Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

ORA has a red Goni that’s only slightly different than the WWC one (ORA appears to have a touch of blue in the center of each polyp). ORA corals are usually bulletproof. ORA’s coral farm is basically the ocean under natural sunlight. They pull from a saltwater well and don’t use fancy lighting. There are no fancy-pants pampered corals in there—only the strong survive.

Unless this user has a fancy camera filter, this looks like a natural light shot of the ORA red goni:

Post in thread 'Red Ora Goniopora - Suggestions on flow, lighting, feeding, parameters?'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...ghting-feeding-parameters.300073/post-3679678

Thanks, that's useful. :)

 

[hart24601]

I also vote for Ora red Goni. Had them for years and made dozens of frags. My friends took frags and have made hundreds over the years. Super tough and beautiful too. Just for “fun” once I even fragged it by just hitting with a hammer… all fragments lived. I have a video of that somewhere. I have even kept them under Kessil h380 fuge lights.

I keep my tanks pretty white and they are a must have for me.

 

[Reefering1]

Just for “fun” once I even fragged it by just hitting with a hammer…

:oops:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I also vote for Ora red Goni. Had them for years and made dozens of frags. My friends took frags and have made hundreds over the years. Super tough and beautiful too. Just for “fun” once I even fragged it by just hitting with a hammer… all fragments lived. I have a video of that somewhere. I have even kept them under Kessil h380 fuge lights.

I keep my tanks pretty white and they are a must have for me.

Well, hard to argue with that. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ok, let’s do a competition. Remember, lighting is very white.

Next coral should be:

1. Koji wada pink nepthea (such as at Tidal Gardens)

Koji Wada Pink Nephthea

#html-body [data-pb-style=E0X0NAN],#html-body [data-pb-style=KSOO4WQ],#html-body [data-pb-style=Q7Q37H0]{margin:5px}{{widget type="Magento\Cms\Block\Widget\Block" template="widget/static_block/default.phtml" block_id="237" type_name="CMS Static Block"}}<br><br>{{widget...

tidalgardens.com

Or
2. ORA cherry Red goniopora (say, at Cherry corals or Top Shelf aquatics)

ORA Cherry Red Goniopora Coral

Introduction to Goniopora Goniopora, scientifically known as Goniopora spp., are captivating Large Polyp Stony (LPS) corals celebrated for their vibrant coloration and distinctive, flower-like polyps. Commonly referred to as "Flowerpot Corals," these beauties bring a sense of movement and...

topshelfaquatics.com

ORA Red Goniopora #4

We keep our Goniopora/Alveopora growing under ATI Blue Plus and Reef Brite blue LED’s, nutrition is provided by Polyplab Reef Roids. Goniopora/Alveopora thrive in nutrient rich environments with detectable PO4, NO3, and a DKH of 8(many corals will respond poorly to high DKH, please take that...

cherrycorals.com

 

[MoeStachio]

Im just gonna try to follow along and learn some stuff.

Of the two above I'd say the cherry- but that's probably wrong as I suspect the nepthea would be better under white light (?)

 

[dwest]

Both

My ORA goni didn’t make it (a loooong time ago), but it sounds like most everyone else has success with it. They are very pretty.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Fish Tragedy

The yellow tang is not showing up on the remote video, and there is a tang sized light colored object stuck up against the left overflow. It seemed fine on Wednesday when it was eating algae, TDO chromoboost pellets and prime reef flake. Acting perfectly normal.

So disappointing. :(

I’ll have to check the body for injury when I get there, but I may never know what happened. :(

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can a small mantis kill a yellow tang?

 

[JohnNYC8]

+1 Goni vote

 

[CHSUB]

Can a small mantis kill a yellow tang?

Imo, very unlikely. I have one left after removing 2. The mantis from Florida aren’t fish killers in general.

 

[hart24601]

Ok, let’s do a competition. Remember, lighting is very white.

Next coral should be:

1. Koji wada pink nepthea (such as at Tidal Gardens)

Koji Wada Pink Nephthea

#html-body [data-pb-style=E0X0NAN],#html-body [data-pb-style=KSOO4WQ],#html-body [data-pb-style=Q7Q37H0]{margin:5px}{{widget type="Magento\Cms\Block\Widget\Block" template="widget/static_block/default.phtml" block_id="237" type_name="CMS Static Block"}}<br><br>{{widget...

tidalgardens.com

Or
2. ORA cherry Red goniopora (say, at Cherry corals or Top Shelf aquatics)

ORA Cherry Red Goniopora Coral

Introduction to Goniopora Goniopora, scientifically known as Goniopora spp., are captivating Large Polyp Stony (LPS) corals celebrated for their vibrant coloration and distinctive, flower-like polyps. Commonly referred to as "Flowerpot Corals," these beauties bring a sense of movement and...

topshelfaquatics.com

ORA Red Goniopora #4

We keep our Goniopora/Alveopora growing under ATI Blue Plus and Reef Brite blue LED’s, nutrition is provided by Polyplab Reef Roids. Goniopora/Alveopora thrive in nutrient rich environments with detectable PO4, NO3, and a DKH of 8(many corals will respond poorly to high DKH, please take that...

cherrycorals.com

I love the koji however I have found them to be quite difficult. The ora red is pretty much bulleyproof and will have more movement. Ora red is my vote mostly due to tendency of koji to melt - hit and miss coral.

