new reefer here...some pics of my tank

[dailydriven911]

Here are some pics of my tank...

specs and inhabitants...

25g eclipse tank w/ built in filtration and biowheel (removed lid for lighting upgrade.
Sunpaq p.c. retrofit kit 2x65 watt half actinic half 10k 5 watts per gallon
2 powerheads and eclipse built in powerhead
catalina 200w heater w/ temp control
esu digital temp w/ external probe
led moonlight
coralife power tap with digital timer
30+ lbs live rock
20lbs live sand/15 lbs carribean coral sand
xenia, 1 flowerpot, green star polyps, 1 lobo brain, 1 toadstool, 1 small kenya tree frag, ricordia florida, hairy mushrooms
bleached bubbletip anenome (trying to save)
1 yellow striped maroon clown
1 false lemonpeel angel
1 psychodelic green mandarin
1 cleaner shrimp
1 banded shrimp
1 choc starfish
10-15 blue leg hermits
15 turbo snails
2-3 white crabs (not sure what species)
more corals to come....

temp 80-81.5 degrees, ph 8.4, salinity/sg 36/1.026
20% water changes weekly no skimming yet. Dose c-balance daily and iodine daily. Add 1/4 gallon r/o water daily and test water every week or so.

 

[bleedingthought]

Wow, looking good!

Is that a lemonpeel angel? :?

 

[dailydriven911]

false lemonpeel looking to nip, toadstool, and pic of shelving

 

[dailydriven911]

yes it is sort of, it's actually a false lemonpeel. Thanks btw!

 

[Anonymous]

Looks beautiful! Love the BTA!

 

[bleedingthought]

Yeah, the BTA is gorgeous. What kind is it again?

 

[Meloco14]

All bubbletip anemones are the same species, Entacmaea quadricolor. The rose ones are just a rare color morph. The one you see above, as mentioned in the original post, is bleached. This is done by the collectors or wholesalers/retailers in order to make a sale. It is a harmful practice that should not be supported. As the op mentioned, he is trying to save it. Luckily bleached anemones will commonly survive, but they will not remain bleached in color. They will slowly regain their natural color as they get healthier and back to normal.

dailydriven, you have a very nice setup. How long have you had the mandarin? Is he eating frozen food?

 

[dailydriven911]

well thanks I guess. It has green irredescent tips and eats regulary so hopefully it's doing okay. My clown loves it and feeds it often. It never moves (the bta) and appears to be gaining more color. I think I may have bought it bleached and I'm not sure what the exact species of bta it is.

 

[bleedingthought]

Missed the bleached part. But wait, if people are doing something to the livestock you're purchasing, which is harming it, why would you pay for it and bring it home? :roll:

It's like cutting a puppy ear off to try to make a sale... :?

Still, great setup!!! How old is it?

 

[dailydriven911]

All bubbletip anemones are the same species, Entacmaea quadricolor. The rose ones are just a rare color morph. The one you see above, as mentioned in the original post, is bleached. This is done by the collectors or wholesalers/retailers in order to make a sale. It is a harmful practice that should not be supported. As the op mentioned, he is trying to save it. Luckily bleached anemones will commonly survive, but they will not remain bleached in color. They will slowly regain their natural color as they get healthier and back to normal.

dailydriven, you have a very nice setup. How long have you had the mandarin? Is he eating frozen food?

Wow, thank you for clarifying! I'm new to the reef scene so I appreciate all the help I can get. I've had the mandarin for about 3 weeks and so far so good. He eats mysis and brine shrimp on occasion. I didn't want to purchase him because I know they could starve to death but I had so many copepods and bugs all over my rocks and sand so I don't think he will run out anytime soon. I would like to eventually create a refugium under the existing tank so he will have a constant supply of food. Thanks for the help again!

 

[dailydriven911]

Missed the bleached part. But wait, if people are doing something to the livestock you're purchasing, which is harming it, why would you pay for it and bring it home? :roll:

It's like cutting a puppy ear off to try to make a sale... :?

Still, great setup!!! How old is it?

I understand, I got it for $30 and I was a little misinformed from the place I bought it from. I usually go to a store that specializes in reef aquariums and bought the bta in hopes of saving my clowns fins which actually worked. I've had the tank for almost four months now. Let it cycle for about 2-3 weeks before addinfg any fish. I actually started with the shrimp, starfish, yellow-tail damsel, six-line and a coral beauty. They were thriving and getting along very well. My heater was varing in temp almost 4-5 degrees and so I opted to buy a catalina. I put in and for some reason it must of had to calibrate itself and dropped from 80 degrees to 70 degrees overnight killing all my fish. I then added the current fish a couple weeks later after everything stablized.

 

[Anonymous]

Make sure you feed the BTA. Bleached is bad. If it does not start to color up their is a good chance you will loose it.

 

[Anonymous]

I doudt it was actually dipped in bleached. It has expelled all of its photosysthetic stuff. Sorry for the non-technical term, but I know I can not spell the correct term. Try feeding it pieces of shrimp or silversides.

Your tank is not big enough for a mandarin without a large refurium. You will be surprised at how fast it will got through the pods in your tank.

 

[dailydriven911]

Thanks for the tips. I've been feeding it pieces of shrimp, krill, and reef cubes. The bta is looking better, it's tentacles are greener and it grabs the food and it sticks to the tentacles, it didn't before. As far as the mandarin goes yes I need a refugium or a larger tank

 

[Meloco14]

Yeah, I forgot to mention to make sure you feed the anemone. The bleaching means there is little to no photosynthetic algae to provide energy, so it needs to be fed hearty food for it to survive. Try using pieces of fresh fish or raw unpeeled shrimp from the market. Hold it lightly against the anemone and see if it will grab it. If it does, it is hopefully strong enough to feed. If it doesnt, gently hold the food against its mouth until it takes it in. It might take a few days for it to accept the food. Once you get it feeding I would feed it at least every other day until it regains all of its color. Once it is healthy again, you should still feed it but you can cut back to a few times a week.

I am glad to hear the mandarin is eating mysis and brine. The psychadelic mandarins are notorious for not eating dead food. Eating frozen will increase its chance to survive in that tank. I would add a refugium as soon as you can. Until then, you can create a "pod pile" in your tank. Just take a few pieces of live rock rubble and creat a loose pile on the sand bed somewhere. This will give a little refuge where pods can live and reproduce in relative saftey. You can even cover it in a loose netting to prevent fish from getting in there. In case you haven't heard, brine shrimp have little to no nutritional value, unless they have just hatched. So if you buy brine shrimp make sure you buy the kind that has been enriched with vitamins, or you can soak them in vitamins yourself. It is a good idea to soak all your frozen food in vitamins anyway. Mysis are a much better way to go. Try to feed your mandarin every day with mysis until you can get an established refugium and a good supply of live pods. Good luck

 

[dailydriven911]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[SnowManSnow]

will food "stick" to the anemone when you feed it?

if so.. its a good sign

 

[dailydriven911]

Thanks for the tips. I've been feeding it pieces of shrimp, krill, and reef cubes. The bta is looking better, it's tentacles are greener and it grabs the food and it sticks to the tentacles, it didn't before. As far as the mandarin goes yes I need a refugium or a larger tank

Yes...

 

[jumpincactus]

Another sign you can use as a barometer on the state of condition of anenomes is , they will travel around the tank if they are un happy. They will vagabond around until they find a spot that suits them.

They are known to throw off thier zooanthalea accoasionally as mentioned before but sounds to me it is coloring up again and doing well.