Newbie Corner Feedback-Reefkeeping 101

[Jlobo]

It seems that the same live rock that came with the Aiptasia also came with 2 starfish and another species of anemone. There is a fuzzy white starfish (Asterina, I think) and another little green one. The little green one ate half of the Aiptasia this morning. Most of its long tentacles are gone. I also saw the little green star go for the other anemone but I noticed it trying to sting it and it backed off and hasn't bothered it again. Any ideas on what the little green star is and if it's good/bad? Also, I'll try to describe the other anemone. Clear, tentacles very long and slender with balls on the tips and a beak-like appendage right in the middle (mouth)? Any ideas on that? Sorry but my I can't get good enough pictures with my camera to post any.

 

[Jlobo]

Actually the green star is going for the clear anemone again as I type, which tells me that he is hungry because my tank is about 4 weeks old and is still cycling so I'm not putting in food in it yet.

 

[Aquarist007]

Actually the green star is going for the clear anemone again as I type, which tells me that he is hungry because my tank is about 4 weeks old and is still cycling so I'm not putting in food in it yet.

It sounds like a glass anemone from your description(aptasia) I would buy a small bottle of Aptasia X which comes with a syringe and use it on the aptasia.
To the best of my knowledge small brittle stars do not eat aptasia. Peppermint shrimps and butterfly fish "might"
So rather then rely on natural things here I would have a bottle of Aptasia X handy.

 

[Cee Holiday]

the dreaded hair algae!!!

the dreaded hair algae!!!

it started with one long fine tendril with an airbubble attached to it... i thought it might be some kind of creatures egg! than i saw the other smaller tendrils amidst the fuzz already growing all over the rocks and the backs of the hermits. i thought it was normal. now jockster looks like a walking meadow! and now i know there's a prob!

I have 1 wasse(Flash), 1 watchman(oscar), 1 clown(marlin), 3 pepppermint(larry, curley and moe), 3 hermits(jockster,flip and herman (who ate the three snails,especially jockster!) and a few rock dwellers (1 snail like critter with an antennae, a bristle worm, a couple of tiny white star shape critters in a 29 gallon nano reef tank. Oh yes, the coral... flo, blue, red, tree and rock steady. the bristle worm is getting huge!

Yes, i went overboard on the foodhttp://reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/lookaround.gif...there was always some laying in the sand...
I know better now and only feed a little at a time...

I feed them pellets during the week and brine on the weekend.

I cleaned the tank today..all but the sand. gently pulled loose longs strands, and scrubbed algae off the glass and rinsed out the black filter and the charcoal.

we have been adding plankton and fusion to the tank as recommended by people who work at the aquarium where we first bought the nano..

??? what exactly do i need to do to get rid of the hair algae....can i suck some off the live rock with the sipon?

??? where are the air bubbles coming from?

??? The tank is just about two months old, what other cuc can i get and how many is two many?

??? finally, i eventually would like to get clams in about a year...what can i do with bristle??? i read they can harm clams... can i give him to someone?

thank you for helping this newbie out!

 

[mvreef]

I've got a lighting question...and I hope this forum is okay.

My light system is 4bulb T5, 2 daylight, 2 actinic. It has built-in timers, so I have set up the system for the actinic bulbs to come on at 6 am and the daylight comes on at 8 am.
Daylight off at 3 pm and actinic off at 6 pm. I am hoping this creates the sunsrise, sunset effect.

The system has 2 LEDs for night lighting.

Is this setup good for coral growth, etc?

 

[MBryant]

theres fish out the that eat aptasia just go to your lfs and ask

 

[Aquarist007]

it started with one long fine tendril with an airbubble attached to it... i thought it might be some kind of creatures egg! than i saw the other smaller tendrils amidst the fuzz already growing all over the rocks and the backs of the hermits. i thought it was normal. now jockster looks like a walking meadow! and now i know there's a prob!

I have 1 wasse(Flash), 1 watchman(oscar), 1 clown(marlin), 3 pepppermint(larry, curley and moe), 3 hermits(jockster,flip and herman (who ate the three snails,especially jockster!) and a few rock dwellers (1 snail like critter with an antennae, a bristle worm, a couple of tiny white star shape critters in a 29 gallon nano reef tank. Oh yes, the coral... flo, blue, red, tree and rock steady. the bristle worm is getting huge!

Yes, i went overboard on the foodhttp://reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/lookaround.gif...there was always some laying in the sand...
I know better now and only feed a little at a time...

I feed them pellets during the week and brine on the weekend.

I cleaned the tank today..all but the sand. gently pulled loose longs strands, and scrubbed algae off the glass and rinsed out the black filter and the charcoal.

we have been adding plankton and fusion to the tank as recommended by people who work at the aquarium where we first bought the nano..

??? what exactly do i need to do to get rid of the hair algae....can i suck some off the live rock with the sipon?

??? where are the air bubbles coming from?

??? The tank is just about two months old, what other cuc can i get and how many is two many?

??? finally, i eventually would like to get clams in about a year...what can i do with bristle??? i read they can harm clams... can i give him to someone?

thank you for helping this newbie out!

Get a phosban pack made for the cannister filters like the Renas. Lay it over the mid section in the back where the water drips over the bioballs
Phosban media will remove phosphates one of the substances that algae feeds on.
The other substance is nitrates. I would stop feeding the pellets to your cube
They do not always get eaten and end up as nitrates, further fueling algae
To remove a level of nitrates in the cube do a 30 per cent water change at a time rather then a series of smaller ones

 

[Aquarist007]

I've got a lighting question...and I hope this forum is okay.

My light system is 4bulb T5, 2 daylight, 2 actinic. It has built-in timers, so I have set up the system for the actinic bulbs to come on at 6 am and the daylight comes on at 8 am.
Daylight off at 3 pm and actinic off at 6 pm. I am hoping this creates the sunsrise, sunset effect.

