FishChannel Forums / Saltwater Forums / For Reefkeepers

PowerHead

NeonBlue64 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:13:32 GMT

I just bought some star polyp frag and was wondering if it is wise to have a power head on the frag or to put the stream above the frag

Frags and others

NeonBlue64 — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:03:41 GMT

I have a new saltwater tank setup it is a 5-10 gallon hex tank a foot and a half tall.
I am wondering if i can grow and sustain a coral in this tank. I have from my freshwater setup a T8 Multi Spectrum Light. For a T8 light this is very bright for the tank the dead coral that i have placed in their are a very bright white. If needed i will get a T8 bulb and also thinking of putting some LED in the tank for more light.

I am wondering what type of frags, polyp, anemone or what ever elce will be able to thrive in this tank. I have alot of water moment from the filtration in this tank so for the water flow requirement for a anemone i have.

The fish im going to put in this tank for sure are 2 clowfish and maby a cleaner shrimp or 2.

I am thinking of maby some dragon eye polyps then after i know the tank can run some Jasmine Polyp sense they can get pricy. Also some Zoanthids.

Sebae Anemone bluetip that is once i know the tank can handle.

Also would it just be wise to just have polyps instead.

The type of coral i want are Yellow tube coral, carnation tree, and chili Coral.

I will post a pic of the tank once i get back home. I also have more rock that i can place in the tank to create more area

water temp

statkevwicz21 — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:52:39 GMT

my water temp is 89 in tank but my basement temp changes with the weather ...gets cold here. tank is over 18 months old and no problem with fish.will this effect corals or mushrooms?

To plenum or not to plenum...

fjohns — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:42:02 GMT

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the site and forum. I'm getting ready to start a 220 gallon reef. I've read a great deal about both plenum(Jaubert) systems as well as systems without plenums. I'm going to be using a sand bed that's 3 to 4 inches deep. The sand grains will be 1.0 to 2.0mm in diameter.

Thanks in advance for your input,

Frank

light trouble

fish247 — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 20:45:58 GMT

hello everyone not sure if this is the right area for this question but here goes.

I have a marineland model 32982 light fixture that the blue leds stopped working so marineland set me new leds and ballast but i cant figure out how to get the light apart to get to the ballast or where it is even located at in the fixture any help would be great thx for your time

Trouble w shrimp and crabs

violet — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 07:20:54 GMT

Hello, I have an established 55 gal reef aquarium. Recently I have been having trouble keeping shrimps and crabs in the tank. I have had success up until recently. I have had sally light foots, emerald greens, coral banded shrimp, peppermint shrimp etc. But they have all vanished and I have tried to re introduce them but they only last a couple of days and then disappear without a trace. I currently have many snails, sea stars, and hermit crabs which all seem to be doing fine. All the levels in the tanks are good. I would love to have some of these inverts back in the tank but don't want o keep throwing money away. Does anyone have any ideas what might be happening?

Thanks for your help,

Violet

Arbacia urchin eating Xenia

savetheanimalsx — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:19:07 GMT

I have a Arbacia Punctulata urchin which I acquired through school after our experiments. I also have a small short spined urchin I caught in the Bay. I bought Waving Hand Xenia this past weekend and my larger arbacia keeps grabbing it. I have forced it off of him three times now. I really like the coral so it is upsetting me. I have colt coral in the tank which he never touches (and continues to ignore hopefully!) so I didn't think the Xenia would be a problem. I love urchins and coral so I am completely at a loss what to do! I have read the Xenia is a good growing coral so I am hoping it can keep up as I cannot always stop the urchin. So far I don't see any damage to the coral but I am pretty sure he is eating it. Any suggestions??

Aiptasia Trouble

FishLover7 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:32:11 GMT

I've tried everything to get rid of these Aiptasia anemones, but they always come back. So far, I've tried:

Joe's Juice, with the powerhead off, followed by a water change.
A peppermint shrimp, which ate the anemones and then got eaten itself.
Putting epoxy over the anemones to smother them.

These things always manage to bounce back! They have bergias at my LFS, but they would break my budget, and my tank won't fit another anemone eating fish in it. Does anybody have any reef-safe ideas?

If you want info on the tank, visit my profile FishLover7. Thanks!

New coral

savetheanimalsx — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:45:56 GMT

I bought a coral two days ago, I believe it is some kind of waving hand coral. It of course withdrew completely when I first got it. Since then Its little polyps come up a little tiny bit here and there but it has not fully extended yet. How long does it take for corals to acclimate and completely open up? Salinity 34%, Temperature 24 degrees celsius, PH 8.1, ammonia nitrate and nitrite are all zero.

