Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Tisbe pods can be really hard to see. Those look like apex. What kind where you wanting?

Apocyclops. I’m hoping the tank raised mandarins will be able to eat them. :)

 

[BeanAnimal]

Careful with the stir plate speed and timing, it can damage a lot of cells quickly. I modded mine to spin slower (larger power resistors) and have them come on only momentarily a few times a day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Cyano? In Refugium

Recently I’ve been getting a greenish brown scum on the water surface of my refugium. It is likely some type of cyano, but seems to like the surface.

It can become thick enough to scoop out in just a day. I’ve not yet tested N and P since I don’t yet have the kits I want, but will soon.

Turning off the skimmer might be making this issue worse. I don’t have a true overflow from the refugium unless the drain holes become clogged, and I likely don’t want to overflow the scum into my return chamber and then up to the display anyway.

I already have one accessory powerhead to give flow in the refugium, but I may need to upgrade it.

Alternatively, I might ramp up the power in my return pump and divert a lot of the flow into the Brute chain to increase the flow through it without increasing the overflow noise at the display (which has been nicely low).

There’s no sign of this scum in the display or any other brutes, but the lighting is currently low in the display. That could be one an issue in the future, though the display does have a lot more flow and also true overflows.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Careful with the stir plate speed and timing, it can damage a lot of cells quickly. I modded mine to spin slower (larger power resistors) and have them come on only momentarily a few times a day.

Oh, that is worth knowing. I can certainly put the plate on a different timer for only a few min. I can’t slow the stirrer too much or else it doesn’t get started. But I’ll explore that too.

 

[areefer01]

PS, some day I’ll have time to straighten up the wiring rat’s nest in the above photo. lol

If you haven't done so already maybe at least add tape near the plug base and note what the cord is. May save you some time later or when you get around to tidy it up.

Not judging. Just thinking out loud if something needs rapid change.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Cyano? In Refugium

Recently I’ve been getting a greenish brown scum on the water surface of my refugium. It is likely some type of cyano, but seems to like the surface.

It can become thick enough to scoop out in just a day. I’ve not yet tested N and P since I don’t yet have the kits I want, but will soon.

Turning off the skimmer might be making this issue worse. I don’t have a true overflow from the refugium unless the drain holes become clogged, and I likely don’t want to overflow the scum into my return chamber and then up to the display anyway.

I already have one accessory powerhead to give flow in the refugium, but I may need to upgrade it.

Alternatively, I might ramp up the power in my return pump and divert a lot of the flow into the Brute chain to increase the flow through it without increasing the overflow noise at the display (which has been nicely low).

There’s no sign of this scum in the display or any other brutes, but the lighting is currently low in the display. That could be one an issue in the future, though the display does have a lot more flow and also true overflows.

It may be that with surface agitation or overflow (surface renewal) you get no scum at all. I assume it is a simple matter of organic surface film accumulation, like stagnant pond scum. It grows there because it can, but mixed back in would be exported or fuel some other process.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It may be that with surface agitation or overflow (surface renewal) you get no scum at all. I assume it is a simple matter of organic surface film accumulation, like stagnant pond scum. It grows there because it can, but mixed back in would be exported or fuel some other process.

There may certainly be some of that, but it’s definitely photosynthetic with bubbles making it into a scummy foam.

 

[bradreef]

Ide also add tisbe pods, they are a little smaller but can really populate in a tank.

 

[BeanAnimal]

There may certainly be some of that, but it’s definitely photosynthetic with bubbles making it into a scummy foam.

Sorry, typing from iPad on a trip. Understood the photosynthetic part and should have mentioned that in my response. I believe it may have time to react there because it is trapped there to begin with, vs being consumed by some other process somewhere else in the system if it stayed in solution. All said, the photosynthesis is likely consuming even more fuel, but the drawback is that it is in an unwanted mass that is not easy to remove. Water surface ATS or BTS if you will :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Beekeeping Day

Not a reef day. Off topic, new bees arrived today. Video below has me opening the “bee bus” and removing the queen to put in the hive first. All seemed to go well, despite it being a rainy day (hence the green umbrella over the open hive). The remaining 10,000 bees soon followed her in, and they are settling in now.

The electric fence is for bears, which frequent the yard.

 

[Miami Reef]

The electric fence is for bears, which frequent the yard.

That’s insane.

 

[twentyleagues]

Beekeeping Day

Not a reef day. Off topic, new bees arrived today. Video below has me opening the “bee bus” and removing the queen to put in the hive first. All seemed to go well, despite it being a rainy day (hence the green umbrella over the open hive). The remaining 10,000 bees soon followed her in, and they are settling in now.

The electric fence is for bears, which frequent the yard.

I dont think I knew you keep bees. Very cool. Do you plant any specific flowers for them or just whatever is around? I am guessing you harvest honey from them.

 

[rtparty]

Any other livestock like chickens or do the bears make that a no go?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Any other livestock like chickens or do the bears make that a no go?

