The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[shilala]

Your tank looks great, Brad. You should get a shipwreck or one of those diver guys that go up and down on bubbles, but aside from that, suhweet.
That thing is gonna be spilling over with corals in no time, I'm waiting to see how long it takes to get back to the 40.

[shilala]

Oh, Brad, I have some of that blue stuff like you have on the right. I just like it cause it's blue, and it grows all over Molasses Reef off Key Largo. It looks amazing waving around in the surge. It reminds me of the wind blowing the oats around out in the field.

[OLS]

It's funny when I look at those pics, I had dozens of rock rubble frags in my old tank, a few polyps of this
some of that. I remember now why I started that tank up against all the screaming inner voices against
it. I was gonna have a self-sustaining tank. When I needed salt, I was going to trade frags. New lamps,
frags. Fish Food...frags. But then I had the aiptasia outbreak and that all went to hell. You can't sell frags
when they all have aiptasia on em. I once told a guy he was FOS cause he told someone that they
were having aiptasia trouble because their water parameters were filthy. Apparently, and this is not the
first time this has happened, I WAS the one who was FOS. Less feeding and clean water and they just
died out. Or the shrimp all of a sudden just woke up and decided it DID eat aiptasia. Granted, I pulled out
almost all the rocks with aiptasia on em. But they can pop up anywhere at anytime. ANYWAY, all my frags
are clean now, I must have 6 green star polyp rocks in there, haha, and at least 5 of the Silver (purple) Muricea
gorgonians. I see green parazoanthus everywhere, too.

[shilala]

Do Star Polyps look like clove coral? Kinda like green grass in mats?

[Wolfgang]

yes sir. purple mat green extensions. CLoves are a little different but they are pretty close to the same.

[shilala]

Okay, another question...
How are polyps different than zoos?

[Wolfgang]

Zoos and Palythoas are polyps. Often referred to as a "sea mat" In most cases each individual organism is a polyp. This also includes the dots on hard coral SPS Small polyp stony or LPS Large polyp stony.

[shilala]

Marc, I think my problem and confusion comes from the fact that I'm not sure what constitutes a polyp.
I was thinking they were all flat like little upside-down bottle caps, but I guess they have all kinds of shapes and sizes, right?

[Wolfgang]

Yes they do have all shapes and sizes. The bottlecap looking ones are most likely zoanthids or palythoas. But most every form of coral has polyps.

below are 5 different kinds of coral in red are circled individual polyps. each polyp is its own organism and under the right circumstances can live on its own.

[shilala]

Thanks, Marc. That helps A LOT!!!
I think I have some palys and acans. No zoos, and that's what I like because of all the colors.
Are the first pic and the last pic acans?
I'm assuming a Kenya Tree is a softie, and frogspawn is an LPS? A gorgonian would be an SPS, right?
If I got all that right, I've come about 1000 miles in the last month. I learned lots of stuff, you're connecting all the dots for me.

[Wolfgang]

Originally Posted by shilala

Thanks, Marc. That helps A LOT!!!
I think I have some palys and acans. No zoos, and that's what I like because of all the colors.
Are the first pic and the last pic acans?
I'm assuming a Kenya Tree is a softie, and frogspawn is an LPS? A gorgonian would be an SPS, right?
If I got all that right, I've come about 1000 miles in the last month. I learned lots of stuff, you're connecting all the dots for me.

The first picture is of acans the last picture is of trumpet or candycane coral. both are LPS

Gorgonians fall into a different category because they dont create a hard calcified skeletal structure. They are actually sea fans.

Other than that you've got it down pat. One thing to differentiate zoos from pallys is the size. Palythoas are generally much larger the Zoanthids form more of a mat where you cant see their bases.

Side note: Be careful when handling zoanthids or palythoas. After fragging or even moving them be sure to scrub your hands and arms with soap under hot water. They are very poisonous if you rub your eye or eat food and this toxin gets into your body your boned. There is no antidote for them either. Easiest way is to just use latex gloves when fiddling with them.
This is meant for information only, dont be scared to hack apart a colony to send to your reef buddies.

