edkruzel

That's a very good question with only educated guesses as to what is really happening with the green coloration of any particular coral. Zooxanthelle are primarily brown, but green and yellow are not exactly uncommon and do not reflect or fluoresce as well as protein pigmentation when under an actinic bulb. When I referred to the 20K bulb as a possible problem it was geared towards the burning of the tissue. The real question on the coloration is if it is pigmentation or Zooxanthelle. There is so many "what ifs" associated with color change; bulb spectrum and intensity are no doubt a huge contributor, but so are water parameters, feedings and Aleopathy.

Without a test we can't be certain, but I don't agree that all the light below 700nm is absorbed in his tank at the surface. While we are certain that the lower nanometers of light 400-420nm will reach the bottom of a tank, we have to remember that our glass boxes cannot compare to the real deal and while I'm not arguing basic physics I am arguing variables. By statistics almost 30% of light is lost at the surface of the ocean, but that doesn't mean it loses all the red spectrum first and then yellow, green and so on... Yes red will lose its "punch" first but it will penetrate to almost a meter by minuscule and varying levels of intensity. That's really here nor there when discussing the effects on light in captivity. In our small boxes of water we seldom run tanks more than a meter deep and how many run a full spectrum bulb (PAR) of around 6500K? If the water is well maintained and with the possibility of ozone it may be very clear allowing a little further penetration of light. Brian makes very good points toward placement for natural effect, but how close are we duplicating the spectrum and intensity of nature? Using a 20K bulb it may be listed as a full spectrum bulb because it can produce visible light from 400-700nm but it is unnatural with spikes so high in the blue/violet range and when considering pinpoint source and intensity, it may have been burnt by an excess of the blue spectrum it couldn't shield itself from like it can with red protein pigmentation (or the ability to reflect red). I ran a little experiment a few years back with a little guidance from Eric Borneman. I was living in El Paso, TX and had a southern exposure where I placed a 20L. Excessive alternating current, a large skimmer some sand, snails and some small rubble rock; no fish. I added ricodea, two types of M. digitata (green and orange) and a brown with green tipped acro. The tank ran from late April to early Sept. While the corals grew at very rapid rates they turned brown just as Eric predicted (ricordea turned a forest green) but when I removed them in Sept and placed them in a low to moderate lit tank (96watt PC's) they shown brilliant colors of reds, orange and blue almost as if on fire. After a month or so most turned to green. My point here is that we tweak the spectrum to our desire and the specimens we keep adapt, or die. Changing the Kelvin of our bulbs will enhance or detract from colors of the species we keep.

I'm on a See-Food diet, I see food and I eat it. I love almost all seafood; on Sunday mornings I would hit the piers in Panama and buy right off the boats. Jumbo shrimp (bigger than I've ever seen here in the US) averaged about $4 for 5-6lbs, depending on how well you could haggle.

Moving big tanks is the worst; when I sold my 210 (Oceanic RR) I had a bit more than yours and only got a grand for it. Best of Luck...

Bob, I agree with others here that you need to be aggressive and use multiples at the same time. I'd try and remove whatever LPS and clams you may have and leave them with a few peppermints to be sure they're not infected. I'd then add a small Raccoon until the last pest is gone. With so many, I'd Kalk patches at a time (maybe 4''x4'') and kill any gorilla crabs so that you could add peppermints to the main tank. Later (no aptasia left) you can remove the butterfly and add a small Longnose or Copperband. I recently had a Curly Q (close aptasia cousin) pop up on my rock and although they don't multiply as quickly, I thought it best not to wait. I added 2 peppermints and hoped that within the week they'd discover it and erradicate it. I placed them in the tank and threw away the plastic bag; I then returned to the tank to make sure they acclimated ok and didn't need my assistance (ornamental shrimp can be difficult to acclimate) just in time to see them finishing it off. Best of Luck...

All brittles can and eat smaller fish or crustaceans (ornamental shrimp). As they are mostly a nocturnal creature sleeping fish in a crevice are at the highest risk, but as you may have seen pictures of, they will elevate their bodies giving smaller fish a small ledge to hide under. As the fish seek the shelter of this new ledge, the starfish will twist its body and legs around, trapping the fish and then eating its prey.

Whenever I need to clean a line I like to drop a fishing line with a sinker through or force it down with a piece of rigid tubing or wooden dowel (be creative) then attach a heavier line/cord with a nylon pot scrubber on the end and pull it through the tube. Works every time.

I purchased my RO/DI from Buckeye Field Supply (75gpd) and have been extremely happy with it; as for a skimmer, there are many very good units on the market, but for value, efficiency and ease of use, I'd have to recommend an Octopus skimmer. Octopus are designed like a Euroreef and are plug and play.

