Randy’s Flock o' Reef Tanks

[Darkxerox]

More than 3 full?

Feels like I'm spinning it forever lol

 

[RandyC]

Feels like I'm spinning it forever lol

Hah....seemed like a lot too when I first took it off.

 

[RandyC]

150 Gallon Tank

Water parameters as of tonight
Alk: 7.2
Ca: 415
Mg: 1275
Nitrate: 3.1
Phosphate: 0.7

This is more inline where I normally run.

The extra feeding and dosing of Sodium Nitrate has brought my nitrate level up to my normal range. I'm guessing the extra dosing of NaNO3 is probably what caused my bacterial bloom in the first place.

Magnesium dropped a 100ppm most likely from binding with the new aragonite sand. So I will need to be dose a bit to get back up to around 1350ppm.

On a good note, looks like the cloudiness from the bacterial bloom is clearing up a bit as I can at least see the other end of the tank now.

 

[PjFish]

150 Gallon Tank

I love it when things do what they're supposed to do.

Chaeto photosynthesizing and gettin' rid of that CO2 and making some O2. So many bubbles!

What UV panel is that? Mind sharing a link…Im trying out a 12x12 similar looking panel off amazon and getting okay results..I do like the panels since you can can super close to help eliminate light bleed.. Normally just been using a 360we with great results but the light spread was causing film algae all over the sump unless I black out the walls..
Thanks

 

[RandyC]

What UV panel is that? Mind sharing a link…Im trying out a 12x12 similar looking panel off amazon and getting okay results..I do like the panels since you can can super close to help eliminate light bleed.. Normally just been using a 360we with great results but the light spread was causing film algae all over the sump unless I black out the walls..
Thanks

I use this in all my systems for the fuge. Works great and is dimmable so you can adjust to your needs.

Amazon.com

a.co

 

[RandyC]

150 Gallon Tank (Day 47)

Bacterial bloom is finally really starting to clean itself up. Can't wait until it's crystal clear again. So far uglies have been limited to diatoms for a few days and a bacterial bloom for 3-4 days (so far). Let's take guesses as to what's next.

I knew these things were good, but I didn't think they would work this quick, but the Bubble King skimmer after two days of putting it in is pulling some nice gunk out already. I did need to lower the return baffle to put the skimmer in 8.25" of water.

Added "blinders" to the fuge light panel so skimmer and other sump chamber is limited to light exposure. Cheap acrylic scraps from Tap Plastics and command strips work wonders!

Acro frags I put in 10 days ago (4/26/25) are still alive.

Today (5/6/2025)

4/26/25

 

[RandyC]

150 Gallon Tank (Day 49)

Since this tank is in the garage, I gotta make sure the tank is ready for the hot weather to come. I used to be able to cool the 6x3x1' frag tank in the garage with just a bunch of 5V fans, so I'm hoping the same is true for this tank.

I had a few 5V USB fans laying around the garage that I wanted to repurpose and didn't want to waste a whole 120V outlet, so I wired them to the Apex EB832 24V accessory port via a 24V USB hub I found on Amazon.

Made a wire with a 2-pin Molex Micro-fit 3.0 connector to BNC connector.

Clipped off the connector the USB hub came and replaced it with a BNC connector. I should probably buy some waterproof connectors, but this is what I had on hand.

I added two fans to the light rail.

I also placed this 120mm 5V fan temporarily in the sump until I get around to making a sump lid and placing it in lid. Got lucky a a couple of pre-existing screw holes lined up perfectly with the fan holes.

Hopefully this will be enough. Fans are set to turn on when Apex detects a temp of 79.5F and turn off if it can pull the temp down to 79F.

 

[psidriven]

That noctua fan must increase your FPS by 20.

 

[RandyC]

That noctua fan must increase your FPS by 20.

Fish swim faster and look more lifelike.

 

[RandyC]

Frag Tanks

Getting pinker by the day. Thought this mariculture piece was going to go red/maroon, but looks like pink is the winner.