Anyone know what this is?

johndaina — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:37:15 GMT

Recently I've discovered some new growth on our live rock, we've located three of these so far, but I don't want to allow them to continue if harmful. Unfortunately because I'm using a mac platform I'm unable to post photo's directly here, but if you care to look and weigh in, you can find a picture here; http://s1191.photobucket.com/albums/z475/john_346/
This one is about the size of a dime at the base, and maybe protrudes 3/8 of an inch tall. Thank you!

fraging help

Grouper gulper — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 14:55:23 GMT

So i have some star zonathan(?) corals and was wondering how to frag them properly. I also have another coral that i have no clue what it is. It looks like a brownish mushroom coral with little fingery branches coming off of the main head. If u can imagine the vili in a smal. intestine u pretty much have this coral. How do i frag this? And i also saw a vid of fragging rose bubble tip anemones by enducing binary fission. Does this work with all anemonoes? Thanks for the help!

Is All this equipment really necessary?

tribefan — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:40:18 GMT

Are protein skimmers, calcium reactors, refugiums, UV sterilizers, RO/DI filters, etc. really necessary to run a reef aquarium? I started my 46 gal tank 5 years ago as a FOWLR and have gradually built it up to become a reef tank. (still a work in process). I have mushrooms, kenya tree coral, leather coral, and green star polyps in my tank. All I have is a simple hang on filter, I use regular tapwater and until 2 weeks ago I only ran a 50/50 and actinic light. I just upgraded to T5 lighting. I would like to gradually build a better reef tank and i'm just wondering if all this is necessary since I haven't had any problems and my corals are growing out of control.

Craigslist corals

LilMissBetta — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:02:46 GMT

I see coral frags for sale on Craigslist all the time. Have any of you ever done this before? Have good or bad experiences? What were your experiences like?

New Coral Question

savetheanimalsx — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:57:18 GMT

I am new to saltwater tanks and just set up a small tank. I purchased fish, live rock, inverts, and corals yesterday. The one coral is doing great but this other one I am not so sure. When I got it its head was very flat but today it seems to have closed up more. Unfortunately I do not know what kind it is so if anyone recognized the species that would be great.
Day 1
Day 2

berghia nudibranches for aptasia controll

tribefan — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:42:29 GMT

Any one have experience using berghia nudibranches to get rid of aptasia? Are there any down sides to having sea slugs in an aquarium.

Coral Only Tank

Dawnielle — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:09:33 GMT

Is it possible to keep a tank happy with just corals in it or do you need fish? I was thinking having hermit crabs and snails would be helpful.

How long do you run your lights

tribefan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:38:19 GMT

I just upgrade the lighting on my 46gal bowfornt. I got an Aquatic life T5 Ho fixture. It has 2 39w 420/460 actinic lamps, 2 39w 10K bulbs, and 4 lunar LED's. It comes factory set to run 20 hrs a day. Most of the time it is the lunar LED's only. I just put these in 2 weeks a go and now have green hair algae growing like crazy. Before I put these lights in I just ran 2 compact florescents 50/50 and actinic. How long should I be running these lights? I was thinking of putting them on and 8hr cycle.

Birds Nest Coral

Butterfly71756 — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:50:55 GMT

I bought some birds nest coral, and its turning brown??? I have LED lighting, and everything else is doing well. I feed my corals, I've moved it a few times, but it started turning brown on the tips, and is continuing down the coral.. does anybody know why this could be happening?

Green Water

AndrewC23 — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:53:23 GMT

I I said in the description, the water in my newly set up 28 gallon nao tank is green and murky to the point where I can only see fish close to the glass. I do water changes and add anti-algae stuff, but nothing seems to be working. I also turn the lights on less than 9 hours a day. My fish are a Firefish and two blue-green chromises. My inverts are a small zoanthid colony, some snails and hermits, and a largish feather duster worm. Can anyone please help?

What is your favorite Coral?

j1zip — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:41:05 GMT

I was just wondering what Corals people enjoy, so what is you favorite and why? Do you or have you kept this coral in your tank? What kind of special husbandary was involved if any?

Brown Algae

LongIslandFirearms — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:24:52 GMT

Im running a 37 gallon with a canister filter and 40 pounds of live rock. My cycle is completed. The tank has run for over 8 weeks now. I have some soft corals and 2 gobies, 2 clowns, cleaner shrimp and one feather duster. I have added them over time to ensure everyone's happy.

Lighting:Current USA Sundail T5HO. Running 5 hours on 10k and 12 hours on actinics.

The canister has PolyFil in it on the bottom (which turns brown when I last cleaned it yesterday) and I added a phosphate removal mix (brown stuff two tablespoons) which I put in the top basket along with the normal ecco balls in there as well.

There is a HUGE surge of dark brown algae on my top live rock and on the glass. I removed it from the glass with the magnet yesterday.

When I got home today, not too much on the glass. Same if not darker on the Live Rock.