I've kept Atlantic Octopi but they have a fairly short life span (2-5yrs) and the female will die shortly after laying eggs. Their intelligence is incredible to observe. While running a maintenance business I did quite a few set ups a month and needed large amounts of cured rock on hand; two of my best pest eradicators where my Octopus and a Raccoon Butterfly. The Butterfly was great for any Aptasia, but nothing beats an Octopi for eliminating any crabs or shrimp that hitch hiked into your system. The main holding tank was a low flow seagrass tank with clay pots, and even though the top was open, I never had one escape.

If someone wishes to and can afford more expensive corals, then I say more power to them. I've experienced most of the hobby on the retail side of the house so I fully understand overhead and availability, but I think we can all agree that many of the "high demand" corals are WAY over-priced and fueled by greed. First off I've never seen a rare coral in this hobby, but I do see rarely collected corals. I've also seen hobbyists break the law to make some money like a certain low life in Pennsylvania that broke the CITES codes having Japanese Acans marked as Indo Blastomussa so they would pass Customs and then sell them for hundreds of dollars a polyp. Japanese Acans are far from rare in Japan and Taiwan. In parts of Europe Royal Grammas are marked as rare and sell for an arm and a leg. Personally I've come to appreciate the lonely $5-10 frags and the manipulation of light's spectrum to watch the beautiful growth and color evolve over the months.

A friend in TX purchased a similar skimmer (Volcano) which is a bit bigger, for his 600gal (1100gal total water volume) system. He has a thread in the large tank section of RC under the pseudoname herpervet. I was every bit as excited to see that monster in action being I donated dozens of corals and anemones to his tank, but after it was installed and tweaked and tweaked some more and then sent new parts to "improve" its performance from the manufacturer, I must admit I was less than impressed. For all of the money spent he could have saved a bundle and ordered a commercial Euroreef and still saved some coin. Hopefully this one will live up to its expectations

That's treating the symptom not the problem; cyno needs two things to grow, excess phosphate and the proper spectrum of light (500-700nm). Discover what your doing to add phosphate such as improper foods, excess food or through the water used for evaporation. You may not get a high reading for phosphates but I guarantee they're there. There are 2 types of phosphates and only one can be detected with a common LFS purchased test kit, plus as with any nutrient and excess nuisance growth the problem growth is absorbing the nutrient at a phenomenal rate. Quick fixes like RedSlime Control kill most of the cynobacteria, but when it dies it drops a ton of phosphate back into the water column so if used, (just days after the treatment) you need to run massive amounts of carbon, a huge water change and your skimmer running at its peak performance or any remaining cynobacteria will come back with a vengeance. Another downfall to using this chemical as a quick fix is that it will decimate most of your fauna population.

Against my better judgment I added a pygmy angel and a firefish, but they're fine so I guess they may be it on the fish load (famous last words) while yesterday I picked up five nice frags that look pretty darn good this morning. Hopefully in a couple of months it will be worthy of posting a few pics.

A DSB has been my best nitrate eliminator; but you have to have it large enough for the volume of water you keep. A tank of 100gal or more with something like a CPR hang on fuge will not do squat for reducing the nutrient load. Next a DSB must be maintained properly, if you keep sand stirrers (Valenciennea sp. Sand Sifting Stars, Hermit Crabs) or fauna predators it will decimate the small creatures needed to keep the bed active and therefore should be linked through a remote system and not in the main tank. Next is having enough alternating current in your tank to keep detritus suspended long enough to be sent to the sump or other mechanical filtration. Food is another great source of nitrate and not just the amount. Most frozen foods should be rinsed to eliminate excess nutrients (like allowing oil to drip off freshly cooked bacon or fries before consumption) and dried foods are nothing but nutrient builders. To be processed all food must be dried but then binders, fillers and occasionally artificial colors are added. It is the later process that cannot be digested and adds copious amounts of waste to the system. Dried foods are good to keep on hand when a busy schedule has you running out the door just as you remember the fish need to eat, but like our fast foods, it should be minimal. The last source and often overlooked would be the replacement water used for evaporation. Many treated water sources still contain nutrients. I haven't set my RO/DI up yet in this new place, and since I'm only running a nano, I use distilled water from Wal-Mart. Even though it's distilled it still registers between 15-25 TDS. My RO/DI never went above 3 TDS. As a good friend preaches, "More Biology and Less Technology". Find and eliminate the cause instead of trying to cure the symptom.

Do you have a small tank and light you can transfer it to for a few days? If it's being picked on, that may be the only problem, if it doesn't return to a normal appearance, then treat as necessary.