April 18, 2025
View attachment 68506

April 5, 2025
View attachment 68507

March 21, 2025
View attachment 68508

March 12, 2025
View attachment 68509

March 3, 2025
View attachment 68510

Frag Tank

Latest update on the Indo mariculture piece I picked up from Clearwater around 2 months ago.

A pic without all the fuzz. Shows the actual color of the tissue. Colored up nicely so far.

What it looked like when I first got it March 3.

 

[RandyC]

150 Gallon Tank (Day 54)

Found a deal on two XR30 G4 Pros and my sense of balance is back now that the two XR15 are gone. Now all I need to do is find someone that has two diffuser kits laying around.

Before

Now

Uglies still remain at bay. Haven't seen anything new crop up yet. Rocks and sand still look fairly free of the uglies. Actually a little surprised I don't see any GHA yet.

Skimmer is working like a champ and is skimming pretty dark now.

Acros look to be doing okay. I'm actually starting to see some growth on the RR Rainbow Splice (lower left). It looks like some encrusting has started.

April 26, 2025

May 13, 2025

Tank Params
Alk: 7.3
Ca: 420
Mg: 1350
Nitrate: 5.4
Phosphate: 0.1

Currently dosing 30ml per day of my DIY Sodium Nitrate solution (1ml raises 0.8ppm nitrate for every 5 gallons). Also, my phosphates were going low, so I threw in a few spoons of Reef Chili into the auto feeder.

Cheato has been growing fast, so I started dosing ChaetoGro like I do in my other tanks. Ballpark is around 20-25 ml a week. I'll eventually hook up a doser so I don't have to manually do it.

April 20, 2025

May 13, 2025

 

[RandyC]

150 Gallon Tank (Day 54)

Found a deal on two XR30 G4 Pros and my sense of balance is back now that the two XR15 are gone. Now all I need to do is find someone that has two diffuser kits laying around.

Before
View attachment 69279

Now
View attachment 69280

Uglies still remain at bay. Haven't seen anything new crop up yet. Rocks and sand still look fairly free of the uglies. Actually a little surprised I don't see any GHA yet.
View attachment 69281

Skimmer is working like a champ and is skimming pretty dark now.
View attachment 69284

Acros look to be doing okay. I'm actually starting to see some growth on the RR Rainbow Splice (lower left). It looks like some encrusting has started.

April 26, 2025
View attachment 69282

May 13, 2025
View attachment 69283

Tank Params
Alk: 7.3
Ca: 420
Mg: 1350
Nitrate: 5.4
Phosphate: 0.1

Currently dosing 30ml per day of my DIY Sodium Nitrate solution (1ml raises 0.8ppm nitrate for every 5 gallons). Also, my phosphates were going low, so I threw in a few spoons of Reef Chili into the auto feeder.

Cheato has been growing fast, so I started dosing ChaetoGro like I do in my other tanks. Ballpark is around 20-25 ml a week. I'll eventually hook up a doser so I don't have to manually do it.

April 20, 2025
View attachment 69285

May 13, 2025
View attachment 69286

150 Gallon Tank

Yes!!!!! Thanks to @Newjack I got two more diffusers and lights are all set!

 

[RandyC]

150 Gallon Tank (Day 60)

While the tank has been clearing up from the bacterial bloom, the water has finally reached a point where it's close to being crystal clear. While a good chunk of the cloudiness cleared up, it took a while longer than I thought it would to get rid of the last little bit, but patience was key. Just had to wait it out. I'm sure over the next few days the water will become even more clear.

Tank has been pretty clear of the uglies. There is the expected brown and green film algae on the sand and rocks, which hopefully will pave the way for coralline and not GHA.

Current Tank parameters
Alk: 7.3
Ca: 420
Mg: 1365
Nitrate: 8.0
Phosphate: 0.07

So far I have 17 acro frags in the tank and all appear to be doing okay.

