My Tank

[tedman920]

So I went off to college, and don't get to do much work on the tank and i've been outta the loop here too. I didn't even know you had switched to this forum haha. My dad keeps up with it and he's done a great job so far, but i wanted to post some pics on here just in case anything happens while i'm gone i'll at least have gotten some pictures up here.

This is my 72 gallon. It was started in febuary but some mysterious disease killed every fish in there so I stupdily restocked it and they started dying too. but in may/june i got a UV sterelizer and that fixed everything. Now i have a red sea sailfin, labout's wrasse, flame angel, and a pair of oscellaris clowns.I know its kind of empty coral wise, but i'm not good at designing what coral should go where. Plus i only have Power Compacts so my choices are more limited.

I hope these pics work, It wouldn't let me upload them so i hope the URLS's work


Full Tank Shot

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this toadstool is a frag i got at the ARC Febuary 2003 meeting. In almost 4 years it has barely grown

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My HUGE BTA with the wrasse posing

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my rose bubble anemone expelled all of its zoanthelle back in july and I thought it was going to die, but it hasn't gotten worse or anything. Is something going to happen or is it still slowly dying?

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I'm open to questions and suggestions.

 

[glxtrix]

the loss of color on the rose bta might be due to the lighting...They require high amounts of light which usually only MH's can supply enough. I'ld say if its not getting any worse then it should be ok. Does it move around the tank a lot? and do you feed it or are you just letting it get what it gets when you feed the tank?

 

[showtime305]

I agree with Glxtrix. What type of lights do you have? The lack of grow from the toadstool confirms that there is a lighting, nutrition or chemical issue going on with your tank. I hope all goes well for your BTA.

 

[glxtrix]

whats are your water parms at, calcium, alk, MG and salinity? And of course what your lights are, as far as wattage.

 

[tedman920]

I don't have the params on me because i'm not at home with the tank, but everytime i've tested it or taken it to the fish store for testing its been perfect. s far as lighting there are 2 65w pc lights. The rose gets fed a small silverside about every week and has never moved around the tank.

Iodide gets added once a week (its the concentrate stuff) and Tech CB is added every day.

I don't think its the lighting with the toadstool becuase its been through 3 different lightings and never grown.

 

[showtime305]

130w of PC lights is most likely the cause of your rbta bleaching. PC lights don't penetrate as deep as T5, VHO or halides. Also, if one of the bulbs are actinic that decreases the amount of par getting to the rbta. What other types and amount of lights have you kept the toadstool under? I do agree that 130w of pc should be enough to get that toadstool growing. Do you feed your corals?

 

[glxtrix]

just going on the whole "watts per gallon" theory, youre only at abut 1.8 wpg, thats extremely low for pretty much any coral. Aj is correct is saying that your par is going to be significantly low, youre going to drop par by almost half with in an inch or so into the water. My bet on the whole growth issue is plain and simple youre lighting just isnt enough. As for the iodine addition, I dont think you really need to be adding it, as stated by Tom at one of our meetings, most if not all salt batches contain more than the reccommended dose of iodine needed for our tanks. Feeding the anemone what you are is great, only thing I could reccommend is if your toadstool and rose anemone are on seperate rocks that you can move, try to raise both of them up in the tank as high/close to the lights as you can and see what happens. Other than that I'ld reccommend more powerful lights, but I know its hard to upgrade lights, they tend to be expensive.

 

[tedman920]

Awesome- I love how you guys always have the answers.

As far as the other lighting for the toadstool its always been under PC. I'm not sure what wattage, but when i first got it as a tiny chunk it started growing a lot, then one day it just stopped. I don't think its started back up since.

 

[glxtrix]

well i know I dont have all the answers, I just like to share what I know. Have you noticed your toadstool shedding at all? That process is it going thu its growth stage, and signifies a healthy toadstool. You just need to remember with the toadstool as well as the anemone, they both have zooxanthellae hosted within its body and that provides the majority of their nutritional needs from the lights, so the higher wattage/more par they recieve the healthier and happier they will be

 

[wallen1]

I have to say that I like your tank. Good luck with the coral issues.

 

[tedman920]

Sadly, I went home tonight to get some things and found out my Labouti wrasse had gone carpet surfing. He was one of my favorite and i haven't seen another for sale since.

I knew fairy wrasses were prone to jumping, and I did a good job making sure everything was covered... except for one small 4 inch square in the back.

 

[glxtrix]

man, sorry to hear that. Crazy how fish can find those lil holes.

 

[kevin]

I have had several fish go carpet surfing... sucks

 

[delaneymohr]

Use some screening material (not the metal kind) from Homedepot and Glue gun or tape to canopy then cut slits or holes for your equipment.

Just make sure the screen bottom is almost or at water level that way when they jump they bounce back in. I had to do it over my overflow too because my canary blenney kept ending up in there.

 

[glxtrix]

they also sell a plastic mesh thats used for crochet at michaels or a similar craft store, sheets rang in size and are pretty cheap. I use them on my freshwater tank when I did a DIY background with concrete.