Paul B's thread

[Paul B]

A glass bottom here in New York, especially on the East River would be as good as sheet metal as the visibility there is measured in fractions of an inch and you wouldn't see a whale shark even if he was stuck to the bottom of the boat.

On another note.
This guy is finished, And I love him. He is not plugged in here which make his eyes light up green like mine

 

[Paul B]

My town was having a Salute to the Armed Forces and they asked me as a Veteran to come and display my Steam Punk stuff for the event. It was on the beach and very cool. There was also about 50 vintage cars there as well as bands etc.

That's the first time I wore my Dog Tags in almost 50 years. I am surprised I found them

 

[Paul B]

My bluestripe pipefish completely grew back his tail that was bitten to just a stump by the much larger Janss Pipefish. I really love these bluestripes and they are probably my favorite fish. I wish I kept records because I don't know how old they are.

They can really suck up new born brine shrimp.

You can see here how his tail grew back.

 

[Paul B]

So I went to my neurologist friend yesterday and he doesn't think it is my back. Or my front, he thinks it's my sides. Well that doesn't leave much else I mean if it isn't your back and if it isn't your front, it must be your sides.
He thinks I may have a bunch of cracked ribs. I don't think so but being I don't have an arrow sticking out of my head or a cro bar sticking out of my back and I don't remember being pried out from between subway wheels, I have no idea why I can't hardly move. He also thinks I may have to go to a Dr. for arthritis, I forgot what you call them. I call them a Supermodel Doctor because the one I know could be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, so I hope I have arthritis. So far we know I don't have the arrow thing and they all agree I have stress fractures all over my backbone but he said that is from carrying heavy things all my life and most construction workers get that unless you were a snowflake or a Girly Man.

So they did all the doctor things and I had to go for blood tests to see if I had blood instead of seawater, then I had rib X Rays, I guess to see if I also have ribs. I went for lung X Rays and I am sorry I am sucking all the money out of Medicare so there may not be any left when you Noobs get here.
The Dr's will get al the tests back in a couple of days and I will see if I will live so I can take my tank with me or if I will sleep with my fish.

Just now I bought 3 striped cardinals which was stupid because now I have 3 more fish to move and this move is going to be a horror.

 

[Bendint]

Good luck


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Paul B]

Thank You.
I spend a lot of time interviewing Supermodels now to take care of my tank when I travel.

 

[Jim Tansey]

I think they bring out the best in you Paul, your looking good for an old man.

Jim

 

[Paul B]

I look better with a Supermodel on each arm. Too bad I couldn't take at least one home with me, but my wife frowns me bringing home Supermodels.

 

[Paul B]

I priced a 125 gallon tank but I think I will build the new stand. I don't like those Girly Man iron stands they sell to people who don't know any better. I also want to build a base rock that will span the 6' width of the tank and keep my reef structure off the gravel. Hopefully it will only touch the gravel in 6 places. I have been wanting to do that for many years but couldn't do it on a fully functioning reef. If I move everything I will first set up a tank in the new location which is 55 miles away. I plan to fill it half way with NSW from up the block. Then I will drive to this house and remove half the rock and some of the gravel and water. Drive out there and put that stuff in to get the bacteria going. Then make another trip, maybe with a friend who has another car and bring the rest of the rock, gravel and livestock. I will wash my gravel in NSW and put it in on my new Reverse UG filter.
I don't know if that new tank will use a sump as I have not decided on that yet.
I will bring my existing, water cooled LED lights but I will have to solder in another row of LEDs as the new tank is 6" wider. That is going to be a problem because I have to remove a few LEDs to solder on new pipe.
I will also bring my DIY, 5' Skimmer and algae trough. The algae trough is mainly for dissipating the ozone after the skimmer.
This is the plan anyway. If it works out like that depends on if I can keep this house a little while as I move to the new place.
This may be in February and that room the tank will be in is not heated and I will have to add heat at the same time I install the tank .

Oh and my male flasher wrasse jumped out this morning. I will give up on those because I lost 3 of them so far from jumping. As they get into spawning mode, they are so excited, that they jump for joy.

 

[Dekon]

Great looking lamp collection. Very nice builds on them. Glad to see you are going to build a new tank in the new home.

