more questions

[Lynn]

Have a few more questions here, if you have a moment.
#1. Do you turn your pumps off to feed?
#2. Can I leave the lights on in the daytime and then have night lights (actinic?) on a timer for at night?
#3. How much heat comes off of MH lights? Can they sit right on the glass top?
#4. I've gathered that a cal reactor is the best way to go? what workload does this intail.
#5. What is meant by tube feeding your anemon
#6. I know that several books have been mentioned that are excellent, I went to 2 book stores today and some pet stores here...nothing. I'll order it from amazon books on the net. I would like a book that has a colorphoto of every species and tell about the hardiness, feed habits, light requirements etc. ??? thanks

 

[gnx87]

#1 this is at your preference, i do not turn mine off
#2 i suppose you could, or you could just get dimmer for you moon light effect.
#3ALOT of heat comes off metal halides, if you put your metal halids on top of the glass in your hood make sure you have 1 powerfull fan at each end of you box to dissapate the heat.

 

[Luna Sea]

Heh Lynn,

#1. Depends on amount of current, whether fish gets most of food before it gets sucked up by filtration. Small tanks, I would say yes to turning off pumps, for the fact that you want to minimize waste(food can get stuck in crevices, etc...) and one should not totally rely on skimmer/bio to clean uneaten food. Large tanks don't have the same problems as small tanks(large volume of water/more bio/usually better skimmer). In my tank, I turn off the two top powerheads in wavemaker before feeding. In doing so, my fishes are acclimitized to when feeding will commence and they quickly jet to the top of tank waiting for their meals(greatly enjoy seeing them do that).

#2 Don't see a problem but why leave on actinic while sleeping(bulb will wear out faster and increase electric bill).

#3 Very very hot(meaning, do not touch unless you want third degree burn). And I would not recommend having metal halide resting on glass because it might shatter it and also intensity/effectiveness of halide is greatly reduced.

#4 Don't have one but will soon need one when upgrading to 360 gal. tank. Heard/read very good results once functioning properly.

#5 Not quite sure but I guessing it might deal with having a hard plastic tube attached to syringe filled with food and feeding anemone with it.

#6 My fix on whether you want to be very knowledgeable on maintaining/keeping reef is to search web/this forum. With new technologies and methods arising daily/monthly, most books are quickly outdated. Let's not say that all book are of no use. I have a small collection of books that have satisfied me(the reef aquarium vol 1, sorry disappointed in vol 2, the modern aquarium, the giant clams). I haven't quite recently look at new books because I now count on experience and expertly advice from this forum. For me, books are great for illustrations and classifications of corals. I think the reef aquarium vol 3/the modern aquarium has nice illustrations and what you're looking for but they come at a price.

Hope this helps and goodluck!

Lunasea

 

[Anonymous]

I feed my anemones by hand,being careful not to be stung. But you are far from being ready to keep an anemone. The other questions are answered well.

I think we all want that book you speak of,but it hasn't been written yet.

GL

Dan

 

[Anonymous]

#4 a calc reactor may be the best way to go, but maybe not the easiest at the moment. check out B-ionic. it's a bottle of calc/alk that you can use until you get ready for another learning curve.

 

[Mabu]

What kind anemone are you feeding to avoid being stung? I touch mind all the time... not sure that their sting is even worth worrying about...

 

[kipreefer]

I have never been stung by an anenome either. But i learned that an anenome lets loose lots of these sperm cell lookin gthings that act as barbs and injected teh stinging toxins. So i am guessing we can get stung just as easy as a fish.