local sandstone for character.
oh and welcome to MASA!!!
oh and welcome to MASA!!!
Hi Paul, and welcome to our Forum. We (well I do for certain) envy your knowledge you have built up over the past 40 years. A really amazing and inspiring system.
Hope you keep us posted and help us noobs out in future wrt keeping and maintaining a
successful reef
Hope you keep us posted and help us noobs out in future wrt keeping and maintaining a
successful reef
Hi Paul and welcome and Skyffs excellent read
Thank you but a lot of people do not want to use my system or methods.
It seems that the newer technology "appears" to be sexier.
Have a great day
Paul
It seems that the newer technology "appears" to be sexier.
Have a great day
Paul
Thank you but a lot of people do not want to use my system or methods.
It seems that the newer technology "appears" to be sexier.
Have a great day
Paul
Technology= Lots of money, as for me, I love the simple things
Thank you but a lot of people do not want to use my system or methods.
It seems that the newer technology "appears" to be sexier.
Have a great day
Paul
Not everyone! I agree with Sean - My setup is definitely LOW tech and CHEAP AS CHIPS! Hehehehe. I love it! Its a challenge. And... well... I'm poor.
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Thats good to know. I know a lot of people throw thousands at this hobby but it is un necessary. I think I spend $100.00 a year on my tank not counting electricity.
I honestly don't know where people spend all this money.
I honestly don't know where people spend all this money.
Thank you but a lot of people do not want to use my system or methods.
It seems that the newer technology "appears" to be sexier.
Have a great day
Paul
Hi Paul..
Fantastic system …I started almost 14 jr ago and didn’t spend to mush time or money on the filtering side of it as a friend convinced me that a lot of L/R eventually becomes the systems Biological filtering system..so a small trigal filter in the back overflow maybe 5l bio balls and a return pump in the second compartment that’s it and maybe 90kg l/r and 15kg crushed coral…simple and by every ones methods not adequate for marine keeping…He also recommended the under gravel filter but money was a bit tight at the time and I thought I would ad it later, when I wanted to he stopped me and said I will lose all my stock if I empty and this will destroy the biological cycle that has started…It’s a corner unit and not match space for a sump under neath …I must admit it took a while before I stopped loosing stock but today I’m not sorry …I move around a lot and in the last 6 jr I had to move the tank 4 times…and it spend 3,5 jr at a friend house without water changes…only top-ups …when I fetched it you couldn’t really see in to the tank as the sides and most of the front glass was covered in brown, green, white and pink cal alge and the rocks was covered in some grass like lg I took to this with e scissors as it is almost impossible to pull this stuff from the rocks and I scraped the glass with a blade there was also bubble and some thick short look like trees alge all over beautiful stuff…most every thing in my tank fish and coral has been in there for 10jr now and my clowns wel they have spowned t cince the tank is back with me getting some TLC again...if I had all the modern gadgets and a sump I probably would have packed up long ago…
Your story truly is inspirational ….I hope some of the new guys read it and see that marine keeping doesn’t have to be complicated... I would love to chat re- your scrubber…I see on some forums in the US this is becoming the main filtering method on established tanks …some people even remove their sumps throw everything in it out and only run scrubbers in it with the l/r in the tank and some even remove their gravel and place their rocks on a grid just of the glass…with only gravel in the front area to hide the grid…I really believe in the old school and that simple is better...I have to relocate again the end of this month and was thinking in this direction of removing the gravel as with every move I have to remove all the l/r and only leave 2 inches of water in the tank covering the gravel...this creates a nitrate bomb in the gravel and then the system takes weeks to recover but that hasn't really been a major problem either..
Sean I can’t agree more...a lot of people disagree with me and here is more proof or how much proof does one need...I’m only in this for 14jr now and to see a tank 40jr old gives me goooosssebumps to think my system (tank) is well on its way to look like a true piece of the ocean...like Paul’s does..
