Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

 

[Tradevg]

Holy coralline ;)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Holy coralline ;)

Yes, not sure why, but it loves the tank. I used to think high pH boosted coralline, and maybe it does, but this tank runs a bit low in pH and yet the coralline is wild.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Upcoming Fish Plan

Was talking to Dr Reef about some next fish. If all goes as hoped, this will max out my fish for the time being.

1. I'm going to go with a wild caught female mandarin to try to get a mate for my tank raised male. The male is doing great, feeding off pods in the tank. I never feed it directly, though I know some folks do. I added pods a few times at the tank start, and many types likely came with the TBS live rock (I see some in my refugium much larger than the types I supplemented). I dose live phyto nightly to keep the pods going strong, and the male has grown considerably.

I tried twice to add a tank raised female (once with the male, and once later), but both times it disappeared within 48 h despite seeming fine and hunting in the tank. I suspect it may have been attacked by a predator (mantis shrimp or gorilla crab). Even if it proved unpalatable, one of those may have killed her before realizing.

The wild caught mandarins are considerably larger, and I'm hoping to avoid the same problem scenario.

2. I'm also looking to get a group of all female Carberryi anthias. Probably 5. One (hopefully only one) will likely transition to being a male over time. I hope and expect they will adapt well to the group of fish currently present (3 green chromis, two azure damsels, trio of ocellaris clowns, yellow tang and one spot foxface) and maybe even make them less skittish. Since I can be away from the tank, they will have to be satisfied with food from autofeeders some of the time (which limits my fish choices; my wife wants a yellow clown goby, but the one I had in the past would never eat any dried food), and I've read of folks who got them thriving on dry foods like TDO chromoboost pellets.

For those who don't know what they look like, here's a picture of a Carberryi:

Carberryi Anthias for Sale- Purchase at Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish

The Carberryi Anthias is an elegant reef fish with soft peach-pink tones and threadlike fins that can be bought at Dr. Reef's Quarantined fish.

drreefsquarantinedfish.com

 

[X-37B]

Upcoming Fish Plan

Was talking to Dr Reef about some next fish. If all goes as hoped, this will max out my fish for the time being.

1. I'm going to go with a wild caught female mandarin to try to get a mate for my tank raised male. The male is doing great, feeding off pods in the tank. I never feed it directly, though I know some folks do. I added pods a few times at the tank start, and many types likely came with the TBS live rock (I see some in my refugium much larger than the types I supplemented). I dose live phyto nightly to keep the pods going strong, and the male has grown considerably.

I tried twice to add a tank raised female (once with the male, and once later), but both times it disappeared within 48 h despite seeming fine and hunting in the tank. I suspect it may have been attacked by a predator (mantis shrimp or gorilla crab). Even if it proved unpalatable, one of those may have killed her before realizing.

The wild caught mandarins are considerably larger, and I'm hoping to avoid the same problem scenario.

2. I'm also looking to get a group of all female Carberryi anthias. Probably 5. One (hopefully only one) will likely transition to being a male over time. I hope and expect they will adapt well to the group of fish currently present (3 green chromis, two azure damsels, trio of ocellaris clowns, yellow tang and one spot foxface) and maybe even make them less skittish. Since I can be away from the tank, they will have to be satisfied with food from autofeeders some of the time (which limits my fish choices; my wife wants a yellow clown goby, but the one I had in the past would never eat any dried food), and I've read of folks who got them thriving on dry foods like TDO chromoboost pellets.

For those who don't know what they look like, here's a picture of a Carberryi:

Carberryi Anthias for Sale- Purchase at Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish

The Carberryi Anthias is an elegant reef fish with soft peach-pink tones and threadlike fins that can be bought at Dr. Reef's Quarantined fish.

drreefsquarantinedfish.com

Nice I have 2 anthias and have had 2 in previous systems. I have never tried more than 2.
I will be following to see how they react in your system.

 

[vlangel]

Upcoming Fish Plan

Was talking to Dr Reef about some next fish. If all goes as hoped, this will max out my fish for the time being.

I tried twice to add a tank raised female (once with the male, and once later), but both times it disappeared within 48 h despite seeming fine and hunting in the tank. I suspect it may have been attacked by a predator (mantis shrimp or gorilla crab). Even if it proved unpalatable, one of those may have killed her before realizing.

The wild caught mandarins are considerably larger, and I'm hoping to avoid the same problem scenario.