No, nothing else here. This location is our country home. Tank isn’t here either, and the in and out nature of our time here precludes anything else. My wife is crazy about baby goats, so we’d probably have them if we could. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I dont think I knew you keep bees. Very cool. Do you plant any specific flowers for them or just whatever is around? I am guessing you harvest honey from them.

The house has been around for 225 years, and for much of the last century was owned by various folks working at the local colleges who were obsessed with plants and trees, so the plantings are extensive. The property itself has shrunk from the early days when it owned a lot more and even had two barns, one on either side of the street. But it is still several acres abutted by conservation land that has lots for bees (and us) to enjoy. Many of the plants are unusual for the area. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That’s insane.

Last year we had seven different bears, and one large mother and four cubs kept devastating the bird feeder. She would stand on her hind legs, and just push the metal pole to the ground.

Man finally triumphed over beast when I took a long 4x4 from the barn, buried it deep as I could set it, then mounted the metal pole on top of it. She could climb the wood, but not the metal pole, and did not have the leverage to bend the metal pole while holding onto the wood. She tried and failed to bite through the metal pole. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ide also add tisbe pods, they are a little smaller but can really populate in a tank.

They were part of the mix I got, so that’s good.

In any case, Dinkins will send me twice the pods I ordered at no cost, so all is well. I just have to work out when I can receive them. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you haven't done so already maybe at least add tape near the plug base and note what the cord is. May save you some time later or when you get around to tidy it up.

Not judging. Just thinking out loud if something needs rapid change.

Thanks. :)

 

[twentyleagues]

Last year we had seven different bears, and one large mother and four cubs kept devastating the bird feeder. She would stand on her hind legs, and just push the metal pole to the ground.

Man finally triumphed over beast when I took a long 4x4 from the barn, buried it deep as I could set it, then mounted the metal pole on top of it. She could climb the wood, but not the metal pole, and did not have the leverage to bend the metal pole while holding onto the wood. She tried and failed to bite through the metal pole. lol

Bears are a menace. Our property in the u.p. has black bears in the area they make a mess of everything and can obviously be dangerous especailly to kids and small animals. My Grand father used to tell us to get in the house before dusk as that is when they are most active. It was like living with vampires lol.

 

[Freenow54]

Welcome to Randy's Tank and Learn Thread!

First, why that particular title?

I started my last reef tank in August of 1995, and ultimately took it down in March of 2016, after more than 20 years of enjoyment. I’ve learned a lot since then, but not nearly enough. The title reflects the idea that this tank thread will be different than most, and will be focused around learning, both for readers and for me. As I proceed to set up and maintain a new reef tank, I will encounter all sorts of challenges that I will address extensively in this thread.

Some recent days the list of challenges seemed endless. Some I’ve already encountered and gotten great help for, and will recount these in this thread. Future challenges will include things I’ve done before, and some I have not. For many of these topics, I will request input from readers on how to best do certain things, and what are the pros and cons of the various paths forward. Some will obviously be chemical challenges (e.g., what to dose and how and why, DIY materials of various sorts, etc.), but others will not be (e.g., what corals look best in white light).

My intent overall is to first tell folks what I'm thinking of doing, gathering suggestions of how others think I might go about it, then doing it, tracking if it seemed to work, etc. My hope is that a wide range of folks will follow this thread, both to learn things they do not know, and to help with things they do. In many cases, each post I make will have a heading that summarizes it in a “topic of the day” type of discussion.

I won’t belabor the reasons for taking down my previous tank, but electricity cost was a big factor. Fast forward to today, and there have been huge changes in the reefing world, not least of which is more electrically efficient equipment. Rev (revhtree, owner of Reef2Reef) asked me a couple of times if I had an interest in restarting a tank, and I decided last fall that the time was right to start again. In discussions with Rev, he suggested that perhaps some Reef2Reef sponsors might be willing to help out, and that has turned out to be true. I want to express a very big thank you to three companies:

TBS (Tampa Bay Saltwater), providing their “package” of rock, sand, and some clean up crew

Tunze, providing powerheads (Stream 6105 eco), a skimmer (9410), an Osmolator 3, and an RO controller (8555)

BRS (Bulk Reef Supply), providing discounts on a wide range of items (still being set up)

As my tank story unfolds, there will be more about why I chose these specific items, how I’m using them, etc. An important thing to note is that these are the specific items I felt would best serve this tank. Folks may have noticed a bunch of threads I started recently asking for folks experiences with various things (e.g., lights, bulkheads, etc.). This tank is why. I made a wish list of items I wanted and Rev worked to find a way to help make it happen. Thanks, Rev! It was not the other way around, of a company trying to convince me to try something. I picked these things so it’s on me to have chosen correctly.

So let’s roll on, have fun, and learn together!

I want to know how you got all the free stuff. You are obviously talented in a lot of ways . How about sharing lol