Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[lubeck]

Interesting you dose iodine even though you do AWC

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Interesting you dose iodine even though you do AWC

Good discussion question. :)

I don't think 1% daily from AWC adds much iodine. Iodine typically depletes pretty fast (completely gone in a few days in my old tank) and replacing 1% of that iodine is not going to make much dent compared to a depletion rate like that.

I have not measured iodine in my new tank, and I'm speculating that there is significant demand. I hope and expect it is not accumulating, and that the dosing is maybe adding enough if there is something that actually benefits.

I grow a lot of ulva macroalgae in my refugium. Let's see how much it might use. Ulva reportedly can contain around 100 ug/g dry weight of macroalgae. This is on the lower end of iodine uptake by macroalgae, with some species being 50 x higher. Random algae growth on the glass and other surfaces will also take up iodine. I also grow some gracilaria in my refugium.

In my tank system, I might grow 10 grams of dry weight ulva (maybe 50 grams wet weight, very rough guess) per day. The means consuming very roughly 1 mg of iodine per day.

In a 250 gallon system, 1 mg/250 gallons/day = 0.001 mg/L/day. The full NSW value of natural seawater is about 0.06 mg/L. Thus, I am consuming about 1/60th of the iodine per day, or 1/6th of it (0.01) every 10 days from the ulva alone.

Let's look at what the AWC might be doing. Of course, if iodine is accumulating above the salt mix levels, it is reducing it, not adding it, but assume the salt mix is 0.06 ppm and I change 1% daily. The most that could possibly add (that is, with zero iodine in the removed water) is 0.06 ppm/100 = 0.0006 ppm per day, or 0.006 ppm per 10 days. That actually would be nearly enough to offset the ulva consumption of iodine (0.01 ppm per 10 days).

If the ulva were the only consumption, then I would be overdosing. But I expect it is not. Another complication is that I recycle some of the Ulva to feed my tangs, but do not know how much of the iodine ends up back in the water as a usable entity, and how much is lost during the recycling. It's also not clear if there is a downside to slightly elevated iodide (and, as I noted, still not convinced it is needed at all).

This takes me back to my previous experience where it fully depleted in a few days, even when changing 1% daily. I don't want to weight that effect too heavily since this tank has a different assortment of organisms. Dr Mac at Pacific East Aquaculture (where I got my magnifica anemone) is convinced iodine is needed by them. While I am not clear that his opinion is based on any sort of replicable test of iodine effects on them, I've not kept a magnifica before, so I do not have a strong opinion on it. Nevertheless, that's the sort of info that is making more more cautious and am adding it now..

This discussion does make me want to put iodine measurement on my future to do list, and since I plan to eventually get an ICP, that should help answer the question.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Magnifica on the Move

Woke up this morning to the magnifica upside down on the sand. Fully inflated, mouth tightly closed, but just not happy with the environment.

It’s a long shot, but I glued two old coral pieces to the rock on top of the island to give it more to hold on to.

I’m leaning toward thinking there is a problem with the water. Maybe an organic toxin or irritant of some sort. Might get an Oceamo organic analysis.

In any case, it’s back in place after some messing around, and the clowns just ride with it wherever it goes.

Old rock island top:

New rock island top with anemone in place, including the two newly added coral pieces (white) hemming the foot in place.

 

[tripdad]

Water and light requirements for Gigantea
IME/IMO this is optimal flow level for this species. Light wise, they want maximum practical amount of light. @TaylorT (From RC) provided 1600-2000 PAR for his Gigantea. They did well, become very light in term of brown from zooxanthellae, and colorful, and thriving. It is not practical for me to provide that much light but if I can I would not hesitate to do so.
There two Gigantea anemone are thriving under this flow and have not move at all since I put them right there over a year ago.

Randy, this is from another thread by OrionN and is not exactly identical but he puts a lot of effort towards anemones. Maybe it can help give some insight.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, this is from another thread by OrionN and is not exactly identical but he puts a lot of effort towards anemones. Maybe it can help give some insight.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I do respect Orion's experience. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This morning I described the Magnifica situation to Christoph of Oceamo and whether a water test might be revealing, and also whether he had any customer input relating to similar issues (he doesn't).

In the course of describing the rock on top of the island in detail (origin, outside storage, etc.), it occurred to me that perhaps the glues I used (Two Little Fishies epoxy and Bob Smith gel super glue) to attach the old coral frags to the rock island top may not be to its liking. While these are standard hobby glues, it may be the case that few users have it in very close proximity to a magnifica anemone. If so, I just made the problem worse by using more. If it comes off again in the near term, I'll replace that rock with one of the new TBS excess rocks that are now in the sump system.

The rock may have also picked up some undesirable crap when stored outside for 8 years behind the garage, (we do not generally use pesticides), but I'll note the rock itself is covered in green algae and coralline growth (see picture above).