Randy, have you ever tried a simple bottle trap to catch your female mandarin killer? I just use a plastic soda bottle that I cut the top off at the shoulder of the bottle. I then invert the top so that it is inside the bottle. I bait the bottle trap with some food, put the bottle in the sand leaning so the top is facing upward. Then wait overnight. I have caught any shrimp or crab that was a problem to me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, have you ever tried a simple bottle trap to catch your female mandarin killer? I just use a plastic soda bottle that I cut the top off at the shoulder of the bottle. I then invert the top so that it is inside the bottle. I bait the bottle trap with some food, put the bottle in the sand leaning so the top is facing upward. Then wait overnight. I have caught any shrimp or crab that was a problem to me.

Yes, I've tried numerous times to catch the mantis, and my daughter did catch one that she now keeps in a small tank. Next time she is over for an extended time, she will try to catch both the crab and the other mantis. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Chemistry Update

Refugium lights are back to normal: 3 x 32 w led bulbs on the main refugium (Brute #3) and 1 x 32 w led on the secondary (Brute #1)

pH 8.0 at 2 pm

Nitrate 4.4 ppm. Upping the ammonia dose. Currently the timer delivers a total of 79 min on a 1.1 mL per min nominal doser in 4 equal time periods to 90 min split over those 4 times (9 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, 6 pm).

Phosphate 0.35 ppm. Came down a bit since last measurement (0.41 ppm) and so the trajectory is good

Salinity 35.7 ppt, drifting up. Going to dilute my AWC water a bit to slowly lower it.

Alk 10 dKH. Rising again. Going to lower the AFR from 42 to 35 min on a nominal 1.1 mL per min doser.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Nice I have 2 anthias and have had 2 in previous systems. I have never tried more than 2.
I will be following to see how they react in your system.

I hope they do ok. One concern is one jumping and landing on the glass crossbar across the tank middle. The canopy covers most of the possible escape routes, though the back is partly open if they get over the overflows. But the cross bar is hard to protect except possibly with netting. Hopefully if one jumps onto it, it can flop around till it gets off of it.

I had read that they can sometimes do better with more around to spread out any aggression and give more females to the one that will become male.

 

[vlangel]

I hope they do ok. One concern is one jumping and landing on the glass crossbar across the tank middle. The canopy covers most of the possible escape routes, though the back is partly open if they get over the overflows. But the cross bar is hard to protect except possibly with netting. Hopefully if one jumps onto it, it can flop around till it gets off of it.

I had read that they can sometimes do better with more around to spread out any aggression and give more females to the one that will become male.

I am reading your thread, I had not realized that it is a journal of your tank. I actually started at the end and am working my way backwards. I will try to keep up with new updates at the same time. Your tank has more similarities to my tank than I would have guessed like both being toward a whiter light and I too am dealing with a diatomous algae or something similar. I will be anxious to see if you find something that works. So far a fighting conch is all I found but he sleeps 3 days out of 4.

 

[X-37B]

I hope they do ok. One concern is one jumping and landing on the glass crossbar across the tank middle. The canopy covers most of the possible escape routes, though the back is partly open if they get over the overflows. But the cross bar is hard to protect except possibly with netting. Hopefully if one jumps onto it, it can flop around till it gets off of it.

I had read that they can sometimes do better with more around to spread out any aggression and give more females to the one that will become male.

I used eggcrate to cover my old 120. Fish some how know where the opening is, lol. I found my clown in the 120 on the glass cross bar. It would have cooked from the halides if it was not found. It found a small 1" opening against the back wall.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Considering the Big Gun for Cyano

Cyano continues to be a problem, especially when I am home and feeding more. I don't want to cut down on feeding and with more fish planned, less food is not a solution.

The anemone also dislodged again, and is at the bottom of the island. I recognize messing with light levels may not be good for it, but no attainable light level seems to make it adequately happy.

So perhaps a long shot hypothesis is that a toxin from the cyano is the problem for the anemone. I know many folks have cyano and also keep magnifica just fine, but there are lots and lots (reportedly hundreds) of different cyano strains that produce chemically different toxins.

The big gun: an antibiotic. I really do not want to support Boyd for hiding the nature of their Chemiclean product with the ridiculous claim that it works by oxidizing sludge, but it is available locally at Petco. It appears to contain the antibiotic tylosin.

Chemiclean works within 48 hours oxidizing trapped organic sludge and promotes an ideal enzyme balance.


Anyway, I'm leaning toward this experimental reset of the cyano situation.

 

[dwest]

Considering the Big Gun for Cyano

Cyano continues to be a problem, especially when I am home and feeding more. I don't want to cut down on feeding and with more fish planned, less food is not a solution.

The anemone also dislodged again, and is at the bottom of the island. I recognize messing with light levels may not be good for it, but no attainable light level seems to make it adequately happy.

So perhaps a long shot hypothesis is that a toxin from the cyano is the problem for the anemone. I know many folks have cyano and also keep magnifica just fine, but there are lots and lots (reportedly hundreds) of different cyano strains that produce chemically different toxins.

