Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is there a reason why at night? I always wondered what time is best for feeding corals and such.

I purchased a red ball sponge yesterday according to KP aquatics, the sponge I have can come in contact with air.

Red Ball Sponge

Red Ball Sponges, Pseudoaxinella lunchearta, are a fairly common sponge from Florida and the Caribbean characterized by their bright red and orange color and ball shape. In some areas they also grow in flattened fan shapes, and many of the larger sponges have wavy convoluted sides. They...

www.kpaquatics.com

Here’s mine.

I dosed during the day at first, since I thought pods might locate it better during the day, but then read they do not detect it by vision. Since some corals may have a better filter feeding response in the dark, that’s what I switched to.

 

[dwest]

Randy, I am quite convinced that during the time(s) I fed frozen (LRS) three time a week, my clownfish spawned. But they would stop when I was traveling a lot and only fed dry (mostly formula 2 and NLS)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, I am quite convinced that during the time(s) I fed frozen (LRS) three time a week, my clownfish spawned. But they would stop when I was traveling a lot and only fed dry (mostly formula 2 and NLS)

Interesting. What type of clowns?

 

[dwest]

Interesting. What type of clowns?

Percula. But maybe occelaris . It was my trio. The momma just passed after 32 ish years. The younger guys (now duo) are about 10 years old.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Magnifica Update

The anemone continues to do fine. Reason for the update is that it has been taking a tour around the sides of the rock island near the top.

I think it has picked up zoox and color in the past couple of weeks, and may possibly be looking for more light, but I’m not going to up it yet. Soon, though, depending on what happens with its travels and where it ends up.


A few days ago it was facing straight toward the side glass:

Then it was facing toward the back, which is not ideal for viewing and is a danger point for it to cross over to a rock against the back wall:

And now it had continued to rotate so it is now facing toward the other side of the tank and somewhat toward the front, which is a good viewing spot with no danger it will get to the glass. It’s also moving up a bit.

Maybe it’s going to finish its tour up top, exactly where I wanted it to go. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Percula. But maybe occelaris . It was my trio. The momma just passed after 32 ish years. The younger guys (now duo) are about 10 years old.

Wow, a golden oldie. :)

 

[Miami Reef]

My biota yellow tang from Mike had the white pod thing hanging from its side yesterday. It looked just like yours. Weird.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My biota yellow tang from Mike had the white pod thing hanging from its side yesterday. It looked just like yours. Weird.

Did it come off?

 

[Miami Reef]

Did it come off?

Just checked. Yes, it came off. Hmm.

 

[Rocks reef]

Nutrient testing

Got my Hanna HI 774 phosphate ULR from Amazon. Tested tank water twice: 0.16 and 0.17 ppm. Plenty of phosphate without being above my concern trigger of 0.3 ppm. Not sure where it came from. Maybe I overdosed early on, or from rocks (old or new) or maybe dying local macroalgae from the ocean (cannot really tell).

Did some additional testing with my Hanna HI 782 Marine Nitrate HR, and got 0 again. Could mean 0-2 ppm, which seems low to me. I had stopped the ammonia dosing when the first batch of rock came, but time to restart. I think I’ll just add 0.1 ppm per day for a while. I manually added that as ammonium bicarbonate just now while I get auto dosing set up again.

My better BRS 1.1 mL per min doser (unused in box but at least 10 years old) is being used for phyto. Pulling out my two old used ones, one doses 0.89 mL per min (tested over two 20-min periods) and one doses nothing. It’s an easy decision which to use, and using the stock solution I made (4.3 mg/mL) it will take about 21 mL per day for the full system of about 900 L.

Thus, I’ll set this timer for about 24 minutes per day of ammonia dosing. I made it a few weeks ago, but it is in a glass bottle with a screw cap so I expect the concentration is unchanged.

How did you setup your phyto dosing?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How did you setup your phyto dosing?

It’s dosed from a mini fridge, out the bottom and into the sump right below it. I describe and show the setup in this earlier post. Inside the fridge is a BRS dosing pump and a magnetic stirrer, on timers.

Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

Phyto and Skimming: Advice Needed Phyto and pods are still tracking to arrive today. I plan to autodose the phyto and the setup is ready. I’ll detail that later. The immediate question is how skimming interacts with phyto addition. I understand some may get skimmed out and it is often...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[picea]

I'm so glad your magnifica is doing so well. I got one from the same source around the same time and I feel like mine is very slowly recovering, but the tentacles are still very short and lacking in color.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm so glad your magnifica is doing so well. I got one from the same source around the same time and I feel like mine is very slowly recovering, but the tentacles are still very short and lacking in color.

Do you recall what it looked like in the PEA picture?

 

[Techie_]

The stupid Jebao doser app has the big fat "ON" button meaning continuously on, and the scheduled dose as a button much smaller. UGH. I digress... got home from working late and turned on my doser because I was below my target (targeting 9.0 dKH), I wasn't even thinking and laid down to get some sleep. Woke up, tank is at 17.7 dKH over 5 hours. I did a 25% water change and it's down to 13.3 dKH, still about 4.3-4.5 dKH higher than I am normally at. Currently waiting for more RO/DI to fill up before I can do another 25% and bring it down again.

All the fish, coral, and inverts seemed to be acting fine; but I know there can some times be a delayed reaction as things don't happen instantly.

Apart from not being a total idiot, is there anything I need to watch out for or anything I should expect to see as far as livestock is concerned?

I have also been battling low nutrients, so I assume once I have the alk back down to a normal level I will need to dose some Sodium Phosphate and Potassium Nitrate (or Ammonium), what are you thoughts on this?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The stupid Jebao doser app has the big fat "ON" button meaning continuously on, and the scheduled dose as a button much smaller. UGH. I digress... got home from working late and turned on my doser because I was below my target (targeting 9.0 dKH), I wasn't even thinking and laid down to get some sleep. Woke up, tank is at 17.7 dKH over 5 hours. I did a 25% water change and it's down to 13.3 dKH, still about 4.3-4.5 dKH higher than I am normally at. Currently waiting for more RO/DI to fill up before I can do another 25% and bring it down again.

All the fish, coral, and inverts seemed to be acting fine; but I know there can some times be a delayed reaction as things don't happen instantly.

Apart from not being a total idiot, is there anything I need to watch out for or anything I should expect to see as far as livestock is concerned?

I have also been battling low nutrients, so I assume once I have the alk back down to a normal level I will need to dose some Sodium Phosphate and Potassium Nitrate (or Ammonium), what are you thoughts on this?

I’m happy to help with this issue, but it’s off topic enough for this thread that I think it best if you start a new thread. :)

 

[picea]

Do you recall what it looked like in the PEA picture?

I wish I had taken a screenshot of the original, but I was able to pull this from my order confirmation. Mine is a purple tip lime with pink purple base. I would say it still has a long way to go to get back to it's original condition.

 

[Reefer1978]

It’s dosed from a mini fridge, out the bottom and into the sump right below it. I describe and show the setup in this earlier post. Inside the fridge is a BRS dosing pump and a magnetic stirrer, on timers.

Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

Phyto and Skimming: Advice Needed Phyto and pods are still tracking to arrive today. I plan to autodose the phyto and the setup is ready. I’ll detail that later. The immediate question is how skimming interacts with phyto addition. I understand some may get skimmed out and it is often...

www.reef2reef.com

I was thinking of doing this Randy, but I am afraid to drill the fridge :-)

 

[twentyleagues]

I was thinking of doing this Randy, but I am afraid to drill the fridge :-)

Depending on the fridge its not that big of a deal. Can you see or do you know where the cooling coils are? If so just dont drill there. Some have the coils in the fridge space itself others are in the walls behind the inner shell. If they are in the fridge space then you are good if you dont see them then you may need to take the back plate off to see where the refrigerant lines go.

 

[Reefer1978]

Depending on the fridge its not that big of a deal. Can you see or do you know where the cooling coils are? If so just dont drill there. Some have the coils in the fridge space itself others are in the walls behind the inner shell. If they are in the fridge space then you are good if you dont see them then you may need to take the back plate off to see where the refrigerant lines go.

Exactly what I was thinking, just didn't get around to pulling the trigger yet.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I wish I had taken a screenshot of the original, but I was able to pull this from my order confirmation. Mine is a purple tip lime with pink purple base. I would say it still has a long way to go to get back to it's original condition.

Ah, yes it does. Keep us updated how it comes along. :)