125 Gallon Tank with HUGE Coral Colonies and NO Fish!

What's going on, reefers? Blaine here. I'm here with Randy. Randy, thank you so much for having us. Excited to do another tank tour here locally in Orlando. Randy, let's get right into it. Let's talk about your tank. What size tank do we have here? The tank is 125 125 gallons. And then I've got a double sump in the base, which is about 30 more gallons. Gotcha. So, quite the long tank. Honestly, you have quite the front viewing panel. Now, let's get into what I'm sure everybody's curious to hear about the livestock. Talk me through the corals. You've got some awesome corals in here. Yeah, I mean, a huge fan. I was going crazy over torches for [music] for years and I've had I've had most of these torches probably um you know, 6 8 years, maybe 10. So, [music] they've been growing and I've been taking pups and starting new colonies. Um this um elegance coral has gone crazy. I bought it very small and um it's probably tripled size in in 3 years. Um so I'm really excited about that. I'm just hoping it doesn't get too big. [laughter] Needs to stop now cuz it's getting taken over everything. So I'm a big big fan of the trache. Um I've had all these more than six years and um they're really easy for me. I don't know why some of the other corals I have these meaty corals, you know, I have problems with, but these have been super super easy. Um, [music] you know, I feed them um feed these with all the other corals probably um you know, every probably every two weeks I feed really heavily. So, I give these a lot of meaty stuff. They open up and they consume them consume everything and they seem [music] to seem to really enjoy that. So, you know, I love all the affiliates. I tried to get as many different colors that I could. You're always looking for something new and exciting. So, um, so these have been in here, you know, forever and I've been dividing them and and, um, they just seem to really be happy in this tank. You've got some really nice mushrooms, too. That was one of those things that caught my attention right away. What are you doing to make the bounced mushrooms so happy in this tank, Randy, cuz they're insane. They look so good. You know, I wish I could say um I knew exactly what it was, but it's just luck, you know? It's like you put you put something in a location in a tank and then if it does well then you're like okay well this is a happy spot. So then I bring in more and then you try it in a different tank and if it's not happy then you know that's not a good spot. So so basically I've just discovered this this is a good spot for these. So So I'm very lucky [laughter] very very lucky. How long has this tank been up and running at this point and how long have you been keeping reef tanks? So, I I've been um I've had aquariums almost my whole life, even as a kid, freshwater. So, I had my first 55galon fish only reef tank and uh that's been about 15 years ago. And then um I actually set up a a version of this. It was so I had a one this 125 as fish only also. And I had that for 5 years. And I started adding the corals as they were as the trend had um had began sort of in Orlando. People were converting to to do um you know part part reef and part fish tank. So um so I started doing that and I had that for another 5 years and everything was doing great. Then I had to have my house tenanted for termites. So I broke everything down, put it in the garage and then kind of started over. So, I took a lot of the rocks that I had, you know, from back then 15 years ago, kept those alive and put them put them back in the new tank to seed all the other rocks. So, I bought some dried ones and and had the live rock. So, um just to get everything going as quickly [music] as possible. Yeah. I got to give a big shout out to Tomas. He was the one that hooked us up originally and he was actually talking it through with me how you guys were actually customers way before Tomas was even at TopShelf Aquatics and he helped set up this system. And so kind of a crazy full circle moment where we're able to kind of revisit this tank in general. Something you mentioned off camera that blew me away and I'm sure it's going to blow a lot of people away is that none of these corals other than the ones that have been crusted onto the rock work are actually glued down. Why is that the case here in this tank, Randy? Well, to me, in a hobby, it's exciting to always be getting new stuff, moving stuff around, um, you know, dividing stuff and and [music] and so I I always like to change things around. I mean, when it when it's it's set like this, I'm not going to be moving a lot, but if I need to pull this one out or I want to I want to, you know, cut it in half and start a new colony in another tank, then I just pull it out and then, you know, it's [music] very easy. So, yeah, everything is is movable. while I have it on these um on discs, you know, mounted and and glued onto um onto, you know, foundation. So, yeah, everything's movable and you can kind of get away with that because we don't have really that many fish in the tank. Only a couple fish. What are the fish that you have? So, this is my clown. I've had her for about probably 15 years. So, um she's, you know, my pet. She'll eat out of my hand. [laughter] So, very happy. And then I've got one other clown goi I've had probably at least 10 years. And he's living in the uh in this elegance coral. So, really only comes out once in a while and and whenever there's food around um he'll come out. So, just the two fish for right now. Um I've had I've had a lot over the years. I've had almost every fish that you see in a reef, but um right now [music] um I'm just happy with the corals. Now, I'm sure a lot of people are going to wonder too, sometimes the fish like tangs and things like that are the working fish in your tank. Are you doing a lot of the maintenance yourself in these systems or how are you combating algae and other things like that? Yeah, I mean, I I do all the maintenance myself. I do water changes once a month. Um, so I just really I'm just, you know, doing the best I can. Um, I clean the glass and luckily haven't had a lot of other algae