FishChannel Forums / Saltwater Forums / General Saltwater

New light

plecodiscus — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:38:41 GMT

Okay back in april i posted a forum about how my LTA was dying and my only light was an actinic. Tomorrow, i am going to Allpetsclub to get a new lighting system. Its going to consist of PCs and an actinic. What corals, anemones, etc can i put in my tank with this lighting sytem?

hairline aglae remover

Tigerpaw33 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:40:45 GMT

i have an 56 gallon salt water tank and recently i have been getting a lot of red and hairline algae in my tank i have bought turbo snails and anserta snail i believe thats how you spell it i have 3 peppermint shrimp in their even though i dont think they will help that problem and also 3 general hermit crabs with red legs. i was wondering besides using chemicals to lower phospate or kill off the hairline algae what type of hermit crabs eat hairline algae, also i have two emerald green crabs in the tank. The fish in the tank is one yellow tang two common clownfish blue damsel, royal gramma basslett. the filter is fluval 305 canister filter and i have sea clone 150 protein skimmer on it. their is about 30 lbs of live rock in it right now and also i have bubble tip anemona in it.

Nano Tank

FastFoward5k — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:26:52 GMT

I have a 12 gallon freshwater/saltwater aquarium kit that includes a strong filter, a powerful flourescent light, and is an acrylic bowfront. I have three types of fish that I would want to stock it with: an Oceallaris Clownfish, a Pajama Cardinalfish, and a Chalk Basslet. I wanted to know if I could do one, two, or three of those fish. Also I was wondering if I could set up a Reef System in there, and if you could suggest a good coral web site or some nice corals. And would a Banded Coral Shrimp be a good cleaner by itself or should I also get a starfish or something like that? Thanks in advance.

Eels

FastFoward5k — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:49:40 GMT

I like eels a lot and was thinking about getting one soon. I really like the one that is in that picture on the "Come visit your friends at Fish Channel.com" if you ever go on Reptile, Small Animal, Cat, Dog, Bird, or Horse Channel. If not, scroll down to the very bottom of the page and got to one and you'll see it. It is on the sidebar on the right. Anyway, I want to know what size tank that type would need, what to feed them, tankmates (if any), and any other information you can think of.

If I'm an anemonefish, and that's an anemone......

Nep2Ns PlumR — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:23:56 GMT

My anemonefish is a maroon clown (Premnas biaculeatus). It is of the variety endemic to Sumatra that have the gold bars. This particular fish is an ORA bred (tank raised) clown that has been in my tank now for about 6-7 weeks. My anemone is a rose bulb tipped (Entacmaea quadricolor) that was also tank raised having divided over several generations in an aquarium.

The anemone was the first animal (other than snails) introduced to my tank. I bought the clown in hopes (of course) that it would take up with the rose. Not a chance! This "clown" paid absolutely NO attention to the anemone, none. That is until last night. It seemed to take an interest in cleaning it to start with. After about a half hour it started darting in and out of the tentacles as if it had been doing so all along! The anemone never showed any irritation. I expected it would since it had never been given that kind of attention before. Never blinked.

Today I came home to the clown happily buried in pink tentacles and the rose nicely inflated. Even over what is likely generations on both sides, mother nature (and my aquarium) wins out.

Rainbow Mantis Shrimp

David Lass — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:13:12 GMT

I just bought a rainbow mantis shrimp -- it is one of the coolest animals I have ever seen. Sorta looks like if you took the skin of a mandarin and put it on a shrimp -- independently swivelable (sp?) eyes on stalks, constantly cleaning himself. I broke down my 8 gallon nano-tank that I've had for years on my desk, put in gravel, water and liverock from the 110, and added the shrimp.

My question is how much to feed him and how often. I've been giving him a dead fish every other day or so (unfortunately, down in my wholesale fish room I can pretty much always count on being able to find at least one dead fish).

Thanks for your help.

EMERGENCY BACKUP POWER

skeeterdav2002 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:26:46 GMT

I'm not sure if it's ever been discussed on this forum before but backup power in case the lights go out is very important. I live in southwest Washington state and am a "Lucky" flood victim this week. The photo below is my front porch which sits about 6 feet above ground level and that's the Chahalis river in my yard and pasture! The river is normally across the road about 300 yards away. Not being faced with the situation of moving everything I own up one floor before, the one item I could not move was my 95 gal. reef tank. The flood waters came within 1 INCH of getting in but luckily the river crested! Owning a generator can pay for itself many times over. The power was out for 3 days this time but on average, I lose power 3 weeks every winter due to snow,wind, and this time flood. If I didn't have my generator during these incidents, I would have lost everything in the tank plus everything in the fridge and freezer many times over. I guess what I'm trying to get at is a power failure can not only be a inconvenience, it can also destroy a marine setup in no time. No matter where you live, one should consider what to do if the power is out and then reality sets in that your tank could slowly die if pumps and filtration cease. I hope no one ever has to deal with what happened here this week but it doesn't hurt to be prepared for the worst.

can live rock be kept under brackish conditions?

blenny123 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:58:23 GMT

can live rock be used in brackish water?

stocking a bio cube

fishman11 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:35:36 GMT

i just got a 8 gallon bio cube and i was wondering some fish or inverts for it. im pretty new to saltwater.

