Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[picea]

Hope your anthias come along! According to my wife, the mix of anthias and chromis in my tank is what makes it look like a real reef.

Pacific east added some cool new gorgonians if you haven't seen.

 

[Ratt]

I appreciate you sharing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Fish Update

The new female mandarin seems to be doing fine, hunting the rocks and glass just like the male does.

Four of the anthias are thriving, schooling and getting along well with the three green chromis and other fish. I suspect one of the four female carberryi anthias is beginning to transition to a male. He is differently colored, as can be seen in the picture below, while true males are much more purple in the head area. He is also acting differently, siddling up to each of the others and flashing his dorsal spike up fairly frequently.

The demented anthias that lingers in the corner or against the glass continues to act that way and does not appear to eat. The last one that disappeared right away is still missing.

The clown trio is also thriving without their magnifica. I’m on the hunt for a replacement from places like Pacificeast.

The foxface and tang also continue to thrive.

Some photos from today. First one shows the possible changing anthias (upper left):

 

[apistohongsloi]

Hey Randy!
My name is Ryan, and I'm a coral specialist at a store down in Virginia. My recent ICP results have shown that all my tanks are low in fluorine, despite dosing regularly with RedSea Trace-Elements 4part system. I'm planning on purchasing 8oz of LoneWolf's NaF in order to correct this, then following your instructions from another thread to create a roughly 1% solution in order to dose.
However, I know chemistry is my weak spot, and I know enough to know that I need to ask more questions about what I need to be on the lookout for. My biggest concern right now is accidentally creating HF and dipping my alkalinity (and damaging tissue) - how do I know how much free H+ I have in my system so I can predict how much HF might be created, and then how do I go about reducing H+? Simply test and then raise my pH as needed? How much H+ is dangerous?
How much can I safely raise the F in my system in 24 hours? Are the amounts different in a fishless vs. fish-in system?
What other questions am I missing?

Also, I need to ask - are you looking for an intern?

Thank you ever so much for your time.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Chemistry Update

Haven’t measured things for a while, so it’s time again…

Salinity by conductivity 50.4 mS/cm = sg 1.0251 = 33.3 ppt. Lower than I want, likely due to AWC imbalance. I turned off the AWC removal pump for now.

Nitrate by Hanna high range: 14.4 ppm which is fine
Phosphate by Hanna ULR : 0.34 ppm, which is about where it has been. Not going to change anything

pH at mid day 8.0

Alkalinity 7.7 dKH, still fine from the AFR daily dose. It’s declined a bit, but with more corals that’s normal.

All in all an uneventful chemistry day, which is almost always best. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hey Randy!
My name is Ryan, and I'm a coral specialist at a store down in Virginia. My recent ICP results have shown that all my tanks are low in fluorine, despite dosing regularly with RedSea Trace-Elements 4part system. I'm planning on purchasing 8oz of LoneWolf's NaF in order to correct this, then following your instructions from another thread to create a roughly 1% solution in order to dose.
However, I know chemistry is my weak spot, and I know enough to know that I need to ask more questions about what I need to be on the lookout for. My biggest concern right now is accidentally creating HF and dipping my alkalinity (and damaging tissue) - how do I know how much free H+ I have in my system so I can predict how much HF might be created, and then how do I go about reducing H+? Simply test and then raise my pH as needed? How much H+ is dangerous?
How much can I safely raise the F in my system in 24 hours? Are the amounts different in a fishless vs. fish-in system?
What other questions am I missing?

Also, I need to ask - are you looking for an intern?

Thank you ever so much for your time.

Assuming this is a normal reef tank, pH will be above 7.5 and there’s no concern about making significant HF in the seawater.

As to the free H+ level, pH is an exact measure of that so there is no possibility of having too much.

I don’t know if F- is useful, but I think one can raise it to natural levels all at once if you want to.

lol, no need for an intern. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I started a thread on the problem anthias in the fish disease and diagnosis forum here:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-carberryi-anthias-problem.1157359/

 

[fandaga]

Wow the clowns and anthias color really pops with all the coralline.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Wow the clowns and anthias color really pops with all the coralline.

Yes, and this color assortment of fish looks great with the very white light I use. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

DIY GAC Reactor

While there’s no reason to think this device is any better than a commercial GAC reactor, it was super cheap for me as the only thing I bought were cheap mesh bags from Amazon.

I already had a take off point on my return line that I installed for running the sump train and not the display, but have not used that aspect after the initial setup.

Taking that water source, it enters through the upper side of an old salt bucket, makes a 90 degree turn downward using some old pvc parts I had, and back into some silicone tubing to go down to the GAC.

The GAC (about 2 cups) sits in a mesh back inside a large yogurt container that fills it about 2/3 full. The container has several drilled holes in the bottom for draining.

The tubing enters the opening of the mesh bag and is held in place with a plastic hose clamp.

The yogurt container sits inside the salt bucket on top of egg crate at the bottom. The salt bucket has a bulkhead that drains straight down through a hole in the Brute can sump lid, and into the sump.

A lid is placed on top of the salt bucket to reduce evaporation.


Pictures will be easier to understand.

Yogurt container bottom

Mesh bag with ROX 0.8 GAC going into yogurt container:

Salt bucket with bulkhead in middle of bottom and egg crate above it. The side hole for the water entry is at the upper right.

Inside view of it hooked up. If the hose clamp holding the tubing to the pvc seem to be wet after running a while, I might replace it with a plastic one or none at all.

Water running into the refugium through the Brute lid during operation. This first refugium section mostly grows hair algae. Macroalgae doesn’t do well there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

One critical design feature is that there should never be a scenario where water gets into the floor! Each stage is oversized for the expected flow and has multiple paths down to the sump water.

 

[tripdad]

Your better half will love this aspect!

One critical design feature is that there should never be a scenario where water gets into the floor! Each stage is oversized for the expected flow and has multiple paths down to the sump water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Your better half will love this aspect!

For sure! :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Video from Today

Some notable things in it. One can see the demented Anthias still hanging on in the upper back at about 0:50 into it, and a little later one can see the beady eyes of the mantis shrimp next to the yellow ball sponge at about 1:08.

That fish has not apparently eaten for weeks now.

 

[jonelder68]

Video from Today

Some notable things in it. One can see the demented Anthias still hanging on in the upper back at about 0:50 into it, and a little later one can see the beady eyes of the mantis shrimp next to the yellow ball sponge at about 1:08.

That fish has not apparently eaten for weeks now.

Tanks really starting to look like a picture of a real reef! Looking awesome! Hopefully your enjoying the Anthias they’re probably my top favorite fish with all the movement and action they add.

 

[tripdad]

Fun video, Mantis would be worrisome to me, cool, but...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Fun video, Mantis would be worrisome to me, cool, but...

My daughter took one away to start a mantis tank, she may try to catch this one some time and take it too. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just saw a peppermint shrimp. Have not seen them for a long time. They came from TBS in the initial shipments.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Tanks really starting to look like a picture of a real reef! Looking awesome! Hopefully your enjoying the Anthias they’re probably my top favorite fish with all the movement and action they add.

Thanks. I am very happy with the Carberryi Anthias. They are very active, though not usually as hyper as in the video since I had just fed the fish to ensure they all came out for the video.

 

[fandaga]

Looks great - love the sponges. Mantis is very cool. I’d be tempted to keep it.