Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[fandaga]

Upcoming Corals

I am planning to get a couple of largish hammer colonies (yellow and rainbow) from Dong at Acrogarden (a local coral farm). These aren’t wysiwyg pics, and I cannot be sure how they will look in my lighting, but these are the pictures Dong shows in his sales thread at Boston Reefers:

https://bostonreefers.org/forums/threads/yellow-hammers-sale-5-a-head.191913/

Wow, that’s a great deal.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Clown Trio

I was afraid that without an anemone to keep them together, my clown trio might come apart, but a week after removing the magnifica, the clowns are staying together as a trio. :)

The three chromis are also still all thriving 11 months after addition, showing none of the withering of their numbers that others report (and which I saw in my old rank using unquarantined fish from the lfs). I’m still thinking that disease may be a common cause of such demise, and getting quarantined chromis may reduce uronema in them.

Next up: new hammer corals tomorrow and new fish (female mandarin and 5 carberryi anthias) on Wednesday.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Lighting Reduction

With the magnifica no longer being present and needing strong light, I decided to drop the lighting back a bit. Here’s the current lighting setup using the AI blades (3 x 48” freshwater and one coral glow):

 

[fandaga]

Clown Trio

I was afraid that without an anemone to keep them together, my clown trio might come apart, but a week after removing the magnifica, the clowns are staying together as a trio. :)

The three chromis are also still all thriving 11 months after addition, showing none of the withering of their numbers that others report (and which I saw in my old rank using unquarantined fish from the lfs). I’m still thinking that disease may be a common cause of such demise, and getting quarantined chromis may reduce uronema in them.

Next up: new hammer corals tomorrow and new fish (female mandarin and 5 carberryi anthias) on Wednesday.

Great looking clowns - makes me wish I went with the “vanilla” variety for my tank rather than designer.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Great looking clowns - makes me wish I went with the “vanilla” variety for my tank rather than designer.

Thanks. Yes, I’ve always been partial to regular ocellaris clowns, and these guys look great on the diet they are getting (mostly TDO chromoboost and prime reef flakes, plus occasional clam or scallop).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

New order

I just placed an order to get next week from gulf coast ecosystems, a small company that harvests from the ocean.

This is the order. The caulerpa will go in brute can 1 and assuming it grows, will move to the main tank as needed to feed the fish.

Specialty Grape Caulerpa

$10.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Mermaid’s Fan Stem Plant

$4.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Palm Tree Caulerpa

$10.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Cactus / Zipper Caulerpa

$10.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Nerite Snail Pack
Regular / 10
$13.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Astrea Snail Pack
Nano / 10
$13.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Blue Leg Hermit Crab Pack
Regular / 10
$18.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Lace Gorgonian

$12.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Candelabra Gorgonian

$12.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Spiny Sea Rod Gorgonian

$12.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Red Tree Sponge

$12.00

productThumbnailQuantityLabel1
Red Ball Sponge

$8.00

 

[dwest]

Hi Randy. Just a heads up. I ordered nerites for the first time this year. They are good snails, but like to crawl above the waterline. Since my tank is rimmed, it’s generally not a problem. But several are in my overflow now and I’m concerned about them crawling down and getting stuck in my return pipes.

 

[tripdad]

Good luck with the new fish! Hope they do well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi Randy. Just a heads up. I ordered nerites for the first time this year. They are good snails, but like to crawl above the waterline. Since my tank is rimmed, it’s generally not a problem. But several are in my overflow now and I’m concerned about them crawling down and getting stuck in my return pipes.

Thanks. I’ll watch for that. My tank is rimmed as well, but if they crawl up too much I can put them into a refugium.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

New corals

Got a bunch of new corals from Dong at Acrogarden. He’s got some beautiful corals, and just couldn’t resist buying a bunch more than planned, and got some freebies as well.

I cannot recall all the names and some are not fully out yet, but here are some pictures:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Here are some wider tank shots. I’m removing the anemone guard grills, and the one on the right is in place to let the fish consume algae off it before it goes to the basement.

 

[winxp_man]

@Randy Holmes-Farley don’t mean to thread jack, but willing to say this topic might have been stated a lot on this forum. I just don’t know how to word it to get good search results.

So have a 150 gal system with four boxes of cycled genies rocks. Setting up sand today, and rocks, the. Going to get water to get a new 300 system going.

The question will it be beneficial to use the Genesis rocks to cycle faster? Or will Dr Tim’s method of low salinity, 85* temp, no lights make the seeded Genesis rocks useless?


Thanks for any info you might have. Thanks.

 

[picea]

Looking nice! The anthias will add so much good motion to your tank. I love mine mixed with chromis - they really fill the tank in.