Good Filter

FastFoward5k — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:34:32 GMT

I am planning on getting a 30 gallon saltwater tank soon, and the owner of the LFS suggested the AquaClear 50. He said I should go for this stronger filter because of the number of fish I'm keeping (2 Oceallaris Clowns, 1 Pajama Cardinal, and 1 Chalk Basslet). I wanted to know if this is a good filter, so please reply.

For anyone considering purchasing an anemone

Nep2Ns PlumR — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:32:16 GMT

There are numerous threads that pop up concerning the keeping of sea anemone. Contrary to what the sales person at the LFS may tell you, anemone are not hardy/easy to keep. In fact, the exact opposite is true. They're one of the animals about which we know very little concerning it's husbandry. A large percentage of the animals harvested for the trade never make it to the store alive. Those that do have dismal survival rates. Considering that these animals live HUNDREDS OF YEARS in the ocean but only months in most aquaria............

Please read the following articles. I think they pretty much say it all.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen8.html

http://www.athiel.com/lib/questions/anemone.htm

Having jumped up on my soap box, let me confess to this. I have kept anemone before. A wild harvested E. quadricolor. I was lucky enough to keep the animal alive until I sold it (about 18 months). I have added a tank propagated Rose E. quadricolor in my current system ahead of any coral placement. I am giving the anemone the opportunity to find a location it is happy with and settle in. It moved about 6" the night after it was placed and has stayed in that location ever since (2 weeks). It is being kept under a pair of 400 watt MH so it receives very high light and it actually moved to get itself out of the slight current I placed it in. It is currently expanding well and taking pieces of fresh seafood once every 3-4 days. As a closing note let me make this statement. I've been keeping reef systems for 18 years and was still skeptacle about attempting to keep an anemone again, especially in a reef tank that will filled with corals. If I had not been able to purchase a tank propagated animal, already adapted to aquarium conditions, I would not have purchased one again at all. If you do intend to attempt one of these amazing animals, please research the animal, know as much as you can about it's husbandry and have the required system in place prior to purchasing the animal. For the anemone's sake!

Favourite Clownfish

FastFoward5k — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:27:27 GMT

My favourites are the Clarkii, Black Percula, and Ocellaris.

Easy fish

StlVDub — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 16:29:13 GMT

I've been keeping fish for a while now, and I've had a saltwater tank running for years. But I'm away at college now most of the time, and I left my 30 gallon saltwater tank very basic, with just two Convict Blennies, and a large amount of live rock. It has been this way a couple years now. Well, I got sick of it, so I did a very thorough cleaning, and now I want to add something colorful and interesting back into the tank. Problem is, once again, I won't be here much, so I want something that my dad can easily take care of. Basically, I want a fish, or a couple fish, that can be easily cared for. Any suggestions? By the way, all of my water parameters are perfect, and my dad actually does a very good job of cleaning the tanks. I just want something that won't require any extra care past feeding regularly.

Good host anenome?

FastFoward5k — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:21:13 GMT

I was wondering if there was an easy (in terms of anenomes), smaller, and compatible anenome for two common clownfish? If anyone has any suggestions, please reply. I will do research on the species, but if you could provide some general information that would be great.

clowns

saltyfresh — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:15:02 GMT

i have a sebae clown and wanted to add a percula clown. i know the general rule is that you cant keep different clowns together but i've seen it done in other tanks. is this just a try it and see situation?

Hello Everybody!

SalTee — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:09:23 GMT

Hello all! I finally found the time to check out this site and now that I know what i've been missing, I'll be sticking around. Enough of that- here's the brass tax- Marine aquariums are not new to me, I've been into aquariums for about 11 years now, marine tanks for 4 years, and reefs for the last three. Though I haven't been into reefs for long, the time I have has been a doozy- I've learned a lot and am seen as a local guru of sorts.

At the moment I don't have any tanks going save for a little 5 Gallon Eclipse Hex. It's a little new, so threre isn't much in it- Four Blue Leg Hermits, one Astrea snail, two small Discosoma polyps that strayed in on a piece of rock, and two fish- Amlyeleotris Guttata, and a Nemataleotris Magnifica.

It's going to be a reef- I have a few corals ordered, but they're on hold till I get my new light setup in a few days- three Taam Rio 10 LED fixtures running in tandem.

