Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hermit Crabs

The tank currently has hermit crabs from both the TBS CUC, and as hitchhikers on the TBS rock. I mentioned that Sunday I collected some shells for them. I’ve rinsed them and dried them to be sure no dead snails were present, and I added a handful to the tank.

It did not tank long for the residents to begin new home shopping. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Elegance sometimes get a little ticked in a new environment. Don't be alarmed if it gets upset and looks like death lol. Almost everyone of mine had done that. I don't know why lol. I can only assume how they adjust. Bloating, lost tentacles, white string, complete retraction lol. They come back just fine on there own.

I am not saying this will happen but just in case lol.

Thanks. Good to know because I would worry. :)

 

[twentyleagues]

Aussie elegance continues to do fine:

I love Elegance corals, I have a bad track record with them though. Since I have been back I have had 2 this current one is doing great going on a year now. Never acted weird. The last one started acting weird right from the introduction and just never recovered. In the past I had one of three do well. They can be "finicky". I think it matters where they come from. I have been told the shape of the skeleton helps ones with the more "v" shaped skeletons do better in captivity than the other (dont ask me what that is I dont remember). I think its more the environment they come from if from the very turbid delta areas it wont do well in our relatively clean and bright tanks. I think those are easier to harvest unfortunately.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I love Elegance corals, I have a bad track record with them though. Since I have been back I have had 2 this current one is doing great going on a year now. Never acted weird. The last one started acting weird right from the introduction and just never recovered. In the past I had one of three do well. They can be "finicky". I think it matters where they come from. I have been told the shape of the skeleton helps ones with the more "v" shaped skeletons do better in captivity than the other (dont ask me what that is I dont remember). I think it’s more the environment they come from if from the very turbid delta areas it wont do well in our relatively clean and bright tanks. I think those are easier to harvest unfortunately.

Dwest has had the parent of the baby I got for 30 years. I hope I can live up to that pedigree. lol

Here’s a pic of the mama and baby when in his tank:

My elegance coral reproduced in my tank. Pic included.

My 30 ish year old elegance coral reproduced in my tank. The baby (on the left) is about a year old now. The “momma” clownfish (mostly hiding in the pic) has been laying eggs on the skeleton of the older elegance for 30 years now.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[dwest]

Dwest has had the parent of the baby I got for 30 years. I hope I can live up to that pedigree. lol

Here’s a pic of the mama and baby when in his tank:

My elegance coral reproduced in my tank. Pic included.

My 30 ish year old elegance coral reproduced in my tank. The baby (on the left) is about a year old now. The “momma” clownfish (mostly hiding in the pic) has been laying eggs on the skeleton of the older elegance for 30 years now.

www.reef2reef.com

Randy, that neon green leather is offspring of a leather that I cut from a friends tank about 25 years ago too. So you have some oldies there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, that neon green leather is offspring of a leather that I cut from a friends tank about 25 years ago too. So you have some oldies there.

Wow, pressure. Lol

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Here is a elegance I had long ago. They don't like to be shaded and don't like detritus built up from what I have experienced with several.

My current one is going through another phase as I reset and doing things differently. But not sure if it's cause of this as my Duncan is also not happy lol.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

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:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Here is a elegance I had long ago. They don't like to be shaded and don't like detritus built up from what I have experienced with several.

My current one is going through another phase as I reset and doing things differently. But not sure if it's cause of this as my Duncan is also not happy lol.

Thanks for the info. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The two peppermint shrimp from tbs make an appearance;

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Thanks for the info. :)

You helped me a ton already lol. Just passing on what I know.

 

[strich]

The yellow leather looks awesome! Excited to see it grow over time.

 

[Miami Reef]

Is the macroalgae in contact with the UV?

 

[twentyleagues]

Dwest has had the parent of the baby I got for 30 years. I hope I can live up to that pedigree. lol

Here’s a pic of the mama and baby when in his tank:

My elegance coral reproduced in my tank. Pic included.

My 30 ish year old elegance coral reproduced in my tank. The baby (on the left) is about a year old now. The “momma” clownfish (mostly hiding in the pic) has been laying eggs on the skeleton of the older elegance for 30 years now.

www.reef2reef.com

Oh yeah cool! I had forgotten where you got it from. I actually almost got one from a vendor that I trust and have purchased corals from in the past and recently. The story on that one was it had been in captivity for over 20 years and this was a frag (yes frag as in someone cut it up) of the original frag( again) the vendor had gotten so its been fragged like 5 times and not only survived but grew into full corals, it had crazy colors that I have rarely seen in a single Elegance. Red, purple, yellow, green, blue, I actually had to ask is that an elegance? Unfortunately as crazy as this sounds the price was even crazier. But as is typical with this vendor he has kept a portion to grow out and frag again, so maybe in the future i'll have a Cherry Elegance.

I am glad yours came from a tank that is doing well and been in captivity for a long time. Should make the transition easier if not effortless. I dont know why I am so drawn to them but I absolutely want them all...lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is the macroalgae in contact with the UV?

Same Brute and water, but a few inches away and mostly the egg crate shades it. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

First Fish Today!

Day 1 Refugium Started
Day 37 TBS Live sand and base rock added
Day 45 Phyto dosing started
Day 45 Copepods added
Day 66 TBS premium rock and CUC crew
Day 71 First Corals
Day 72 First Fish

This morning I got the following fish kindly donated by Dr Reef (Thanks, Dr Reef!)