Something knocked my milka stylo down in a crevice and I've found it encrusting on the wall of the tank. Lovely coral.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Looking nice! The anthias will add so much good motion to your tank. I love mine mixed with chromis - they really fill the tank in.

Something knocked my milka stylo down in a crevice and I've found it encrusting on the wall of the tank. Lovely coral.

Yes, I like my stylo as well!

My wife said yesterday the tank looks a lot better with the clowns swimming around rather than just staying in the anemone. The anthias should have a similar effect. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@Randy Holmes-Farley don’t mean to thread jack, but willing to say this topic might have been stated a lot on this forum. I just don’t know how to word it to get good search results.

So have a 150 gal system with four boxes of cycled genies rocks. Setting up sand today, and rocks, the. Going to get water to get a new 300 system going.

The question will it be beneficial to use the Genesis rocks to cycle faster? Or will Dr Tim’s method of low salinity, 85* temp, no lights make the seeded Genesis rocks useless?


Thanks for any info you might have. Thanks.

If you want a fast cycle, I’d use Fritz turbo, with or without other rocks (except wild ocean rocks). It is much faster than Dr Tim’s, and I do not have a reason to think it any more or less desirable longer term.

I don’t know much about cycling with genesis rocks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Tank is One Year Old!

Hard to believe the tank has been up a year. Seems like it still has a long way to go, but it is coming along. The exact birthday is unclear (first water, first local ocean macro in refugium, first TBS rock and sand, second TBS top rock, etc.), but it all happened a year or a bit more ago.

The magnifica was a long adventure that ultimately failed, but most things have worked out, including all equipment except

1. A titanium heater failed in the off state. Took me a bit to realize that since it has no easy way to see if it is working.

2. A cheapo powerhead failed and tripped a GFCI breaker, causing loss of the return flow.

3. Got too many splashed salt deposits on one of my LED refugium lights. It tripped the GFCI, and also died. Each now has a small piece of glass between it and the water to prevent that.

4. The two BRS 50 ml/min dosers I use for AWC failed off. Replaced under warranty, but I expect to need a better method long term.

5. Two of the inexpensive bare bulb UV lights I used in the dino days died. One is still working and still in use.

 

[offthehook]

How’s your Tunze 9410 doing for you? I need a new skimmer but my tank is half of what you have so thinking the 9410 would be overkill and not really be beneficial for about 50-55 total gallons. Debating on that or a deltec. Tank is looking good!

 

[rishma]

How’s your Tunze 9410 doing for you? I need a new skimmer but my tank is half of what you have so thinking the 9410 would be overkill and not really be beneficial for about 50-55 total gallons. Debating on that or a deltec. Tank is looking good!

I know you’re asking Randy, but since I have experience, I’ll share it. I’ve used every big name skimmer on the market over the years, not every model obviously. The 9410 is one of my favorites overall, and definitely my favorite for Randy’s size tank.

I do agree however it is too large for your system. Nothing is more frustrating to me than a good quality skimmer performing poorly because it’s oversized.

If you can make it work in your system, the 9012 is an amazing skimmer. It’s the big brother of the 9004 which is my all-time favorite skimmer ever.

To give you an idea of what my priorities are, I want silence, set it and forget it consistent performance.

 

[offthehook]

I know you’re asking Randy, but since I have experience, I’ll share it. I’ve used every big name skimmer on the market over the years, not every model obviously. The 9410 is one of my favorites overall, and definitely my favorite for Randy’s size tank.

I do agree however it is too large for your system. Nothing is more frustrating to me than a good quality skimmer performing poorly because it’s oversized.

If you can make it work in your system, the 9012 is an amazing skimmer. It’s the big brother of the 9004 which is my all-time favorite skimmer ever.

To give you an idea of what my priorities are, I want silence, set it and forget it consistent performance.

Thanks I have a Maxspect ls-90 that came with a Maxspect sk400 skimmer, crazy to me that the company would pair that skimmer with that size tank. (66 total gallons) but with displacement I say about 50-55. I have had done nothing but fiddle with that skimmer and cannot get it to skim, it is way over rated for my tank so it has me questioning my reefing knowledge and I’ve used a many skimmer over the years….lol. thanks for the input. I’ll look at the 9012, I’ll have to see where I can fit it in the sump as I think it has to take water in through the grates near the top and uses magnets so I’ll check my sump placement to see if I have a place that uses an exterior wall for the outside magnets. . crazy though but I think it is more expensive than the 9410 and has similar tank size recommendations so might be over rated as well. Edited to add that it requires 10 inches of water and my sumo is about 8 inches of water :(
Sorry Randy didn’t mean to high jack your thread.

 

[skey44]

Sorry about the nem! Been rooting it along. Look forward to seeing the next attempt.