problems. Um, as I was telling you, Blaine, before I always keep live macro algae in my tank, and I think that helps a lot with the nitrates and and and [music] phosphates, so it helps compete out some of the the other um lesser desirable algae. And I also run a um an LG scrubber in the in the in the um in the sump also. So unique to see that you're using the macro algae in the display tank rather than in the sump. Some people just kind of throw it into a refugeium. I love how you've kind of mounted it on some magnets and you've added it into the tank and creating kind of a new element. Well, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I love the macro algae. The color is incredible. You mentioned you have an algae scrubber down below. Let's talk about some of the equipment that's running the tank. We'll start with our lights up top. What lights are we running? These are um they're the the blue reef light reef brights. So, I've got um one 6T and one twoft. And then I have the very um old-fashioned um current USA light. So, um they're all LEDs, of course. Um, but I've had the I've had this um this current USA since probably from the old tank. And then for flow inside the system, what pumps are we running? So, I've got the um Ecoteex on the bottom. They're they're the small ones and I have them on like the second level. I just want a tiny little bit. I was finding sediment on the bottom, so I added these just to give a little bit of um of movement. And of course the um you don't want to blast the mushrooms too much. They they they get very unhappy with too much flow. So, and then I've got these I think they're ci they're these are wonderful pumps. [music] Um very very um very reliable. So, and I was telling Blaine in the back, um, I built a a kind of a tube system that runs entire length of the back with with, um, with nozzles the entire way and it it flows water down the back of the aquarium and underneath all the rocks towards the front. So, that has its own dedicated uh pump for that. So, it's it's um it's been it's been very good with the with kind of the all the rocks, this wall system where you pile the rocks up against the wall. It's very important to get flow back there because um you don't want you don't want dead spots back there because it'll get really nasty over time. Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth. Very uh old school escape style of the rock wall style of getting the rocks piled up on the wall, but it allows for so much aquacape in my opinion to really just blanket it with corals. Now, for down below in the sump, we have the algae scrubber. Any other pieces of equipment that are helping drive this tank? I've got the algae scrubber and then of course a a protein skimmer and um calcium reactor. And that's pretty much it. Um as far as equipment goes, that part is pretty simple for sure. There's the method, right? The kiss method. Keep it simple, stupid. I love that method and so many things in life. And for this tank, it's working perfectly cuz you see the results in all the corals. People can't see behind the scenes. We've got two frag tanks that are shoved full of corals as well. But it's seemingly working very, very well. I did want to ask cleanup crew wise, we obviously don't have a bunch of fish. What are we doing for our cleanup crew? Do we have a bunch of snails? Things like that. What are we doing for cleanup crew? I have um I bought some trocus snails back when I set this up and I had some leftover from the old tank. So, I really haven't added any at all. So, really the only cleanup are um trocus snails. So, and they've been reproducing. Um I do get little babies every once in a while, so that that's good. And then what are we dosing the system currently? I'm using the um um the black bucket reef salt and um and then I dose once a week I use um fuel. So that that's pretty much it. Talk us through the other two tanks. These systems behind the scenes specifically just frag systems or are you also kind of keeping them as displays as well? Well, you know, they started out as quarantine tanks for fish and then, you know, after that, then uh all of a sudden it becomes, you know, a reef tank. So, so one still is still pretty much a frag tank and then the other one ended up being a display tank. So, I I like to take if I want if I have one of these ephilia is too big, I'll I'll break it and then I'll start a whole new colony in the other tank. So, that works out well. I do want to ask, is there any one tip you have when it comes to euphilia? I think this is probably some of the nicest euphilia I've seen in person at a home tank. It's very happy, super fluffy, and it seems like you have the flow just right. Is there any tips you have for people that are trying to have success like this with Euphilia? Well, really I think the big key is is feeding. Um, I feed very heavily. You know, I mix up a really heavy food mix. Um, so when I dose, uh, I mean, when I use, you know, use a feeder to feed feed them, I mean, [music] they're just they're eating it all up. They're just, you know, they're happy. So, um, I think that's probably the key. So even, you know, when some of them some of the euphilas get in a shaded area, I find if I feed them that they'll stay alive, you know, because they they're not getting the photosynthesis process, but um but the food is is keeping them happy. So I think that's probably the biggest key. You've been in the hobby for a long time at this point. You've been able to see the changes of the technology, the way we keep reef tanks. What have you seen now from when reefke keeping started to now? What's the biggest mindset that you've seen change over the course of that time? [music] Well, um something very simple is that I always thought that the [music] um phosphates should be zero and that was always my goal. Get them as low as possible. If you've got like less than, you know, the the smallest amount, that was great. So now um I'm I'm trying to keep the phosphates under 0.1. Yeah. So the I'm testing phosphates [music] and nitrates um every every time I feed. Before I feed, I want to know exactly what's going [music] on with the tanks because the food is the