Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[kratosxxl]

I have auto feeders that deliver food (Prime Reef flake and TDO chromoboost small pellets) 10 times a day, and I add frozen food 2x per day when I am home.

wow thats a quite schedule :) do you also turn off wave makers during feeding ? I feed twice a day for now using Plank but i do turn off waves

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

wow thats a quite schedule :) do you also turn off wave makers during feeding ? I feed twice a day for now using Plank but i do turn off waves

I don’t do anything except let the two Eheim auto feeders and a Lonza brand equivalent deliver into floating ring feeders to make the food sink before floating away and over an overflow.

 

[Dan_P]

Chemistry Update

Nothing particularly notable, but I’m reporting it for completeness.

Nitrate 11 ppm (no change to ammonia dosing)

Salinity 34.6 ppt (sg = 1.0261) no change to AWC; made a new batch new salt water and added molybdste and nickel as I did last time)

Temp 78.5 deg F. Back to normal after the raising during the blizzard)

pH 8.1 at 12:40 pm

Alk 9.3 dKH. Rising a bit, but ok and hard corals and coralline are doing very well. Not going to reduce the AFR yet.

Phosphate 0.48 ppm. Continues to rise. I’m reluctant to use GFO or lanthanum, but I may get an external canister filter to better run GAC and do some mechanical particle removal.

I cleaned the skimmer neck. Photos below of the neck after a finger swipe, and a handful of the mud from it.

Made a new 1.5 L batch of AFR and 1.1 L of 0.1 N sulfuric acid for alk titrations from the 2.0 N acid I have on hand,

Looking at the quantity of mud, I would guess you skim on the dry side 100 mL liquid/day) and don’t clean the neck that often (once a month). Am I close?

 

[Dan_P]

Still catching up…two questions.

Am I seeing dinoflagellates on the sand?

The color of coralline is roughly pink or magenta. In the pictures above it can appear blue -purple. Can I safely assume that the camera software is at fault?

 

[Dan_P]

FWIW, I don’t seem to have dino issues, but green algae seems to be revving up. I’m ok with that, but the cuc, including the yellow tank and one spot fox

face are going to need to up their game:

The photo of the rock has brown patches not green. Is this the camera’ fault again?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The photo of the rock has brown patches not green. Is this the camera’ fault again?

Not sure when that picture is from, but I did have a bout of dinos about a year ago. It’s long gone and the current pests are all green hair algae. Cyano (came twice between dinos and now) is also entirely gone.

The color of the coralline and other stuff changes as I move the camera since the iPhone is somehow adjusting color to what it thinks it “should” be.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Looking at the quantity of mud, I would guess you skim on the dry side 100 mL liquid/day) and don’t clean the neck that often (once a month). Am I close?

Correct, I infrequently clean the skimmer neck and I let the skimmate collect in a salt bucket. Yes,,less than 100 mL per day.

 

[Dan_P]

Correct, I infrequently clean the skimmer neck and I let the skimmate collect in a salt bucket. Yes,,less than 100 mL per day.

Thanks, just trying to stay grounded.

 

[Dan_P]

Not sure when that picture is from, but I did have a bout of dinos about a year ago. It’s long gone and the current pests are all green hair algae. Cyano (came twice between dinos and now) is also entirely gone.

The color of the coralline and other stuff changes as I move the camera since the iPhone is somehow adjusting color to what it thinks it “should” be.

Thanks. I have been casually following your aquarium’s surface growth (periphyton) and was thinking about formalizing the observations. Looks like I need to use great care when compring colors.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks. I have been casually following your aquarium’s surface growth (periphyton) and was thinking about formalizing the observations. Looks like I need to use great care when compring colors.

