Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Photo update

Some photos from today. Anemone has stayed on its new rock for the past week, which I am quite happy about. All fish are doing well. The foxface is notably more yellow than in the past.

 

[fandaga]

Nem looks great. Nice PE overall on the corals - wish I could get my digi looking like that.

 

[dwest]

Looks great Randy. My wife said the elegance is “looking good”.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Looks great Randy. My wife said the elegance is “looking good”.

Thanks! Yes, it does seem to be doing well. I made the depression it sits in a little deeper and it has stayed put for quite some time. Not sure if it’s the skeleton getting heavier or just the depression size, but the floating away is hopefully a thing of the past. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Chemistry Update

Alk is 7.7 dKH. AFR dose seems good for now but coralline is ramping up so I expect to have to raise it periodically.

pH 7.9 at 9:00 AM.

Salinity is 35.2 ppt. Seems having the AWC water at 41.3 ppt (based on the measured mismatch of in vs out flow) seems to do the trick at holding salinity steady enough.

Nitrate is 7.5 ppm. The current ammonium bicarbonate dose seems good for now. :)

 

[rishma]

no precipitation in higher salinity AWC water?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

no precipitation in higher salinity AWC water?

Somewhat surprisingly, no, even using a higher alk mix (normal IO). Maybe the higher magnesium holds it back. I’ll have to rethink my recommendations against hyper saline seawater use.

The picture below shows the container. Any deposits (bottom and side deposits above the water line are old). Maybe there is some deposition right on top of the old deposits, but in my old tank I gathered a lot of deposits in the mixing barrel, even at normal salinity. Perhaps changes in the IO recipe (seems lower alk now) are critical.

In the picture below one can see the black grounding wire, the white tubing for the AWC with a piece of pvc holding it down, and the pvc pipe that brings water from the second brute when the mixing pump is in. Water returns to the other brute through a bulkhead in the side near the bottom. The pvc pipe from the other brute has a 90 elbow to drive the flow in a circular motion when mixing. This is the barrel I add the salt to.

 

[rishma]

no precipitation in higher salinity AWC water?

Somewhat surprisingly, no, even using a higher alk mix (normal IO). Maybe the higher magnesium holds it back. I’ll have to rethink my recommendations against hyper saline seawater use.

The picture below shows the container. Any deposits (bottom and side deposits above the water line are old). Maybe there is some deposition right on top of the old deposits, but in my old tank I gathered a lot of deposits in the mixing barrel, even at normal salinity. Perhaps changes in the IO recipe (seems lower alk now) are critical.

In the picture below one can see the black grounding wire, the white tubing for the AWC with a piece of pvc holding it down, and the pvc pipe that brings water from the second brute when the mixing pump is in. Water returns to the other brute through a bulkhead in th side near the bottom. The pvc pipe from the other brute has a 90 elbow to drive the flow in a circular motion when mixing. This is the barrel I add the salt to.

Grounding probe

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

New Fish Today!

I received an order of 4 azure damsels and a female tank raised mandarin from Dr Reef today. I had asked for three damsels and they sometimes send an extra in case of shipping tragedy, which they ask you about in advance. But all are in the tank and seeming doing great. The damsels are eating and the mandarin is hunting pods. In full disclosure, Dr Reef sent these without charge, which I was not expecting. In any case, I am very happy with them so far.

They have only been in the tank for 10 minutes, but the damsels hang together and show no antagonism (pic below). Also in that picture below is a new neon green toadstool (above the elegance) that I got from a local reefer Sunday. It is looking shrunk up still because it had to be cut off his rock work, but I expect it to come along.

 

[dwest]

New Fish Today!

I received an order of 4 azure damsels and a female tank raised mandarin from Dr Reef today. I had asked for three damsels and they sometimes send an extra in case of shipping tragedy, which they ask you about in advance. But all are in the tank and seeming doing great. The damsels are eating and the mandarin is hunting pods. In full disclosure, Dr Reef sent these without charge, which I was not expecting. In any case, I am very happy with them so far.

They have only been in the tank for 10 minutes, but the damsels hang together and show no antagonism (pic below). Also in that picture below is a new neon green toadstool (above the elegance) that I got from a local reefer Sunday. It is looking shrunk up still because it had to be cut off his rock work, but I expect it to come along.

Let us know the female mandarin introduction goes. I have a male in my tank now that I would like to partner up in the future.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Let us know the female mandarin introduction goes. I have a male in my tank now that I would like to partner up in the future.

