wasp Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 EDIT - this is about the chili coral, not the sun coral which is also non photosynthetic, but a lot easier to feed:- Just a word of caution, as I origionally suspected, the "chili coral" is a non photosynthetic coral. I was thinking about it last night & became sure the one you pictured is a non photosynthetic one so did a bit more reading today & it seems there are 2 versions circulating on the net about what this coral is. Version 1, it is low light easy care. Version 2, it is non photosynthetic, difficult care. Unfortunately the easy care version is what appears on the information given by a lot of the e-tailer sites. In fact it is non photosynthetic, meaning it must be fed or die. It does not like direct light, and will extend more at night. Exactly what it eats is not fully understood but in a very clean tank it will usually slowly wither and die over a few months, as did one that i used to have. However there are reports of them surviving long term in certain tanks, either by being placed where a lot of detritus drifts past, or by being direct fed. Their preferred situation is being hung upside down in a cave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 Just a word of caution, as I origionally suspected, it is a non photosynthetic coral. I was thinking about it last night & became sure the one you pictured is a non photosynthetic one so did a bit more reading today & it seems there are 2 versions circulating on the net about what this coral is. Version 1, it is low light easy care. Version 2, it is non photosynthetic, difficult care. Unfortunately the easy care version is what appears on the information given by a lot of the e-tailer sites. In fact it is non photosynthetic, meaning it must be fed or die. It does not like direct light, and will extend more at night. Exactly what it eats is not fully understood but in a very clean tank it will usually slowly wither and die over a few months, as did one that i used to have. However there are reports of them surviving long term in certain tanks, either by being placed where a lot of detritus drifts past, or by being direct fed. Their preferred situation is being hung upside down in a cave. Thanks wasp - I think you are right - just by the way it reacts to various foods I'm sure it has to be fed - it is downstream of the sun corals and reacts positively to the 'overflow' when I feed them (primarily Brine Shrimp) and it also definitely catches ReefRoids (direct feed). Its is completely uninterested in liquid food. I've got it near the bottom of the tank (but in light), so I'll monitor it and see how it goes. It was out in full 'bloom' at 2am last night and this morning, just like the sun corals, it closed up. Seems carnivorous to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 Yes, sorry TheConch, I screwed up and made my previous post look like I was talking about the sun coral, which I think everyone knows is non photosynthetic, actually I was talking about the chili coral, so have edited my previous post to make this clear. Turns out the chili coral is quite a difficult coral to keep alive in most cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 really? i asked john how often they come in and he said fairly regularly so i thought i would pick one up later, i need to try and get on top of the diatom algae as well and i figure feeding the sun coral will only add to the nutrient excess at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 I'll do my best - the fact that it definitely eats ReefRoids is encouraging - and facinating to watch - it 'grabs' them out of the waterflow just as vigourously as the sun corals getting shrimp, them re-extends its polyps looking for more. Very cool to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 really? i asked john how often they come in and he said fairly regularly so i thought i would pick one up later, i need to try and get on top of the diatom algae as well and i figure feeding the sun coral will only add to the nutrient excess at the moment He mentioned to me that most people he thinks would be interested in maintaining Sun Corals already have one now, so he might not order any more for stock - although I'm sure he would order you one in if you really wanted one. You are probably right - get your tank right first, but you are going to have to work out how to maintain it with higher food input anyway once you have the sun coral - which really comes down to nutrient export - skimming and water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 very true, i think part of the problem is 'new tank syndrome', i was kindly given some snails on the weekend so i'm going to see how they help with the excess diatoms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Ask John for a scoop of random critters as well - bristle worms, pods, etc will definitely help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2007 So, as a bit of an update, I've now removed all of the Bio-filter ceramic tubes as well - they may not collect muck, but the mesh bag they are in does and it is a pain to access and clean. There is now a definite increase in through-flow, so much so I've had to drop the intake gate to allow enough water through to stop the pumps cavitating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 Yes, sorry TheConch, I screwed up and made my previous post look like I was talking about the sun coral, which I think everyone knows is non photosynthetic, actually I was talking about the chili coral, so have edited my previous post to make this clear. Turns out the chili coral is quite a difficult coral to keep alive in most cases. Hmmm... so I got up early this morning and discovered that the Chilli inflates to nearly twice its day time volume at night, with super-extended polyps - and the coolest thing is that you can see the food in them (the 'stalks' are transparent when fully extended). Will try and get photos, but it retracts when the lights go on. It is definitely