John,s Reef Journal {experience Newbie}

[john.o]

whats the bottle for? im new to corals and im learning a lot!

is it to stop it moving and to keep it in place?

Sun corals need to be feed lots but they have no zooxanthellae and cannot use light as a source of nutrition like other corals. so target feeding is a must even in a well established mature system. So to help target feeding I use a top of plastic drinks bottle lowered over the sun coral to stops food been eaten buy fish or been blown away by the power heads. This method seems to work well for me, you can see the polyps passing food to the gut and then extending again for second helpings
Hope this helps

Wow yeah that's a good price! Probably 1/2 to 1/4th of what you should have paid

What a result

 

[Truck]

whats the bottle for? im new to corals and im learning a lot!

is it to stop it moving and to keep it in place?

Sun corals need to be feed lots but they have no zooxanthellae and cannot use light as a source of nutrition like other corals. so target feeding is a must even in a well established mature system. So to help target feeding I use a top of plastic drinks bottle lowered over the sun coral to stops food been eaten buy fish or been blown away by the power heads. This method seems to work well for me, you can see the polyps passing food to the gut and then extending again for second helpings
Hope this helps

Wow yeah that's a good price! Probably 1/2 to 1/4th of what you should have paid

What a result

thanks for that! i was wanting one of these in my new reef system i am going to wait a good 3-6 months first though

 

[john.o]

Just finished working on the tank for the last 3 hrs and boy have i ripped into the rock to try and get rid of the bubble algae once and for all . I must have thrown 2 kilos of rock out as well. I have had the hole tank upside down {no rock has been unturned as they say } plus i have moved all the corals into new positions in an attempt to make room for some new editions . I have ordered a new GSP to replace the one the bubble algae killed off, and i will be looking around my LFS over the next few weeks to see if any think takes my fancy. So you can expect some new pics soon .

 

[SkiFletch]

*grabs popcorn and waits patiently*

 

[john.o]

*grabs popcorn and waits patiently*

lol
As promised here is a pic of my latest coral {a GSP} which i got yesterday from calico aquatics

and a pic of there awesome 20ft display tank

 

[SkiFletch]

*tear* I wan't a 20' tank too

Looks great John

 

[john.o]

THANKS SKI

Went to calicoaquatics today to pic up some live food, frozen food salt ect, and i also bought another one of these {fan worm}

after my last one was eaten by my brittle star {brittle star has been re homed in a friends larger tank }
Also Q
i have xenia in my tank which was growing like wild fire but over the last week it has just completely died back , i think i have read somewhere that this is a common problem with xenia. I was just wondering what to do as it looks so awful now, should i take the rock out with it on and scubit in RO water to get rid of it. Then i can place new corals on the rock in its place. Or just leave it and see what happens. Just i don’t want it to die off and pollute the tank.
thanks again john,o

 

[SkiFletch]

Well xenia death can be a lot of things. Most common reasons are bad chemistry (high salinity, or low alkalinity), or predation/nipping by something else in the tank.

 

[john.o]

Thanks for that ski
My salinity was on the high, 1.027, I lowered this last weekend when I done my water change it is now running at 1.025.
yesterday when I looked at the tank the xenia had completely died off {no visible signs of any} today I have looked and all the rocks have small bubbles coming out of them and there is a brown slime that is covering everything, and it is also covering the sand, I am not sure what is going on here so any advice would be appreciated
My tests are as follows
{5 gallon weekly water change due tomorrow.}
Salinity 1.027
Carbonate hardness 143.2 ppm {8dkh}
Calcium 500 ppm
Ph 7.9 ----- 8.0
Nitrate 5.0 ppm
Phosphates 0.0 ppm
Lights
Blue cold cathode on @ 11.00
Main lights on @ 12.00
blue cold cathode off @ 12.10
blue cold cathode on @ 19.50
main lights off 20.00
Blue cold cathode off @ 21.00
V2 nano skimmer on @ 22.00 off @ 08.00 {so loud just can’t run during day as the tank is in the living room} removes ½ a cup per night
I have just changed the led’s for the cold cathode 2-3 weeks ago because the blue moon led’s broke. I also put the lights on timers at the same time.

 

[john.o]

 

[SkiFletch]

Hummm, what kind of wrasse is that?

As for the bubbles and brown stuff, it could be a reaction from decomposing xenia... Perhaps it's the dreaded Dinoflagellates?

 

[john.o]

Hummm, what kind of wrasse is that?

When I bought this fish it was identified as a Yellow banana Wrasse. However, months later it turned out to be a Lemon Meringue Wrasse, because of its white belly. I think the correct latin name is Halichoeres Leucoxanthus. And It's origin is Indian Ocean.When I added it to my tank, it disappeared for the first few days, now it swims in full view all day long , it eats any foods introduce to the tank, and really enjoyed newly hatched baby brine shrimp. At night when the main lights go out it dives into the coral substrate to sleep all night. Sometimes it will do it seconds before the lights turne off, and other times within a second of the tank going dark

 

[seffieuk]

You sure it was the brittle star that eat the fan worm? Halichoeres Leucoxanthusse is also known to eat them

Seffie x

 

[john.o]

Yep it was brutal i watched in horror as it ripped it out of its tube and then pulled it under the live rock

 

[seffieuk]

Yep it was brutal i watched in horror as it ripped it out of its tube and then pulled it under the live rock

oh yuck

Seffie x