Will do. She is resting in a corner of the tank where I can see her, fortunately.

The yellow tang and foxface have no apparent interest in the damsels. The green chromis who, except the smallest chromis, are much bigger than the damsels, are doing a little sparring with them. No one is hiding, however. :)

 

[rishma]

I love azures. They are especially beautiful under your daylight spectrum.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Fish Update

So far so good. All the new fish are around this morning and seemingly fine. Annie the mandarin took a while to make her presence known, but there is plenty of hidden places where it is often hard to see the fish.

Interestingly, I think the new damsels have caused the other fish to be less afraid in general (less hiding) and they are all generally out all the time unless something has scared them. :)

 

[rishma]

Fish Update

So far so good. All the new fish are around this morning and seemingly fine. Annie the mandarin took a while to make her presence known, but there is plenty of hidden places where it is often hard to see the fish.

Interestingly, I think the new damsels have caused the other fish to be less afraid in general (less hiding) and they are all generally out all the time unless something has scared them. :)

Dither fish. The others see fish about and think it’s safe from predators.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Dither fish. The others see fish about and think it’s safe from predators.

Exactly the intent of this thread! I learned a new term today. I think I'd heard it before, but would not have been able to generate it. :)

 

[Dan_P]

Photo update

Some photos from today. Anemone has stayed on its new rock for the past week, which I am quite happy about. All fish are doing well. The foxface is notably more yellow than in the past.

Just dropped in for a rare visit. I see cyanobacteria growth on one of the rocks. Is your response waiting-and-seeing at the moment?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just dropped in for a rare visit. I see cyanobacteria growth on one of the rocks. Is your response waiting-and-seeing at the moment?

Yes, cyano is getting to be more of a concern than I’d like. I’m not sure what the best approach to it is in this scenario.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’d changed a few things in the last few weeks which may be contributing to cyano, some of which I can alter and some not.

I added silicate, iron, manganese and iodine today. Might spur competitors to the cyano, such as diatoms and the ulva, which now dominates the refugium entirely over any bits of gracilaria remaining. The ulva may be releasing too much organic matter. I’m planning to get some clean chaeto from Dr Reef and may begin transitioning some of the refugium to it as an experiment.

Cyanobacteria are known to be good iron scavengers, producing sideriphores. These are molecules they release, those then bind iron, and the cyano take them back up. Adding more iron may take away any possible advantage that gives them over competitors.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6562677/

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Fish Update

Unfortunately, the female mandarin that I added several days ago is not be be seen. Like the previous time I tried, I saw her the next day after addition, but not after that. I will keep watching for her, but I'm convinced something got her, such as one of the mantis shrimp. Anyone know how long these Florida mantis shrimp live in a tank? lol

The azure damsels seem to be doing fine, with a couple of caveats. One seems to hide in the upper corner of the tank. It may be afraid of the others, and if that continues long term, I might consider rehoming it. But more significantly, I found one of them (maybe that one) sucked up against the intake of a powerhead. It just could not get loose. I tried to gently push it off with my finger, but could not. Putting the powerhead in feed mode (off), it immediately swam away. In case this might happen again, I would like to incorporate a short section of very low flow in the powerhead controls (say, 5 seconds at 0-2% and then a minute or so at 65%. But I don't see how to make that possible, and started a thread in the equipment forum. I can only see how to make symmetric cycles so the low is the same time length as the high flow part of it.

Question on Tunze Hub Control of 6105 Powerheads

I have two Tunze 6105 Eco powerheads and am quite happy with them. I control them via the online Tunze hub, which also has done a nice job. Today I found a small fish (a new azure damsel) sucked up against the intake and it could not get loose. I thought at first it was dead, but it...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

New Coral Update: Toadstool

I bought a neon green toadstool a week ago from a nearby reefer. Unfortunately, it is not doing well. I can't be sure why.

He had recently taken a cutting of it, and it was not open when I got there. He also had to cut it off its rock work. So it had a rough start.

A day or two after it arrived, it showed a couple of green dots like it was trying to extend its polyps, but that has stopped. It now seems to be looking worse each day. I removed it from my display and put it in my refugium. While I have no real reason to think it will do better there, I'm just taking a shot with it.

It may be it suffered too much before it got to the tank, or it may be that whatever is causing me to have poor success with soft corals (toxin? bacteria?) is impacting it as well. In any case, assuming it does not recover, I'm out of the soft coral game for a while.