carnivorous :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Can you ID the food? If that were known a person could figure out wether to have one or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Judging by the colour, it is almost certainly ReefRoids (I've been direct feeding it) + perhaps a bit of mashed brine shrimp (spillage from feeding the Sun Corals). It also seems to 'get interested' when I clean the brown diatoms off the glass, so maybe it will eat any small organism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Well finally lost this little piece. For a while it seemed like it was doing OK and stretching it's tentacles out looking like a proper anemone. But the base was never right I don't think there was enough basal tissue for it to regrow properly. Then it looked poorly for a couple of days and then i got up in the morning and it was a lump of jelly i think an infection got it. The two main splits are doing good though one is still in my tank and the other one is living a in a RSM now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish-unit Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 doing very well aswell thankyou! will get a pic u asap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Wow that was a fast reply, by the time i got to look at my post you had already replied to it! I was at Origin Aquatics today & they have an anemone living in a RSM, it's a rose BTA very pretty, and looks as happy as. Looking at the specs and design of the RSM I think this type of tank is actually a very good environment for a BTA anemone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted October 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 It is a sad day in tHEcONCH's RSM - Thermal, the Flame Angel, has gone to the big reef in the sky - no obvious injuries or sickness, just dead. Water parameters were / are spot on. Amanda-rin the Mandarin fish (don't ask me - my Wife names the fish) is fine. Green algae has started to sprout from various nooks and crannies - just goes to show how much of it Thermal ate. Bummed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted October 7, 2007 Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 Sorry about your angel You do have an amazing tank Caper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 sorry to hear that conch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 How's the temperature been on these warmer days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I guess that may have been the problem - everything else was ok (but measured after the fact), but it generally hovers around 27 degrees. I've just fitted the extra cooling fan in anticipation of a hot summer, so it is now gone cold and raining cats and dogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 my tank got up to 27.9 degrees the other day before i realised, i try to keep the tank at 25 degrees but im wondering whats going to happen over summer. Whats the upper safe limit for a reef tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 About 28, I think - some real reefs are actually hotter, but of course it is near constant and everything has adapted to that heat - I think heat variation/spikes are more of a problem than the actual heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 All the organisms have different tolerances but in an average mixed reef tank you will be starting to look at problems once it gets over 30, and maybe lower than that, depending. Every summer since I have been reading this forum, we get a few people posting that they have fish starting to "flick" against the rocks, and showing the odd whitespot. Sometimes also looking a bit stressed. This is often the first warning that temperature has been creeping up a bit high sometimes. A good cheapy way to keep things cool over summer is a fan over the tank pointing at the water surface, either a small household type fan available for very little $$ at the warehouse, or for something a bit more compact one of those computer type fans from somewhere like jaycar. It is quite surprising how much cooling a fan directed at the water surface can do. Put this on a timer from foodtown to come on during the danger period, and you have tank cooling in place for 50 bucks or so. I have 2 fans pointing at the water surface, set so they will churn the surface a bit when they come on, this makes the best cooling. They are turned on or off by a temperature controller when the tank gets a bit warm. As a backstop there is a chiller, set to come on 1/2 a degree higher than when the fans come on, but it is rarely used even though the room the tank is in often hits 35 on a summer day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Thats great advice wasp i will look at doing that. What are you using to get the fan to switch on at a certain temp? I'm running built in hood lights so there wont be much room between the water surface and the hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Thats great advice wasp i will look at doing that. What are you using to get the fan to switch on at a certain temp? I'm running built in hood lights so there wont be much room between the water surface and the hood. The fans are turned on or off by a thing called a temperature controller, available from the shops or importers if you know them. A typical unit will cost 2 or 3 hundred $$, it is a box with a circuit board and which sits outside the tank. A probe from it hangs inside the tank and monitors temperature. It will have several standard outlet plugs on the box, into which you can plug you fans, heater, or whatever you want it to control. It is programable so you can set it to turn each individual thing on and off at whatever temperature you set. So a temperature controller is the ultimate but if it's beyond the budget a timer to control the fans is second best, cost about 9 bucks at the supermarket and certainly better then having nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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