[shilala]

I was showing the pics to Lisa this morning and caught that the last pic was an LPS.
We have a cow's tongue, a pretty big one, and I get that it's an SPS, but I can see it might fall into a different category cause the discs that resemble it move around the tank.
I'm getting there.
I have a book, it's called the 100 best corals and 33 bad ones, or something like that. I've been reading on it for awhile. I'm going to go back through the critters to further familiarize myself with what's what.

My new guts for my ro/di come in a day or two and I'm gonna be a mad water changer for the next month. I've also decided I'll completely quit using my diatom filter, as I think the silicates are what's driving my algaes.
For the first time in 14 or 15 years I'm starting to gain some confidence in this stuff, and all my critters are thriving. The ones I brought home that were all brown and nasty have gained some nice color, all except a radioactive eagle eye coach purse paly I bought. It was teenage girl raised, it'll take awhile to get it some color and move it up in the lights.
Another thing I found is that folks don't use lights as strong as me, or they don't tend to them like I do. I'm super anal about how clean they are and how clean my lids are and how new the bulbs are.
I had to move everything I got way down in the column, they couldn't stand the light.
I'm feeding live phytoplankton, frozen brine shrimp, and one of five other frozen foods daily. Soon I'll have live phyto that I grew and live brine shrimp (phyto packed) that I grew.
So things are just gonna get better as long as I can keep getting things to add up.
I just got the phytoplankton book I was waiting for, so we're moving ahead.
Thanks buddy!!!

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

The first picture is of acans the last picture is of trumpet or candycane coral. both are LPS

Gorgonians fall into a different category because they dont create a hard calcified skeletal structure. They are actually sea fans.

Other than that you've got it down pat. One thing to differentiate zoos from pallys is the size. Palythoas are generally much larger the Zoanthids form more of a mat where you cant see their bases.

Side note: Be careful when handling zoanthids or palythoas. After fragging or even moving them be sure to scrub your hands and arms with soap under hot water. They are very poisonous if you rub your eye or eat food and this toxin gets into your body your boned. There is no antidote for them either. Easiest way is to just use latex gloves when fiddling with them.
This is meant for information only, dont be scared to hack apart a colony to send to your reef buddies.

[OLS]

I would agree Scott, if you are getting stable, a diatom filter is useless. You are going to have a diatom bloom most times
that you dick with your sandbed or make major changes to something, but normally there should be imperceptible amounts
in the water column. I would think that diatoms are excellent food. Fanworms gotta eat, too. If the way the filter works
is giving you hair algae, haha, pull that junk.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by OLS

I would agree Scott, if you are getting stable, a diatom filter is useless. You are going to have a diatom bloom most times
that you dick with your sandbed or make major changes to something, but normally there should be imperceptible amounts
in the water column. I would think that diatoms are excellent food. Fanworms gotta eat, too. If the way the filter works
is giving you hair algae, haha, pull that junk.

I usually use a brush and gather up the hair algae when it gets bad enough. Then I hook up my diatom filter and scrub the water.
Another strategy is to leave the crap and let it tie up whatever nutrients it's tying up. That's what I'm gonna do for a bit.
I'm just gonna do water changes and be done stressing. Everything is doing great, the hair will be gone soon enough.
I got zero patience with it all. I just moved this tank from PA to OH in January. The weather was crazy cold and I had lots of die-back. I should be thanking God that I have anything left, rather than b1thching about doing as
well as I am.

[OLS]

I think I also confused Scott, I tend to call Protopalythoa by the name Parazoanthus. It has been a long time since
I cared about the nomenclature, lol. What I actually have is Protopalythoa. (And Zoanthids) HERE is a scary one for
you. What would you think if you saw THIS: (click pic from online, not my own)

I have some pest anemones that look ALOT like that, but I still think they were aiptasia and not NEOzoanthus,
as these are called. For sure not Majano. I am sure I have been killing aiptasia, based on how they multipled and where.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by OLS

I think I also confused Scott, I tend to call Protopalythoa by the name Parazoanthus. It has been a long time since
I cared about the nomenclature, lol. What I actually have is Protopalythoa. (And Zoanthids) HERE is a scary one for
you. What would you think if you saw THIS: (click pic from online, not my own)

I have some pest anemones that look ALOT like that, but I still think they were aiptasia and not NEOzoanthus,
as these are called. For sure not Majano. I am sure I have been killing aiptasia, based on how they multipled and where.