1 tank raised yellow tang
4 quarantined green chromis (1 was DOA; Dr Reef was happy to ship another two to make 5 total, but I declined as I'm in no rush for them)
2 tank raised mandarins (pair)

All the bags were in good shape with no leaks. Temp in bags were fine in low/mid 70's. Salinity seemed to vary and was lowest in yellow tang bag.

All were floated a bit to warm them and then I began to equilibrate them to higher salinity as needed.

Lights were off when each were first added, but quickly went up to 6% intensity and will stay there for the day.

Mandarins went in first. Wow, they are small and super cute. I was prepared for them to run for cover and disappear, but no, they stayed pretty much where they landed on the sand and have been hunting the same square foot of sand and adjacent rock edge for at least six hours. They are periodically grabbing things to eat, though I cannot see what they might be eating. I have to believe they are finding food such as pods from the live rock and/or Dinkins pod additions, or they would have migrated to a different location as they searched. I can see how they might get eaten in a tank with large fish. Be careful of that. I was a little afraid the largest chromis might even make a run at them, but no, it just swam by, scaring them. lol


Chromis went in next. The three of them form quite a group: big (bigger than I ever had before), medium, and small. I know it may not last, but they have been swimming about closely together all day. They look quite healthy. I was worried they might be thin due to QT, but were not.

Yellow tang went in last as it had the most salinity to make up. It hung out behind the rocks for an hour, but now is swimming about the tank. It looks good and is a little larger than I had expected, but still smaller than typical wild yellow tangs I recall from the old days. It appears quite healthy. I brought up some green hair algae and some other macro rubber banded to a rock, but it ignores that for now.

Test feeding with Formula two flake was a bust. The chromis took it in and spit it out. Tang ignored it. Prime reef flake seemed to be eaten by both the chromis and the yellow tang. I had set up two Eheim feeders to add these foods, but given that result, I switched both to the Prime Reef. I have a couple of algae clips and some Whole Foods nori and TLF sea veggies to try tomorrow.


All in all a great start to the fish!

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Looks great

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sodium Nitrate came. I added about 10 ppm to help try to outcompete the dinos that are in the refugium.

It has had no light except the uv for a couple of days. Lights are back to normal there tonight so I’ll see in the AM what has happened.

Hopefully I can keep them at bay while I slowly raise the display lights over the next week.

 

[jonelder68]

First Fish Today!

Day 1 Refugium Started
Day 37 TBS Live sand and base rock added
Day 45 Phyto dosing started
Day 45 Copepods added
Day 66 TBS premium rock and CUC crew
Day 71 First Corals
Day 72 First Fish

This morning I got the following fish kindly donated by Dr Reef (Thanks, Dr Reef!)

1 tank raised yellow tang
4 quarantined green chromis (1 was DOA; Dr Reef was happy to ship another two to make 5 total, but I declined as I'm in no rush for them)
2 tank raised mandarins (pair)

All the bags were in good shape with no leaks. Temp in bags were fine in low/mid 70's. Salinity seemed to vary and was lowest in yellow tang bag.

All were floated a bit to warm them and then I began to equilibrate them to higher salinity as needed.

Lights were off when each were first added, but quickly went up to 6% intensity and will stay there for the day.

Mandarins went in first. Wow, they are small and super cute. I was prepared for them to run for cover and disappear, but no, they stayed pretty much where they landed on the sand and have been hunting the same square foot of sand and adjacent rock edge for at least six hours. They are periodically grabbing things to eat, though I cannot see what they might be eating. I have to believe they are finding food such as pods from the live rock and/or Dinkins pod additions, or they would have migrated to a different location as they searched. I can see how they might get eaten in a tank with large fish. Be careful of that. I was a little afraid the largest chromis might even make a run at them, but no, it just swam by, scaring them. lol


Chromis went in next. The three of them form quite a group: big (bigger than I ever had before), medium, and small. I know it may not last, but they have been swimming about closely together all day. They look quite healthy. I was worried they might be thin due to QT, but were not.

Yellow tang went in last as it had the most salinity to make up. It hung out behind the rocks for an hour, but now is swimming about the tank. It looks good and is a little larger than I had expected, but still smaller than typical wild yellow tangs I recall from the old days. It appears quite healthy. I brought up some green hair algae and some other macro rubber banded to a rock, but it ignores that for now.

Test feeding with Formula two flake was a bust. The chromis took it in and spit it out. Tang ignored it. Prime reef flake seemed to be eaten by both the chromis and the yellow tang. I had set up two Eheim feeders to add these foods, but given that result, I switched both to the Prime Reef. I have a couple of algae clips and some Whole Foods nori and TLF sea veggies to try tomorrow.


All in all a great start to the fish!

Keep us posted on what foods your yellow tang likes please. I’ll be receiving my order from Dr. Reef Friday which includes one :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Day 73 Update

All fish made it through the night. Remarkably, the two mandarins are still hunting the same area. The yellow tang is clearly looking for suspended foods, not attached to surfaces. I presume it will learn, but I will be promoting that idea by shredding some algae foods for now. It seems to eat TLF purple seaweed ripped into small pieces, as well as the Prime Reef flake.

The chromis are still hanging out as a tight knit group. They are also eating the Prime Reef flake.

Still no problems with dinos in the display and the refugium looks pretty good. We will see what happens there over the next few days. The overflow change has prevented surface accumulation.

Since I can easily add nutrients now, both in foods and as additives, I plan to restart phyto tonight.