 

[UncommonSense]

Silicate and UV for Dinos

Neither of these are the best options, but I could implement them fast to hopefully stop the possible dinos fast.

I got this sodium silicate solution, rather than my preference for a purity grade, but I saw others had used it. Since not much is dosed, impurities in it are also necessarily small additions. FWIW, these materials are made by fusing sand with sodium carbonate, so not a lot of steps to get impurities.

This is the material from Amazon.

High Temperature Adhesive, 2000F Rated, Sodium Silicate, Water Glass, 40% Solution, 4oz Bottle, 5602 Clear: Electronic Components: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

High Temperature Adhesive, 2000F Rated, Sodium Silicate, Water Glass, 40% Solution, 4oz Bottle, 5602 Clear: Electronic Components: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

a.co

I added 3 grams of the liquid dissolved in a cup of ro/di and added it slowly into a brute overflow. Hopefully the silicate will promote diatoms (and possibly help sponges, which was why I dosed it in the past).

The uv devices also came today. I got three of the 11 watt versions.

Amazon.com

All three are in the main refugium at the moment. The bulbs are exposed so Uv is a big human risk with these, so if you get them, never look at them directly. They give an eerie glow from the brute can:

I just spotted this genius contraption while browsing through!

I went forward and back a few pages trying to see if you listed what the clear material under the bulbs is, with no luck…

Nobody’s said anything about it yet that I can see, so it's presumably acrylic…

But, if it’s glass that you have under those UV bulbs; it’s effectively blocking their UVB and UVC output! — I presume you’re aware of this, but figured I’d chime in, just in case you aren’t!

International Ultraviolet Association Inc - UV FAQs

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just spotted this genius contraption while browsing through!

I went forward and back a few pages trying to see if you listed what the clear material under the bulbs is, with no luck…

Nobody’s said anything about it yet that I can see, so it's presumably acrylic…

But, if it’s glass that you have under those UV bulbs; it’s effectively blocking their UVB and UVC output! — I presume you’re aware of this, but figured I’d chime in, just in case you aren’t!

International Ultraviolet Association Inc - UV FAQs

Not sure what you mean by material under the bulbs. The uv devices I used are basically bare bulbs designed to drop into a sump, pond, or pool:

Amazon.com

They also appeared to work because there was a wide devastation zone around them, including the leading edges of macroalgae that were facing the bulbs. Most of the macro is ok since it was shaded from exposure, but some was not.

 

[picea]

The ORA Red is great, but let me put a vote in for some micro gonis, which are more encrusting types that make a really cool carpet. These are Hellscape, Sunburst, and Harlequin, from Tidal Gardens, all under daylight. Hellscape is the most striking to me, with great colors and the tightest polyp structure, followed by Sunburst, which has great contrast and lets its tentacles out freely for more motion. PS. If you're going to order from CC, make sure you pick up a frag of Sanjay's Milka Stylo - easy SPS that looks its best under daylight. I have really appreciated this thread, so thank you for posting/continuing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Coral Plugs

The plugs in the bottoms of frags are really unnatural looking. Does anyone do anything to hide them, aside from just waiting for a coral to overgrow them?

IMO, they take away from the idea that the tank is a piece of the ocean.

 

[Reefer1978]

Coral Plugs

The plugs in the bottoms of frags are really unnatural looking. Does anyone do anything to hide them, aside for just waiting for a coral to overgrow them?

IMO, they take away from the idea that the tank is a piece of the ocean.

I remove and glue coral to the rock

 

[lubeck]

I snip the bottom off so only the disk remains. Once encrusted you don’t notice. Once the base grows out, you don’t see it

 

[jonelder68]

Fish Tragedy

The yellow tang is not showing up on the remote video, and there is a tang sized light colored object stuck up against the left overflow. It seemed fine on Wednesday when it was eating algae, TDO chromoboost pellets and prime reef flake. Acting perfectly normal.

So disappointing. :(

I’ll have to check the body for injury when I get there, but I may never know what happened. :(

Any update? Did you end up loosing your yellow tang?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Any update? Did you end up loosing your yellow tang?

No update yet. Don’t see it this am on the remote camera.