To Reef or Not to Reef

[Bomshelfromhell]

Hi, I have a previously established 55 gal tank open filter system that a friend sold me due to a move. It came with live rock, sand, sand starfish, hippo tang, Clarke, fire angel, candy cane cleaning shrimp, multiple snails, hermit crabs, anemone, and these purple anemone looking things that keep spawning and driving me crazy because I don't know how to get rid of them...
*Whew* Ok, I'm better now...
Anywayzzz, I have a blower aka circulation fan and I have no idea how powerful it is but I have been advised that I need another one, espically if I want my anemone to live and if I want to make it a reef tank.

Other Tank info: The lights come on for 7 hr each day and I do 5 gal water changes every 2 to 3 wks.

Question: What can I do to #1 get rid of the spawning anthids(?) and #2 how can I make this tank THRIVE and rise to it's full potential?

Thanks!
:jester:

 

[reefer999]

Welcome to Reef Central! The purple anemone things are probably aptasia which are a pest. What lights do you have as it will determine what kind of corals you can keep. You need adequate flow to keep corals alive and for them to thrive. Steady and good parameters is what will bring your tank to it's full potential.

 

[AZBigJohn]

Pictires of the "spawning purple things" would help identify them; I doubt they are zooanthids, but most likely either aptasia as the previous writer suspected, or majanos, which would be my more likely guess. Both are rapidly reproducing pests.

I second the previous poster's question about lighting; the cycle times can be adjusted based on your needs, but the lights have to be of the correct intensity and output to allow coral to grow. Is there a style listed on the lights? Are they simple fluorescents, are they t-5 lights?

These are the important questions to have the answer to before the next steps can be spelled out.

 

[Bomshelfromhell]

The lights are 2 T5s with two small LEDs for night lights. I keep getting errors when I try to upload... *Sigh*

 

[Painted skin]

Not enough lighting you will be limited to low light corals like shrooms.

 

[reefer999]

+1 on not enough light you're currently limited to mushrooms, kenya trees, basically softies, maybe some lps. Would recommend upgrading your lights so your corals are healthier and can keep any coral you want sps and such.

 

[zaitmi]

Basically you need some white light with actinics.

I use 2 white t5 along with 3 purple actinics and 1 blue actinic but you might need more for corals.

 

[Bomshelfromhell]

Ok Friends, I made an album to show you what I'm working with.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Those look like majanos, they're definitely not aiptasia (glass anemones). I've not had to deal with majanos, but I would bet that Aiptasia X will kill them.

And - what the other posters have said, you will definitely need more light over the tank to keep a reef. A 6-bulb T5HO would suffice for a mostly soft coral and/or easy to keep large polyp stony corals like open brain corals.

An 8-bulb T5HO would allow you to keep a few reef-building stony corals if they are placed high in the tank. If you want a full-blown SPS tank, you're probably going to have to go to 2 250w metal halides with T5 fluorescent supplementation.

Or go LEDs - the initial purchase price is a lot higher to get the full-spectrum, high-wattage fixtures than MH/T5, but they put off far less heat so you can avoid having to buy a chiller, and you don't have to change the bulbs out every 6-9 months as you do with metal halides & flourescents.

 

[reefer999]

I'd recommend another powerhead as well so you have better flow in the tank.

 

[Bomshelfromhell]

Thanks for all the very helpful advice guys! Yesterday I purchased another power head 800gps and took out the rock and scraped those bad guys off. While I was outside with the rock I noticed some interesting but kinda frightening creatures. here is the link to the video I shot:
http://youtu.be/5K1ThrSDlU4