anthellia help?

R

Riona

Member
Hm, when I got my caulerpa tonight I also got a bit(2 small polyps) of anthellia(or a similar coral) on a rock mixed in, but didn't realize it. I just dumped the macro into the tank and the poor bit of coral with it into the tank. Oops... Not a good thing...

Right now the nitrites are high on the tank(about 5 ppm .5? the lower end of the scale) since it is still cycling(my LRS guy gave me the macro to help with the cycling) and the nitrates are about 20 ppm(down from 40-ish the day before) When I first got the rock out into the tank the polyps were both curled into tight little balls. I put the rock on the bottom of the tank, in a bit of current(not a lot) I could move it though if it would be a good idea to. Now the smaller polyp has a dark stalk and is laying over on the rock that it is on. The larger one's stalk is a bit of a lighter colour and is leaning over, yet is not touching the rock.

Is there any hope for it to live? If so/not how would I tell if it does die on me? Also, should I move it a bit higher in the tank? It is a 10 gallon with 65 watts of 50/50 pc lighting on it.
 
Your best bet is to go to the lfs tomorrow and buy some fully cured rock to add to the tank. This will shorten the cycle considerably if not end the cycle. anthelia are hardier than xenia. If the little guy makes it you should end up with a big beautiful lot of them. I had an anthelia frag of just one stalk and now i have a field of anthelia.
Your lighting is plenty adequate for a 10 gallon tank. You can keep it on the bottom for sure. You can keep anything in that tank anywhere with 65watts of pc over it.
how much live rock do you have in the tank?
I dont understand why the lfs guy gave u macro to help the cycle and didnt sell you fully cured live rock.
even buying just 5 pounds of fully cured live rock would do the trick.
 
whoops...

just saw you bought caulerpa. Dont keep this in the tank. If it goes sexual it will cause a mess. your best bet if you want to keep macro in your tank is chaeto....looks like steel wool.

Try picking up a good book on reefkeeping

palettas new marine aquarium is a great start!

so is reef invertebrates by calfo and fenner
 
I've got the LR in the tank. I got a couple of pounds(have 10 lbs of base rock that I landscaped with) of LR to seed that with. It was fully cured, and I've had the tank set up for a little under a week now. The ammonia spiked to about 1.0 ppm and has since gotten to where a test kit won't recognise that there is any in there. The tank has as much rock as will fit in there with room for anything else to be in it.

The only reason I stayed without the chaeto is that I can't find anyone close by me with some that they could give me, and I really don't want to pay $20+ shipping on a small bag of it that I'll have to trash most of since it wouldn't fit into my fuge(a HOB filter that's been converted) The LRS guy doesn't think he could get any in, seemed odd to me, but he gave me the caulerpa without cost.

I guess I'll keep looking for the chaeto then.

Also, what sort of flow should I give that little coral? It looks like it's fighting the current a bit right now, but I dunno if that is what it likes or not.
 
Hi,

Ok great job! baserock with a few pounds of fully cured to seed is a great move! Anthelia like more current than not. They also are light lovers so you could move it up. Your best bet is to wedge it securely inbetween a piece of rock. Because of the way anthelia grow they have a mat that attaches and spreads onto things...so bby wedging it you are encouraging it to spread onto the rock. So move it higher up to midlevel...wedge securely inbetween rock or in a little hole...and make sure its getting decent flow.
What flow do you have? Is this your first reef tank?

Sounds like you have done more research previously than I thought...good job!!
 
:o Aw shucks.

Yeah, it's my first reef tank. My tank's got a powersweep on it that is placed on the side of the tank so it drives current across the front of it(and has an attachment that can direct the flow essentially anywhere) and an acuaclear HOB filter that's been turned into the fuge. Total flow can be up to 210 GPH, though I haven't had the powersweep on full power. I put it higher on the rock, directly under the HOB but it doesn't seem to be getting as much flow as before. Just when the powerhead sends out a stream of water in that direction. Should I turn the powerhead up, or leave it as is?
 
crank that powersweep up full blast. Try to have it aim at the output of the aquaclear. you want to creat the most random current you can. Or just point the powerhead directly at a rock and the flow into the rock will cause nice displacement of water.
 
Alright. Cranked it up and it's directly in the stream. Will that effect the fish I put in there though? Having so much flow in there?
 
I suppose :D

1st: looking upset right after I'd put it on the bottom
2nd: after a few hours, and a bit of perking up
3rd: the new home, showing the powerhead's distance to it
4th: the new home with the anthelia circled, since morons like me can't usually find stuff like that in pics unless it's circled :D
5th: a close up of the anthelia waving in the breeze
Also, pardon the cyano. New tank syndrome>_> If the current rate of cycling continues I should be able to put a bit of a clean up crew in tomorrow to take care of a bit of that... I hope.

anthellia.jpg

anthellia2.jpg

anthellia4.jpg

anthellia4edit.jpg

anthellia3.jpg
 
looks great! you are well on your way to an awesome mini reef. clean up crew will help tidy things in short order. I like powerhead placement...nice and outta the way int he corner. Having it blast into the outflow will create nice random current. No worries on the amount of flow you have I used to run a maxi1200 which is 295gph in a 10gallon.
Another neat trick is to build up the rocks in front of the powerhead so it is completely hidden.
 
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