i got into more than i know

[tammielynz9881]

hi. just wanted to ask a couple questions about live coral. I recieved one from a friends friend and she said it needs no special care but had to get rid of her tank due to her moving, it looks like a rock with little "flowers" all over it and its green but a couple of the "flowers" seem to be dying. I have had it about a week. In my 55 gal tank i have lined with crushed coral and have had it in operation for about a year. I have 3 anemonies, 4 damsels, a blenny, and a crab. I feed them a standard marine flake in the morning, and frozen Krill at night and Kent Marine Micro.Vert (1 1/2 tsp.) 3 times a week. Is this not suitable for the coral? any help would be appreciated with my thanks in advance.

 

[1979camaro]

well...if you have enough lighting for the anemones you should have enough for any photosynthetic coral (assuming this is a polyp of some sort)...a picture would be useful or a name or something...sounds like it could be "green star polyps" but that is just a guess offhand...could be any number of things really on that description

it could be just an acclimation thing...stress of moving and all...a picture would be really helpful though

a bit of info about lighting, placement, etc, would however be helpful

 

[tammielynz9881]

my husband is on his way home with a hood that holds 6 bulbs instead of the two bulb lamp we have i had him buy 4 "daylight "bulbs and 2 blue "atinic". my scanner is broken or i would post it. I looked up the green star polyp and it is identical to what i have. so i would "assume" that is what it is. Thankyou for helping me identify this and i hope (fingers crossed) that the new lighting will help. Though i thought they were fine since the anemonies were doing ok.

 

[1979camaro]

what kind of anemones are these? im really surprised that they are doing so well if all you had were 2 NO flourescents...i hope the lighting solution you have decided on is sufficient...how many watts are these new bulbs going to put out and at what spectrum are the "Daylights" 10000k would be good...probably up to 13000k or so? green star polyps tend to be pretty hardy little buggers...best if kept in an area of pretty good flow with stronger lighting for better color...i would try putting them near the top of the tank somewhere that they get a pretty good push of water.

 

[tammielynz9881]

i have gotten two 65k antinic and two 10,000k "daylight" i was thinking it was a 6 bulb but its a 4. wish us luck... and my hubby said you have a great 2nd generation F body but to bad its not a pontiac.. haha... P.s. we have 2 78 Pontiac Trans Am's... Thanks again for your help

 

[1979camaro]

sweet cars...very sweet...wish I could get ahold of a 78 Bandit T/A...slick looking car with a lot of power...the camaro has unfortunately been temporarily decomissioned due to a combinatoin of lack of a parking space and gas prices, but it will ride again...

your lights sound like they may be Power Compacts...who makes the light fixture? is it by any chance coralife? if so they are for sure PC lights, and you should be doing great for your 55

Kevin

 

[tammielynz9881]

yes it is a coralife brand light system and i am glad to hear we should be doing ok. We are slowly over the last 10 - 11 months learning alot but im afraid we are only scraping the surface!

 

[tammielynz9881]

is live coral essential for a tank to do better and is live sand better than crushed coral. Do anemonies like certain rocks better than others?

 

[1979camaro]

yah...that coralife hood is a good one imo...260w over a 55 is a good 5wpg...live coral is definitely not essential to a healthy tank...in fact, coral need a healthy tank before they are brought in.

i suppose it is time to ask: what are you using for filtration? do you have any live rock? the crushed coral will have turned alive by now if you have LR. personally, the crushed coral is fine imo.

anemones will have no preference about the kind of rock they are on, they just want somewhere to hang out that suits their needs..what kind of anemones are these??

 

[tammielynz9881]

we have a full underground filter and a Whisper 60 and aqua clear 1200 that just has the sponge... should i worry about the charcoal you get from the store... is there a difference.. im making myself sound stupid but i guess only a question unasked is stupid! I did not know that crushed coral could "come to life"! Are there different kinds of live rock and if so what do you suggest. You are really nice to keep this going for us! We really appreciate it! How do you clean coral that is "dead" or artificial.. the owner before us said to bleach it.

 

[tammielynz9881]

this would be easier on yahoo chat.. lol... at least i would be able to talk to you without waiting for a response like this... oh well, i guess we do what we have to do! Thanks again

 

[S.Reef]

I wouldn't worry about activated carbon (Characol) unless you smell old sea water from your tank.

There are many different kinds of live rock Fiji, Tonga, Marshall, etc. The list goes on. For a tank your size I would recommend about 20-60lbs of live rock. However it all depends on how much you want to spend. Most LFS will give you a deal if you buy a 50lbs box of live rock and it will cost about $200.

Finally if you do buy dead coral (which I strongly discourage...taken from the ocean to die) you should soak them in hot water and if you want with a little bleach. If you do use bleach make sure you soak the coral for a few days afterwards.

 

[1979camaro]

well...first off, i would get rid of the UGF if you are planning to conver this into a reef tank. as sam mentioned, buying dead coral is kind of a no-no....plus it just isnt as pretty as the alive stuff...i would pick up a good book and do some introductory reading before you get too much more involved in this...