Looks like a small scolymia coral. It is a LPS coral, common names are button and donut coral. Could be a lobo coral also.
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Please help
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Also, this is off topic, but I hate to make another thread and flood the forum when I can just flood and kill my own thread... the whole watts per gallon thing is "out the window with t5ho". How do you figure it out then? I have asked this before with little resolve. I have a T5HO system because my LFS store told me it would be good enough for most corals, not all by any means. Mine is only ONE 39w 460nm and ONE 39w 10,000k for a total of 78 watts. It's the Nova Extreme T5HOx2. I was told even though it has low wattage the design of the system pumps out awesome light with low heat, low energy, and minimal bulbs needed. I have no idea though.
You go by PAR instead of WPG. PAR is the Photosynthetic Active Radiation the bulb puts out. This measurement is what matters more for photosynthetic species because it measures just the wavelength for photosynthesis.
Think of it this way.. if WPG is what really mattered, you could stick 10 100w incandecent bulbs over your tank and have 1000w of light. Problem is, the light those type of bulbs put out is not very much in the photosynthetic area, more in the visual area for our eyes. Same reason you don't want to go by Lumins and Lux either.
Now with your fixture, I wouldn't say you could do "most corals".. maybe 50% of your lucky but that is pushing it. I am not sure the PAR numbers on the 39w, but a 24w is around 70PAR for 1 10k bulb on T5HO (rough estimate). Another good rough estimate is to say 1 T5HO bulb puts out 2x as much light as it's equivilent length bulb in Power Compacts. So 1 24w 22" T5HO = 2 65w 24" Power Compact bulbs. You can see how Watts Per Gallon is thrown out the window when a 24w bulb = 130w bulbs.
Think of it this way.. if WPG is what really mattered, you could stick 10 100w incandecent bulbs over your tank and have 1000w of light. Problem is, the light those type of bulbs put out is not very much in the photosynthetic area, more in the visual area for our eyes. Same reason you don't want to go by Lumins and Lux either.
Now with your fixture, I wouldn't say you could do "most corals".. maybe 50% of your lucky but that is pushing it. I am not sure the PAR numbers on the 39w, but a 24w is around 70PAR for 1 10k bulb on T5HO (rough estimate). Another good rough estimate is to say 1 T5HO bulb puts out 2x as much light as it's equivilent length bulb in Power Compacts. So 1 24w 22" T5HO = 2 65w 24" Power Compact bulbs. You can see how Watts Per Gallon is thrown out the window when a 24w bulb = 130w bulbs.
Exactly! Thank you for the reply. However, with all the math/physics/etc involved, how do you figure out your PAR, how much PAR is needed, and so on. The whole 3w per G is an easy equation, obviously but when you're talking about HO bulbs in special cases with reflectors, how do you figure any of this out? I have searched everywhere and all I can be told is "get halide to do all corals". Your answers was the best I've gotten so far. I know I'm limited. 50% limited is what you say. Only soft corals? How do I know what I can and can't get. When buying corals they say "needs moderate light" or so forth. I'm just completely confused as to what I have, what I can do with it, and what I can't do.
Thank you for the advice and I apologize for the questions. I know it is technically a very precise matter, but I'm sure it can be summarized pretty simply.
This is a very rough estimate that I came up with for figuring out PAR. I think 12-15 PAR per Gallon is for High Light corals, 9-12 for Medium, and 4-9 for low light corals. This is just something I have gone by on my tanks and I seem to have success with placing corals in the zones that the PAR equates to.
Still not an easy way to break it down.. because PAR is not an exact measurement. PAR readings will differ depending where you test in relation to the light, and how deep in the water you go. So this is where placement comes in. My tank has around 15 PAR per gallon (take total PAR output of lights and divide by tank water volume) at the surface of the water.. from that point on it starts to go down. So I place high light SPS corals that need what I think is a 12 at the top of my reef, then move corals down towards the bottom accordingly. Medium light corals 1/2 down and low light at the bottom. If I am getting 15 PAR per gallon at the surface right under the bulb I am probably getting 5-6 PAR per gallon at the corners/bottom of my tank. Again, this is just something I have made up, and there is sooo much more involved with PAR than that, but that is how I can tell people easily about how PAR works.
Still not an easy way to break it down.. because PAR is not an exact measurement. PAR readings will differ depending where you test in relation to the light, and how deep in the water you go. So this is where placement comes in. My tank has around 15 PAR per gallon (take total PAR output of lights and divide by tank water volume) at the surface of the water.. from that point on it starts to go down. So I place high light SPS corals that need what I think is a 12 at the top of my reef, then move corals down towards the bottom accordingly. Medium light corals 1/2 down and low light at the bottom. If I am getting 15 PAR per gallon at the surface right under the bulb I am probably getting 5-6 PAR per gallon at the corners/bottom of my tank. Again, this is just something I have made up, and there is sooo much more involved with PAR than that, but that is how I can tell people easily about how PAR works.
Thanks once again. I assume you have some sort of instrument that measures PAR.
I will just work with low light corals and maybe try some medium light corals higher up on my rock some day.
