discharge! (Podman's thread)

[Anonymous]

HA!

You fell for the old hidden link bit and got sucked up top side!

Now before you go scuttleing back down there, help a brother out...

I had bought a biocube but I really disliked the look of it and saw a 34g Solana on my local reefer board for a couple bills. It had a terrible PC light setup so I just robbed the HQI setup from the biocube.

Now about a week later and another couple hundred shelled out, I now have the old familiar rattling of powerheads.. I got me some powerful light feeding the certain impending algae bloom and a fishy smell from uncured LR in my living room. My wife is ecstatic.. not.

I don't know if it is because I was not what I consider successful at keeping anemones or if I have been away so long that I want the typical newbie setup but that is why I am setting up again.
I want a large Ritteri and a couple all black ocellaris clowns. I will undoubtedly put something else in there along the way but this tank is primarily for these two animal species and anything else is secondary.

So I ask this... Is this tank appropriate for a Ritteri? I realize they get big but I don't plan on having much else in the tank. If it grew to a foot across I think there would be plenty of space left.

Also, are there any precautions I can take to ensure the anemone I do buy doesn't wander into trouble? This is my failure with every anemone save for one that I ever tried to keep.. they end up in a powerhead or in the sump.

 

[Anonymous]

:lol:

Sorry, I got nohin' though.

 

[Anonymous]

8) 8) 8) Bright up here.

 

[Anonymous]

Look! An Eagle!

 

[Anonymous]

I accidentally bought a ritteri once. It started to dissolve in my tank within the next day or two.

Get a nice captivity propagated bubble-tip. And a tube amp.

 

[Anonymous]

A ritteri want big flow and big light. Not sure that can be achieved with what you have. You would need at least a 250 watt halide and some more flow. Of course in a tank that size adding flow will be difficult without putting the nem in jeopardy. At some point that nem will take up the whole tank, there will be no more room for anything else.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok... no ritteri then.

I was actually wanting a large anemone and BTAs seem to get to about 5"at best before they split.

Crispa out of the question?

 

[Anonymous]

Ok... no ritteri then.

I was actually wanting a large anemone and BTAs seem to get to about 5"at best before they split.

Crispa out of the question?

My BTA is about 8" across. I've had BTAs that have gotten over 10" in diameter.

H. crispa are nice anemones. A bit more demanding of light and more likely to walk. Still a good anemone.

 

[Anonymous]

 

[Anonymous]

that looks awesome.. nice anthias too.

I am definately thinking BTA... forgot what a bear it is keeping a smaller tank.
Just keeping a livable specific gravity is ridonkulous.
At least BTAs are readily available in tank raised..It might make me feel less like a jerk if it all goes wrong.

Weird starting from scratch after several years.. makes me think of every newbie that complained their tank was doomed when mine seemed to do fairly well... I hope I have the luck I used to.
This stock skimmer isn't producing anything and the amount of funky stuff coming out of this rock should have it working overtime... hitting it with a baster about an hour ago I saw a dead bristleworm come out.. that should speak for some funk!

I put in a few hermits and a couple turbos yesterday.. they haven't died yet, so I got that going for me.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the kind words. I also have a small rose BTA.

You could try one of these maxi mini carpets. They stay small and are not as dangerous as regular carpets. The prices are good and the colors are crazy!

http://uniquecorals.com/default/stichod ... grade.html

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Do you want a sand bed in it or not?
With sand bed, you can keep a beautiful H. malu.

Here is a picture of mine, a pair purple is the female and the green is the male, in a 34 g Finnex tank before the tank crack. Now I have the green, lost the purple in the tank crack, in a 65 g tank. It was under a 150W DE MH.
The first picture was taken right after a spawn event. The female keep the eggs and take the sperm in for internal fertilization. Soon after this event, the stupid tank cracked over the weekend and I lost most of the tank but able to save the male anemone. This tank was in my office. I discover the wet and smelly mess on Monday morning.

