Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That’s surprising. I’ve never had a fox face or Duncan. But I’ve never heard of a fox face eating coral.

Hopefully I can deter him. The duncan was closed up all day yesterday as the foxface kept revisiting it.

 

[twentyleagues]

Hopefully I can deter him. The duncan was closed up all day yesterday as the foxface kept revisiting it.

I have heard of this with certain lps and fox face one reason I have always shied away from getting one.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Daily Update

The dang anemone released again. I put it back in place. It’s sticky and never deflates, but is clearly unhappy. Apparently, the old rock was not the issue.

Time for more action…

I sent in ICP MS and organic MS samples to Oceamo. It will be a bit before I see any result, but in a weird way I’m hoping to see a clear problem that might explain the soft coral loses and this anemone wandering.

I’m going to relent and try dosing powdered calcium carbonate to bind organics and potentially reduce the cyano. I ordered some today. I’ll give more discussion when it arrives and I use it.

The clean Chaeto from Dr Reef arrived (thank you, Dr Reef!) and I put it in the refugium. I’m hoping to transition away from ulva in case organics released from it, or bacteria it boosts, is any part of my tank issues.

 

[cba191]

Electrical Safety

The recent tragic loss of MiamiReef to electrocution got me refocusing on safety, and I’m going to make some changes in my setup.

All electrical devices are on GFCI.

But I want all parts of the system to be grounded so that the GFCI trip with any potential current leak, rather than waiting for me to complete the circuit.

I had been relying on the titanium heaters to ground the last sump can, which they do. That will ground the display and probably all of the brute cans through the continuous connection of salt water.

But in a scenario where the return pump
stops for any reason, there will be no continuous salt water connection between the display and that sump. Further, the three brute cans upstream of the sump with the heaters probably are always connected by a continuous stream of water, but if, like a waterfall, there is any gap in such water connections with each overflow, those cans might not be fully grounded.

Finally, both my ATO and AWC reservoirs are not grounded unless the pumps
In them do so, and I do not want to rely on them. They are all dc pumps, but I still want them grounded.

So I need to obtain 7 or 8 grounding probes
and install them!

I just ordered GFCI outlets for my aquariums today. The whole thing with Miamireef made me sick. I just found out about it yesterday. I loved his thread about his quest for lights. He was a great guy. :(

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I just ordered GFCI outlets for my aquariums today. The whole thing with Miamireef made me sick. I just found out about it yesterday. I loved his thread about his quest for lights. He was a great guy. :(

Yes, he was a bright spot in this forum and in the hobby. :(

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Damsel Update

I’d noticed that two of the damsels travel together and are acting entirely normally, and one is on the other side of the tank. Just now I notice that the odd
man out is not eating. Not a good sign. If that’s true tomorrow, I may try to catch it and move it to one of the refugia.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Daily Update

The dang anemone released again. I put it back in place. It’s sticky and never deflates, but is clearly unhappy. Apparently, the old rock was not the issue.

Time for more action…

I sent in ICP MS and organic MS samples to Oceamo. It will be a bit before I see any result, but in a weird way I’m hoping to see a clear problem that might explain the soft coral loses and this anemone wandering.

I’m going to relent and try dosing powdered calcium carbonate to bind organics and potentially reduce the cyano. I ordered some today. I’ll give more discussion when it arrives and I use it.

The clean Chaeto from Dr Reef arrived (thank you, Dr Reef!) and I put it in the refugium. I’m hoping to transition away from ulva in case organics released from it, or bacteria it boosts, is any part of my tank issues.

I love anemones but dang they can be a PITA! I have some really nice ones in a Nano I'm getting rid of and have gone back and forth on keeping 1 or 2 in my new DT, but have decided against it. Good luck and hopefully it settles down.

 

[Sam7]

It mostly does, yes.

