Paul B's thread

[Paul B]

Joe, yes, I have a 3D printer. Not the cheap one that uses that "string" of plastic to build. I forgot what mine is called but it uses a resin that gets cured by ultraviolet light. Its called "Elego"

I ran one of these pumps in my last house to power my skimmer 24/7 for like 15 or 20 years. It was under a cabinet so I forgot about it but it was very reliable. I never even cleaned the thing or did any maintenance to it. Then the impeller housing cracked and it leaked. But I probably hit it with something. Those impeller housings are a little delicate so you have to be careful that you don't tighten up the hoses to much or it will crack and I am not sure you can get a replacement.


I hope to start assembly today. I will build 2 configurations. One is simple but doesn't look too great and one that looks like a piece of art work.
(I am an artist, what can I tell you) This one will just be for a test to see if the concept works well and if it needs any tweeking, it will be easier to experiment with that design.

I will initially build the simple one because I think if anyone wants to build this thing, thats the way they will go and it is so simple that even your cat could build it. (with some help from a 5 year old) It should cost under $100.00.

If I get time today I will go to Home Depot because I am not sure I have enough of the correct fittings to complete it even though I have an enormous amount of "things" laying around and could probably build a nuclear submarine....A small one without the propeller or periscope.

 

[Paul B]

I posted a DIY on how to build a diatom filter:

Build a Diatom filter for under $100.00

I have 4 or 5 old Vortex Diatom filters in various stages of disintegration and I use one all the time to stir up the gravel in my 125 gallon tank. I also use it to blow out detritus in the pores my real rock. The tank uses dolomite gravel and the gravel has been in there for the 52 year life of...

www.bostonreefers.org

 

[Paul B]

I just ordered parts for a half size diatom filter but this one has a one micron cartridge and it doesn't work with powder. It should work perfect for people concerned about parasites (I am not). I can't find a one micron pleated cartridge to use with powder. I want to see how this one works and how easy it is to clean. The cartridges are only five bucks so even if I can't clean it, it is still cheap enough to change the cartridges occasionally.

Hopefully next week I will be able to build the thing and test it.

It will cost me about $115.00 in parts because I am using a good pump.

 

[Paul B]

It seems I am going for another back procedure so I can stop walking like a blue lagged hermit crab.



They are going to knock me out again to make a few small holes in my to inject my sacroiliac joint on both sides. I am not sure why they have to knock me out for this but I think it's because the needle is like 5" long and they don't want my screaming to scare the other patients.

I also have to drive 60 miles for this because none of these doctors are around the corner to me. When I used to live there, right on the New York City border, my doctors were out here 60 miles. Now I moved out here and my doctors are all there.

I have to get someone to drive me home because for some reason they won't allow you to drive after this. I can see that for some snowflake Sissy but after 33 surgeries, I think I can handle this minor thing.

 

[Paul B]

Just now I see I have a dead fish stuck to a powerhead. I almost never see a dead fish. It was a file fish I have for a couple of years. I noticed yesterday that he was very fat. I didn't think he was pregnant because I never had a pregnant filefish although it isn't that odd to have one.

But I knew there was something wrong with him. Nothing contagious or anything a drug would be able to cure.

I did a necropolis just to see if it was eggs. It was not. But whatever killed him it was infected because although the fish just died and didn't stink, when I cut him open he really stunk so I knew it was an infection of some kind.

His organs were all rotted so I can't tell where it came from. But fish do sometimes get something we can't cure.

 

[Paul B]

I went to the pain Mgt Doctor yesterday and she got me up on the table. There were two other people in there, one was the guy who aimed the Death Ray, I mean X Ray thing and the other "female" I wasn't sure what she did but she had a rag which I assumed was to clean up the blood on the floor after the procedure.

The Doc said "little pinch" and stuck the needle in my back, 8 times to numb the area a "little."
(A little to little if you ask me)

Then she studied the X Ray, unless she was watching "Dancing With the Stars" and filled the Turkey Baster, ,I mean needle, using a funnel with the "stuff". I asked for the good stuff not the stuff from Amazon.