Anyway.. the tank really cleared up yesteday. I messed with the rock a couple times and stirred things up. This morning.. tank is settled. I need to do just a TAD bit more of rearranging of the LR now that I can see all of my gaps and flaws but I'm pretty happy with my outcome so far. (also need to take care of the monster aiptasia) Thanks to all that have helped.
I will just work with low light corals and maybe try some medium light corals higher up on my rock some day.
Anyway.. the tank really cleared up yesteday. I messed with the rock a couple times and stirred things up. This morning.. tank is settled. I need to do just a TAD bit more of rearranging of the LR now that I can see all of my gaps and flaws but I'm pretty happy with my outcome so far. (also need to take care of the monster aiptasia) Thanks to all that have helped.
From that clearer picture, that coral now looks more like a Candycane coral than a brain coral. The way it is standing off the rock makes me think that.
My reef club has a PPFD (PAR) meter that we get to borrow and try out in our tanks to get readings. It is a small meter, like a little voltage meter, but has a probe at the end of a wire and is attached to a piece of acrylic rod (so we can stick it underwater) for measuring PAR output.
My reef club has a PPFD (PAR) meter that we get to borrow and try out in our tanks to get readings. It is a small meter, like a little voltage meter, but has a probe at the end of a wire and is attached to a piece of acrylic rod (so we can stick it underwater) for measuring PAR output.
Thanks! Never thought of that. I wonder if it's just a dull variation or if it is greyish/brown from shock of transport and what not. I put it at the top so it has the most light and flow. Whatever it is candycane/brain/button lol, I just hope it survives and my lighting can sustain it. Thanks for all of the advice/info Ace.
Now that my tank is somewhat setup. Time for more reading, searching, and waiting. Water checks and changes and then hopefully my first fish to get things going. Only plan on doing 2-3 fish total. (Would like to start with a percula clown or one similar) Oh yeah, I need to invest in a bigger/better clean up crew. I can't complain about the 8-10 free turbo snails that came with my LR though. Only time will tell what else came with it.
My aiptasia is monsterous and out of control.. Chemical treatment or peppermint shrimp and hermits? I'm buying some cleaners anyway. Should I just see what they do and then go to chemicals later? I'm worried about a polyp colony I found that is infested with the aiptasia (which I have read are only brown on top but I have aiptasia looking things that are pretty red).
A scolymia (button coral) is considered part of the "brain" coral family.. like a lobo.
Candycane corals are usually considered a beginner coral. They don't require a lot of light, are fairly easy to care for, but they do like to be target fed when the feeder tentacles are out. In your picture now, they are closed up, but at night you will see a ring of clear tentacles come out for near the edge of the coral. When you see that, get some mysis shrimp, thaw it in a cup of tank water, and use a turkey baster to gently squirt food onto the coral. The feelers will catch/stick the food to them and the coral will eat it. Candycanes really do well when you target feed them and while it isn't considered a requirement to do so, it is generally accepted practice if you want it to look very healthy and multiply. As far as the coloration, it looks fine to me, just look like a wild Candycane and not a fancy super neon green candycane you see at stores some times.
For the aiptasia, your going to have to at least do some chemical method.. kalkwasser, Aiptasia Control, etc.. any of those products out there for that purpose work somewhat.. nothing seems to ever work 100% though when it comes to chemical solutions. What I have seen people do is a combination of chemical and biological, ie, squirt the aiptasia with the chemical to get it to shrink up and kill as much as possible, then 24 hours later throw in some pepermint shrimp to eat the rest. Pepermint shrimp usually don't eat the BIG aiptasia like you have, but if you use some chemicals to start to take them out the pepermint will usually finish the job. One word of caution though, shrimp are pretty sensitive creatures and usually do not fare well at all in newer tanks.. tanks less than a couple months old.
Candycane corals are usually considered a beginner coral. They don't require a lot of light, are fairly easy to care for, but they do like to be target fed when the feeder tentacles are out. In your picture now, they are closed up, but at night you will see a ring of clear tentacles come out for near the edge of the coral. When you see that, get some mysis shrimp, thaw it in a cup of tank water, and use a turkey baster to gently squirt food onto the coral. The feelers will catch/stick the food to them and the coral will eat it. Candycanes really do well when you target feed them and while it isn't considered a requirement to do so, it is generally accepted practice if you want it to look very healthy and multiply. As far as the coloration, it looks fine to me, just look like a wild Candycane and not a fancy super neon green candycane you see at stores some times.
For the aiptasia, your going to have to at least do some chemical method.. kalkwasser, Aiptasia Control, etc.. any of those products out there for that purpose work somewhat.. nothing seems to ever work 100% though when it comes to chemical solutions. What I have seen people do is a combination of chemical and biological, ie, squirt the aiptasia with the chemical to get it to shrink up and kill as much as possible, then 24 hours later throw in some pepermint shrimp to eat the rest. Pepermint shrimp usually don't eat the BIG aiptasia like you have, but if you use some chemicals to start to take them out the pepermint will usually finish the job. One word of caution though, shrimp are pretty sensitive creatures and usually do not fare well at all in newer tanks.. tanks less than a couple months old.