 

[Paul B]

That's the plan and plans don't always work out the way we like, but I am hoping

 

[Paul B]

If this goes as planned, (not likely) After I empty out my existing tank I will scrape off all the mulm growing on the sides and back to add to my new tank and under my UG filter. I can't wait to see what is growing under there and I will also be bringing whatever that stuff is. I will try to eliminate the larger bristle worms, the 2 foot ones with the antlers and Godzilla larvae. I will have to break off all my montipora and try to get most of the rest of the corals and sponges out. I am sure I will lose some, or maybe even all my corals as the lights may not be functioning correctly for a while as I build stuff. It all depends on if I can keep this house for a few days after I own that house. If I have to move out of here before that place is finished, I don't think the tank can stay running as I will have no place to transfer the livestock and rocks.

 

[Chris A.]

Get a used stock tank to put everything temporarily.

 

[Paul B]

That would work, but I may be living in a cardboard box for a few weeks.

 

[Chris A.]

I think the boat would be a better choice

 

[Paul B]

I have to chop the boat out of the ice then just to get inside.

 

[Chris A.]

There has to be a challenge somewhere or it be too easy

 

[Paul B]

These little striped cardinals are spawning. I have 3 of them and it seems 2 of them are female and are pregnant to the joy of the one male.

But cardinals are very easy to spawn and they will spawn even if you lay them down on the asphalt of interstate 80 on a hot summer day and a Mack truck runs them over twice. Not a really big Mack truck like a tractor trailer but a smaller dump truck that is only maybe half full of ball bearings or old VCR tape players.

 

[Paul B]

So a few days ago I took 2 other couples and my wife out to dinner on my boat.

On the way to the boat I noticed that the air conditioner started blowing warm air so I looked at the temperature gauge and the car was overheating. Great, just what I want with a car full of people and other people meeting us at the marina in five minutes.

Luckily I was right near a gas station so I quickly went in there and shut the car off.

I open the hood and antifreeze is flying all over the place.

Now I have to wait five minutes for it to cool down and dissipate the smoke. I get a rag and open the radiator cap. Of course by now I need antifreeze so I buy a gallon from the station. I put it in and wait a few minutes for it to cool down further. I start it up and it seems fine so then I drive the ten minutes to my boat to meet the rest of the group.

I figure I will fix it tomorrow and I have the rest of the antifreeze with me in case I get stuck again.

We get on my boat and go to dinner at City Island in the Bronx and it was excellent.

We made it home in my car with no problem and I checked the oil which was a quart and a half low. I figure between that and the antifreeze probably being low, It will be fine now.

"Yeah Right"

The next day we drove about half an hour to my friends boat for a dinner cruise and on the way home, the thing overheats. Great. I cool it down, put in antifreeze and get it home.

Today I checked it out and what do you know, the fan isn't working.

These silly cars with the engine in sideways are always a pain to work on and to change the fan, you have to be Houdini and take half the car apart. This car is a PT Cruiser and is about 4" off the ground. It's like working on a toy. Of course I disconnected the fan wires first and connected them to the battery to make sure the thing was broken and I checked the 3 relays that control it.

I take out the fan and only cut myself 4 or 5 times because I think as they assemble these cars, they purposely sharpen all the ends of any exposed metal to see how much blood they can make you lose as you work on the car.

I go to the auto supply and buy a new fan. (These things come with the entire shroud and fan motor in one assembly because God Forbid you can only change the defective motor and keep the fan and shroud)

I get the thing home and compare it to my fan. Of course the wiring connecter is wrong so I have to go back the auto supply (who is a friend of mine) and after 45 minutes of looking it up, I get the correct part.

I stick the thing in and this time only cut myself 3 or 4 times and I don't need a tourniquet.

The fan is behind the radiator and air conditioner condenser.

I put back the grill, hoses, wires, brackets etc and start the thing up. Success.

(I was a GM Mechanic Many Many years ago when cars had cranks to start them)





I know what your thinking. It's a PT Cruiser, a Nerd car and not exactly a "Chick Magnet". You would be correct if a Snowflake was driving it, But I drive it and I am a real Man and not a snowflake. I love this car but I also have one of these.

 

[Chris A.]

I don't know about that one not being a snowflake mobile either