"Another little pinch" and she stuck it in my lower back,,,8 times. A few of those times she stuck it in so far she had to climb up on my back to put her foot on my spine so she could pull it out. And she had high heels on.

After the procedure she asked me to sit up which I tried to do. She asked if there was still any pain. I waited until I stopped whimpering screaming and crying and tried to get up. It took me a while and she could tell I was still in pain so I said yes, "Here and there". She asked if I would like more Cortizone, or Coppersafe so I said, Yes, fill me up. Wherever you see skin, stick one of those needles in until I am "full".

When I was a mechanic for Oldsmobile (google it) We had to check the grease in the rear axle. To do that you open this big plug in the thing and stick your pinkie in. If your finger came out with grease on it, it was full. I asked her to stick her finger in my ear and if it has "stuff" on it, I am full.

Then I was almost pain free. (not because of the cortisone, but from the lanacane she mixes with it so she can tell where the stuff is going by the level of your screaming.)

I finally got up and walked a few steps. I didn't fall down and was standing up right.

She said "how do you feel?"
I said "pretty good and would you like to go dancing?

Remember I grew up in the Disco Age, she wasn't born yet as she is somewhere between my Daughter and Grand Daughters age.
Disco dancing is sort of like texting only instead of your thumbs, you use your feet.

We used to go to Disco's to meet girls because thats where everyone was and thats what you did. (When I was not taking care of my fish tank of course but I never mentioned that)

In a disco if you wanted to meet a girl (which was why we were there) you had to walk up to a girl and make intelligible words come out of your mouth, not LOL, or ROTFLMAO or anything like that or she would smack you and call the cops.

You also needed a cool car. "Your" car not your Dads. It helped if it was fast. Muscles also helped because girls didn't like Wimps. Having hair was a big must and believe it or not, I didn't always look like this.

I met a lot of cool girls and actually married one 50 years ago, she is still sleeping now but still looks the same. (I didn't meet her in a disco but thats another story for another day)

So it is the next morning and I am still upright getting ready to go on my 2 mile, cold and dark walk and I feel confident that I can handle any ground hogs, deer, possums or squirrels that want to attack me

 

[Paul B]

My reef slightly overflowed yesterday. I knew because I put in my magnet glass cleaner and water overflowed down the front glass.

I quickly removed 5 gallons of water. I tested the salinity and it was so low that I could keep bullfrogs or Duck Billed Platypuses. It was my fault because I cleaned the strainer on my skimmer intake (I don't use a sump so everything is in my tank)

When I did that, I moved the ATO gravity fed fill valve.

Luckily, when I designed this thing I made it so if the valve sticks, very little water will go into the tank because only a few drops more than what the tank needs due to evaporation gets in.

The water was up to the brim, but didn't go over.

I added some salt and now it is to salty. My corals like this variation because they are all reaching for the stars and never looked better. The fish are also mostly spawning.

 

[Paul B]

Happy New Year. Lets hope 2024 is better than 2023.

Today is the day all the tourists go to Times Square. YYYyyaaaaaa. Us New Yorkers know better and wouldn't be caught dead there.

But have a Happy and healthy New Year, wherever you are.

 

[Paul B]

I like this small diatom filter so much that I put it on the tank almost every day just to look at it.

It's on it now. I just stick the suction hose in the tank to start the siphon and plug it in.

I may build another one just because I can even though I now have 2 of them.

 

[Joe Rice]

I like this small diatom filter so much that I put it on the tank almost every day just to look at it.

It's on it now. I just stick the suction hose in the tank to start the siphon and plug it in.

I may build another one just because I can even though I now have 2 of them.

View attachment 201023

Are you using the diatom powder with this or just a fine cartridge?

 

[Paul B]

The small one in that last picture has a one micron cartridge so I don't use powder. I am running it now and trying to clog it to see how I clean it.

 

[Joe Rice]

The small one in that last picture has a one micron cartridge so I don't use powder. I am running it now and trying to clog it to see how I clean it.

