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needlepimp

needlepimp

Small Fish
#1
Oct 3, 2007
16
0
0
43
Misawa Japan
#1
Hey everyone I'm Kevin I just started a 55 gal with an Odyssea CFS4 Canister, an Odyssea PS75 Protein Skimmer, and a 130 watt compact light with 50/50 Tubes. it has been running just over a week. i also just got a 10 gal tank from someone near me with 10 lbs live rock, 20 lbs live sand, a small Open Brain, Bubble coral, A northern red Anemone, a clown, 3 blue/green Chromis, and 4 snails. The 10 gal is running the Berlin filtration. I seeded my 55 gal with two cups of sand and a piece of rock from the 10 gallon tank and threw in a snail. just yesterday i took out the littlest Chromis because he was getting picked on by the other three and put him in the 55 gal i know i should wait but i couldn't stand him getting bullied. He already looks better his color looks smoother and he is beginning to eat again. the brain worries me because his color is light pink on one side and kinda brown on the other. I don't know if hes bleaching or what. the bubble coral seems ok but he shrinks up completely at night. I cant wait to put everything in to the 55 gal. let me know what you guys think, any advice would be appreciated. Here is a link to my pics.

needlepimp/Kevin - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

By the way that green algae stuff is the bad stuff right? when I transfer the stuff to the 55 Gal I will harvest what I can, then hopefully get some blue leg hermits to help also.
 

Last edited:
Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#2
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#2
Keep an eye on your light fixture if it is also made by Odyssea as some of their electrical stuff was iffy.....read fire hazard. Just a fyi I am not sure about the rest of their stuff though I think they have improved some on quality control.

A 10g is on the small side for all those fish and hopefully your intent is to move all over to the 55g once it is cycled and use the 10g as a quarantine tank.

The brain definitely looks to be bleaching and I am not sure if 110watts is sufficient on a 55g to sustain the brain or the bubble coral long term. I don't advise anyone to try to keep an anemone alive in a new tank as they need very stable systems. I have not heard of a northern anemone......sounds like a temperate climate type which probably can't take the high tank temps that reefs need......75+ degrees. They need cooler water in the 60's probably.
 

KahluaZzZ

KahluaZzZ

Superstar Fish
#3
Jun 12, 2004
2,778
3
0
48
Montreal, Quebec
Visit site
#3
yeah dude the brain is bleaching, you can save him but he will not recover his color loss. Red ones like yours and mine do no require intense lighting, but as lorna said, 110w (on fluo) might no be enough. See if it extends his tentacles at night..if so, you can try to feed him a little. He can't get energy with your lighting alone. A bubble needs strong lighting compared to that one.
It's not unusual to have hair algae at first, but yo do have some cyano patches and some parts of the LR is turning green...i guess you don't use RO/DI water ? Seriously, filtered water is the way to get rid quickly of all those problems. Also you may wanna have a maximum of water movement to reduce algae/cyanobacteria problems.
Your live rock seems nice, that's a good start :)
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#4
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#4
I had a totally bleached lobo that was white when I bought it and it is now nice and green. Not sure if he will regain color but as K said feed him and get him some better light and he may be okay.
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#6
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#6
Ahh come to think of it I haven't either. The ones I have seen were lobos.... knowing how hard it is to get an anemone back into health I can only imagine how hard it would be to recoup a brain coral.
 

needlepimp

needlepimp

Small Fish
#8
Oct 3, 2007
16
0
0
43
Misawa Japan
#8
The brain is under a 40 watt daylight and a 40 watt actinic in the 10 gal for about 12 hours a day. I do plan on moving them to the bigger tank when it is cycled. i have been feeding the brain and bubble dried shrimp when they extend their tentacles the anemone too.
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#9
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#9
you need to change to frozen mysis or krill as dried doesn't really have as much nutritional value. Try to get some Piscine Energetics Frozen Mysis. It has the highest useable protein and your fish/coral will love it. 40 watts isn't nearly enough light for these guys. I would lose the actinics and run 80 10k daylight and keep my fingers crossed.
 

needlepimp

needlepimp

Small Fish
#10
Oct 3, 2007
16
0
0
43
Misawa Japan
#10
Thanks for the help, What does the actinics do?

Does anyone have a picture of the PE Mysis Package, I am in Japan and all my LFS's has Squggly writing on the packages so i want to know what im looking for (approximatly)
 

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TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#13
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#13
ok for starters you dont have enough rock/sand in there to cycle your tank.... to seed the tank with old sand you wanna put all your new sand in there first and then spread those 2 cups over top of the new sandbed to seed it ;) on the rock i would add all the rock you have from the 10g over to the 55g not to mention this would be a good time to add some more if plan on doing so..this way youll only have one cycle
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#14
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#14
My 2 cents worth...... I would do as Tre suggests also it looks like the substrate in the 10g is crushed coral and if so I would only use some of it to seed the new and I would put sand NOT crushed coral in the new tank. Buy some new sand from your lfs or whereever and put that in and spread about 2 cups of the old over the top as suggested. The rock will need to be taken out and scrubbed with a brush to remove as much of the green algae? from it before moving it as this can take over if let go. That brain is definitely bleached.....
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#18
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#18
I wouldn't worry about hte brain you may stress it more trying to remove it.

Yes you want aragonite sand or any calcium carbonate based sand. Reef sand or oolite. Don't get the really coarse stuff it should be sugar grain sized for the best sand bed.
 

needlepimp

needlepimp

Small Fish
#19
Oct 3, 2007
16
0
0
43
Misawa Japan
#19
I would really like to get black substrate. I've been looking into Caribsea's tahitian moon or their agra alive indo pacific. I also wanted to use the stuff from the 10 gal and possibly mix them for a mostly black with white specs. what do you guys think? none of my LFS around here have any of those colors so i was going to try and ebay it.

caribsea your aragonite source and more!

caribsea your aragonite source and more!
 

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