In any case, I'm going to get an Oceamo water test, and we will see if anything odd pops up. :)

 

[dwest]

This morning I described the Magnifica situation to Christoph of Oceamo and whether a water test might be revealing, and also whether he had any customer input relating to similar issues (he doesn't).

In the course of describing the rock on top of the island in detail (origin, outside storage, etc.), it occurred to me that perhaps the glues I used (Two Little Fishies epoxy and Bob Smith gel super glue) to attach the old coral frags to the rock island top may not be to its liking. While these are standard hobby glues, it may be the case that few users have it in very close proximity to a magnifica anemone. If so, I just made the problem worse by using more. If it comes off again in the near term, I'll replace that rock with one of the new TBS excess rocks that are now in the sump system.

The rock may have also picked up some undesirable crap when stored outside for 8 years behind the garage, (we do not generally use pesticides), but I'll note the rock itself is covered in green algae and coralline growth (see picture above).

In any case, I'm going to get an Oceamo water test, and we will see if anything odd pops up. :)

Randy it really is a beautiful anemone. I hope he finds his happy place. Good luck.

 

[lubeck]

It will be interesting to see the iodine results from your ICP test

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Magnifica

Stressful morning. The anemone stayed in place all day, but released overnight and again was in the bottom.

Time for some more drastic action. I removed the rock it was supposed to attach to and put it in my excess rock pile in the basement (not in the tank system).

I took one of the new TBS rocks out of my sump and looked it over for undesirables since I sump them. There was a whelk on it, so good thing I looked. I sawed a flat surface, and used an old chisel point drill bit and a hammer to pound it in break it in half. This was a Walt smith concrete rock from TBS and was harder to cut, but it worked ok.

I placed the rock and then the fun began. With tank flow very low, I moved the anemone into place, but it kept tipping over. It is very sticks and grabs my hand and rocks, and can get hard to move. After several trials, I think I finally have it in place.

The clowns rode along wherever it went, but I noticed an interesting behavior. They seemed to know this was not normal, and as soon as I had placed it, I noticed one of them repeatedly pushing tentacles against the rock with their mouth. I’ve never seen that before. I’m guessing they wanted it to grip on to stop moving. In face, the tentacles were the main way it initially held in place.

It seems to be getting its foot down now so I am going to slowly increase tank flow.

Next post will show the morning events in pictures.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

 

[skey44]

Magnifica on the Move

Woke up this morning to the magnifica upside down on the sand. Fully inflated, mouth tightly closed, but just not happy with the environment.

It’s a long shot, but I glued two old coral pieces to the rock on top of the island to give it more to hold on to.

I’m leaning toward thinking there is a problem with the water. Maybe an organic toxin or irritant of some sort. Might get an Oceamo organic analysis.

In any case, it’s back in place after some messing around, and the clowns just ride with it wherever it goes.

Old rock island top:

New rock island top with anemone in place, including the two newly added coral pieces (white) hemming the foot in place.

Love following the saga. Beautiful anemone, hope you get it happy and staying put where you want it!

 

[X-37B]

Have you tried feeding it a small piece of shrimp once its in place?
Feeding it once a week for several weeks to see if it stays in place might be worth the effort.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Have you tried feeding it a small piece of shrimp once its in place?
Feeding it once a week for several weeks to see if it stays in place might be worth the effort.

I have fed it scallop a few times, and it eats it. But I've been careful to not feed often since if there is an internal bacterial issue, that might make it worse.

Last time I fed a scallop bit (about 2 weeks ago), it seemed somewhat less expanded the next day. Not sure if that is a sign of anything significant. but I'm cautious about it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Love following the saga. Beautiful anemone, hope you get it happy and staying put where you want it!

Thanks. More fun for readers than me, I expect. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A couple of hours into the process and the foot is down nicely and I’m doing the final flow tweaks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Foxface getting exercise

I didnt get a picture of it in time, but the foxface was swimming very strongly against the powerhead flow to try to graze on algae growing on the protective grill on the Tunze powerhead outlet. It was quite amusing to watch. lol

 

[skey44]

Foxface getting exercise

I didnt get a picture of it in time, but the foxface was swimming very strongly against the powerhead flow to try to graze on algae growing on the protective grill on the Tunze powerhead outlet. It was quite amusing to watch. lol

Earning it’s keep for sure!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It will be interesting to see the iodine results from your ICP test

Yes, that and all the other trace elements. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy it really is a beautiful anemone. I hope he finds his happy place. Good luck.

Thanks. It has been sitting in one place seeming happy all day, but I’ve seen this movie before. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Side note:

Bears (a mother and at least two yearlings) ripped apart my beehive last night. I apparently forgot to turn the electric fence back on after providing a fall boost of sugar water to the bees. :(