Possibly, yes. :)

Snails from Reef Cleaners come today. Hopefully they will get the green hair algae trending in a better direction. :)

 

[Dan_P]

Possibly, yes. :)

Snails from Reef Cleaners come today. Hopefully they will get the green hair algae trending in a better direction. :)

Hey, you could help future work by painting neutral grey on the snails :-)

By the way, I feed my snails dried seaweed every day because the 70 gal aquarium surfaces just don’t seem like enough for fifty Margarites. I have not scraped my glass in over 600 days except to get rid of #$#$#&Coralline algae, though the snails do a pretty good on that too.

Full transparency…I have some sort of hair algae the snails don’t touch. The Margarites might be only focusing on micro algae. Don’t know.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I suppose I should scrape soon?

 

[Dan_P]

Curiously, I have noticed that the color of the growth on the inside of my glass depends on position. Green in some places, golden brown in others.

The pictures below show places I did not scrape yesterday since there were snails there. I’m not sure if the effects are water motion driven, or light, or both.

If I had to guess, I’d say there is more light and more flow on the golden brown areas.

Both pictures below are from the side panel
looking down the length at the inside of the glass. Two big patches (bottom picture) nearer to the side panel have brown on top. The further, smaller patches (top picture) have green up top, nearer the water line.

Have others noticed this dichotomy?

Late reply…definitely my glass growth is not a homogeneous lawn of one color. There seems to be a light intensity effect, the top corners can be very different. Cyanobacteria films tend to be found in corners, but not always. I would bet that older aquaria periphyton is more complex than in younger aquaria.

 

[EnterName]

Curiously, I have noticed that the color of the growth on the inside of my glass depends on position. Green in some places, golden brown in others.

The pictures below show places I did not scrape yesterday since there were snails there. I’m not sure if the effects are water motion driven, or light, or both.

If I had to guess, I’d say there is more light and more flow on the golden brown areas.

Both pictures below are from the side panel
looking down the length at the inside of the glass. Two big patches (bottom picture) nearer to the side panel have brown on top. The further, smaller patches (top picture) have green up top, nearer the water line.

Have others noticed this dichotomy?

Late reply…definitely my glass growth is not a homogeneous lawn of one color. There seems to be a light intensity effect, the top corners can be very different. Cyanobacteria films tend to be found in corners, but not always. I would bet that older aquaria periphyton is more complex than in younger aquaria.

I still vote pigment packaging effect: https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/14474225/

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I still vote pigment packaging effect: https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/14474225/

As I understand it, that's an intensity effect rather than a color change, but I suppose two or more pigments changing in different ways could give a color change.

In any case, that doesn't completely explain why it varies across the glass surface. :)

 

[Dan_P]

I still vote pigment packaging effect: https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/14474225/

Oh that brings to mind that I do see a color difference looking through colonies of microorganisms compared to a shallow angle view from the side.

 

[Dan_P]

Next you will be asking @Paul B where to collect the good asphalt, bottles and railroad spikes.

It would be an interesting competition to see if Randy could out weird Paul B it what he tosses into the aquarium.

 

[Dan_P]

I’ve tried a variety of things, but I cannot do some that will work, such as high flow, because I am trying to keep the tank as quiet as possible.

I’m not sure bare bottom would matter since the cyano grows on the rocks and back coralline at least as much as the sand.

I’m not sure there is a treatment that is a long term solution, but I will continue to explore options such as reducing organics. C

So what does this cyanobacteria outbreak say about the DIY GAC reactor recently installed to remove organics?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So what does this cyanobacteria outbreak say about the DIY GAC reactor recently installed to remove organics?

Well, I should have noted that, whether it helped or hurt, it was removed for clogging too easily and backing up water. Messy. Only GAC now is in the outlet area of the skimmer. I need to rethink the plan. lol

 

[Dan_P]

Well, I should have noted that, whether it helped or hurt, it was removed for clogging too easily and backing up water. Messy. Only GAC now is in the outlet area of the skimmer. I need to rethink the plan. lol

Clogging with bacteria slime? I lose flow rate to it overtime in a reactor.