Those things are flat out hideous. Probably just cause they're colored like aiptasia, I suppose.

Originally Posted by OLS

I think I also confused Scott, I tend to call Protopalythoa by the name Parazoanthus. It has been a long time since
I cared about the nomenclature, lol. What I actually have is Protopalythoa. (And Zoanthids) HERE is a scary one for
you. What would you think if you saw THIS: (click pic from online, not my own)

I have some pest anemones that look ALOT like that, but I still think they were aiptasia and not NEOzoanthus,
as these are called. For sure not Majano. I am sure I have been killing aiptasia, based on how they multipled and where.

Aiptasia don't have the "mouth" that those things have. Majano don't either.
A clue about Aiptasia is that their common name is Glass Anemone. They can be very fast at reacting to touch and even a large one can disappear quickly. Zoas and Majanos are very slow by comparison.

I had star polyp almost take over my tank, then disappear suddenly. Then it was the Xenia, which is now ok. Now it's the Rhodactis (hairy mushrooms) that are taking over. These things would be $25 apiece at the LFS but I take them out and flush them down if ever I can pry one loose. They slowly carpet other things and the divide. Even funnier is he Sarcophytons (toadstool coral) that are going for $50 that are constantly dropping fingers that grow into new units. I throw these out sometimes too. I have a pineapple coral that is starting to overgrow everything around it but I don't care. I have no time to worry about the appearance of my tank now. Maybe sometime I will just turn all the top rocks to the bottom and let everything start back again and get some new stuff. Let the strong survive. My fish are doing fine. I wish I could work more on my tank.

[Wolfgang]

careful with the frozen foods. In most cases they are littered with nitrates and phosphates.
When your RODI stuff comes in i would recommend rinsing the frozen food in it to remove the nasties.

I always let the cubes thaw in a shot glass then moved it to a small fish net and ran freshwater over it. then into the tank it went. Turning your pumps and powerheads ff during feedings makes it easier to spot feed your inverts.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

careful with the frozen foods. In most cases they are littered with nitrates and phosphates.
When your RODI stuff comes in i would recommend rinsing the frozen food in it to remove the nasties.

I always let the cubes thaw in a shot glass then moved it to a small fish net and ran freshwater over it. then into the tank it went. Turning your pumps and powerheads ff during feedings makes it easier to spot feed your inverts.

Marc, I got those rubber gloves today at Target. It's a good idea, I'm tired of getting stung and burned every time I get in the tank. :d
I've thought about messing with the frozen food, and I'll start doing it if you think it matters, after this...
My tank is a 90 gallon. There is about 3-4 inches of crushed coral/sanded in there. There's easily 200 pounds of live rock, I'd be afraid to really know. The tank is full to the top, half way out to the front (and further). I estimate there's 40-50 gallons of water in there.
I change no less than 10 gallons of water a week. If I see any amount of particulate, I change 20. Now that it's settled from the move, I'll change 10 gallons a week from now to eternity.
With that amount of change, and so much stuff to feed wouldn't it be better to leave the goo?
Say the word and I'll get some real close fabric and strain it and rinse it before I add it to the phyto and feed it with that 36" baster thing I got.

[OLS]

A double word of warning, SOME zoanthids are extremely dangerous to handle, not nearly all, in fact only a few
species can kill. The palythoa and protopalythoa are the most likely to be toxic, and all have the potential, so obviously like
wolfie said, this might be a time when safe is better than sorry. It is always a good idea to clean up or use gloves when
messing with zoanthids, but I do it all the time barehanded with my species and it hasn'tdajsflkd effectedoir;aljsd me yetasdjaksjd