new here with Q's

[kristylove4]

hi, im new here. im in colorado and ive had my set up a few months now (37 gal) with about 40lbs of live rock, various things i cant identify (a lot of coral type things came on the rock), an anenome, a clown, an orange shoulder tang, two green chromis, an engineer goby, and a buterfly goby with various slugs, snails, hermit crabs, and sea cucumbers. i never thought i would spend so much time just sitting and watching a fish tank! best investment i ever made haha.
but i basically just wanted to say hi! i added some pics of my set up and hopefully someone can help me identify some of this stuff so i can take better care of it. im definatly still a newbie but im learing fast!

no idea what kind this is

or this but when it opens its brown

really dont know what this is haha

this black thing has been there since day one but i think it died

theyre like little flowers when they open

 

[Almondsaz]

It would appear from the photos that you have a Green Bubble Tip Anemone (GBTA) and the next pic seems to be some zoanthids - hard to tell without them open but they have the basic structure of a zoa. The second to last looks like button polyps and thelast appears to me to be manjoe anem (a pest). Oh, and that is a peppermint shrimp (best guess without a closer pic).

Kristy: can you please provide a fuller description of your system. Lighting, powerheads, mechanical filtration, and all tested water parameters? What is your salt and temp.

 

[kristylove4]

thanks for the reply! any idea what that big green thing is? i looked up the ones you mentioned and it looks like you hit the nail on the head. i think my anemone is splitting though, it made a figure 8 one of his three mouths got bigger and now there is a clear line through most of it. is this normal? is it okay?
all the pest anemones were there when we got them, so we got a few pepermint shrimp to take care of that. as for the zoas, the second to last pic is them when open.
our set up isnt the best. right now we have a home made hood with two lights, two coralight lights. one is mid-day and one is early morning plus the moonlight. we have two filters right now, biowheels. we had one but got a second since it wasnt keeping the tank as clean as i wanted. they both have those feather looking plants in them. salt is 1.021-22 and temp ranges from 78-80. im not sure what tested water parameters means but we tested it today before we added the orange shoulder tang and all was in the normal range.

 

[fsn77]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby!

im not sure what tested water parameters means but we tested it today before we added the orange shoulder tang and all was in the normal range.

Actual values from tests on the following water parameters:
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Phosphate
Alkalinity (KH)
pH
Calcium
Those are the pretty standard parameters -- there's several others that could be measured.

What type of lighting do you have? You described the bulbs but not the type -- T12 normal output fluorescent, T12 VHO fluorescent, T8 fluorescent, T5 fluorescent, T5 HO flourescent, power compacts / compact fluorescent (bulbs are essentially U shaped), metal halide, etc.

 

[Andrew225]

Pretty sweet. I'm jealous
I'm fairly new to the hobby, so i can't offer any advice that hasn't been said

-However-
I do live in Colorado. And i can say that, if you havent' gone yet, hit up Aquamart ( www.aquamartonline.com) It's an excellent store. I've used them for several months now, haven't disappointed yet. Each fish has been quarantined a minimum two weeks, excellent quality inverts and plants as well.

 

[CoraLife]

i am just wondering as to the size of the o.s. tang due to its rather l;arge size at full development it will be much to large for your nano 37g in the future. hate to burst your bubble but i recommend taking it back to the local fish store. the only tang you may be able to squeeze in there is a yellow tang but still it will liklely be unhappy and die or get ich. minumum tang tanks should be at least 4' 75g at the very least.

best wishes,

CoraLife

 

[Almondsaz]

Kristy: I would personally raise the salt to 1.023 to 1.025. Also for the lighting most softies are ok with PC (Power Compacts) which most of the coralife basic lights are.

As for the 'lime green' coral it appears that it has a calciferous border, is that correct? Once the flesh recedes from the border that isn't a good sign at all. The mouth still looks healthy and a I would spot feed it to try and get it back on track.

I have had the bio wheel filters and they are "OK". I removed the bio wheels and just added live rock rubble in the back containers. If you still have the original filters in their (the sponge/charcoal) remove them. Real nitrate magnets.

Hope this helps.

If you are interested in learning more about your corals there are a couple of great books that are worth every penny and I swear by them.

To get to know corals and their selection and husbandry (just like the cover says) I would highly recommend "Aquarium Corals, selection, husbandry and natural history" by Eric Borneman

Then when you want to get into fragging and advanced topics I strongly suggest "Book of Coral Propagation" by Anthony Calfo. It is great.

Both of these are in my reef library and are a real must. Their are more basic books like the Conscientious Marine Aquarist....but I am trying to address your current situation.

HTH.

And I forgot to say WELCOME TO AQUARIA CENTRAL!!!! A great group of enthusiasts always willing to help without being judgemental.

 

[BToast]

Welcome! Not to be a downer, but that red algae ( actually Cyanobacteria), can be a problem for the corals and should be removed. Thier are many posts on here with good info and links, or just google it. Keep up with the detailed info and pictures so we can help you take that beautiful tank to the next level. Also, I have to agree with the above, that tang is not for a 37. I have a 55 and would'nt dream of it, even though I agree they are gorgious.

 

[kristylove4]

ok, im going to try to respond to as much as i can. first, thanks for the suggestions and welcomes!

fsn77: we have two different bulbs, one is a 50/50 one is a actinic (sp?) that we got as recomendation from our LFS. i sure hope its good because it cost a pretty penny! theyre all straight bulbs, not the u-shape ones.

coralife:the tang is about 2" and seems to be doing fine. i will keep that in mind in the future though. were not planning on keeping this tank long, we will either be moving to hawaii in march and setting up a new one (or two, or three..) or staying and upgrading to this GIANT tank at the LFS (dont remember the gallons but i want to say its 200+). right now he just spends his time zipping in and out of the rocks.

almandsaz: is there a reason to raise the salt? just curious. its at 1.023 right now (we did a small water change last night). now, for the lime green coral thing thats kind of heart shaped in the middle i have gotten that assumtion/speculation a lot when i post its pic. ill try to describe it a little better. the ouside ranges from white to red, at night it gets red stripes on it and the edges (white part) raise up making it kind of pokey looking. it is soft. very soft haha. in the center it is a VERY bright green and has at least four mouths that have very sharp looking 'teeth' when they open. when i add phytoplankton they open. for the biowheel which part are you talking about, the actual wheel thing or the spongy filters? thanks for the book suggestions, ive been looking for some good ones!

BToast: thanks for the algea suggestion. we have some various shrimp crabs and snails that are supposed to be cleaning it but i may have to just start pulling some off (is that okay to do)

ETA: i just looked at the squishy lime green heart shaped thing and the edges are turning more and more red. is this good or bad? theyre almost completly red now.