I wanted to start a sq 1.8x500x500 tank but this changed my mind...looking at his tank you can see it's alive and my tank is starting to get that look...only another few years to go still...lol ...I wander when someone is going to tell him his system's filtering is inadequate and if he wants his stock to thrive he needs to do the following…just thinking out loud...
I should never open a store …I won’t make money….
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Jaco, when I started my tank no one used a sump, there was no such thing so my tank does not use one.
It had a regular UG filter in it at first but in a year it clogged and I almost lost everything so over the years I learned to run it in reverse and very slow. I only cleaned it fairly well twice, the first time after about 15 years.
To maintain it I just stir the gravel with a diatom filter and suck out the debris.
I know stores have to make money to stay in business but the only thing I ever bought besides most of the livestock was the tank itself and the powerheads which are all over 15 years old. Some are 20. I was going to build the tank myself but it was much cheaper to buy it ready made. My 6' long tank was considered very large then. Today it is not considered large at all. I can not get a larger tank because I installed it behind a wall and built much of the house around it.
The rocks I collected while diving in the tropics and the rest I built. I just like building things.
I don't have any test kits now but I did use them for years. There is no point any more. I can tell by the looks of the animals exactly what the readings would be.
This "hobby" is not rocket science but it can be as complicated and expensive as you want. I am a DIYer. I can afford to buy whatever I need but I prefer to build it as part of my hobby.
For instance, my 5' homemade venturi skimmer cost me about $10.00 to build not counting the two pumps it requires to operate. I could buy one but I don't think it would be as efficient or fit on my tank as well as this one. I think it is about 20 years old and requires almost no maintenance.
Besides part of my "hobby" is working on things for the tank. My lights are left over from lighting up the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. I did that job and had some MH lights left over.
The stand is home made as is the chiller and auto top off. There is even a leak detector under the tank that will shut off the pumps to the skimmer in case of a leak or if the skimmer resavour fills too much.
Being there is no sump this is the overflow skimmer that skims the surface of the water and sends that to the protein skimmer. It site behind the rock in a corner.
There are no moving parts and it has worked flawlessly for decades, cost zero
You can see the Plaza Hotel lights here. The white thing in the rear of the tank is the algae trough.
The girl is my wife, she is zapping majanos. The only thing she likes to do with the tank.
The blue bucket suspended from the ceiling in my workshop in my basement is the freshwater sump for top off water. It is higher then my tank so the water can flow from there, through that black tube, over the ceiling to a float valve on my tank.
The smaller acrylic container to the left of it is the DI resins. And the RO is below it. There is a homamade float valve in the bucket that shuts off the water to the RO when the bucket is full.
This is about 25 feet away from my tank in another room.
It is all automatic and requires no maintenance except for changing resins once a year or so.
The small container on the small local animal tank is a shrimp hatchery that seperates the eggs from the shrimp and the white long thing is an older model worm keeper.
It had a regular UG filter in it at first but in a year it clogged and I almost lost everything so over the years I learned to run it in reverse and very slow. I only cleaned it fairly well twice, the first time after about 15 years.
To maintain it I just stir the gravel with a diatom filter and suck out the debris.
I know stores have to make money to stay in business but the only thing I ever bought besides most of the livestock was the tank itself and the powerheads which are all over 15 years old. Some are 20. I was going to build the tank myself but it was much cheaper to buy it ready made. My 6' long tank was considered very large then. Today it is not considered large at all. I can not get a larger tank because I installed it behind a wall and built much of the house around it.
The rocks I collected while diving in the tropics and the rest I built. I just like building things.
I don't have any test kits now but I did use them for years. There is no point any more. I can tell by the looks of the animals exactly what the readings would be.
This "hobby" is not rocket science but it can be as complicated and expensive as you want. I am a DIYer. I can afford to buy whatever I need but I prefer to build it as part of my hobby.
For instance, my 5' homemade venturi skimmer cost me about $10.00 to build not counting the two pumps it requires to operate. I could buy one but I don't think it would be as efficient or fit on my tank as well as this one. I think it is about 20 years old and requires almost no maintenance.
