Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I tried Chemiclean a few years back it turned my water a reddish tint from the cyano. I think I did a WC and carbon after 24 hours - I don’t have a slimmer. It did take care of the cyano however. Hope this works for you.

I saw a lot of hazy whiteness, but no red tint. Not sure why.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That is one cool looking fish!

 

[vlangel]

I saw on another forum where an reef aquarium used IO salt to combat his cyano on the sandbed. All he did was turn off all his pumps and pour the salt into a funnel connect to a tube directly on the cyano until the salt dissolved. Of course he accounted for the raise in salinity so he removed tank water and let his ATO replenish. I am going to try this before I try chemiclean as its low effort and low risk. I will let you know how it worked in my tank in case you need something in the future, assuming the chemiclean worked for you.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I can certainly see how hypersalinity may kill cyano, as well as other things nearby such as pods.

In my case, the cyano was all over and do not see that being a suitable plan.

Cyano is down substantially today and might now be considered worth doing. Everything is back to normal function. The water is still hazy, and the anemone did not release today.

I only changed about 2 gallons ((1%) by skimming before the skimmate volume returned to normal. I continue to change my usual 1% daily, but do not see a rationale to change 20% as the directions state. If there is something bad in the water, 80% will remain after that change, and swapping 50 gallons is not in the cards without a reason.

No fish ever showed distress. Corals seem fine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I love my Clown Trio, But…

Was trying to feed a chunk of fresh clam to my magnifica for the first time in weeks. But the clowns kept taking bites of it and pulling it out of the mouth. I finally had to hover over it with a turkey baster to keep them away while it swallowed the clam.

Took a few minutes, but it worked.

Mouth finally closed over clam:

2 minutes later it is closed up:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Tunze Osmolator Sensor Dirty

For days I have had way too many microbubbles in my display, and was not sure why. I hypothesized that the water level in my final return sump might be low, but peaking through a hole, I could see that the Tunze sensor was glowing solid green, indicating proper water level.

It is not easy to see into that sump since many things sit on that Brute lid, including the minifridge for dosing phyto. But this morning I bit the bullet and moved stuff, and there was only a couple of inches on water on the bottom instead of the usual foot or so, and lots of air sucking into the jebao return pump. That air went into the display behind one of my anemone guards, and got sucked into a Tunze powerhead right below it, chopping it into tiny bubbles.

I pulled up the still glowing solid green Tunze sensor, and unplugged it. After opening it, I could see organism deposits/growths inside it, and cleaned it with a soft brush, rinsed it off, and plugged it back in. Now it is functioning properly.

Moral of the story: Osmolator sensor needs occasional preventative cleaning! :)

 

[Shirak]

Tunze Osmolator Sensor Dirty

For days I have had way too many microbubbles in my display, and was not sure why. I hypothesized that the water level in my final return sump might be low, but peaking through a hole, I could see that the Tunze sensor was glowing solid green, indicating proper water level.

It is not easy to see into that sump since many things sit on that Brute lid, including the minifridge for dosing phyto. But this morning I bit the bullet and moved stuff, and there was only a couple of inches on water on the bottom instead of the usual foot or so, and lots of air sucking into the jebao return pump. That air went into the display behind one of my anemone guards, and got sucked into a Tunze powerhead right below it, chopping it into tiny bubbles.

I pulled up the still glowing solid green Tunze sensor, and unplugged it. After opening it, I could see organism deposits/growths inside it, and cleaned it with a soft brush, rinsed it off, and plugged it back in. Now it is functioning properly.

Moral of the story: Osmolator sensor needs occasional preventative cleaning! :)

Yes they do! I have the older version. The tip on the sensor needs cleaning periodically with vinegar as mineral deposits build up on the surface from evaporation as the water level goes up and down slightly.

 

[vlangel]

Tunze Osmolator Sensor Dirty

For days I have had way too many microbubbles in my display, and was not sure why. I hypothesized that the water level in my final return sump might be low, but peaking through a hole, I could see that the Tunze sensor was glowing solid green, indicating proper water level.

It is not easy to see into that sump since many things sit on that Brute lid, including the minifridge for dosing phyto. But this morning I bit the bullet and moved stuff, and there was only a couple of inches on water on the bottom instead of the usual foot or so, and lots of air sucking into the jebao return pump. That air went into the display behind one of my anemone guards, and got sucked into a Tunze powerhead right below it, chopping it into tiny bubbles.

