How to make a Tank Last for 40 years with few problems

Susan Edwards · Nov 28, 2017

Thanks Paul. Will shoot for fresh and freeze myself. And I'll experiment with blender and freezing in smaller chunks. I had tried some frozen mussels for the anemone which it didn't like. Shortly after, it started going down hill so don't know if that gave it something. I put it in my coral qt tank (a ten gal I hadn't taken down) and am trying to save it by squirting mysis water with garlic and selcon in it.

Paul B · Nov 28, 2017

Your anemone was probably croaking before you gave it the mussel. Anemones love mussels.

Susan Edwards · Nov 28, 2017

Good to know. It had been doing great, eating and looking good so no idea why it nose dived.

Paul B · Nov 29, 2017

Maybe it was allergic to shellfish

Susan Edwards · Nov 29, 2017

um02122 · May 22, 2018

I've seen BTA developing something similar to brown jelly disease commonly found in Euphyllia.

While the ethiology of brown jelly is not entirely sorted, there was some theory about a combination of Vibrio with a protozoan. What better place to find multiple bugs than in a filter feeding animal like a mussel.

Tautog · May 22, 2018

Great read Paul! I’m in total agreement with your methods. 35 yrs ago I started my first SW tank with a UG filter. I too questioned why the UG should be reversed, but everyone laughed, and said it would never work. I guess were in the minority, but your 1000% correct concerning bacteria’s role. Fresh clams are the perfect source. In fact, all fish eat the stomach part of the clam first, and many won’t eat the meaty parts. Fresh clams have a great shelf life, and most supermarkets carry them. Clams dug during the winter months will last 3 weeks to a month in the refrig.
*** I think I can answer that question about fish growth for you! PM me for my results

Paul B · May 22, 2018

Blackfish

, Those people who laughed are all out of the hobby now

Tahoe61 · May 22, 2018

Paul B said:
Blackfish , Those people who laughed are all out of the hobby now

I think the brush you paint with is too broad. Different cats, different ways to skin them, what works for one may not apply to another, that is the reason generalizations are problematic....

Paul B · May 22, 2018

Tahoe61 said:
I think the brush you paint with is too broad. Different cats, different ways to skin them, what works for one may not apply to another, that is the reason generalizations are problematic....

You are right, I will rephraise. Those people who used to say that a reverse undergravel filter couldn't work are wrong. Very wrong. But since many of them said that 35 years ago, some of them are out of the hobby or took up golf or stamp collecting.
Hows that?

Tahoe61 · May 22, 2018

Please I used one, you're not re-inventing the wheel. My issue is that you dismiss all other methods while claiming to be open minded.

Have nothing but admiration for your methods, perhaps you should try that instead of repeating over and over that so many others fail, no we grow and try other methods while not throwing "old school ways" under the bus, there is a middle ground and I am confident you're going to find that out.

Paul B · May 22, 2018

No, I just said that people who said reverse undergravel filters can't work are wrong. Of course other methods work, that is proven by all the fantastic tanks on here. Tautog said people laughed at his UG filter and they did on mine also. I never said or belittled other methods. I never even mentioned other methods. If I implied that, I am sorry because that was not my intent. I certainly don't have any where near the nicest tank on here and no where near the best or hardest corals. Mine are relitively easy and I know that. I think you read to much into my posts. But I am sorry if I seem to imply that my methods are the best. I just have a weird way of talking. It must be my PTSD or I am old and cranky, or senile.