What do I do?

The live rock with all the brown algae has corals living on it that I dont want to remove.

Convincing others to spend more money on tanks!

afmweb — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:13:41 GMT

We’d like to give you a chance to share your thoughts and advice with fellow hobbyists in our annual magazine, Aquarium USA. Each week, we’ll post a couple questions you can answer—and your answer could get published in the next Aquarium USA! Question #9 is:

Sometimes, family members who don’t keep aquaria may not be too thrilled about spending money on more tanks, equipment, etc. What do you think a reefkeeper can say to convince someone to spend money on reef tanks?

Please reply to this post to respond. If you'd like to see all the questions posted for possible publication in Aquarium USA, all of them (freshwater and saltwater) have been posted in our Announcements forum.

anenome problem

Derf — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:38:32 GMT

i have an anenome that has almost completely pulled itself into my rock. i moved it from one house to another and into a new tank.water quality is fine and salinity is good.it is under new lights but i figured it would move if it didnt like where i put it(in the same part of the tank).it has eatn but keeps pulling itself back into the rock.

Have you ever had a tank wipeout?

Fish Chat — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:31:29 GMT

Aquarists dread the possibility of tank wipeouts. Share any experiences you have had with wipeouts with other aquarists for this month's Fish Chat question at http://board.fishchannel.com/Topic215491-11-1.aspx .

Lighting

Swarley — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:29:54 GMT

I had a reef tank for many years and at the time to only choices were metal halide or VHO. VHO were the more affordable choice and more manageable to my limited carpentry and electronic skills so went with that. I had awesome luck with mushrooms, LPS's like frogspawn and torch corals and leather corals as well as constantly reproducing greenbubble anemones. I had a friend a few years back start up a small reef tank and he went with the newer compact flour. His corals looked nowhere near as good as mine and he eventually gave them up. This was several years ago and I see people referring to the new T5 compacts, so my question is: Does anyone still use VHOs and are the newer compacts much better than the ones they started off with? Anyone with ACTUAL personal experience with great flourishing corals with them?

ricodea lighting?

Derf — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:44:27 GMT

i recently upgraded my salt water tank from a 10g with a 6500k t8 and 2 50/50 compact floresants to a 20gallon long with a 10k and actinic t5s.my question is how close should my ricordea be to the top of the tank.my lights are not all that great(being zoomed brand with only one reflector).right now i have it near the bottom of the tank in the middle with a little current over it.should i move it to the top to get more light and more current?or just over into more current?the reason im asking is because since i moved it a week ago it hasnt 'opend up' sa much as it did before from what i can tell

What salt mix do you use

tribefan — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:44:07 GMT

I was wondering if some of the less expensive salt mixes are as good as some of the more expensive ones. I'm using instant ocean reef crystals right now in my 46 gal bowfront tank. I just got a 90 gal tank that I want to start setting up but am looking for ways to keep down some of the montly expenses. What salt mix do you use for your reef tank and how do you like it?

GPH

clownfishkid — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:25:17 GMT

Hey evryone i figured this section needed a new post so here's one. I am looking to upgrade the power heads in my 55 gallon reef tank. I have a pair of Penguin 550's with around 145 gph each. Im thinking about a pair of nice hydor koralia power heads. my question is how high of a gph (gallons per hour) rating do I need? I only have soft corals in the tank so I probably won't need as high of a rating as say a tank with stony corals, right?

What to get?

Dertotschlager — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:53:35 GMT

Hi, I am getting the Corallife HO flouresent lighting system and was wondering, What types of corals could I get?

Hammer distress

Narazbad — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:28:30 GMT

I recently purchased a colony of Hammer corals, (E. parancora or E. ancora, not sure which) which were doing fine at the store both and when i got them home. The first day they were fully opened, I fed them and they seemed happy. Second day, they started retracting into their colony and not deploying as much. I figured since it was later at night they were retracting for their sleep cycle. Third day, (today) they have almost fully retracted, I've fed them Cyclops to no avail and I'm noticing that several branches of colonies are starting to fall off. My reef store is closed on mondays as well, unfortunatley, so I couldn't go to them and ask. Any ideas what could be causing this? Maybe one of my fish or crabs is deciding they look yummy and trying to eat them? Any help would be appreciated. All levels are normal in the tank as well.

How do you "thin out" mushrooms that are over running your aquascape?

agarles — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:34:23 GMT

I am having trouble controlling my mushroom anemones!! They are over taking my 150 gallon reef....I have tried injecting them with Aptasia Control, manually cutting them as low on the stock as possible but they just multiply using these techniques!!!! Does anyone know of a successful way to thin these prolific creatures down without them multiplying every time one is removed?

