Stupid Coral Question

[SkiFletch]

Absoloutely not. Egg crate is the stuff they use to guard but not block large flourescent fixtures in offices and such. You can find it at your local home depot or lowes in the cieling tiles section.

 

[dixaisy930]

I took a look at our lights at my office, and I think I know what you are talking about. Is it the glass cover on the outside?

I've decided to go with the single 65W Coralife PC (I think). In the list SkiFletch gave my in my thread in the Hardware section, there wasn't any corals in the 2x65 I'm interested in getting. But before I make the final decision, I thought I'd ask about some that weren't on that great list - photo. gorgs, fungia, and Plerogyra sinuosa. What would these do best under?

Also, so I don't keep buggin you guys about whether or not I can this coral or that, what level would my lighting be considered? Moderate? Moderately low? In the books I've read, they either list the light requirement as Low, Moderate, or High. But there are corals I can have with the single 65W that are considered moderate, and there are ones that I couldn't have that are also considered moderate. I know what you are going to say though...if I just get the 2x65W, I won't have to worry about that - I would just have to stay away from most sps, clams, and anenomes.

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, well you know what I think. I also dont always agree with a lot of the reccomendations on liveaquaria, etc as far as what light is required for which corals. I'd describe your lighting as low-moderate if you went to a single 65watt PC setup. As to what you asked, fungia I wouldnt do. Problem is they need to be on the sand and down there your light will be very low. The bubble coral will be OK as long as its at the top of the rock stack. And MOST gorgonians are non-photosynthetic filter feeders and eat things like phytoplankton and rotifers. You could in theory keep them with no light

 

[dixaisy930]

Well, I thought that too about the gorgs, but I've read they're hard to feed enough. I don't mind target feeding anything, but I'm worried it might foul up the water in a 29 gallon.

I'll give the 2x65 some more thought...I didn't intend to ever get into saltwater when I first got fish (HA HA), and then when I got into saltwater, I swore I'd never get corals . So I better think real hard whether or not I'm going to want any more light demanding corals.

In general, how far apart should corals with sweepers be from other corals? I've read all sorts of info on how long sweepers get (everything from 6 inches to 16).

As for flow, all I have is a HOT Magnum in the 29 gallon. Would this produce ideal flow for most corals?

 

[SkiFletch]

You dont have any powerheads? What is the "rated" turnover on the filter?

I wouldn't put a gorgonian in a 29g unless it was running over a 50g sump . Water quality would be a PAIN to maintain, and perhaps even impossible.

As for sweeper tentacles, its really really individual. SOmething like a frogspawn, torch, or even bubble coral have LONG sweepers. Most softies do not. As a general rule of thumb, LPS and tentacled LPS tend to have the longest sweepers and strongest stings. OFten times high-potency similar species can be kept in close proximity. Like, forgspawns can usually be kept nexxt to torches without too much issue, but if you keep a frogspawn next to a fiji leather for more than a couple days... Dead leather. See how I keep most of my tentacled LPS over by themselves? Thats not cause its the way I want them, but if I dont have them that way they kick each others' tails. Just a guideline there

 

[dixaisy930]

Aren't encrusting gorgs and corky fingers photo?

See...I knew I couldn't have non-photo gorgs....

The HOT Magnum turnsover 250 gallons per hour.

Is it better to have to tentacled corals "downstream" from things like leathers and star polyps?

 

[SkiFletch]

Its better to have it both downstream and have a wide enough space in between cause remember, both corals will grow

You NEED another powerhead before you start keeping corals. Flowrate is FAR MORE important to longterm coral growth than lighting. Without flow the coral essentially suffocates and lives its life oxygen deprived. I'd aim for double your current flowrate at least. A total of 600gph. You can do it with as many powerheads as you like.

Ah yes, photosynthetic gorgs. I always forget there is such a thing since I'm presonally not that wowed by them . Remember though that even photosynthetic gorgs would likely require at least SOME additional feedings of cyclopeeze/phyto/rotifers. I'm not really qualified to answer the question of how much (admit I dont know much about them) but I would reccomend at least a mature tank before you try one so that extra bio load can be dealt with properly

 

[dixaisy930]

Ok, so I need to get a powerhead with gph rating of 350-400, correct? That's easy enough....much easier than the lighting decision.

