Please share your thoughts

[ozorowsky]

Here are photos of some corals I got for a good price at a local fish store today, as well as some I've obtained throughout the week.

Overall they look very healthy but please share your opinions, thoughts, etc.

I'm all ears to suggestions. Thank you.

 

[ozorowsky]

Here's the tank with the Lunar LED's only on; pic doesn't really do it justice though

 

[ozorowsky]

Do the corals look healthy to you? Do you think their placement is right? I'm just looking for opinions on what I'm not thinking about/missing to ensure my corals are healthy as possible.

Thank you.

 

[Leighton79]

I would personally have the euphylia that I think I can see on the bottom of the tank, that's if they are a torch and a branching hammer, can't tell for sure on the iPhone.

 

[ozorowsky]

I would personally have the euphylia that I think I can see on the bottom of the tank, that's if they are a torch and a branching hammer, can't tell for sure on the iPhone.

yep the hammer is in bottom center

 

[mr_X]

placement depends on your lighting and flow.

 

[ozorowsky]

placement depends on your lighting and flow.

Do the corals look healthy to you so far? how long should it typically take for the corals to bloom, open up and grow over the rocks?

 

[carey]

Depends on the light, flow and water quality. I have quite a few that showed immense growth in only a month or two. I also have some that are looking good but havent spread yet, like my candycanes. There are over 20 heads on it but no new growth. :-(

It could take several days after placing a new coral for it to "bloom" or open up, depends on the above as well.

 

[ozorowsky]

Depends on the light, flow and water quality. I have quite a few that showed immense growth in only a month or two. I also have some that are looking good but havent spread yet, like my candycanes. There are over 20 heads on it but no new growth. :-(

It could take several days after placing a new coral for it to "bloom" or open up, depends on the above as well.

Flow and water quality are near perfect. For what its worth, I'm starting to see the red coraline algae around my zoanthids, and they are creeping towards the edge of the stone theyre on so hopefully they will grow out on to my rock now.

My leather is fattened up and bloomed.

I have another coral I can't recall the name but it has overgrown the stone it was on from the shop and is spreading out on to the rock

My Green Mushroom is spotted a little for some reason, not sure whats going on with that one.

My Duncan opens up every day when the lights are on. Its brown when the lights are on, but green at night; though it closes up a lil at night.

My hammerhead is brown and looks like its doubled in size (in about a week) but also glows green at night and is brown during the day. The Hammer is far down in the tank not in direct sight of the halides.

Are the corals supposed to be colorful when the actinics and halides are on?

 

[carey]

I'vew noticed mine are most colorful with just the moonlights. BUT I think thats just the bulbs we have. SOme different color spectrum bulbs can make your corals more colorful during the day.

It sounds like yours are doing just fine. My duncan actually closes up into tiny little heads at night. lol

 

[ozorowsky]

I'vew noticed mine are most colorful with just the moonlights. BUT I think thats just the bulbs we have. SOme different color spectrum bulbs can make your corals more colorful during the day.

It sounds like yours are doing just fine. My duncan actually closes up into tiny little heads at night. lol

Weird. My duncan is super open at night. Do you think I should be dropping brine shrimp into the tank for the corals to eat? Do I just drop the shrimp in from the top let them land wherever?

What different color bulbs are you referring to? I'm running 8 36" actinics Currently for about 8 hours a day, and my 2 250w halidse for 4 hours.

One thing my mind is playing tricks with me is the lunar led's; My lunars are on the other 17 hours; I keep thinking thats going to KILL my electric bill but then I think about LED's don't burn much, then I worry aobut them burning out; lol Is it normal to run Lunars so much?

 

[carey]

I woudl run the lunars only when you are up at night, theres no real benefit to them, its just eye candy for the owner.

They make red and pruple bulbs which are supposed to bring out coral colors even more. When I get around to my bulb purchase I will adding two purple bulbs in place of 2 of my blue ones. I also have 12 bulbs to play with though. lol

As far as feeding corals thats up to the individual. I dont feed my corals except for my sun polyps since they NEED to be fed. Alot of people do feed them though and swear by it, some also never feed and sear by that too. It's just one of those opinion things. I do think brine might be too big though. I recently purchased some rods' coral food and feed that to my polyps and they seem to like it alot.

 

[ozorowsky]

I woudl run the lunars only when you are up at night, theres no real benefit to them, its just eye candy for the owner.

They make red and pruple bulbs which are supposed to bring out coral colors even more. When I get around to my bulb purchase I will adding two purple bulbs in place of 2 of my blue ones. I also have 12 bulbs to play with though. lol

As far as feeding corals thats up to the individual. I dont feed my corals except for my sun polyps since they NEED to be fed. Alot of people do feed them though and swear by it, some also never feed and sear by that too. It's just one of those opinion things. I do think brine might be too big though. I recently purchased some rods' coral food and feed that to my polyps and they seem to like it alot.

Ok, so I should just manually flip my Lunars off before I go to bed right?

Also, should I replace one of my actinics with a red and one with purple leaving only two actinics, one red, and one purple per fixture?

 

[carey]

Or get a cheap walmart timer. I picked up two yesterday for $4 each.

 

[ozorowsky]

Or get a cheap walmart timer. I picked up two yesterday for $4 each.

Yeah; I have the coralife timer, which I'm LOVING It handles the transitions for me; I just need to rig something up for the lunars: I guess I can do a two sided timer. Yeah; I think I'll go that route once I build my top.

Speaking of, I'm going to research canopy ideas now

 

[carey]

Good luck! You are ALWAYS up to something it seems LOL

 

[ozorowsky]

Good luck! You are ALWAYS up to something it seems LOL

Yeah; I wonder if I'm a lil OCD LOL. Canopy build will begin this weekend. I'll have pics up in the DIY section as I go along.

I always do this with a new hobby; research the crap outta it, master it then just maintain.

 

[carey]

Sounds like me. Probably why i make so many tanks. I just love to start from nothing and end up with something awesome. And I am OCD so that probably explains a lot with me. lol

 

[Leighton79]

Just to chime in on the Duncan front, mine are fully open 95% of the time, it's only when they are expelling waste that they retract. Day or night my duncans look huge...

 

[ozorowsky]

Just to chime in on the Duncan front, mine are fully open 95% of the time, it's only when they are expelling waste that they retract. Day or night my duncans look huge...

VERY nice! Do you still have your duncan glued to the stick thing the stores glue them to? It looks almost like yours is place right on the rock.

Can you share info on how old yours is?

Mine has a power head blowing on it constantly about a foot away, and is about 12" deep under lighting.

I run my halides 4 hours a day; think that is too much? Too little?

Thanks for sharing!