Filtration is very simple- a large chunck of live rock (great piece too- looks dense and heavy, but is actually quite porous only about 2 lbs for a piece the size of a large coconut), a Seaclone 100 skimmer, and a 20% water change every other day.

The corals I have on order are a Montipora Capricornus and a Duncanopsammia. I'm really wanting a T. Crocea and a nice acropora frag. I'm still looking for the Crocea at a reasonable price.

Thats my tank as it stands, hopefully i'll be able to get some pics up when I get some more to look at. Peace all!!

T-6 lights?

saltyfresh — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:33:22 GMT

what are the diffrences between T-5 and T-6 lights? im searching E-bay for a good T-5 and see a whole lot of T-6 offers. aside from the MH lights, can anyone offer advice or experiences with other lighting units for a beginner reef tank? i have a standard 55g. also interested in PC lights. i've read a lot of articles trying to understand the benefits but it's all so confusing!

brittle starfish

saltyfresh — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:29:39 GMT

after my tank finnished its cycle, me and my girlfriend took a trip to the fish store to start getting some new fish. my girlfriend fell in love with a green brittle star and i caved and purchased it. when i got home, we acclimated it and i decided to jump on line and do a little reading. i found out that they are one of the more predatory species of starfish and have been the result of a number of missing fish in countless aquariums, at least that was the impression i got. needless to say, the little guy went back to the store the next day. i didnt want to risk a $60.00 plus fish being eaten by a $20.00 star. my girlfriend was crushed but i got her a box anthia in return which she has named "squishie" ( freakin NEMO ). was i being too cautious or are they really not all that dangerous.

P.S. when the lights went out he assumed his cave like hunting stance, just waiting for a fish to swim under it!!!

Home breeding live copepods

lilsaltyfresh — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:47:00 GMT

Me and my brother have set up a small spaced breeding tank and have bought about 1000 live copepods. we were looking forward to breeding them ourselves, and i was just wondering if any one had any advice or suggestions of them

Thanks !

seabae anemone problem

saltyfresh — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:26:31 GMT

I recently added a seabae clown and its host seabae anemone to my 55g aquarium. it has been in there for 2 days now and both the fish and anemone seem to be doing ok. the problem im facing now is that i baught the anemone from a pretty responsible dealer and it was in a tank with low light and appeared to be healthy, this was a spur of the moment purchase and it was made with only the information that was given to me by the dealer.i was told that this anemone is fairly hardy, easy to feed both with liquid food for it's filter feeding purposes and 3-4 times a week spot feeding with meaty foods. it has made itself comfortable at the bottom of the tank tucked against some live rock and planted its foot in the live sand bed. apon doing further research, i've come to learn that this particular species is quite particular about its light requirements, i currently have a single high intensity day light bulb rated for certain corals and inverts, i cant recall the spectrum or total watts at this time as im writing this while at work but any info or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. my biggest concern is that this anemone dies off without my knowllege and pollutes my tank. does anyone feel these conditions are sufficient?

BTA?

plecodiscus — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:34:29 GMT

Okay my local Allpetsclub (my main LFS) has started to stock "maroon anemones". These look just like light pink(probably bleached) BTAs. I'm wondering if these are BTAs or if they just look like them. If they are, I'll be getting one for my 30 gallon tank w/ PC lighting. Is this okay? any help would be nice.

seabae anemone

saltyfresh — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:41:33 GMT

i would first like to appologize for posting my question in the poll section. im a new member to this site and im just figuring out how to post Q&A. well, heres my story. I recently added a seabae clown and its host seabae anemone to my 55g aquarium. it has been in there for 2 days now and both the fish and anemone seem to be doing ok. the problem im facing now is that i baught the anemone from a pretty responsible dealer and it was in a tank with low light

light presentbut not on.

and appeared to be healthy, this was a spur of the moment purchase and it was made with only the information that was given to me by the dealer.i was told that this anemone is fairly hardy, easy to feed both with liquid food for it's filter feeding purposes and 3-4 times a week spot feeding with meaty foods. it has made itself comfortable at the bottom of the tank tucked against some live rock and planted its foot in the live sand bed. apon doing further research, i've come to learn that this particular species is quite particular about its light requirements, i currently have a single high intensity day light bulb rated for certain corals and inverts, i cant recall the spectrum or total watts at this time as im writing this while at work but any info or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. my biggest concern is that this anemone dies off without my knowllege and pollutes my tank. does anyone feel these conditions are sufficient? is VHO or higher a requirement for keeping this species or is it simply a recommendation?

Yellow Clown Goby

deprhall — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:25:01 GMT

I bought a mated pair of Yellow Clown Gobies about two weeks ago. They were swimming and interacting well together for a week. One of them ended up in the pump reservoir of my BioCube tank overnight. After returning it back into the tank it took to a Ricordea mushroom not wanting to leave but to feed. The Gobies are no longer getting along. The one attached to the Ricordea chases the other away. They are both eating and look otherwise healthy. Do they "breakup" or what else could be happening?