April 26, 2025

March 13, 2025

March 19, 2025 - RR Rainbow splice (lower left) looks to continue to encrust and gain new polyps, Candy Corals Blazing Rainbow (upper right) looks to be encrusting and the TSA Bill Murray (lower right) looks to ever so slightly gaining some more red coloration.

Getting some really good polyp extension after lights are out on some the the frags.

And a few things that have been taken care of since last week.

1. Added high & low float switches to ATO reservoir. I used these to trigger Apex to open the 1/2" motorized ball valves and turn on the booster pump to the RODI unit auto fill the ATO when it gets low. There's also a float valve in case the switches don't function correctly.

2. Fixed leak in a threaded connector that took a hot minute to find. Almost thought the sump was leaking. But turns out it was just a slow leak from a threaded connector from the calcium reactor.

3. Fished out some amphipods from another tank to seed this tank. Found about 20, but will add more as I find them.

 

[FinalPhaze987]

Fishing out amphipods sounds tedious..if I had some already established fuges, I'd probably done the same..how's the fuge handling your nutrients?

I just got my algae reactor going after getting a little to heavyhanded with feedings and found my PO4 hitting 0.13

 

[RandyC]

Fishing out amphipods sounds tedious..if I had some already established fuges, I'd probably done the same..how's the fuge handling your nutrients?

I just got my algae reactor going after getting a little to heavyhanded with feedings and found my PO4 hitting 0.13

I don't really fish them out. I have a sponge I use to keep the water splashing to an minimum and I just take that out and shake it in a bucket. Can get a handful every few days.

I feed New Life Spectrum pellets mixed in with some Reef Chili twice a day from an auto feeder, once a day I feed freeze dried mysis and calanus and once a day a little bit of nori.

I'm also running Rox 0.8 mixed in with High Capacity GFO.

Still dosing 30ml of Sodium Nitrate a day.

So far nutrients are staying fairly consistent. Nitrates under between 5-10 and phosphates under 0.1.

 

[RandyC]

150 Gallon Tank (Day 69)

Tank is chugging along without much fanfare (good thing). Added some more fish out of QT, but had a little tang on tang aggression. An existing yellow tang didn't like another yellow tang encroaching on its turf, but nothing putting up a mirror didn't fix after a day or so. All seems happy now. I think this tank is pretty much done with fish for the time being, maybe a leopard wrasse or two eventually.

Coral is doing well so far and it looks like things are growing consistently amongst all the added coral. *fingers crossed*

May 29, 2025
Corals are encrusting. Uglies seem to not have made much of an appearance. *knock on wood* It may be time to start actually gluing acros to rock and their final resting spots.

May 13, 2025

April 27, 2025

Chaeto is growing really fast in this tank. It's super thick and dense now. If anyone needs some, let me know.

This is what it started from on April 20, 2025.

 

[RandyC]

Aquatic Collection got some pitho crabs in today so I picked some up this morning to add more to the tanks.

Here's one of them in QT already munching on some bubble algae covered rocks I threw in there.

 

[RandyC]

Ever see a Giant Knobby Creeper? I picked up two of them a month or so ago. They stayed buried in the sand most of the time it seems. Hopefully they're nocturnal and do a lot of work on the sand while I'm sleeping. They look like a big ass cerith.

Giant Knobby Creeper

Resides : Sand, rocks and glass Consumes : Film Algae, Diatoms, Hair Algae, Detritus, and some species of Cyanobacteria Max Size : 4.25 or 108mm Origin : East...

www.reefcleaners.org

 

[FinalPhaze987]

That's one crazy looking snail..cool looking...but look like it would get wedged in my rock work if I were to get one. Do they reside solely in the sand?

 

[RandyC]

That's one crazy looking snail..cool looking...but look like it would get wedged in my rock work if I were to get one. Do they reside solely in the sand?

I've seen the two of them on the glass two maybe three times. Rest of the time they're in the sand.