Mine was the same took long time to sort it out. I dosed waterglass for some time seemd to help. Then one day it just started becoming less and was gone. I dont know what actually worked the waterglass, the sea cuke i added with two strawberry conchs or the additional DI resin silica buster filter. Sand has been white ever since with no cleaning. I think the cuke really helped, he is all over the tanbk every night. Just a small black plain one

 

[dwest]

Daily Update

The dang anemone released again. I put it back in place. It’s sticky and never deflates, but is clearly unhappy. Apparently, the old rock was not the issue.

Time for more action…

I sent in ICP MS and organic MS samples to Oceamo. It will be a bit before I see any result, but in a weird way I’m hoping to see a clear problem that might explain the soft coral loses and this anemone wandering.

I’m going to relent and try dosing powdered calcium carbonate to bind organics and potentially reduce the cyano. I ordered some today. I’ll give more discussion when it arrives and I use it.

The clean Chaeto from Dr Reef arrived (thank you, Dr Reef!) and I put it in the refugium. I’m hoping to transition away from ulva in case organics released from it, or bacteria it boosts, is any part of my tank issues.

Randy, my tank has lots of green cyano now (supposedly from the big tank move this past summer). A couple weeks ago I started calcium carbonate a few times per week (2 tsp in 180 gallon tank).

Since my tank hasn’t equilibrated this is not for sure, but it appears my nitrates (8==>2 ppm) and phosphates (0.3==>0.2 ppm) have both dropped. Both values were slowly rising before. I usually only test about 1 time per month, but going to now watch nitrates more frequently. I test with Hanna checkers.

It’s possible that that cyano is growing slower now, but not conclusive.

 

[Luminous74]

It’s really interesting to follow your thread.
If you ever need some support with removing cyanobacteria, I can recommend Conomurex luhuanus. In my tank it cleaned up the cyanos in the sand very effectively. It’s more of a symptom treatment, of course, but the snail is useful in general and keeps the sand nice and clean.

 

[Dan_P]

Daily Update

The dang anemone released again. I put it back in place. It’s sticky and never deflates, but is clearly unhappy. Apparently, the old rock was not the issue.

Time for more action…

I sent in ICP MS and organic MS samples to Oceamo. It will be a bit before I see any result, but in a weird way I’m hoping to see a clear problem that might explain the soft coral loses and this anemone wandering.

I’m going to relent and try dosing powdered calcium carbonate to bind organics and potentially reduce the cyano. I ordered some today. I’ll give more discussion when it arrives and I use it.

The clean Chaeto from Dr Reef arrived (thank you, Dr Reef!) and I put it in the refugium. I’m hoping to transition away from ulva in case organics released from it, or bacteria it boosts, is any part of my tank issues.

A microbiome test before and after the Ulva-Chaeto switch might be informative about your bacteria activity. Not recommending this, just thinking out loud. Test turn around time is slow.

Here are some ideas…

Assuming your aquarium water is like every other, it is carbon limited, meaning labile organics from the macro algae don’t last very long. While there might be a bacteria boost from it, I give organics release low odds for being a cause of anything else. Also,…

Organics in the water aren't likely what is encouraging cyanobacteria growth. It is all about the surface ecology. If I recall, recent closeup photos showed that your rock surfaces are supporting tiny algae growth (a young aquarium condition probably). This growth not only collects particulates, but the die-back of this algae from overcrowding/reaching the surface carrying capacity, is a great source of DOC, addition particulates to other surfaces and a great place for bacteria growth. If I was I was an anemone, I wouldn’t sit on such a surface (obviously, trying to be funny). Good luck with the red scourge.

When I owned anemones, my rule of thumb was they get to choose where to sit. :-)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This anemone is driving me insane

Not a good morning.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yesterday was better. Collected some seaweed to feed my foxface to keep it off the Duncan.

 

[rishma]

Oh no, looks to have gotten caught in the pump a little. Glad you caught it before total disaster struck.

I have always had problems with them moving, but maybe not as severe as your current struggles. Mine would settle for months at a time, just long enough to convince me that I’d succeeded.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, definitely sheared off some tentacles, but it seems to have not had worse damage. It is back in place, and is gripping on as usual. Very frustrating.

