Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

hart24601 · Jun 4, 2025

I found low level carbon dosing more beneficial for filter feeders over phyto personally. I ended up just dosing small amounts of vodka only for the food chain. IME great for sponges.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 4, 2025

I wonder if the sponge purchase is not going to work out. @Subsea said something about it being sold, and despite saying some things are in stock, putting them into a cart gives an error message.

picea · Jun 4, 2025

When are you ordering your H magnifica? :)

areefer01 · Jun 4, 2025

picea said:
When are you ordering your H magnifica? :)

I believe he noted that he was watching Pacific East Aquaculture but I could be remembering wrong.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 4, 2025

Right, waiting for the “right” one. I’m also a little worried about shipping heat. It’s possible it won’t happen until fall.

Subsea · Jun 5, 2025

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I wonder if the sponge purchase is not going to work out. @Subsea said something about it being sold, and despite saying some things are in stock, putting them into a cart gives an error message.

GCE uses ice packs and provide excellent packing protocols. As summer heats up, Codium will not be available for collection. However, his inventory shows it’s still available.

Not sure about his market strategy since he is trying to sell his business and retire. I received two shipments in the last 30 days and the sponges I received were magnificent. I will try to capture a few pictures.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 5, 2025

Subsea said:
GCE uses ice packs and provide excellent packing protocols. As summer heats up, Codium will not be available for collection. However, his inventory shows it’s still available.

Not sure about his market strategy since he is trying to sell his business and retire. I received two shipments in the last 30 days and the sponges I received were magnificent. I will try to capture a few pictures.

Thanks. I’m still getting this error message when putting something into the cart:

PayPal
Things don't appear to be working at the moment. Please try again later.

Still get it this AM. I’ll try some more and on some other devices. Maybe someone else can try as well to see what happens:

<head> <title>Macroalgae For Marine Reef Aquariums: Botryocladia Red Grape

jeremym · Jun 5, 2025

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Thanks. I’m still getting this error message when putting something into the cart:

PayPal
Things don't appear to be working at the moment. Please try again later.

Still get it this AM. I’ll try some more and on some other devices. Maybe someone else can try as well to see what happens:

<head> <title>Macroalgae For Marine Reef Aquariums: Botryocladia Red Grape

Added it to my cart. Maybe clear your cache?

Subsea · Jun 5, 2025

@Randy Holmes-Farley
I will give Russ a call to compliment him on the last sponge shipment and ask him about e-store inventory. Thursday is a good day to catch him as they ship Monday thru Wednesday.

jeremym · Jun 5, 2025

Could also try to do it in private or incognito mode in whatever browser you're using.

Subsea · Jun 5, 2025

hart24601 said:
I found low level carbon dosing more beneficial for filter feeders over phyto personally. I ended up just dosing small amounts of vodka only for the food chain. IME great for sponges.

Interesting on carbon dosing to feed bacteria to all filter feeders including sponges.

Reefering1 · Jun 5, 2025

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 5, 2025

Thanks, folks. Still cannot get it to work on my phone, but on an pc it did. I ordered 2 of the sponge sample packs and a number of different macroalgae types. Some will go in one or both refugia and some maybe in the display. :)

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 5, 2025

Subsea said:
Interesting on carbon dosing to feed bacteria to all filter feeders including sponges.

I also thought it helped mine in my last tank. I was dosing vinegar, and a yellow ball sponge grew steadily, though slowly.

Subsea · Jun 5, 2025

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Thanks, folks. Still cannot get it to work on my phone, but on an pc it did. I ordered 2 of the sponge sample packs and a number of different macroalgae types. Some will go in one or both refugia and some maybe in the display. :)

I usually order a lot of other stuff to offset high shipping cost: especially the seasonal grab bags and assorted red macro algaes. When I get things sorted out, I will take a few pictures.

I have found positive results with growing sponges and ornamental seaweeds between 72-75 degrees. The fish & corals respond well to those lower temperatures as well.

Subsea · Jun 5, 2025

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I also thought it helped mine in my last tank. I was dosing vinegar, and a yellow ball sponge grew steadily, though slowly.

I now dose ammonia & liquid kelp concentrate and silicates which are added with ground water makeup.
Adding vinegar to the cocktail makes sense to me.

PS: This area of Texas was a shallow inland sea with limestone sediments and the ground water at 1000’ has a TDS of 950ppm which is high in magnesium, calcium and sulfur, as well as silicates.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 5, 2025

Subsea said:
I now dose ammonia & liquid kelp concentrate and silicates which are added with ground water makeup.
Adding vinegar to the cocktail makes sense to me.

PS: This area of Texas was a shallow inland sea with limestone sediments and the ground water at 1000’ has a TDS of 950ppm which is high in magnesium, calcium and sulfur, as well as silicates.

How important do you think it is to keep these non photosynthetic sponges in low light to prevent them being overtaken by algae?

The yellow ball sponge I had thriving in the past was under an overhang and never got direct metal halide light.

Subsea · Jun 5, 2025

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
How important do you think it is to keep these non photosynthetic sponges in low light to prevent them being overtaken by algae?

The yellow ball sponge I had thriving in the past was under an overhang and never got direct metal halide light.

It varies as to light intensity. I suppose my lights are on the low side as I have no high light demanding SPS. I also find that lower light & lower temperatures controls fast growing Caulerpa’s.

I like to expose sponges to white light to highlight colors, thus I use a bunch of small blue leg hermit crabs for janitors (Reeftopia at 300 for $90. It helps to get free shipping & a 10% discount).

Subsea · Jun 5, 2025

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
How important do you think it is to keep these non photosynthetic sponges in low light to prevent them being overtaken by algae?

The yellow ball sponge I had thriving in the past was under an overhang and never got direct metal halide light.

A NPS deep water Gorgonion was in my last sponge shipment. I treat them the same as the sponges. Note the Bortacladia in a more shaded area but higher up in the tank. I doubt the PAR is above 50 at bottom of tank.

P.S. Odd that GCE no longer shows the NPS gorgonian. I have purchased the same species from Reeftopia:

Yellow Gorgonian - Diodogorgia nodulifera

These have a 3/4 inch base and can be place anywhere within a reef. These are regarded as a suspension feeder and will last a really long time within a reef when fed one of the plankton type food supplements. Size varies from 4 to 7 inches in height.

reeftopia.com

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 5, 2025

Subsea said:
A NPS deep water Gorgonion was in my last sponge shipment. I treat them the same as the sponges. Note the Bortacladia in a more shaded area but higher up in the tank. I doubt the PAR is above 50 at bottom of tank.

P.S. Odd that GCE no longer shows the NPS gorgonian. I have purchased the same species from Reeftopia:

Yellow Gorgonian - Diodogorgia nodulifera

These have a 3/4 inch base and can be place anywhere within a reef. These are regarded as a suspension feeder and will last a really long time within a reef when fed one of the plankton type food supplements. Size varies from 4 to 7 inches in height.

reeftopia.com

I did get a purple sea fan in the order. Nonphotosynthetic. Depending on how it looks, it may initially go in a dark refugium. Might try one of the sponges there too.

But the rest will go into the display. I do have a mithrax crab that loves to clean the microalgae off if things I add, as well as a number of hermits including blue legs.