The magnum filter instructions say to use bleach to clean their cartridges. I'm guessing because bleach dissolves the really small particles that clog the filter

 

[TPhan]

The small one in that last picture has a one micron cartridge so I don't use powder. I am running it now and trying to clog it to see how I clean it.

How long did it take to clogged?

 

[Paul B]

I don't know. It hasn't clogged yet and I ran it for probably 5 hours so I will keep testing it. But whenever it does clog, I will bleach it. I just love the thing.

 

[Paul B]

I take silly Cholesterol pills but I think I will throw them out. Maybe feed some to my firefish. They are 33 years old and they annoy me as I can't put my hand in the tank. They are also "constantly" spawning and it annoys me. They think they are teenagers.

(Yes I am Jealous)

My cholesterol has never been high but the doctor tells me that because my Dad had a severe heart attack and died when he was 47, (I was 10) I should take cholesterol pills. So I guess if he got hit by a New York City subway train and died, I should have walked to work for 48 years.


They didn't do an autopsy on my Dad so we really don't know why he was just standing there and fell to the floor and died. But that is actually common in men in their 40s. He also had a fish market and ate nothing but the healthiest, oiliest fish all his life. Go figure.

He was seemingly very healthy, could swim for miles and was a Golden Gloves Boxer.
Also very calm and peaceful but my Mom used to say, he is very nice but don't touch his nose as he was not afraid of anything or anyone. Growing up on the docks of New York City in the 20s will do that to you.

My Dad probably had an aneurysm or defect in his aorta that he was born with. He lived in Brooklyn so maybe he had Brooklyina. Who knows.

(My Wife's Dad also died of the same thing, the same way, at the same age and they are buried facing each other in the same cemetery.)

I get a stress test every few years where you run on a treadmill as fast as you can while your overweight Cardiologist monitors you.

During the test he keeps saying "Fabulous, just fabulous", and the last time I took the test I told him, " you know you could give up some of those Jelly beans you have on your desk and jump up here to see how you do".

That's my Dad on the left when he was 17 and his Dad on the right in his fish market.
That's probably Jimmy Hoffa in the middle

 

[Paul B]

Cold, dark, 23 degree, windy walk this morning. This is a Mans walk just before the sun rose.
It makes you feel alive. (I know, I look like a terrorist) Hard to take a selfie with big mittens on.

Walking, especially in the cold, rain or snow clears my head and allows my wife to sleep without me making a lot of noise.

 

[Paul B]

• So now cocaine is legal in Oregon, but straws aren’t. That must be frustrating..
  
  Still trying to get my head around the fact that ‘Take Out’ can mean food, dating, or murder.
  
  Threw out my back sleeping and tweaked my neck sneezing so I’m probably just one strong fart away from complete paralysis.
  
  The older I get, the more I understand why roosters scream to start their day.
  
  Being popular on Facebook is like sitting at the ‘cool table’ in the cafeteria of a mental hospital.
  
  You know you’re over 50 when you have ‘upstairs ibuprofen’ and ‘downstairs ibuprofen’.
  
  How did doctors come to the conclusion that exercise prolongs life, when… the rabbit is always jumping but only lives for around two years, and… the turtle that doesn’t exercise at all lives over 200 years.
  
  I too was once a male trapped in a female body…but then my mother gave birth.
  
  If only vegetables smelled as good as bacon.
  
  The biggest joke on mankind is that computers have begun asking humans to prove they aren’t a robot.
  
  When a kid says “Daddy, I want mommy” that’s the kid version of “I’d like to speak to your supervisor”.
  
  It’s weird being the same age as old people.
  
  Just once, I want a username and password prompt to respond CLOSE ENOUGH.
  
  Last night the internet stopped working so I spent a few hours with my family. They seem like good people.
  
  If Adam and Eve were Cajuns they would have eaten the snake instead of the apple and saved us all a lot of trouble.
  
  We celebrated last night with a couple of adult beverages …… Metamucil and Ensure.
  
