Our Tbs

[patsan]

Brian, where do you get something like this? It's awesome!

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
1. i think that may be sinularia sp. nice looking coral i was wanting a frag for th longest time, but now i have no room

3. yes you have

Hum...I'll have to look into sinularia...it POPS under the actinics whatever it is

Actually, your picture looks a lot more like the fourth picture I posted, which I didn't make clear are a different colony of zoas from picture #3. The ones with the cup corals in the picture are different and other than where I got the frag from, I've never seen them anywhere else. I'm sure someone else has them, I've just never seen them named on zoamania, reefermadness, reefcental, etc.

B.

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by patsan
Brian, where do you get something like this? It's awesome!

I had an old Maxijet 600 laying around and a local fellow reefer traded me for a colt coral, that green frag and the zoas in the last picture I posted. Who got the better end of that deal? I tried to offer him more, but he thought he was getting a great deal.

But, I don't know about online, and it sounds like we need to decide if it is a green kenya tree or sinularia, I'm going to try to research that this weekend, after I swap out my old sump for a new one and make new frag plugs

B.

[bstear]

I agree it won't hurt to put in Garlic. Yeah Tangs once they get older might be more Carnivorous but make sure to give them some veggie sheets. They eat em up. Best way is to just get a clip and put a couple of sheets in per day. The frozen food , Formula 1 for example has some spirilina in it but I would also supplement the sheets. I look forward to seeing pics of whatever tang you get and see how everything goes for you. I just love tangs. Love Puffers too but can't get any until I get another tank setup for FO

[phil519]

I swear - everytime I see another coral or frag - it *just* so happens my wife is walking by. "What's that? we should get that!".

"Yes dear..."

So...are kenya trees hard to keep? moderate? I guess it's all relative but if I said Zoas are easy - and hammers/frogspawn less easy...would you drop the kenya in as "easy" or "less easy". I dunno if I'm making sense. It's friday so I get some slack!

[patsan]

Originally posted by phil519
I swear - everytime I see another coral or frag - it *just* so happens my wife is walking by. "What's that? we should get that!".

"Yes dear..."

So...are kenya trees hard to keep? moderate? I guess it's all relative but if I said Zoas are easy - and hammers/frogspawn less easy...would you drop the kenya in as "easy" or "less easy". I dunno if I'm making sense. It's friday so I get some slack!

I believe they are really easy to keep Phil. It's one of the beginner corals. Moderate to high light and flow. I wish I could find one with that color like Brian posted...I've only seen the tan and brown ones so far. That's why I didn't know what it was.

When I do get a tang, I'll be sure to show a picture of it. Thanks for all your help!

[Nirol]

got the percs in Qt... immediately ate some frozen brine...They are tank raised false percs...I'll post pics when I can

ps my two condys have decided to move again to the back of the tank under the rocks... can't see them there darn it!

[phil519]

thanks for the info pat.

Since we're showing actinic pics - here's a pic of the "brain-like" coral that came with TBS. This is the same one that had the big hole in the middle before...

Before...(regular lights)


Several months later...


Pretty hardy I must say.

[phil519]

Okay - some chaeto I ordered just arrived. The reefer also sent me some freebie mushroom (s?) and single zoanthids (nothing attached - apparently the stuff was in his fug).

I was concerned because I noticed what appeared to be flatworms on the shroom. The lugol dip took quick care of them.

Here's my question. What to do about the chaeto? I suspect that if the worms were on the shroom - there may be some in the chaeto (or is that not a logical deduction?). Do I dip the chaeto? If I do that do I not effectively kill the pods and bristle worms (some of which I can clearly see) in the chaeto?

Any advice is appreciated.

[patsan]

I don't have a fuge so I really don't know the answer to that, but I would also think the flatworms would be in there too. Do you have flatworm exit? You could use that rather than the Lugols.

As far as the mushroom and zoanthid....you said you did the dip on them already. Put them into QT to make sure there aren't any more. Also get a magnifying glass and check them out better with that. You can glue the zoa onto a piece of rubble rock with some superglue gel if you want to.

[H2OLUVSME]

Phil - i dont like putting glue on the flesh of corals, so i usually put them in a tupperware container in the fuge. its low enough flow that they stay in the container and will attach to the rubble or crushed coral that is in with them. then i just glue the CC or wedge it into a rock.

with mushrooms i usually just mash them into a crevice in a rock. most of the time (80%+) they stay, but sometimes the get pushed away by the current if its too high of flow. my success rate is high enough (and i dont worry about shrooms too much) that i wont change this routine with them. the zoas i continue to have success with the tupperware method, as well as other softies (leathers, etc..)

the kenya tree, i would say, falls between shrooms and hammers. its definatly more hardy then any LPS. i keep my in moderate light and low to moderate flow and they seem to do very well. ive only seen them in white and brown/tan which is why i think Brian's may be sinularia. its hard to tell with the polyps open, much less with them closed under actinic light, but the green sinularia or green kenya tree is a good find either way.

[H2OLUVSME]

Phil OMT, are the flatworms the white ones or the little red squares?

i wouldnt worry too much about the white ones as they are actually pretty good scavengers. the red ones are the ones that mass pruduce and take every thing over. ive had flatworms (white ones) a few times in a few different tanks. they never seem to take over or bother anything. i dont know if they produce slow or just are controlled naturally by the shrimp and crabs. i know my 6-line loved them, but he has since been banished. something is still keeping them in control in my tank. i think its a lot like the brislte worms. they will only over populate and cause problems if there is way too much extra food and detritus, otherwise they have no reason to mass produce

[H2OLUVSME]

Phil Melev has a description of the white flat worms as "benign" on the bottom of this page.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/kritter2.html

[phil519]

Sorry -what does OMT stand for?

