Update On My Corals

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
From what I could tell at best on what you have in your pics

#1 Palythoa - lately I have seen them called mint chocolate chips. best I can tell from pic they will look best under actinics
#2 Zoa - I have seen your variety called Eagle Eyes best I can remember
#4 Zoa - These are commonly call peanut butter cups.

Of course names will vary from vendor to vendor but those are fairly common varieties and names. #1 looks like the "sea mat" (my terminology might be off) version of Paly, kinda tough to tell. Just watch for when they are budding, if you see the new polyps splitting out the side of its parents stalk and not from the base of the mat then they are the "sea mat" type. Also handle #1 very carefully they are likely the most toxic animal you have in the tank. If you have a metallic taste in your mouth the next day after handling them then the Palytoxin got you. Paly's are also able to hold of the advance of war corals and a few other varieties of stinging LPS. I have examples in one of my tanks 3 diff varieties of #1.

#2 and #4 are basic Zoanthids and will bud new polyps from their base. #4 is a very fast grower, 20 polyps cab become a thousand in a years time. I'm just letting you know so if you have an area in mind for them to grow you can intentionally isolate them to slow their advance.

#1 can handle most ranges of lighting and flow. < they will even eat bits of shrimp
#3 and #4 likes med to lower light and med-low flow < these two likely will never respond to meaty foods
#5 will do best in med-low light with low flow. in my experience higher flows make them shrink.

Hope some of this will help. just ask me any questions you might have, I quit counting the varieties of coral I propagate after I passed 100, so I might have a version of most coral you will find.

Congrats on the setup!

Tom
 
-Kevin I wish I had the time and space to grow and cultivate my own foods

-Deadmeat thanks for the great info and welcome to mfk! Thanks for the great info, I'm actually jotting down notes from what you and kevin have been informing me on these corals and suggestions. I will probably adjust the corals then to what you have provided me with water flow and light intensity levels.

Also Kevin do you have any pics of your tank or tanks? Same to you deadmeat you should get a thread going on pics of your tank/tanks. It would give me ideas on rockwork, coral placements, and pure enjoyment lol when I get my water running clearly with perfect parameters I will be adding more rocks...do you guys know the name of the flat live rock? Or any other rock that holds corals easier?
 
I actually don't have a tank right now :( had to sell it off as I'm going back to school so I don't have space for one :( also I move from school back to my hometown every year so it's to difficult to move a large system like that... But if you need some rock work ideas I'll have a look around at some links I have and post them to show you some of my fav setups.

Flat live rock is generally refferd to as "shelf rock" I believe.

Also side note, you can grow phytoplancton in a 2L pop bottle with only a small airstone with light airation. Just stick it in a window, or point a CFL light at it, and your good to go, every so often you can start a new culture just by taking a bit of the stuff from one bottle and put it into another. This stuff is good for filter feeders (sponges for sure), and I believe it also benifits SPS corals.
 
That sucks and thanks for names of the rock and the tip on cultivating live foods...i will probably get on that very soon.
 
I can get some pics together later on, I normally do not do show tanks, but i have a couple that are close. I mostly do grow outs. I'm more into what I can make throw and thrive vice what I can show off. As for flat rock, most of the good shelf rock used to come from Marshall Islands if I recall correctly. I know I have some from 12 years ago still in one of my tanks. You will have to shop around to find it, It also may not be cheap, as it has been in high demand before. I will gladly help anyway I can later on today after I finish working on roof. Any other coral you get feel free to ask about.

Cheers,
Tom
 
Ok thanks a million I already have some corals in mind that I must get which are hammer corals and the pink birds nest. However I'm still worried about my 4 bulb (54 watts) t5 fixture may not be enough for them. Which Is why I'm looking into another model...most likely a model with 6 bulbs that fit on my 72 gallon bow front tank.
 
You could definitely upgrade your lighting is you want, but I would not get into a hurry, your fixture will easily handle the birds nest and hammer. Once you get into LPS and SPS your Calcium/mag/alk is going to come into play a bit more to sustain proper growth and health of stony corals. Those two can and should be placed middle and higher in tank. The birdsnest will probably enjoy closer to the top. If you have 4x54w what brand bulbs do you use? That could be a vice if your using cheaper brand bulbs.
One of the guys brought up a great point earlier when he mentioned macro-algae. Iif your using a sump, a macro algae such as cheato will control nitrates. Just throw some into area of sump or fuge. Phosphates are generally what takes time to get under control. That usually what most people use a media reactor for. In the case of keeping softies, it is required for their health to have acceptable levels of PO4 in the water column. (Especially zoas and shrooms)
Growing your own food can be a rewarding challenge and is a complete hobby in itself. Its definitely an advanced part of the hobby. Until you are looking at food requirements that are insane on your wallet, there is no need. I do not know what fish you have, but the only meat eater you currently have is the Paly's.

I hope I have helped and you may even hear contradictions, but these are just my observations over the years.

Cheers,
Tom
P.S.- do a google search for "vodka dosing" in reef aquaria, you may run into an idea that can greatly benefit you.
 
Ok thanks for the reply,

I will keep my fixture I'm using 54 watts marine glo and actnic bulbs. I could change the bulbs..however I don't know what bulbs are best. I'm not going to purchase any corals/clams until I get my sump as nitrates are a pain...and having a fuge should help a little. For phosphates I will soon be in the clear as I'm using RO water not regulaer hose water like before.

You and kevin have helped greatly through these threads about my corals, can't wait to get my sump one of these days.
You probably don't know the answer to this question, Does anyone have a 72 gallon bowfront tank with a sump? If so what size do you use as I'm worried aboout placing a 29 gallon tank inside....woudn't want it made then it won't be able to fit.?
 
Phosphates aren't just from "tap water" - they are naturally occuring from the breakdown of organic matter ie Food and Poop. You can use R/O water and depending on how stocked and how much you feed, the tank it's self can produce PO4 readings of 3-5 ppm.
 
Thanks for the info, Otherone as Im notice I get lots of algae even witht the use of RO water, I admit my tank is over stock..hopefully it will straiten out when I get my sump. (Well it won't probably straiten out completely)
 
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