Open Brain - Part Deux

[dileggi]

Hey Everyone,

I have an Open Brain. It was added 1/4/08. I'm not sure what the problem is, but, it seems to be missing something.....THE OPEN PART! It has looked like this since day one.

I've tried moving it around the sandbed. It doesn't get any worse, but it doesn't get any better either.

It's base is a cone shaped base. Should I not have it lying flat? I basically had to wiggle it down into the sandbed to get it flat. Should it be on it's side and straight up?

Any help or comments are greatly appreciated!

My lighting is as follows - 144w PC:
1 36w 10,000k daylight
1 36w 50/50
2 36w Actinic03
3 .75w lunar moonglow/led.

Here is a pic of the entire tank when it was first added so you can see placement, and in case anything else can be suggested.

The second pic is a close-up of the closed-up brain.

 

[dileggi]

Anyone??

 

[GoingPostal]

I'd say not enought light couple with water quality issues, what are your parameters at?

 

[dileggi]

Thanks postal,

My water param's have been quite steady.

Ph 8.2
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Phosphate 0 (test's 0 anyway LOL!)
CA 460
dKH 9
Salinity 1.024 (was 1.023, in process of raising to 1.025
Temp 78.6 - 80.1

I've recently, as of yesterday, moved the brain slightly up on one of the rocks...about six inches higher. I noticed last night when the lights were out that it "puffed" up some and had some small feeder's out, but not many.

Hopefully, this will help some?

 

[GoingPostal]

I'd place as high as possible, have you been feeding it at all? If it puts out feeders throw in some mysis, that should help quite a bit also.

 

[dileggi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11805125#post11805125 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GoingPostal
I'd place as high as possible, have you been feeding it at all? If it puts out feeders throw in some mysis, that should help quite a bit also.

I haven't tried mysis. I was using cylop-eeze. Is that still OK? Also, I was target feeding, but only during the day when the lights were on.

It sounds as though I should be feeding when the lights are off?

 

[GoingPostal]

Mine feeds day or night, it's not picky and I would move up to larger foods, they can eat quite a bit. Leave the cyclopeeze for smaller mouths.

 

[dileggi]

Great! I'll certainly try it!

Thank you for your help!

 

[lhoy]

It is a low light coral, doesn't need a lot of light. Mine inflate the most up under a ledge. They are found just like you had yours.

Lee

 

[dileggi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11815573#post11815573 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lhoy
It is a low light coral, doesn't need a lot of light. Mine inflate the most up under a ledge. They are found just like you had yours.

Lee

Thank you for the reply. When you say they're found just like I had mine. Did you mean placement wise...on the sandbed? Or, did you mean lookwise??

 

[seapug]

yeah, the red ones don't need quite as much light as the green ones. What kind of flow is it gettin? They tend to shrivel up like that if they are getting beat up by the current.

Also, they often take a while to settle in and start inflating, so as long as it's not getting pounded by current, I'd wait at least a couple weeks before moving it again.

 

[dileggi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11820713#post11820713 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seapug
yeah, the red ones don't need quite as much light as the green ones. What kind of flow is it gettin? They tend to shrivel up like that if they are getting beat up by the current.

Also, they often take a while to settle in and start inflating, so as long as it's not getting pounded by current, I'd wait at least a couple weeks before moving it again.

Thanks seapug. It's not getting much flow at all, from what I can tell. At least nothing directly. I believe the flow is being countered by my rocks...unless it's getting hit by the flow bouncing off the glass??

It's actually looked like that from day one, pretty much, and I've already had it since 1/4/08, so it's been slightly over a month now. Could it take that long to settle? Or has the problem been me moving it around too much?

 

[lhoy]

Yea, put back on sandbed and up under the edge of a shelf or something.

Will puff up like crazy. I had one completely overgrown with macroalgae for over a month when I didn't have time for my tank, it looked better than ever when I pulled all the macro out!!!

Lee

 

[dileggi]

Not a problem. Thanks for the update. I'll remove it from one of the ledges and place it back on the sandbed, under a ledge.

How long should I give it to settle in once I do this? I feel like I'm moving it around every other day. I know I need to be patient...that I can be. My problem is more along the lines that I don't trust my judgement and then start moving it before I make it worse.

 

[dileggi]

One more question. Should I lay it flat on it's back, or is slightly tilted OK?

 

[seapug]

slightly tilted is fine. They can situate themselves when the tissue inflates. I'd leave it where it is for at least 2-3 weeks before moving it. I have a small one I recently added to my tank that hasn't been inflating much, and it's sitting right next one that does, so it's probably just an adjustment period. As long as the tissue isn't peeling away it's fine.

 

[chrisstie]

Is there a way to get a better pic? It's hard to tell exactly what species it is - some that shape inflate a whole ton while others aren't nearly as fleshy and don't look the same.

How often are you doing water changes by the way? That's a large amount of algae that .. Oh I see it now. That's the 29g tank from your profile?

If you'd like some tips on beating out that algae let me know. I know unwanted advice isn't fun to get so I'll leave it up to you but you can definitely keep tanks that size without that much algae

 

[dileggi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11835107#post11835107 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seapug
slightly tilted is fine. They can situate themselves when the tissue inflates. I'd leave it where it is for at least 2-3 weeks before moving it. I have a small one I recently added to my tank that hasn't been inflating much, and it's sitting right next one that does, so it's probably just an adjustment period. As long as the tissue isn't peeling away it's fine.

Thanks again seapug. I'll leave it alone for the next few weeks and see what happens.

Thanks again!

 

[dileggi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11836146#post11836146 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chrisstie
Is there a way to get a better pic? It's hard to tell exactly what species it is - some that shape inflate a whole ton while others aren't nearly as fleshy and don't look the same.

How often are you doing water changes by the way? That's a large amount of algae that .. Oh I see it now. That's the 29g tank from your profile?

If you'd like some tips on beating out that algae let me know. I know unwanted advice isn't fun to get so I'll leave it up to you but you can definitely keep tanks that size without that much algae

Hi Chrisstie,

I appreciate the input and help! At this point, there is no advice I consider unwanted. I certainly would appreciate some help on that.

I'll send a PM with some add'l info on the tank.

thank you again.