Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[jonelder68]

Tank Salinity

I made my 35 ppt/53 mS/cm conductivity standard using table salt:

dissolve 1 teaspoon (6.20 grams) of Morton's Iodized Salt in 182 mL (182 g) of fresh water (making a total volume of about 184 mL after dissolution of the salt). This solution can be scaled up as desired.

Reef Aquarium Salinity: DIY Calibration Standards

Reef Aquarium Salinity: DIY Calibration Standards By Randy Holmes-Farley One of the most important issues facing marine aquarists is providing a suitable environment for their aquaria's inhabitants. Among the important properties for a marine...

www.reef2reef.com

I first checked my Pinpoint Salinity device in it. It read a bit low (which I knew). It read 51.1 mS/cm in the 53 mS/cm solution. Since I cannot calibrate it, I will just multiply all readings with it by 53/51.1 =1.037.

I measured tank water to be 49.8 mS/cm. Multiplying up that gives 51.65 mS/cm, which is equivalent to 34.1 ppt or sg = 1.0257.

I’ll ensure that new salt water for AWC has at least 35 ppt in it, then just watch the tank salinity for a while to see if there’s a trend.

Do you make a fresh batch each time? Or would this be able to be stored and used for a while if in a sealed container?

 

[rishma]

GAC

Assuming it arrives as expected, I’ll start it in the skimmer bag. I will give it a rinse before use, but this GAC has generally been pretty clean for me in the past.

Twice in my current tank I have neglected to rinse my ROX 0.8 before putting the bag in and both times it irritated my corals for days! Almost immediate. When I rinse I see very little dust but I feel like it makes a big difference.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Twice in my current tank I have neglected to rinse my ROX 0.8 before putting the bag in and both times it irritated my corals for days! Almost immediate. When I rinse I see very little dust but I feel like it makes a big difference.

Thanks! Rinsing is always an easy precaution with any GAC or other media. :)

 

[Pod_01]

Twice in my current tank I have neglected to rinse my ROX 0.8 before putting the bag in and both times it irritated my corals for days! Almost immediate. When I rinse I see very little dust but I feel like it makes a big difference.

Out of curiosity how do you rinse it?

I seen so many different ways, put in boiling water, run under tap water, rinse in reactor, let it sit in cup of tap water etc…
Some claim you need to activate the GAC, not sure what that means :face-with-spiral-eyes:

Not sure what methods is ideal… sounds like magic:eek:

 

[Miami Reef]

If in a reactor, flush until clear

If in a bag, swish it around in a bucket of RO/DI for a few seconds, then add it.

Rinsing with tap is suboptimal because you’re prematurely clogging the pores with organics and metals. It might not make a big difference since the contact time is low, but I wouldn’t do it.

 

[rishma]

Out of curiosity how do you rinse it?

I seen so many different ways, put in boiling water, run under tap water, rinse in reactor, let it sit in cup of tap water etc…
Some claim you need to activate the GAC, not sure what that means :face-with-spiral-eyes:

Not sure what methods is ideal… sounds like magic:eek:

I run it under an RO drinking water Tap until it’s rinsed clear. I don’t put much thought into it.

 

[rtparty]

I’ve been rinsing carbon under tap water for the 20 years I’ve been doing this. Carbon is so quickly used up and clogged in our tanks it doesn’t matter if I lose some capacity from tap water

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When I used a reactor, I just let it run to waste for a few minutes.

I agree that tap water is not optimal, but in the scenario where I will use it (open top bag on skimmer) the above method doesn’t work, and running it under tap water is just to fast and easy to pass up.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Algae and Shells for Tank

Today the family went to the shore for a day trip, and while there I collected a bunch of snail shells for the hermit crabs to age into, and a bunch of different types of red and green macroalgae for the new yellow tang to dine on when added in a few days.

 

[Miami Reef]

When I used a reactor, I just let it run to waste for a few minutes.

I agree that tap water is not optimal, but in the scenario where I will use it (open top bag on skimmer) the above method doesn’t work, and running it under tap water is just to fast and easy to pass up.

It also helps that your tap water is unusually clean, but I do agree that rinsing in tap isn’t that big of an issue.

Algae and Shells for Tank

Today the family went to the shore for a day trip, and while there I collected a bunch of snail shells for the hermit crabs to age into, and a bunch of different types of red and green macroalgae for the new yellow tang to dine on when added in a few days.

You look great!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It also helps that your tap water is unusually clean, but I do agree that rinsing in tap isn’t that big of an issue.

Yes, and I’ll run it a bit before using it. :)

 

[jonelder68]

Sorry to clutter your page Randy but referring back to the red macro’s and color…

Before:

After:

Been struggling with keeping any detectable nitrates and super low .02 phosphate. Decided to start dosing ammonia at .1ppm per day to start off. 48 hours total now/only 2 doses. Wow! The growth and color is almost back. This is like steroids for it!