The big gun: an antibiotic. I really do not want to support Boyd for hiding the nature of their Chemiclean product with the ridiculous claim that it works by oxidizing sludge, but it is available locally at Petco. It appears to contain the antibiotic tylosin.

Chemiclean works within 48 hours oxidizing trapped organic sludge and promotes an ideal enzyme balance.


Anyway, I'm leaning toward this experimental reset of the cyano situation.

I’ve got green cyano after the house move that won’t go away. It’s been around for over 6 months now. The only thing that has helped has been blowing it off and capturing it in my skimmer bag. When I do that the snails make a dent in the underlying green algae. Then I start over again.

The green cyano seems somewhat to toxic to snails and some corals.

My next move is a 3 day lights off. I’ve never done that.

Will keep an eye on your issue. I’ve never done chemiclean but it’s on my radar.

 

[X-37B]

Considering the Big Gun for Cyano

Cyano continues to be a problem, especially when I am home and feeding more. I don't want to cut down on feeding and with more fish planned, less food is not a solution.

The anemone also dislodged again, and is at the bottom of the island. I recognize messing with light levels may not be good for it, but no attainable light level seems to make it adequately happy.

So perhaps a long shot hypothesis is that a toxin from the cyano is the problem for the anemone. I know many folks have cyano and also keep magnifica just fine, but there are lots and lots (reportedly hundreds) of different cyano strains that produce chemically different toxins.

The big gun: an antibiotic. I really do not want to support Boyd for hiding the nature of their Chemiclean product with the ridiculous claim that it works by oxidizing sludge, but it is available locally at Petco. It appears to contain the antibiotic tylosin.

Chemiclean works within 48 hours oxidizing trapped organic sludge and promotes an ideal enzyme balance.


Anyway, I'm leaning toward this experimental reset of the cyano situation.

I have used it before with no issues.
I just used it in my 15g nano.
Cyano gone overnight and has not returned in around 7 days so far. It did not affect any inhabitants.
Cyano appeared after I broke the top of my 6040. It had a direct effect with the reduced flow. I typically have backups for everything but the backup did not fit the space so im waiting on a top for the 6040. The returns flow is minimal at best.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have used it before with no issues.
I just used it in my 15g nano.
Cyano gone overnight and has not returned in around 7 days so far. It did not affect any inhabitants.
Cyano appeared after I broke the top of my 6040. It had a direct effect with the reduced flow. I typically have backups for everything but the backup did not fit the space so im waiting on a top for the 6040. The returns flow is minimal at best.

Let’s hope I am as successful! :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’ve got green cyano after the house move that won’t go away. It’s been around for over 6 months now. The only thing that has helped has been blowing it off and capturing it in my skimmer bag. When I do that the snails make a dent in the underlying green algae. Then I start over again.

The green cyano seems somewhat to toxic to snails and some corals.

My next move is a 3 day lights off. I’ve never done that.

Will keep an eye on your issue. I’ve never done chemiclean but it’s on my radar.

I agree the turkey baster approach works, at least temporarily. I just finished doing it now, in preparation for chemiclean tomorrow.

But it’s a pain to keep doing it over and over.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I used eggcrate to cover my old 120. Fish some how know where the opening is, lol. I found my clown in the 120 on the glass cross bar. It would have cooked from the halides if it was not found. It found a small 1" opening against the back wall.

Thanks. I already have egg crate and may use some, especially at the start when they may be most unsettled.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I am reading your thread, I had not realized that it is a journal of your tank. I actually started at the end and am working my way backwards. I will try to keep up with new updates at the same time. Your tank has more similarities to my tank than I would have guessed like both being toward a whiter light and I too am dealing with a diatomous algae or something similar. I will be anxious to see if you find something that works. So far a fighting conch is all I found but he sleeps 3 days out of 4.

I’m anxious to find an answer too. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Taking the Antibiotic Jump Today

I'm using chemiclean right now to try to reduce the cyano issues. here's what I have done so far.

1. Last night just before lights out I turkey basted the display to get most of the bigger bits of cyano off the rocks. I did not try to deal with the refugia which also have a fair amount.

2. This morning I added three bubblers into the sump system, turned my return pump to max, removed the lids from three of the Brute cans, and removed the skimmer collector to let it overflow if it wants to.

3. I set the refugium lights to stay on 24/7 to promote oxygenation

4.. A half hour after the changes in 2 and an hour after lights on in the display, I added a full dose of chemiclean.

Here is a picture of Brute # 1 just before dosing:

And here are two pictures an hour later, showing somewhat more foaming, but not crazy. Skimmer not yet overflowing.