 

[Anonymous]

Beautiful Nems!. How about a full tanks shot?

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Here is a FTS a few weeks ago of one of my tank. It house two H. malu and one S. gigantea and three S. tapetum and two E. quadricolor. The Equad are hiding in the back of the tank since it is a very bright tank lighted by 2X250 W DE MH. I have since remove the tile. All the anemones seem to have no problem living with each other. No carbon

 

[Minh Nguyen]

This is a 30 g tank with a small Magnifica in it. As you can guess, or see, the anemone cannot get to any of the PH without having to craw down to the sand or go sailing. The tank is been lid by 150W DE MH. The anemone is just right under the light which give it plenty of light and circulation is great. It would not want to go anywhere.
I can remove all the PH and replace it with a Vortech MP10 and it should provide enough flow and look a whole lot better.

Close up

 

[Minh Nguyen]

If you really search and know your animal well, you can keep these beautiful anemones in small tanks. For Gigantea and Magnifica it is best to use at least a 24X24X24. In a pinch 18X18X18 would do OK. Smaller cube require precise aqua-scape and precise placement of the anemone.

Here is another small tank for anemone, a 30 g cube with S. gigantea. FTS and some close up of the clowns and anemone with a huge nest of eggs.

I am in the process of setting up two 30X30X30 cube aquariums to keep my Magnifica and Gigantea. I will use and 24X24x24 for several H. malu. I hope I will be able to get my Gigantea and Malu to spawn in the not too distance future.

 

[Anonymous]

Absolutely beautiful Minh!

Those percs look healthy too.

Question...
Could you give me an idea of what your hardware is on that 30g and what your basic maintenance equates to?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the pics. Wonderful tanks.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Absolutely beautiful Minh!

Those percs look healthy too.

Question...
Could you give me an idea of what your hardware is on that 30g and what your basic maintenance equates to?

Thanks,
The Giganea is in a 30 gal Oceanic. I think the outer dimension is 18X18V20. I have CPR hang on skimmer on it. This is where I put the heater, keep tank at 84 degree, and run the skimmer relatively wet. I try to clean the pump every 2 weeks or so. I can see the flow is getting decrease due to algae and calcification by looking how much bubble/water flow in the bubble chamber of the skimmer. Circulation is only the skimmer output and an VorTech MP10 Reefcrest mode at 100%. It is lighted by a 150 W AquaSun light fixture with Odysea 14000K DE MH (cheap Chinese bulb).
There is a fan that turn on with the light to keep temperature from getting too hot. Since I keep the tank at 84 degree, Fan likely really does not needed.
I added Ca and Carb with three part additive from BRS. I use of of their kit Calcium Chloride, Sodium bicarbonate and Magnesium sulfate.

I change water about 10 gal (2 of the 200 g salt container) every 2 weeks or so. If I feed the anemone more, I change water more If I feed less than I change less, There are 4 fishes in the tank, two Onyx A. percula, a Marine Beta and a male green Mandarin. The clown get fed combination of flakes in AM and either Flakes or frozen Mysis in PM. I feed frozen mysis every other day for the Marine Beta. The mandarin just picks the rock and is doing very well. I have a thick layer of shell on the surface of fine sand to keep the sand from being kick up by the circulation, but also as pod breeding ground for the Mandarin. Previous experiences show that I can keep one healthy Mandarin like this if I don't add anything to compete with him for food. I feed the anemone a variety of sea food, but now rarely target feed him with anything. This Gigantea eat anything. Flakes, Mysis or any fish food that I added into the tank.

This setting is good for Gigantea. Also good for Magnifica, but the reef structure need to be different. Magnifica need a flat piece of rock right under the light. This structure need to be small enough so that the anemone cannot touch the side or get to the PH.

Hope this help. I would be happy to answer any additional question you may have.

 

[Anonymous]

two months in and I finally broke down and bought a fish.. couldn't pass him up. forgot how hard it is to take pic of these guys.