Good Place to shop online?

Michaelking54 — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 12:00:00 GMT

Does anyone know of a good place to shop for fish and for supplies for salt online?

How to clean Coral and rocks?

greenthumbgail — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 12:39:09 GMT

Okey, now I have managed to get all my glass cleaned per last posts....10 gallons of Vinegar later...lol...I Thank you all for the good advice...It worked!! I now need to clean several pieces of Coral and what used to be live rock but no longer is...they have some green/brown algae on them..use vinegar or bleach?...was worried that it might soak in and contaminate the tank when I refill it...but if my memory serves me right..the bleach wont hurt anything as it will dilute out....So whats the right way?...Looking fowards to the answers...

new setup

intimid8rkid — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:42:20 GMT

has anybody use this stuff ?

Where do you buy your fish aquarium supplies?

FishChannel Moderator — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:15:46 GMT

Let us know where you buy your fish supplies and feel free to discuss.

bubble tip anemone

blenny123 — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:19:08 GMT

todayi boght a bubble tip anemone it is under a flouresent strip rite now but 2 days from now ill have my metal halides will it be ok until then?its in a seprate 20 gallon with a goby and clarkii clown.i want to know is this a good tank size for it?

favorite salt water fish

MoorishIdol — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:13:43 GMT

you know i love the Moorish Idol!!!!!!!

getting different anemone

plecodiscus — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:18:45 GMT

I am very sad to say that i believe my LTA is dying, because he is getting withered and is no longer able to attatch himself to a rock. Because of this, I plan on getting rid of him (how do I do that: i don't think i can return him to the store...) and purchasing a new anemone. Both my LFSs do not st ock BTAs, which would have been my first choice, so I can choose between a bleached sebae anemone (not my favorite choice), a very darkly colored (maroon or dark pink) LTA, or a carpet anemone. What kind should I buy (by the way, this will be a couple days after I get my PC running again. I will be getting the light running next friday, so i will get the anemone the day after that or next sunday)

NEW LIGHT

johnsqrbk — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:59:33 GMT

Hello everyone,

I just bought a nova extreme 18" T5 light to replace my normal flourescents. Is there anything I should watch for(temp, algae). What kind of corals can I get now. I have mushrooms, kenya tree.

Thanks

John

Worm?

dunkin1334 — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:13:32 GMT

Last night I found this moving around a piece of my live rock. This piece of rock seems to also be exploding with feather dusters and bristle worms. Any ideas or suggestions?

Help my anemone!!!!!

plecodiscus — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:29:42 GMT

I have a long tentacle anemone with about a 3" oral disk diameter and a 4.5" diameter from tentacle tip to tentacle tip. He is paired with a clarkii anemonefish. This anemone seems relatively healthy as I have had him for about a month and a half and he is eating well. However, he will not bury his column in the substrate and this causes him to topple over when he "deflates" at nighttime. I thought it was the current keeping him from burying his column, so I shut off the powerhead, filter, and skimmer for a day, but that had no effect. Help!

Discussion:Bristleworms-beneficial or destrictive

plecodiscus — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:57:32 GMT

In my opinion, bristleworms have a reputation they don't always deserve. They are seen as destructive pests, but, if kept under control, couldn't they act as a free clean up crew?_q_.jpg" src="http://images-partners-tbn.google.com/images?q=tbn:kdR-rNlW1N_j8M:http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/worms/faq_bristle.jpg/variant/medium" width=129 border=0>

fin clamped to side

blenny123 — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:42:27 GMT

my percula clown has its fin clamped to its side what is the cause and is there a solution? it is being kept with another clownfish same size and all paramentars are ideal

host for clownfish

blenny123 — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:12:36 GMT

i want to get a anemone for my 20 gallon but they are very difficult to keep can i use those wierd fake rubber ones? or is there someting else that a clownfish will accept as a host like frogspawn ?or sumtin else?

clownfish not eating

blenny123 — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:28:11 GMT

my clownfish is not feeding but looks at the food then goes the other way im currently feeding it small pellets which is what it has been raised on at the local fish store he even ate it there! what kinda foods clownfish cant resist to eat?

Interesting Article

gulfsidebo — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:54:13 GMT

I don't do saltwater at home and I live near the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. Thought y'all might find it interesting how some of these large aquariums get their water.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article449758.ece

anemone required?

blenny123 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:44:51 GMT

is an anemone required for a clownfish? if so wut kinds r the easiest to keep?

lionfish and clownfish

blenny123 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:46:58 GMT

i need help on whether a fuzzy dwarf lionfish or any lionfish can be kept wit a percula clown about 2 inches rite now. any help is appreciated.oh and what foods can the clownfish eat cuz mine is not eatin at all and the water is perfect.