Besides part of my "hobby" is working on things for the tank. My lights are left over from lighting up the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. I did that job and had some MH lights left over.
The stand is home made as is the chiller and auto top off. There is even a leak detector under the tank that will shut off the pumps to the skimmer in case of a leak or if the skimmer resavour fills too much.
Being there is no sump this is the overflow skimmer that skims the surface of the water and sends that to the protein skimmer. It site behind the rock in a corner.
There are no moving parts and it has worked flawlessly for decades, cost zero
You can see the Plaza Hotel lights here. The white thing in the rear of the tank is the algae trough.
The girl is my wife, she is zapping majanos. The only thing she likes to do with the tank.
The blue bucket suspended from the ceiling in my workshop in my basement is the freshwater sump for top off water. It is higher then my tank so the water can flow from there, through that black tube, over the ceiling to a float valve on my tank.
The smaller acrylic container to the left of it is the DI resins. And the RO is below it. There is a homamade float valve in the bucket that shuts off the water to the RO when the bucket is full.
This is about 25 feet away from my tank in another room.
It is all automatic and requires no maintenance except for changing resins once a year or so.
The small container on the small local animal tank is a shrimp hatchery that seperates the eggs from the shrimp and the white long thing is an older model worm keeper.
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Jaco, when I started my tank no one used a sump, there was no such thing so my tank does not use one.
It had a regular UG filter in it at first but in a year it clogged and I almost lost everything so over the years I learned to run it in reverse and very slow. I only cleaned it fairly well twice, the first time after about 15 years.
To maintain it I just stir the gravel with a diatom filter and suck out the debris.
I know stores have to make money to stay in business but the only thing I ever bought besides most of the livestock was the tank itself and the powerheads which are all over 15 years old. Some are 20. I was going to build the tank myself but it was much cheaper to buy it ready made. My 6' long tank was considered very large then. Today it is not considered large at all. I can not get a larger tank because I installed it behind a wall and built much of the house around it.
The rocks I collected while diving in the tropics and the rest I built. I just like building things.
I don't have any test kits now but I did use them for years. There is no point any more. I can tell by the looks of the animals exactly what the readings would be.
This "hobby" is not rocket science but it can be as complicated and expensive as you want. I am a DIYer. I can afford to buy whatever I need but I prefer to build it as part of my hobby.
For instance, my 5' homemade venturi skimmer cost me about $10.00 to build not counting the two pumps it requires to operate. I could buy one but I don't think it would be as efficient or fit on my tank as well as this one. I think it is about 20 years old and requires almost no maintenance.
Besides part of my "hobby" is working on things for the tank. My lights are left over from lighting up the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. I did that job and had some MH lights left over.
The stand is home made as is the chiller and auto top off. There is even a leak detector under the tank that will shut off the pumps to the skimmer in case of a leak or if the skimmer resavour fills too much.
Being there is no sump this is the overflow skimmer that skims the surface of the water and sends that to the protein skimmer. It site behind the rock in a corner.
There are no moving parts and it has worked flawlessly for decades, cost zero
You can see the Plaza Hotel lights here. The white thing in the rear of the tank is the algae trough.
The girl is my wife, she is zapping majanos. The only thing she likes to do with the tank.
The blue bucket suspended from the ceiling in my workshop in my basement is the freshwater sump for top off water. It is higher then my tank so the water can flow from there, through that black tube, over the ceiling to a float valve on my tank.
The smaller acrylic container to the left of it is the DI resins. And the RO is below it. There is a homamade float valve in the bucket that shuts off the water to the RO when the bucket is full.
This is about 25 feet away from my tank in another room.
It is all automatic and requires no maintenance except for changing resins once a year or so.
The small container on the small local animal tank is a shrimp hatchery that seperates the eggs from the shrimp and the white long thing is an older model worm keeper.