I pulled up the still glowing solid green Tunze sensor, and unplugged it. After opening it, I could see organism deposits/growths inside it, and cleaned it with a soft brush, rinsed it off, and plugged it back in. Now it is functioning properly.

Moral of the story: Osmolator sensor needs occasional preventative cleaning! :)

Everything needs cleaned and everything breaks! That's what I have learned in my almost 30 yrs of reef keeping. Those 2 factors are probably the singular most reasons that this lastest tank I set up is simple. It has redundancy for aerating the tank and watching heating the tank but it also has less equipment than I've ever had because of entropy.

 

[X-37B]

I use a few squirts from a turkey baster once a month when doing WC. They have been running fine for 2+ and 1.5+ in 2 systems.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Cyano/Chemiclean Update

It’s been a bit over 5 days since dosing and the Cyano is nearly all gone from the display. At this point it is a success. Here’s a whole tank shot just now. There is a little bit of diatom growth on the sand since I added some silicate a couple of days ago.

The elegance in the lower right is closed due to the cucumber crawling over it. Otherwise it has been fine.

The anemone has stayed out the last couple of days.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

AFR Dose Tip

Folks may recall from a few months back I fabricated a dose tip for the AFR and ATO fresh water together to prevent any issue of precipitated AFR clogging it.

Since I had the sump opened up I checked it and it is working as hoped.

Below is a picture of it in operation. The AFR is a slow drip when on since it uses a BRS 1.1 mL per min doser, but the Tunze ATO is much faster.

You can see the two white tubes enter the green piece at the top, and both flow out the bottom when on.

 

[picea]

Just a thought: the micro-gonis that tidal gardens (and others) sells are encrusting and would add a lovely depth/dimension to your overflows. They don't tend to send out aggressive sweepers like other gonis, but they have lovely colors under daylight and add a bit of movement to the backdrop.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just a thought: the micro-gonis that tidal gardens (and others) sells are encrusting and would add a lovely depth/dimension to your overflows. They don't tend to send out aggressive sweepers like other gonis, but they have lovely colors under daylight and add a bit of movement to the backdrop.

That does sound interesting. Thanks!

 

[Rocks reef]

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.

Randy,

My magnifica likes random flow and sits on top of a rock that gets probably 300 PAR. It will move a little bit at the top of the rock to find the correct flow. It's been there for quite some time and hasn't dislodged. Maybe it doesn't want such intense lighting? Just a thought my friend.

Keith

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy,

My magnifica likes random flow and sits on top of a rock that gets probably 300 PAR. It will move a little bit at the top of the rock to find the correct flow. It's been there for quite some time and hasn't dislodged. Maybe it doesn't want such intense lighting? Just a thought my friend.

Keith

Thanks. That description was pretty much the scenario in light and flow that it had before I added the spot light to test higher light levels. :)

 

[Rocks reef]

Thanks. That description was pretty the scenario in light and flow that it had before I added the spot light to test higher light levels. :)

Did the mag release when you didn't have the spot light? I read that mags can be found quite deep. Maybe the ones we have (Pacific East Aquaculture) are from deeper waters??? Again, food for thought.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Did the mag release when you didn't have the spot light? I read that mags can be found quite deep. Maybe the ones we have (Pacific East Aquaculture) are from deeper waters??? Again, food for thought.

Oh yes. This problem has been ongoing for months. The spot lights are just the most recent attempt to stabilize it. :)

 

[Rocks reef]

Oh yes. This problem has been ongoing for months. The spot lights are just the most recent attempt to stabilize it. :)

Interesting. Do you let it wander? It may want to be on the back glass. That is where mine moved to before I did the tank transfer. Now it stays on the rock.
It will wander until it finds "it's" spot, especially if it keeps releasing when you place it on the rock.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Interesting. Do you let it wander? It may want to be on the back glass. That is where mine moved to before I did the tank transfer. Now it stays on the rock.
It will wander until it finds "it's" spot, especially if it keeps releasing when you place it on the rock.

The strategy for a while was protect the powerheads and let it go where it wants to find where it will be happy. Unfortunately, that did not result in it finding a happy place either. It climbed the back wall, moved along it, released and fell and reclimbed, etc

 

[Rocks reef]

The strategy for a while was protect the powerheads and let it go where it wants to find where it will be happy. Unfortunately, that did not result in it finding a happy place either. It climbed the back wall, moved along it, released and fell and reclimbed, etc

Interesting. Have you reached out to OrionN? He has extensive knowledge of mags and gigs, well most nems actually.