I also managed to have the powerhead cord knock the nearby auto feeder into the water. Got it out fast, but don’t know what the salt water exposure will do to its functioning. It went crazy at first, turning and turning until I removed the batteries. Washed it and it’s drying now, but I’m expecting it’s a loss.

Yesterday I finally got some food grade calcium carbonate powder. I dosed it four times, using 1g, 2.5 g, 2.5 g, and finally 5 g after lights off last night. Each time I suspended it in some ro/di and added it to my first sump. Cloudiness did not last too long ,certainly looks normal this AM). The hope is that any organics driving the cyano may bind and maybe even bind a toxin if that’s an issue. Don’t know if the powder played any role in the anemone release, since it seems to happens once a week or two.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

A microbiome test before and after the Ulva-Chaeto switch might be informative about your bacteria activity. Not recommending this, just thinking out loud. Test turn around time is slow.

Here are some ideas…

Assuming your aquarium water is like every other, it is carbon limited, meaning labile organics from the macro algae don’t last very long. While there might be a bacteria boost from it, I give organics release low odds for being a cause of anything else. Also,…

Organics in the water aren't likely what is encouraging cyanobacteria growth. It is all about the surface ecology. If I recall, recent closeup photos showed that your rock surfaces are supporting tiny algae growth (a young aquarium condition probably). This growth not only collects particulates, but the die-back of this algae from overcrowding/reaching the surface carrying capacity, is a great source of DOC, addition particulates to other surfaces and a great place for bacteria growth. If I was I was an anemone, I wouldn’t sit on such a surface (obviously, trying to be funny). Good luck with the red scourge.

When I owned anemones, my rule of thumb was they get to choose where to sit. :-)

I may go this route if the Oceamo tests turn up no potential culprits.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It’s really interesting to follow your thread.
If you ever need some support with removing cyanobacteria, I can recommend Conomurex luhuanus. In my tank it cleaned up the cyanos in the sand very effectively. It’s more of a symptom treatment, of course, but the snail is useful in general and keeps the sand nice and clean.

Thanks. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy, my tank has lots of green cyano now (supposedly from the big tank move this past summer). A couple weeks ago I started calcium carbonate a few times per week (2 tsp in 180 gallon tank).

Since my tank hasn’t equilibrated this is not for sure, but it appears my nitrates (8==>2 ppm) and phosphates (0.3==>0.2 ppm) have both dropped. Both values were slowly rising before. I usually only test about 1 time per month, but going to now watch nitrates more frequently. I test with Hanna checkers.

It’s possible that that cyano is growing slower now, but not conclusive.

Thanks for the info. I started dosing calcium carbonate dosing yesterday. I’ll need to be sure I don’t bottom out nutrients. :)

 

[skey44]

Thanks Randy for sharing all your information struggles thought processes, etc. love the knowledge shared here.

I know your previous view point on bottle bacteria, but I bet adding some bottled bacteria to your homemade coral snow would really potentiate the effects of the treatment, especially for Cyanobacteria/uglies. Microbacter 7 is the proven one, but I’ve been doing PNSB added with my coral snow in a cocktail and can see it really working to keep the sand spotless. It’s amazing really how clean my tank stays after dosing. Just coats the surface so well to outcompete the uglies. Just an observation and something I know many have been doing for a while, Sonnyx and TroyLee to name a couple that are very successful with this method.

Hoping you find success with your touchy anemone. It’s been a long road. Such a difficult journey you’ve been on to try and coax it to happily stay where you want it!

 

[twentyleagues]

I think my dosing of coral snow in the early days of my tank was a big factor in controlling any potential ugly stage. I saw very little in the way of any nuisance algaes. I mixed up a mason jar of coral snow and would give it a good shake and pour it into a graduated cylinder with a couple other things along the lines of what @SunnyX does, I would dose this every 5 days. Before dosing while letting the concoction sit with occasional agitation I would blow off the rocks with a turkey baster, shut off the skimmer and return pump and dose it to the tank. I would let that work for about 30 min and turn return pump back on. After about an hour I would turn the skimmer back on. By morning the water was crystal clear.