Need Help with Anemone Identity -PICS

dvine2us — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:06:36 GMT

Any one know what type nem this is ? Picked him up 2 weeks ago. He's doing great on QT, however I wanted to read up on his type so I provide optimum care.

glass cracked in my refugium

Sm0keCl0uDs — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:06:25 GMT

the glass cracked in my refugium, is there anything i can use so it won't leak, is there a glue or patch so that it is still useable???

Moving

agarles — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:54:40 GMT

I am going to be relocating 350 miles to the North it will take about 6+ hours to make the trip.

I have a 150 gallon reef setup that needs to go with me....I am familiar with all of the transporting aspects of livestock-what I am not familiar with is how to reserve as many of the bacteria as possible during the move.

My tank is heavily stocked with expensive and sensitive Acropora Sp., Symphilia Wilsoni, Acan. Lord.s, Montipora, Porites, Zoanthus Sp., misc. Polyps, "War" coral, and various other LPS corals. I am certain that there will be a spike in Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate upon setting everything back up upon arrival. I need help with controlling the negative impact this move will have on my H₂O chemistry?

Has anyone ever successfully moved a tank of this size? if so how and what was your success rate?

Do you spend a lot of time and money on your tank?

afmweb — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:48:23 GMT

Tell us all about why you feel it is worth it to spend time and money on your tank--and your answer could be published in the next Aquarium USA! Just go to http://board.fishchannel.com/Topic193916-11-1.aspx to reply!

If you keep reefs....

afmweb — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:32:58 GMT

Tell us what you think are the benefits of reefkeeping--and your answer could be published in the next Aquarium USA! Just go to http://board.fishchannel.com/Topic193915-11-1.aspx to reply!

Water Testing

Gunner — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:53:58 GMT

I have been using the API Reef Master Test kit to test my water for my nano tank. I have never had any conserns for my levels except over the past month. When I test for Carbonate Hardnessis off the chart. The correct reading should be between 143.2 ppm to 214.8 ppm. Mine is over that reading by two to three extra drops. Is this something that I should be concerned of? My Calcium readings are also a little high. I know low calcium could be bad but is too much a problem?

My live rock is turning green.

Chris the plumber — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:00:36 GMT

It is not hair algae. I cannot remove it with a bristled brush. It's only growing on the rock. I have metal halide lighting running 8 hrs a day. Nitrates and phosphate is at zero. I use ro/di water. Calcium is 380 to 400. Ph stays at 8.1 to 8.3. Snails graze on algae but hardly putting a dent in it. Other than the green rock everything is good. Corals look great. I have no fish in tank yet. Has been set up for about 6 months. Cylcled for two months. Added snails, a peppermint shrimp and hermit crabs. Added star polyps and a few frags at 4 months. Was getting ready to add a few fish when rock started turning green.

renewing intrest

trevrep — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:21:06 GMT

I have been in the hobby for 30 years and by no means am I any sort of expert I am still learning and consider myself a novice. About 20 years ago I got into reef keeping by setting up a 75 gal aquarium. It was up for 10 years when I had to downsize and sell all my corals and an anomie which I had for 5 years. I kept the fish from that setup but all but one has moved on. The sole survivor is a cinnamon clown who is at lease 15 years old now I just added a yellow goby, 2 peppermint and one cleaner shrimp living in the 20 gal long that I want to setup as a nano reef. I have kept all the sand and base rock that I had in the 75. I understand that I will have to cycle the rock that I add to the tank and I will be adding an inch or so of the old sand bed to the under gravel sand bed which is in place now, I will be removing the up tubes as to have a plenum of sorts. I will also set up the red sea Berlin protein skimmer. I want to add a calcium reactor with Co2 injection my question is do you see any problem with setting it inline prior to the skimmer or will that setup diminish the benefits of the calcium reactor? Now that I think of it would it be better to run the reactor inline from the skimmer effluent? That may give more contact time for the Co2 in calcium reactor.

I am not in any hurry to add the low light corals that I want. I am planning the setup as follows a plenum, live rock, protein skimmer, calcium reactor. The lighting will be 2: 20 watt N.O. (normal output) bulbs 1 aquatinic 1 daylight and 2: 9 watt power compact bulbs 1 aquatinic 1 daylight. I know this is under the 3 watt per gal for low light corals but it will have to do for a short time. I will be getting 2 more 20 watts the same type as are on now. The lights are 4 inches off the surface of the water. With the additional bulbs I could have the watts per gal at around 4.9

The only corals I want are polyps, mushrooms and the like with one exception, that being the elegance coral. What are your thoughts? Thank you in advance for your insight and experience.

Thanks Gene

Fragging mushrooms

Jtankred — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:48:26 GMT

I've been fragging some of my lavender mushroom corals and was wondering if anyone has a rough estimate on how long they can be out of water without adverse affects?