  You know you are getting old when friends with benefits means knowing someone who can drive at night.
  
  Weight loss goal: To be able to clip my toenails and breathe at the same time.
  
  After watching how some people wore their masks, I understand why contraception fails.
  
  Some of my friends exercise every day. Meanwhile I am watching a show I don’t like because the remote fell on the floor.
  
  For those of you that don’t want Alexa or Siri listening in on your conversation, they are making a male version….it doesn’t listen to anything.
  
  I just got a present labeled, ‘From Mom and Dad,’ and I know darn well that Dad has no idea what’s inside.
  
  Now that Covid has everyone washing their hands correctly…next week…Turn Signals.
  
  Someone said, “Nothing rhymes with orange.” I said, “No, it doesn’t.”
  
  The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts his sails.
  
  There’s a fine line between a numerator and a denominator. Only a fraction of people will find this funny.
  
  Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.
  
  I have many hidden talents. I just wish I could remember where I hid them.
  
  My idea of a Super Bowl is a toilet that cleans itself.
  
  Exercise helps you with decision. It's true. I went for a run this morning and decided I'm never going again.

 

[Paul B]

My Crab is so happy for some reason that he is doing the macarana. :anguished-face:
Or he thinks he is an octopus.

 

[Paul B]

I posted this on some other forums and figured I would also put it here.

I have been SCUBA diving since Nixon was President (right after Lincoln) and a couple of hundred of those dives were right here in New York in near zero visibility. Every year the sea changes and sometimes so much you think you were in a different place.

Sometimes the sea floor is covered in red algae, sometimes sea lettuce, and sometimes nothing.
I used to dive for lobsters every weekend and normally the lobsters are in holes during the day so we dove a lot at night.

One year the sea bottom was covered in a "mat" of some type of "algae" or other organic "stuff" about a foot thick and it went on as far as I could swim. I could only lift it at the edges but it was very heavy.

The lobsters were all on top of the stuff "staggering" as they tried to remain upright..

I called the EPA to tell them something was wrong with the lobsters and explained what I saw. They told me that maybe the lobsters were eating mussels on top of the seaweed and there was nothing wrong.

Then all the lobsters in the Long Island Sound disappeared for a few years. I never heard a word about it but the lobster industry crashed.

Also the Sound used to be covered in starfish. All at once, they disappeared and are now extinct here. I haven't seen a starfish in years but they used to cover the rocks at low tide.

I am here every day and never find one starfish. No one knows why.


I used to have an urchin collection business where I would collect them for hobbyist tanks for algae control. They were all over everything. Now extinct.

When I used to fish here I would catch 10 blowfish for every flounder. The blowfish disappeared and we had all the flounders we could spear. Sometimes I could spear 3 at a time because they were so thick on the bottom.

Then all at once the flounders left and we were left with bergills which are trash fish and mostly bones. They are now extinct and we have almost nothing but sea robins.

The sea like our tanks change greatly but most people don't keep a tank long enough to notice these changes.

 

[Paul B]

I am so excited, I just now received this E Mail from "Reefing with ReefBum" who interviewed me on YouTube. It blew me away and I can't wait to call her.

I remember this letter.

Hi Paul, I hope you are well. I received a very unique email from someone who is trying to contact u. Below is the entire email.

Happy New Year!

Keith

From: Kathleen F_______
Subject: Paul Baldassano

Message Body:
Dear Keith:
My name is Kathleen F______. I wrote to Sargent Paul Baldassano in Vietnam when I was in 4th grade as part of a Junior Amvet program I was in. My Dad was very involved in Veteran organizations so he signed up his children to participate. I have a returned letter from him and just found it again in my attic.
I just did a google search and find your interview with Paul posted to YouTube.
I would very much like to reach out to him. Would it be possible for you to reach out to him and if I could write to him? My address is ------------

I remember that letter and texted her. She said she has Goosebumps and will call me tonight. She sent me the letter that I sent her in 1970.

She texted me the letter I sent her but I can't figure out how to put it on here from my text.