Lighting and Corals

[omega981]

I have TWO questions for anyone who can answer them.

Can a Fire Shrimp eat Zoanthids Polyps? If not then what can be happening with my Zoanthids Polyps? Cause they seem to be disappearing over-night.

I am trying to create the Moonlight Effect using a 48" URI 40w Actinic-Blue light. My canopy has been painted white on the inside and I have the reflector pointed up toward the top of the canopy. My question is... Is the going to harm my corals or help them?

Any help with these questions would be great. Thamks.

 

[Avi]

I doubt that there's any chance that the Fire Shrimp is doing the damage. I've been losing zoanthids for a while now and I'm searching for an answer for it. Something is stripping the zoanthids right down to the rock that they're growing on. There's been no damage to the Palythoa in the tank nor any of the other coral but the zoanthids are taking a real beating. I really haven't got a real explanation...All the fish are generally accepted as being "reef-safe" and the damage is always being done over the night when the fish are inactive. I have an errant unidentified crab in the tank that has been there since I set the reef up over two-years ago and this damage is only going on for about four or five months so I suspect the Sally Lightfoot Crab that I put in about 6-months ago.

In your case, rather than suspect the Fire Shrimp, look closely for the following....zoanthid-eating nudibranchs, Sundial Snails and a Eunicid Worm. They'd be the most likely possibilities. You have to look very closely for the nudibranchs because they very well mimic the "skirts" (frills) around the zoanthid polyps. I believe the Sundial Snails are out and about in the daytime and the Eunicid Worms are nocturnal, so you'd have to look for one of those when the lights have been out for while. Otherwise, there might be a hitchhiker crab in the tank...look for that, too, when the lights have been off for a while. And, which kinds of fish do you have?

I don't think the light configuration would either help or hurt the coral in your reef. Seems that you're just trying to achieve a particular lighting mode, though with the reflector underneath the bulb (if I understand correctly) would only very minimally illuminate that tank underneath it. You might want to look into the discrete LED lights that are widely available now for the "moonlight" effect instead and use the bulb in question normally for illumination for an hour before and an hour after your main lighting unit is on. That particular bulb you have is excellent for that purpose. With an LED (or two given the 48-inch length of your tank,) you can keep that on all night after the actinic goes off after an hour or an hour and a half after the main lighting goes off.

 

[skeeter-doc]

yes I too would look for zoo-eating nudibranchs

as for the lighting, perhaps you could make a lighting cover, and poke holes in it so just tiny spot show through at night

 

[nickterp]

I would not use the full 48" bulbs just to create a moonlight affect. You want to give the corals a break at night, I know its reflected upwards, but I would guess some light might be reflected back down. Go for some led lights, they emit no real light intesnsity.

Like AVI said your bulb is better suited to simulate morning and evening lighting.

 

[omega981]

I have 2 Clownfish, 1 Coral Beauty, 1 Royal Gramma, 1 Psychedelic Mandarinfish, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Randall's Goby w/ Symbiotic Shrimp, 1 Circus Goby, 1 RedFin Fairy Wrasse, 1 Filamented Flasher Wrasse, 3 Neon Gobies, 1 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Fire Shrimp, 2 Blue Legged Crabs, 1 Emerald Crab, 4 Turbo Snails, 6 Nassarios Snails, 1 Queen Conch Snail and 1 Red Fromia Starfish. All this lives in a 90 gal. tank with 30 gal. sump, 90 lbs of live rock and 50 lbs of sand. I have a Red Sea Skimmer, Wave Maker. A sand filter with small pieces of live rock. 440 w VHO and 250 w MH (which is only on for approx. 5 hrs in the middle of the day) to stimulate approx. daytime hours. Bionic Doseing System. I started the smaller version last year and recently upgraded in May of this year. More input would be great. Thanks to anyone and everyone who can help.

 

[harryhood]

Lowes has led night-liights that will do blue, white and red. $5.00 each. I got two and broke the plastic covers off. These things make great night lights for the tank.