You really have been busy Paul..I had to replace my pumps last year also the first ones that started the tank..and the filtering also verry slow ....I’ve got 2 more moves to make then settle down again...got a few ideas myself that I want to implement and you just aded two more... but will look in to it when I know the tank will now be left alone ( not being moved again) for some years to come...
What is your verdict on the removal of the gravel and adding a scruber..?
My gravel is not going anywhere. It has been there since the tank was brackish in the late sixtees and if it has not yet been a problem, I don't think it will start now. I think we need all the surfaces we can get to grow bacteria. In my system the detritus between the gravel slows the flow enough to give me anerobic bacteria that I want for nitrate control. I do not have to change water to control nitrates as the bacteria do that for free. My nitrates stay below 5.
I like my algae scrubber for a couple of reasons. It was free to build, it operates for free, it keeps algae out of my main display and it helps airate the water and process some nitrate.
I believe my RUGF is the heart of my system and has contributed to it's longivity. Of course that is only my opinion being I have never run the tank without it.
I like my algae scrubber for a couple of reasons. It was free to build, it operates for free, it keeps algae out of my main display and it helps airate the water and process some nitrate.
I believe my RUGF is the heart of my system and has contributed to it's longivity. Of course that is only my opinion being I have never run the tank without it.
it's raining here now and cold so as I was looking at my tank trying to get into my fishes heads I thought I would post something, I don't exactly know what but it will come to me. I notice that my two fireclowns now are no longer breeding with each other but have two different nest sites on opposite sides of the tank. This is a problem for the other fish because each fireclown attacks any other fish that come near. My long nose butterfly has to navigate through both territories on his circumnavigation of the tank every minute or so and on each pass must confront both fish. The two clowns do not invade each other's areas but they do meet at the boundry of each ones domain and give each other dirty looks.
The hippo tang has learned to take a short cut to by pass both fishes nesting sites and has no problems. Hippo tangs are much more comfortable navigating in close quarters of rock than long nose butterflies. In the sea a hippo tang will take cover in the rocks while a long nose butterfly will try to swim away just above the rocks.
I would imagine their long nose would make it difficult to get into tight spaces, or get out anyway. Also a butterfly has more of a defense mechanism in the long sharp spines of it's dorsal fin that it thrusts in it's opponent's face and a hippo tang has an offensive weapon in the scalpel that it has just before it's tail. That is why they call them surgeon fish but we all knew that.
I also think that the clowns know about the other fishes weapons and know which fish they should not mess with. They don't seem to bother with all the other bottom dwelling fish and pay no attention to the gobies, mandarin or pipefish. I guess they consider rthose fish as sissies and no threat.
Just my observations on a rainy day
The hippo tang has learned to take a short cut to by pass both fishes nesting sites and has no problems. Hippo tangs are much more comfortable navigating in close quarters of rock than long nose butterflies. In the sea a hippo tang will take cover in the rocks while a long nose butterfly will try to swim away just above the rocks.
I would imagine their long nose would make it difficult to get into tight spaces, or get out anyway. Also a butterfly has more of a defense mechanism in the long sharp spines of it's dorsal fin that it thrusts in it's opponent's face and a hippo tang has an offensive weapon in the scalpel that it has just before it's tail. That is why they call them surgeon fish but we all knew that.
I also think that the clowns know about the other fishes weapons and know which fish they should not mess with. They don't seem to bother with all the other bottom dwelling fish and pay no attention to the gobies, mandarin or pipefish. I guess they consider rthose fish as sissies and no threat.
Just my observations on a rainy day
Classic way of explaining it. Enjoy your rainy day
Sean, I noticed your signature, does this count? This is a tide pool where I collect stuff. I only wear the tuxedo if I am looking for classy specimins
He He Paul.... Classic. I suppose the "stuff" you collect is mainly to keep mother earth clean....lol, as I cannot even try and imagine what you holding in yur hand....
Btw, love the Tux....sooooo...... James Bond
Btw, love the Tux....sooooo...... James Bond
Actualy I collect amphipods and grass shrimp there
Bucket of amphipods
Bucket of amphipods
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