Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Freenow54]

Spawning

I couldn’t get a good picture, but something in the tank spawned this morning. I noticed a fish frenzy from across the room and when looking saw the tank was loaded with hundreds of small (< 1 mm) white spheres floating around. All of the fish except the fox face were wild to eat them. :)

hope you can id them nice experience. Any survive ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

hope you can id them nice experience. Any survive ?

No idea, but such in-tank spawning usually results in no apparent survivors.

 

[Freenow54]

No idea, but such in-tank spawning usually results in no apparent survivors.

Get your Daughter to stand guard lol. Seriously though if you can get that all figured out just use barriers. I did it all the time when I was doing fresh water. Cichlids actually hold them in their mouth and also pretend to eat like everything is normal

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

PC Rainbow Update

Recall that this past summer, Dong of Acrogarden (near me) gave me a couple of corals. One was the Bali Green Slimer, which is doing great.

The other is a PC Rainbow, which had to move when the magnifica went on its adventure. Before that is was just a fixed brown color. I had heard from another local reefer that they get more color in lower light, and it happened that its new location is lower light. That may be why it is now showing more color, with greens showing up.

Here are past and present pictures of it;

Today:

Past:

 

[Freenow54]

By the way meant to say congratulations on having a tank that will encourage fish to breed .

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

By the way meant to say congratulations on having a tank that will encourage fish to breed .

Thanks.

 

[twentyleagues]

By the way meant to say congratulations on having a tank that will encourage fish to breed .

Could have been any of the inverts too.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Could have been any of the inverts too.

Yes, and that is most likely. I just accepted the congrats since Clowns did breed in my last tank. :)

 

[Lasse]

FYI - update of my experiences of coral snow and skimmate bacteria

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Papa Bare]

Randy’s Tank Guiding Principles

The tank itself is actually my old 120 gallon oceanic, 4’ x 2’ x 2’, that has been sitting the garage since 2016. Same for the stand and canopy that have been sitting in the basement. Hopefully, they have aged gracefully and will still function as expected, even if they have many old battle scars.

There are several important guiding principles for this system:

1. It is intended to mostly mimic a very shallow reef. That mainly impacts the lighting, which will be far less blue than most reef tanks, and will try to mimic the intense sunlight spectrum of shallow water, which also includes some UV. A prominent tank creature is intended to be an H. magnifica anemone, which can handle very high intensity sunlight. My wife and I also prefer the look of a sunny day in the tropics, as opposed to the cold blue of a deep dive. I found that my first reef tank looked best when lit by direct sunlight at those times of the year when it could be. That’s the look I’m aiming for.

2. The organisms will generally be mixed, including host anemones, SPS and other hard corals, soft corals, and even macroalgae in the display. That mix brings its own challenges that I hope we can overcome together. The lighting choice also has a big impact on which organisms will look and thrive the best.

3. The tank is in our living room, and thus needs to be as quiet as possible. That drives some equipment and design choices. Sump is in the basement, a floor down, which again has some challenges but also big advantages.

4. The tank needs to be largely self-sufficient for significant periods of time since I am not always there. That need drives some equipment choices, such as backup power, auto feeders, a security camera, and possibly devices that can tell me over the internet if they are working.

You are a brave soul using a garage kept tank from 2016.
Good Luck

 

[Freenow54]

You are a brave soul using a garage kept tank from 2016.
Good Luck

I had that choice on my new build. I actually found a Tank that was better dimensions for me. It was suggested by a sales guy 3500 miles away so nothing to gain. Tanks are cheap cheap . I will stop there lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I had that choice on my new build. I actually found a Tank that was better dimensions for me. It was suggested by a sales guy 3500 miles away so nothing to gain. Tanks are cheap cheap . I will stop there lol

Tanks are cheap?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You are a brave soul using a garage kept tank from 2016.
Good Luck

Well, we will see, but this tank is very strongly built. :)

 

[Freenow54]

Tanks are cheap?

For me they are a couple of hundred at Big Als Nothing fancy mind you just a straight up tank. I will never forget a customer of mine had a tank that was 4 months old . Wont say what make but a well known manufacturer but not of Taks. It let loose all over his floor and the Manufacturer would not even back it up let alone the damage. so everything is relative I think. The same manufacturer makes heaters that are not submersible. Are you kidding me? I had one luckily I read it before using it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

For me they are a couple of hundred at Big Als Nothing fancy mind you just a straight up tank. I will never forget a customer of mine had a tank that was 4 months old . Wont say what make but a well known manufacturer but not of Taks. It let loose all over his floor and the Manufacturer would not even back it up let alone the damage. so everything is relative I think. The same manufacturer makes heaters that are not submersible. Are you kidding me? I had one luckily I read it before using it.

I looked into the cost of a quality new custom tank and it was thousands. :)

 

[Freenow54]

I looked into the cost of a quality new custom tank and it was thousands. :)

I forgot how far out of my league you are not insult just fact , and I was just talking about a straight up 75 so I will have to keep everything in perspective . Not being critical would not have minded a photo and still do of the tank you have would not mind seeing prices here from my sources . Have you ever thought of doing your own ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Mantis Update

My daughter who took the trapped mantis and put it in a nano tank was hoping to train it to eat from her. Today she told me that she put in a piece of shrimp, and when it floated, she took some tongs and lowered it down. The mantis immediately came out and took it off the tongs. It doesn't seem like training will be necessary. lol

On a related note, I had moved a red mantis shrimp to the sump more than 8 months ago when it rode up on a rock I was removing and flopped out on the main tank center brace. Yesterday as I was working in the fish room I heard 3 pops from that sump, so it is clearly still alive and doing OK on whatever it finds there. :)

 

[Freenow54]

Mantis Update

My daughter who took the trapped mantis and put it in a nano tank was hoping to train it to eat from her. Today she told me that she put in a piece of shrimp, and when it floated, she took some tongs and lowered it down. The mantis immediately came out and took it off the tongs. It doesn't seem like training will be necessary. lol

On a related note, I had moved a red mantis shrimp to the sump more than 8 months ago when it rode up on a rock I was removing and flopped out on the main tank center brace. Yesterday as I was working in the fish room I heard 3 pops from that sump, so it is clearly still alive and doing OK on whatever it finds there. :)

she is a natural biologist it appears you are now her mentor or maybe the other way around ? From the lips of Children not " kids " they are baby goats

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Have you ever thought of doing your own ?

Making my own glass tank? No. That would, I expect, be a ton of work, not look great, and might still be more of a risk of failure than my old tank.

I've not heard accounts of tanks failing just by sitting in a garage. I did not consider it a big risk. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

. Not being critical would not have minded a photo and still do of the tank you have would not mind seeing

You mean of the bare tank, or of the current things in it?