20150329 180 Reef Tank update

A video update of my 180 Gallon Reef Tank after a couple weeks of intensive stocking effort.

Below are some of the new additions from this weeks fragswap at Janesville Wisconsin.

Middle of the 180 tank

New 4" Squamosa Clam

New Rose Bubble Tip Anemone about 3" disk, 6" open

Elegant coral in the process of swallowing some food

The Clarkii clownfish ditched the long tentacle anemone to host this rose bubble tip within 10 minutes of the anemone's introduction!

20141231 Close up shots!

Going out of 2014 with style in a boom! Some close up shots of my critters using my underwater case with a macro lens!

Snow onyx hybrid percula clownfish with RBTA rose bubble tip anemone

Maxi Mini Carpet anemone

Blue Tuxedo urchin

20140930 Green Bubble Tip Anemone

Green Bubble Tip Anemone

I got this green bubble tip anemone two weeks ago. I have had lots of experience with rose bubble tip anemone (RBTA), but have never had a green bubble tip. To be honest I am a bit scared because I don't know if this anemone has the same light requirement and feeding habit as its rosy colored relative. This is why I have been hesitating to post about it to make sure it does well in my system.
I initially placed the anemone about 6" away from its current spot on to of the rock work. The anemone used the 1st hour of its stay here drawing around the rock to its current spot and has stayed there ever since. The anemone was not in very good health- the best way to judge an anemone's health is how sticky it is. I tried to offer it food for the first two weeks and none would stick. But the anemone had appeared to be doing alright- expanding and swaying under the light each morning.
Today I made another attempt to feed the anemone and the krill stayed! I must also mention, my 5" clarkii clown has been busy sharing her hosting duty between my other 6" RBTA and this GTA starting this week. So I think the anemone's stickiness must have something to do with the clownfish.
This has became one of my favorite corners of the tank as the GTA and the smaller RBTA flows with wave.
My feeling so far is they are hardy and very beautiful to look at, get yours here!

Anemone buddies

Here is my quartet of rosy bubble tip anemones (RBTA)

At the very first post of this blog was when I bought two of them from a fellow hobbyist. They were both small at that time. Over the last few months despite not so good lighting and my make shift water filtration system, they have survived and grown. 

I actually just sliced one of the larger one into two halves recently with a razor blade. I prepared a tub of water from the tank in a restaurant dish tray. I added a few drips of lugol's solution to help disinfect the post trauma anemone and to promote healing. I removed the anemone from the water and sliced it. Soaked both halves in the solution for 10 minutes then returned them back into tank. It's been two weeks now both anemones are happy and accepting hand fed food again!

Coral growth under LED

Now that the new LED AI Sol superblue is set up, I will begin a photo journal to document the effect of this light to my corals' growth, sps, lps, and soft polyps. 

My previous light, 250w metal halide with 4x 24w T-5 didn't exactly promote much coral growth. Like I said, you get what you pay for. So I'm hoping this light will alllow faster growth.

After three days of light acclimation, I increased light intensity to: w25, b55,r55. My plan is to gradually increase 2-3% every 2-3 days until I reach the level where corals can all achieve maximum growth without bleaching.

One of my good light indicators will be my RBTA as they stretch with insufficient light and bubble up when lighting is ideal!

Hungry Rosy Bubble Tip Anemone

Hungry RBTA

Although my RBTA has been doing fairly well including splitting and growing, they seems to be always very hungry despite the every other day meal of a whole dinner shrimp.

I am debating to upgrade my light just for them. But again I do like the flow in the water look versus the stubby little bubbly tentacles (even though that's what most people get them for).