The system has 2 LEDs for night lighting.

Is this setup good for coral growth, etc?

It is the white light or daylight bulbs that encourage coral growth. The attinics are mainly for us to view a nice blue tank

That said your whites should be on for about 10 to 12 hours per day.

 

[clams]

Ialso have a new tank with T5 bulbs. I have 2 54W 12000k day bulbs and 2 54W actinics. I have a 90gal tank and am putting 180lbs of live rock in it. The tank was already set up as salt when I purchased it. We transfered the water with the tank in large barrels and did about 20% water change. It came with an Excalibur skimmer that we currently have outside the sump but still under the tank. We also have an RO unit and a UV sterilizer. The sterilizer internal glass house broke. Does anyone have any cheap idea of how to fix it? Also the wet/dry filter is full of bio-balls. From alot of the reading I have been doing the bio-balls are out of favor and should be phased out.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I am not sure if the skimmer is going to be good enough for the job. Also will this lighting support the mushrooms and hammer corals ect I plan to have?
I have about 100lbs rock in place now and the rest I will probably get this week. Last time I had a large die off of the barnicles from the rock. Are these bad? I enjoyed watching them and would like to keep them if they won't harm anything I plan on adding. How can I keep them alive?
:spin2:
Any help would be great
Susan

 

[Bruno21447]

I am wondering if malaysian driftwood can be added to a saltwater tank? Or is it a no go?

 

[Aquarist007]

Ialso have a new tank with T5 bulbs. I have 2 54W 12000k day bulbs and 2 54W actinics. I have a 90gal tank and am putting 180lbs of live rock in it. The tank was already set up as salt when I purchased it. We transfered the water with the tank in large barrels and did about 20% water change. It came with an Excalibur skimmer that we currently have outside the sump but still under the tank. We also have an RO unit and a UV sterilizer. The sterilizer internal glass house broke. Does anyone have any cheap idea of how to fix it? Also the wet/dry filter is full of bio-balls. From alot of the reading I have been doing the bio-balls are out of favor and should be phased out.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I am not sure if the skimmer is going to be good enough for the job. Also will this lighting support the mushrooms and hammer corals ect I plan to have?
I have about 100lbs rock in place now and the rest I will probably get this week. Last time I had a large die off of the barnicles from the rock. Are these bad? I enjoyed watching them and would like to keep them if they won't harm anything I plan on adding. How can I keep them alive?
:spin2:
Any help would be great
Susan

You should have between 3 and 5 watts of lighting per gallon. On the 90 then you need 270 or more. You are on the short side with your lighting

Bioballs can be removed and or replaced with reef rock rubble--much more effecient at removing nitrates

Try the manufacturers web site for a replacement of the uv steriizer glass

 

[N728NY]

Hi Everyone, I'm still pretty new this hobby, been doing alot of reading on here. I just recently set up a 75gallon, with a 20 gallon sump that I have been cycling for a week. This morning I woke up to a wet floor and noticed the bottom seal on my 20gal sump was leaking. Being in a second floor apartment, the 3 gallons or so I lost has me pretty paranoid about it leaking through. My question is before I go buy another sump tank, could this leak have been caused by my return pump and skimmer pumps both vibrating against the side of the sump tank causing the seal to lossen up? If so, how do I prevent this from happening again? Thanks alot for the advice!

 

[Aquarist007]

Hi Everyone, I'm still pretty new this hobby, been doing alot of reading on here. I just recently set up a 75gallon, with a 20 gallon sump that I have been cycling for a week. This morning I woke up to a wet floor and noticed the bottom seal on my 20gal sump was leaking. Being in a second floor apartment, the 3 gallons or so I lost has me pretty paranoid about it leaking through. My question is before I go buy another sump tank, could this leak have been caused by my return pump and skimmer pumps both vibrating against the side of the sump tank causing the seal to lossen up? If so, how do I prevent this from happening again? Thanks alot for the advice!

By the seal----are you referring to the bulkhead? Make sure the bulkhead has two rubber seals or gaskets. This will allow you to tighen it securely without cracking the glass.

It is not a good thing having the pumps vibrate against the sides of anything.

would that not cause noise for an apartment?

 

[King Ron]

No more fish for me I am just gonna wrk on learning my tank . I love this hobby not for tha colorful fish or type of fish . But cuz it never ends . I love jus watching with a cigar and drink in hand. So now I will slowly add 15 to 20 lbs of LR . Maybe a skimmer and new lighting for frags (2012) I read them all wow epic

 

[njw26]

Ok i must be dumb or something but what does lps and sps stand for

 

[njw26]

so what are sps and lps does anyone know because for the life of me i can't figure it out

 

[King Ron]

SPS=Small Polyped Scleractinian (Stony) coral
LPS=Large Polyped Scleractinian (Stony) coral

 

[njw26]

thanks King Ron so i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that sps and hard corals and lps are soft wouldthis be correct??

 

[cubzbiggestfan]

Thanks for all this great info. I am new and trying to get my 75 tank up and running

 

[xaos]

thanks King Ron so i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that sps and hard corals and lps are soft wouldthis be correct??

They're both hard corals, hence 'stony', in that they have a solid calcareous skeleton.

Hammer and Brain corals would be examples of LPS, various types of acropora would be SPS. An example of a soft coral would be a leather or colt coral.

edit: here's a couple pictures that should help to illustrate things:

This is a bubble coral, an LPS. Each "bubble" is a polyp.

Horn coral, an SPS. The polyps in this picture are the greenish-brown fuzzy stuff.

(Both images gleefully stolen from LiveAquaria.com as noted by the watermark Hosting is mine.)