Anyway the flatworms are little black things - rectangular in shape. When I took the ziplock bag out there were several that were on the water "surface" - as if trying to escape. Similar to how when I received the TBS there were all these mini-stars and what not on the bag itself.

Dipping it in lugols caused the little guys to curl up and croak. I also did a FW dip for good measure. My salifert flatworm exit is on order.

So unfortunately they are not "white". Maybe it's the lighting and perhaps they are red - but it's definitely dark in color. I did not see any in the bag with the chaeto but that doesn't mean there aren't any.

[H2OLUVSME]

OMT = one more thing

if they arent white i wouldnt put them in the tank. ive never seen the red ones in person so i couldnt tell you how "dark" they are.

if you dip the chaeto you will loose all of the critters, but it will be repopulated from pods in your current fuge/tank in no time.

[patsan]

I got an email back from Chad about the clownfish I got from him. He said they get both true and false. He believes he sent me trues, but can't be 100% sure. I was thinking they were true percs because they look identical to the true's we have in the other tank.

[phil519]

i'm off to n y aquaria...heard good reviews about the store. I'll take some pics and (if it's okay by the owner) - post a few here for y'all in long island to look at. Who knows - maybe it'll be comparable with pw.

[krajacich]

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
i know my 6-line loved them, but he has since been banished.

Landon- why did you banish your 6-line?

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by krajacich
Landon- why did you banish your 6-line?

he picked my RG until it wouldnt come out any more. she eventually died

[drk70]

Originally posted by garagebrian
I was playing around with my camera last night, here are a couple of my corals under actinics:

Brian - Are you running only actinic bulbs with those pictures?

My actinic bulb comes on with others and I'm wondering if I am missing out on something. I have 2 blue plus bulbs that come on by themselves and those make my corals glow but everyone talks about actinic bulbs and I see how it is making yours stand out.

[phil519]

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
Phil - i dont like putting glue on the flesh of corals, so i usually put them in a tupperware container in the fuge. its low enough flow that they stay in the container and will attach to the rubble or crushed coral that is in with them. then i just glue the CC or wedge it into a rock.

with mushrooms i usually just mash them into a crevice in a rock. most of the time (80%+) they stay, but sometimes the get pushed away by the current if its too high of flow. my success rate is high enough (and i dont worry about shrooms too much) that i wont change this routine with them. the zoas i continue to have success with the tupperware method, as well as other softies (leathers, etc..)
.

Thanks for the tips. I've been carefully QTing the shroom after the dip and have not seen any further unknown hitchers. One of them appears to fluoresce under the actinics...(i'm like "sweet").

Dennis - I think when someone says "actinics" - one needs to judge the pic with the following grains of salt: Are we talking PC, VHO or T5 actinic? Also sometimes the picture doesn't really capture the brilliance of seeing it in person - and hence some photoshoping is done. Finally - there is certainly an "age" factor on the bulbs. I'd guess brand new actinics would really light up compared with older ones.

Pat - I swung by N Y Aquaria in mamaroneck. It's a hike to get to (relatively speaking) and though I like the stuff there - I can't say it's one of those places where you'd make road trip out of it. They had some decent sized hammers, frogspawns and various other corals. Some sps frags as well. Oh and some pretty clams. The fish weren't all great but I imagine that is cyclical (shipment in, shipment gone etc.). They were stocked on various snails, cukes, crabs etc. so that was a plus. Overall the store made me pause to consider whether purchasing the corals direct from them was better than online. I'm debating it in my head. Quite a few items had "sold" written on the tanks which is kinda cool because it says to me he'll keep it for a few days to ensure survival. Oh and the building collapse wasn't near me. Thanks for asking!

[patsan]

Originally posted by phil519
I think when someone says "actinics" - one needs to judge the pic with the following grains of salt: Are we talking PC, VHO or T5 actinic? Also sometimes the picture doesn't really capture the brilliance of seeing it in person - and hence some photoshoping is done. Finally - there is certainly an "age" factor on the bulbs. I'd guess brand new actinics would really light up compared with older ones.

Does it really make a difference with different type lights? If so, what would that difference be? I was thinking after seeing Brian's picture that I need to get myself some actinic bulbs for my T-5 setup so mine would pop like that. I believe I only have one "actinic" bulb now...with the rest being true blues, blue+ and daylight.

How did you make out at NY Aquaria today?

[H2OLUVSME]

i read some where that the actinics dont really flux with age. they are at such an extreme end of the spectrum tha they dont loose much even with high percentages of change. i think it was Ash (the icecap rep) that posted you never need to change actinics unless for personal preference.

i do however agree that photoshopping, a cameras settings, the ambiaent light, the type pf bulb, and more are all factors in how much a coral "pops" under actinic.

[H2OLUVSME]

Pat i dont know how T-5's compare to VHO and PC but my VHO actinics are a considerable amount more intense than my PC bulbs.

[patsan]

Originally posted by phil519
They had some decent sized hammers, frogspawns and various other corals. Some sps frags as well. Oh and some pretty clams. Overall the store made me pause to consider whether purchasing the corals direct from them was better than online.

You were there and didn't get anything? If I saw some decent size corals I wanted, I wouldn't have been able to pass it up....especially being cheap and not having to pay shipping charges!

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
Pat i dont know how T-5's compare to VHO and PC but my VHO actinics are a considerable amount more intense than my PC bulbs.

Hmm...I wonder if there's a way we could find out. If it really makes that much of a difference, I would get some of those bulbs for sure.

Does anyone know anything about these? Moonlights
I don't have blue lights set up in my hood currently, and don't have moonlights, and thought these might be a nice thing instead of having my lights go from bright to off just like that.