Anyways thanks Randy and @Miami Reef for the help and your contributions to us all :)

 

[Miami Reef]

Nice. The colors have vastly improved in such a short time period.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Refugium change

I’m very disappointed with the ongoing, and now worse, collection of cyano (I think, but not sure), on the surface of the refugium water. I upped the flow quite a bit with a new powerhead, but without a true overflow, the crap covered nearly the whole surface in a few days:

I can skim the stuff out with a fishnet, but that cannot be the long term plan:

As seen in the pics, the drain is a pipe with holes to prevent chunks of macroalgae overflowing and clogging the return pump in the next Brute. That works well, except the scum does not overflow and get removed.

As a possibly risky experiment, I replaced the hole-filled drain with a simple pipe section so all water flows over the top like a true overflow. That did a great job of seeming to skim much of the surface, but is now sending the crap to the display. It also risks macro chunks overflowing.

In the next few days I’ll assess whether I made a mistake. lol

 

[rishma]

Refugium change

I’m very disappointed with the ongoing, and now worse, collection of cyano (I think, but not sure), on the surface of the refugium water. I upped the flow quite a bit with a new powerhead, but without a true overflow, the crap covered nearly the whole surface in a few days:

I can skim the stuff out with a fishnet, but that cannot be the long term plan:

As seen in the pics, the drain is a pipe with holes to prevent chunks of macroalgae overflowing and clogging the return pump in the next Brute. That works well, except the scum does not overflow and get removed.

As a possibly risky experiment, I replaced the hole-filled drain with a simple pipe section so all water flows over the top like a true overflow. That did a great job of seeming to skim much of the surface, but is now sending the crap to the display. It also risks macro chunks overflowing.

In the next few days I’ll assess whether I made a mistake. lol

I’m surprised to see all that scum forming. The teeth on an overflow are not too much different than the holes in your pipe. Seems like something other than surface skimming is going on.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m surprised to see all that scum forming. The teeth on an overflow are not too much different than the holes in your pipe. Seems like something other than surface skimming is going on.

I measured PAR this morning. I’ll post details later, but the refugium is 350-1000 and on the surface it would be even higher. Maybe it’s too high. That could be something to try if the overflow fails.

 

[Mickey]

Hey Randy! I can't believe I only saw this thread for the first time a few days ago. Still reading and a bit more than halfway through. Glad you are jumping back in and nice to see even the "experts" struggle with some of the same things as the rest of us.

I sympathized with your various plumbing issues having gone through very similar things myself when first setting the tank up in 2004 with sump under the stand but return pumps in the basement and again in 2023 when I moved my sump to the basement. I haven't made the move to more efficient pumps yet but I'm thinking about it due to high electric costs. Problem is its hard to justify the cost of buying new pumps and just tossing out ones that are working perfectly well and no one wants them these days.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your saga!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Lighting: Par Readings

I took some measurements of PAR this morning. I used a VBR Aqua that apparently matches an apogee quite well. The picture below shows the sensor version I used (which apparently impacts the relative readings).

VBR-Aqua PAR Meter for Aquarium R,G,B PAR Seperately

Just bought the “VBR-Aqua PAR Meter for Aquarium R,G,B PAR Seperately” on Amazon for $207 with tax and shipping. Going to use it for par readings on my API 6 bulb T-5 I have on my 40 breeder. The ETA is Wednesday. Wish me luck!

www.reef2reef.com

Here's a PAR map for 50% light itnesity. 100% intensity was almost exactly double (so around 500 at max intensity), but 12% lighting intensity was much lower than what one would expect (only about half of what would be expected from lighting intensity percentage values).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Skimmer vs Phyto

I decided to put my skimmer on a timer and shut it off while the phyto is dosing (about 90 min), and for about 30 minutes more. I have that all set to happen around midnight. :)

FWIW, Reef Nutrition recommend skimmer off during phyto dosing:

PHYTO-FEAST® LIVE

Phyto Feast Live is harvested and shipped fresh each week. Contains the same 5 algae as Phyto Feast chosen by universities and hatcheries for superior nutritional value. Both are equally good phytoplankton food for corals, clams, feather dusters, tunicates, zooplantkton. Seasonal availability.

reefnutrition.com

Usage Tips
We recommend turning off your skimmer before adding the algae. Many customers have been successful by putting their skimmer on a vacation timer so it automatically turns back on later in the evening (2 hours is a good window).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Gently press and twist the frag to the rock to lock it in place.

Edit: You do the sandwich method outside the tank, then press the frag to the rock inside the tank.

Tomorrow is the day. Just confirming this.

I take the loose frag, do the 3 layer glue on its bottom, outside the tank, then press the frag/glue combo onto the rock inside the tank? That presumes I'm attaching it to live rock in the tank?

if I'm attaching it to a piece of dry dead rock, wouldn't I do it all outside the tank and just put the whole thing into the tank? Does that work better than trying to glue underwater onto coralline-covered live rock? Or does that work out fine?

The frag will have no plug on it.