biggest contributor to um [music] increasing the phosphates and nitrates. So that's probably the biggest biggest change and that's something I've learned through from Top Shelf. the nitrates I do I do dose those if I need if need be. Um but I'm always testing before I feed. So and I'll adjust I've saw in some of your uh YouTube videos how using like benerief versus reeferoids reefoids will race the the phosphates really fast where um the bener won't. So I I judge every every time I'm going to feed. I look at what my current levels are and then I make a decision of what food I'm going to use. Now, when it comes to those numbers, you said nitrates and phosphates you're testing for before you start feeding. What about the other numbers? Are we testing for alkalinity, things of that sort? Any other numbers? Or are the nitrates and the phosphates the two main focus? Yeah, I mean, I I test all the parameters, magnesium, um, saline, and KH, and you know, I I do test all the all the general things. So, especially right after a water change, I want to just make sure everything's good and then I can make adjustments then and then maybe 2 weeks later I'll test everything again just just to make sure that we're on track. So, I think it's important to [music] test all those things now that this system has been up and running for a long time. I always say it when I come into people's homes like the grass is always greener for every reef keeper, right? You look at everyone else's tank and they look amazing. For you, you see all the little things that you wish you could change. If there's one thing about the system you would have done a little different [music] or changed, what would have that been? It would have been on the on the system that I have in the back with the flow. I wish I had more flow. You know, I wish I I designed something. I didn't really test it. Um, so I would have if you if I had the option to go back, I would have made the pipe smaller to increase the flow back there. But but I still getting flow, so I'm very happy with it. But I would have liked a little bit more flow. [laughter] It seems like a main focus for you with reefke keeping has kind of been turnover, making sure water's coming in of the system and out of the system. Why you added that extra, you know, back wall water movement? You also don't have a sand bed. Was bare bottom always the idea because of wanting to have less nutrient kind of sand sinks in general like that? Well, in the my previous tank, I had um I had sand in the sump and um I had sand in the bed and after breaking it down after after 10 years, it was so gross [laughter] that it's like I don't want to deal with that. I want everything clean. So, so this new tank [music] has been a has been a dramatic change. Um, with all my I've got um I use socks for the filtration and I always use 100 um what's it called? The the 100 microns, not the not the 200. I find that they don't get dirty enough with the 200. So So it's all about trying to export as much detritus as possible. Always keeping everything everything clean. If you can, if you need more nutrients, you can add it easily with with food. So, you can't the the best thing is just make it as clean as possible and then add food if you need new nutrients. That's a great point for anyone that's looking to get into reef keeping. It's so much easier to add it in rather than to trying to pull it out. And I know the corals probably are eating up so much of your nutrients that you're actively having to do those heavy feedings like we talked about. Yeah. You know, something that Tomas had said off camera as we're kind of bantering about this system and questioning you was, did you have any issues with, you know, the bare bottom from the start? I know typically we see it from people coming in. There's a lack of nutrients. There's typically some algaes that can come up, but for you, you didn't have any of those issues at the beginning, correct? No. No. Um, immediately on the setup, I mean, I had really good luck. I, you know, once I got the once the tank was set up again with the new rocks, [music] um, or with the using the old rocks, excuse me. Um, you know, within a couple months, I started buying corals like crazy. [laughter] So, everything was really ready to go and I didn't look back. I these corals um all these tracheies here are from [music] um you know from right after when I when I set up this new tank and they've done well you know for the whole duration of the of the tank since it's been set up. Yeah, definitely a testament to live rock. I know some people really like starting their systems off clean, completely sterile with, you know, just dry rock, but I think this goes to show that adding in that microbial diversity, getting the microbiome to really be juiced up is ultimately going to be the best for you long run when it comes to having success in the reef tank. Jake Adams used to do this for every single tank tour on Reef Builder Channel. He would ask at the end, if you could give a piece of advice for someone getting into the hobby, a brand new reef keeper, what would that piece of advice be? You've got a beautiful system here and you've got years of experience. What would that piece of advice be? Well, you know, I've been uh even with these tanks for so long, I get surprises all the time. So, if if certain algae starts growing, um [music] something changes and you're doing everything exactly the same, just don't get discouraged because it usually will resolve itself. you you test everything, make sure that everything's in line, and and then you just kind of you do the best you can to wait it out, try to figure out maybe is there something different I could do, but just be aware that you're going to have ups and downs in the tanks. [music] Well, thank you, Randy, for letting us come into your house, check out your system. This has been a lot of fun. If you guys have any extra questions for Randy about the system that we didn't cover in today's video, feel free drop them down in the comments below. If you guys have tuned in all the way till the end, I want to say thank you very much. 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