Becoming Salty! And Lighting Questions

[bmarine]

So I recently acquired a saltwater tank from a friend of mine. It's my first time getting into saltwater and I'm quite excited! It is a globe tank with a diameter of about 18 inches. I'm guessing its about 15 gallons. It has a percula clown fish, a pistol shrimp, 2 snails, and some various corals including:
A sun polyp
A green star polyp
A candy cane coral
and 3 other kinds of zoas I believe.

Now for the questions
I recently purchased the AI Prime for the tank. Now the instructions to set it up are awful, and I have no idea on the spectrum for each kind of bulb in there and how long the lights should be on. Could someone give me a good idea of what percentage each of the bulbs should be on? And how long the light itself should stay on?

Also, any important information I should know about the corals? The sun polyp seems to be hiding a lot.

Finally, the tank was infested with aiptasia. I used Aiptasia X And seemed to have killed off most of it, but it always seems to grow back. Any ways to completely eradicate it?
Thanks!

 

[bribo12]

No clue on the ai lighting schedule as I've never used one but you want it about 75% blue and 25% a white.

Sun polyps are non photosynthetic and need to be fed. Check them after lights out. They should be open then


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[Sniperhank]

Sun polyps also like lower flow areas.
As for the aiptasia, continue with the aiptasia x. In infested tanks it can take time to get rid of them all.


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[bmarine]

I'm still trying to figure out all the settings for the Prime. Is there a good spectrum/intensity that would be best for corals?

 

[parsons328]

You'll want to have an actinic 420k rating and maybe a 10-15k bulb depending on what you like. As for a aipstisa, you could look into a file fish. I have had great success with them. Mine loves to eat aipstisa.


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[parsons328]

File fish acting camera shy.

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[Marty.h]

I tried two file fish the first was aptasia safe and coral safe the second went for my acans so they got removed.

I then tried a copperband that got battered by the powder blue so that died the powder blue then died from whitespot so once fallow was over tried another copperband that decided it liked my tracky and acans but in the process it showed my Regal tang how to chomp corals and that proceeded to throw my acans around the tank so both the Regal and copperband got removed.

I then tried 4 pepermint shrimps they unfortunately got battered by the 6 cleaner shrimps that are in there.

I just use apti x now as and when I see one and gave up trying to keep things that will eat aptasia.

 

[fish wrangler]

For a 15 gallon tank a few peppermint shrimp might be a good idea. I know the last one I had cleared my aipista problem in no time.

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[bmarine]

Alright, so after finally making some more sense of the Prime software, I have a photoperiod that starts at about 6500k at 10:00 AM, and switches to being about 14000k by 4:30 PM With the lights going to lunar by 9:30 PM. This was done because I read that 6500k is the best for growing corals, and about 20,000k is the best for color. So I'm hoping to get a good mix of growth and color. I placed the Sun coral down in between some rocks so it is in a shadier place with less flow. It is coming out and looking good!j

 

[Sniperhank]

Great in terms if the sun coral. Make sure you are keeping it fed often. One piece of mysis, for example, per head will keep it alive. You don't want to foul up your water as parter issues will cause it's downfall.

As for the aiptasia, keep down the path that's working. Don't add livestock to address a problem as once it is gone you'll need to supply the food to keep it alive. Always a poor choice, even if you can take it back all that moving can be stressful and kill a fish...that and filefish are not reef safe.

 

[parsons328]

What makes file fish "not" reef safe? I've had mine for a little over 2yrs. Haven't touched any coral. Eats mysis when offered. Is there a particular coral that they will pick at?


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[bmarine]

Yeah, I think I will just stick with the Aip X, I just was curious if there was some more effective method. Do you guys think those lights/that spectrum will work well? Will I be able to tell this from the reactions of the corals? Any other advice as far as corals/lighting goes?

 

[Sniperhank]

The AI prime you have should let you keep whatever you want. It'll just take adjusting...sadly I have no working experience with AI products.
As for the filefish, they have a likelihood to each polyps from sps, holes through clam mantles and Lps. Doesn't always happen, but it is a likely outcome.


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[bmarine]

Thanks for the responses. Continuing to kill off aiptasia, and have recently added some more corals, including a few more zoas and a nice Duncan. I've also added a Hector's Goby and a Royal Gramma. Now the questions:
Will the royal gramma come out of the rocks and swim around more when it gets comfortable in the tank? Also, are there any other good top swimming fish that I could get in the tank?
Secondly, what are your guys' opinions on Reef Roids?
And finally, One of my zoas doesn't ever seem to be coming out, but all the other ones are doing fine and seem happy? Is there a reason for this? Any good ways to coax it to open up?

 

[bribo12]

My gramma comes out around feeding or if I'm near the tank. Otherwise she is chilling on top of the zoas at the entrance to her cave. I've had her about a year and a half now and while I wouldn't call her shy they're just more reclusive fish.

I use reef Roids maybe once a week in a broadcast feed. I like to think it helps but who knows lol.


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[bmarine]

Update:
I was able to get the AI Prime on a good photoperiod, and also they upgraded their app, so it is much easier to use!

Tank update:
Total stock list is now:
2 Occi clowns
1 Hector's Goby
1 Royal Gramma
2 Zebra Leg Hermits
1 Pistol Shrimp
3 snails
1 Emerald Crab

and quite a few corals.

now dealing with dinoflagellates....what a pain...