I think if I wanted to keep the p. gorgs, I'd need atleast the 2X65W, probably more.

Ok, refresh my memory on what is considered a mature tank...is it over a year? My tank has been set up for 13 months now.

Thanks for all of the help!

 

[SkiFletch]

Usually tanks are "mature" after 6-12 months so yours would definitely qualify.

 

[Navarre]

Sorry to comein late on this thread but i thought i would give my observations also.

Ski has directed you well and i urge you to take his advice as its very sound. The tank has been running for over 1 year andthis is good also as it means that by now the tank should have gained some stability. I am curious to the type of filtration you use, do you use liverock and if so then how much? 29 gallons would need a minimum of 15lbs of rock and do you use mechanical filtration at all?

As for the lighting, i personally am a fan of open tops, this helps reduce the tank temperature drastically. There is nothing worse than seeing your corals die off simply due to a 3 degree increase in tank temperaute during warm weather spells. With an open top the evaporation is obviously higher but you do help keep the temperature more stable. Sadly the penalty for this is a taget for fish to jump at! Dont ask me why but as soon as the tank is open they seem to think its time to see how high and far they can launch themselves! Eggcrate is perfect for this as its allows light to pass right through it yet stops fish fromjumping out. Eggcrate is the plastic mesh that fits across flourescant fixtures.. looks like a grid of plastic and not a sheet of glass or perspex.

Flow... oh boy how i mportant is flow... VERY. many people tell me their fish would never be able to survive the tank if the flow was higher as it would look like a storm in the system. My responce is simply that inthe ocean these creatures experience surges and flows 1000s of times more pwoerful than we can ever create in our own systems, crank it up and aim for 10x tank volume as a minimum but preferably look for 20x or even 30x higher

 

[dixaisy930]

I have about 25 lbs of live rock in the tank. I'm planning on purchasing some base rock to bump it up a bit. I believe there is mechanical filtration in the HOT Magnum. There's a filter inside of it, and I also have a net around the intake (I have a small sea hair I don't want to get sucked up into the Magnum), and that catches some debris.

I haven't even brought this up yet, but now that you talk about temp...I don't have a heater in the tank. My temp is a steady 70-72F. Hmm..I'm wondering if I should also get a heater. You have to understand, this was my original seahorse tank (i.e. - low flow, cooler temps), and things that I've had in there since haven't needed the upgrades.

 

[Navarre]

None of my tanks had heaters plugged in. I did have them for emergencies but i never used them. I would advise geting one just as backup.
I would not waste money onh base rock as it offers no filration capacity at all. Either look for liverock or reefbones as this is porous and will accomodate bacteria whereas base rock will only have bacteria on its surface.

As for the mechanical filration.. I would advise against using it as this can cause an increase in nitrates.

 

[dixaisy930]

The base rock my lfs has seems pretty porus to me. It looks pretty much like the LR they have...just without the "live". lol

As for the mechanical filtration, does the matter not get broken down properly? I know I've read other's that have said that, but never explained why....

 

[Navarre]

They may have missnamed the base rock. If you buy base roc online you usually get a solid lump of rock which is definately not porous.
If it is porouse then you will probably either be lookinf at laval rock (man made) or reefbones.

As for mechanical filtration...
In the world of freshwater systems you might be aware how the biological filtration works.. Ammonia is brokendown into nitrites, nitrites to nitrates and a water change to reduce that final nitrate level so as not to allow them to get too high.

The same is true for marine but we have one extra luxury at our disposal... Liverock will break down nitrate into harnless nitrogen and thus complete the nitrogen cycle alolowing it to pass off as a harmless gas.

If you have mechanical filtration then you will craete nitrates extremely efficenently but the liverock will only be able ot breakdown the own nitrogen cycle that it produces itself, your mechanical filter will be working like a nitrate factory by churning them into the system and thus overwhelming the liveorck and not allowingit to remove the nitrates efficiently. This will create long term algae blooms and high nitrates which in turn means increased warter changes and unsightly algae blooms in the tank..

 

[13thmonkey]

question for Navarre, or anyone else that might know. if you have a mech filter that is rated for a higher capacity tank could this cause a higher nitrate count? that is could the larger area in the canister cause more nitrate production due to the increases bactiria count?