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.

I don't like to add anything but LR now especially in a smaller system, but have in the past as you're doing now; I soaked them in a tub/rubbermaid with a good amount of bleach and allowed it to circulate for a few days. Then it got a triple rinse in fresh water and left out to dry in the sun. Once bleach is dry it's harmless.

I applied for a part time job at an LFS as a teen (1977-78) and loved the colors of saltwater fish so I started a 55gal FO. In 1986 while stationed in Panama I responded to an off post government owned facility where the silent alarm was activated. When I arrived I found a Tech that was working late and simply forgot to punch his code before entering the building. It was the Smithsonian Coral Research Facility and while the other patrols left, I remained to talk with the Tech. The place was filled with reef tanks and many more smaller tanks with single coral specimens. He gave me a copy of Lee Chin Eng's book and that weekend I hit the reefs to collect rock and sand and the following weekends collecting livestock and corals. The tank was sitting on a back patio in direct sunlight and other than fighting algae on the glass it was a fairly successful system. It used a the pipe from an undergravel plate with an airstone for water movement (terrible salt creep) which I believe I siliconed in place. I conducted water changes of probably 80% sometimes 3x's a week, no less than once a week since I was right on the ocean. That tank taught me quite a bit about the "what not to do or mix" like adding a school of quarter sized Atlantic Blue Tangs in less than 55gals of water, and not to add slugs that look pretty if you have no idea what they are (caused a wipe out, had to start over). It also gave me a great lesson in aleopathy even though I had no idea that's what it was called or the details of my observation. This is a great thread, I haven't thought about the details of that tank in many years, but I've been obsessed ever since. Ed

For pictures marked "Nothing Special", they sure look, uh mm, well, Special to me! Very nice photos...

Well I guess you proved to yourself that feeding smaller sized pieces are better than larger ones and provided you didn't tear any tissue, your anemone should be fine. Too often we forget that although our specimens are large in mass, the oral disc is the object we need to appropriately choose food pieces for. A person wouldn't want to take a large double cheeseburger and choke it down without chewing, and often when we eat too much we feel sluggish and ill. Now that's a human digestive tract which is much more complex than an anemone. Think of their simple anatomy; a small oral disc being the opening to a small but expandable cavity. And although the cavity is expandable, does not mean that it should be stretched to its limits when fed. The oral disc serves as the mouth and the anus (yes that's gross) therefore when food is taken in it begins to dissolve rapidly and is absorbed for energy. In a stationary location, when food items are being rapidly digested, they are rapidly rotting as well. Smaller pieces are readily absorbed, but larger items are forming as waste and if very large will take some additional effort for the anemone to spit out causing it to probably get that same feeling we get after overdoing it at Thanksgiving (but without watching football). Another benefit to smaller pieces would be less waste being put back into the water column and a cleaner healthier system. Remember that life in the sea is harsh and the majority of foods come from teems of plankton/zooplankton washing over an anemone during tidal changes mainly in the dusk or dawn hours. Clownfish don't "feed" (the host) in the wild and probably aren't attempting to feed in our tanks (the host) either, simply being gluttonous and trying to store or hide some food for themselves. No matter what our tanks look like or the parameters we have can match the over-all conditions and environments of the sea, I've studied natural environments and how to best duplicate or adjust that for our livestock in enclosed systems. The majority of my studies are with reef fish and predatory species, but most of this is quite relevant. Scott (Traveller) is more versed with captive anemones and I'm sure will add to what he's already commented on above.

Scott, I knew I should have just called you first.

John, I've got a complaint, ok not really, but I wish you were open on Mondays. Your store came highly recommended and I had to drive a coworker to Dulles today and thought, "What a great opportunity to stop by and check this place out". I guess you can imagine my disappointment; even more so after I stood at the door peering in through the window. I've recently moved here from El Paso, TX and from the very little I observed from your storefront window, I can tell you that your store is 10x's more than anything in El Paso or the surrounding area (nearest store of quality is Dallas, a 12hr drive). I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the store (from the inside this time).

I recently set up my nano and added the LR and sand, and although there are some little creatures running around, I'd like to kick start the sand with additional fauna (worms, pods, etc...). The question is, where do you guys find fauna kits around here?

I wasn't criticizing, I was attempting to help you get a more accurate opinion. A drag race as you put it can be best done with the two sterile containers as I describe. And yes that was my tenth post here, but don't let that fool you into thinking I'm new to the hobby, just new to WAMAS. There is apparently more to skimmate than you realize and if you'd like to discuss it further, come find me at the next meeting; See you there, happy reefing...

It's a nice fish for a moderate to large tank with 7''+ non-aggressive tankmates. The dwarf can reach up to 7'' itself and will, like any lion, eat whatever moves and will fit into its mouth. They do real well in a tank dedicated to dwarf lion species up to a Radiata, but not with anything larger; Volitans will eat a dwarf.

Same 24/7, there only 1watt each and let me view the tank any time of night or early morning.