New to the hobby and got some surprises

[Captain_Glass]

This is my first tank ever And I set out to have a peacock mantis tank with some live rock and keep it pretty simple. Well my wife thought that tank looked dull in color and bought a few coral frags and a live rock that she picked out because she liked the anemone on it lol. My best friend helped her glue them down to the rock and she didn’t really bother to get the names of anything she bought. So knowing that I have to keep the lighting fairly low due to shell rot on the peacock which is my main focus, I’m wondering if the coral and anemone will make it.

I’m fairly certain one of the corals is a hammer And the anemone is a type of bubble tip but I’m not sure about the other coral. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated I’d like for everything to be happy and living a great life.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

What kind of lights do you have for your aquarium? I hope its not just the petsmart type lights.

The one pic is a hammer. You'll want to keep him in medium light. The other looks like some kind of softie. Now sure what it is. Most softies will tolerate lower light. The third, doesn't look like a Bubble Tip anemone to me. But sorry to say that your anemone will probably most likely die. One its recommended not to put one in your tank until about a year as they need very stable conditions. Also, they need very high lighting. I have my BTA at the top of a rock under a set of Kessils AP700 ($800 for each light).

Of course, depending on what light you have they may all die. All corals need a good blue type light. Maybe this will help you understand what I mean....

PAR is the measurement of how much light is in your water. With my expensive Kessils the PAR at the top of my rock is 400 and 150 at the bottom (24 inch tank). Just yesterday I picked up a T8 24" bulb for salt water/corals at petsmart thinking I'd be able to use it on my QT Tank for my corals. Well, I tested it, and that light only produced 50 PAR at the VERY top, and 20 at the bottom (12 inch high tank).

In comparison I'd say your hammer will need between 100-150 PAR to live long term, and the anemone will need 250+. IF all you have is a petsmart type of lighting, about all you can keep for corals would be soft mushrooms and things like that.

 

[Captain_Glass]

What kind of lights do you have for your aquarium? I hope its not just the petsmart type lights.

The one pic is a hammer. You'll want to keep him in medium light. The other looks like some kind of softie. Now sure what it is. Most softies will tolerate lower light. The third, doesn't look like a Bubble Tip anemone to me. But sorry to say that your anemone will probably most likely die. One its recommended not to put one in your tank until about a year as they need very stable conditions. Also, they need very high lighting. I have my BTA at the top of a rock under a set of Kessils AP700 ($800 for each light).

Of course, depending on what light you have they may all die. All corals need a good blue type light. Maybe this will help you understand what I mean....

PAR is the measurement of how much light is in your water. With my expensive Kessils the PAR at the top of my rock is 400 and 150 at the bottom (24 inch tank). Just yesterday I picked up a T8 24" bulb for salt water/corals at petsmart thinking I'd be able to use it on my QT Tank for my corals. Well, I tested it, and that light only produced 50 PAR at the VERY top, and 20 at the bottom (12 inch high tank).

In comparison I'd say your hammer will need between 100-150 PAR to live long term, and the anemone will need 250+. IF all you have is a petsmart type of lighting, about all you can keep for corals would be soft mushrooms and things like that.

So when I bought the tank ( acrylic ) for those who may be worried about it breaking glass, it came with a 24” marine land T8 daylight bulb. Thank you for the explanation on what par is and if I understand the explanation correctly it’s not necessarily the brightness of the lighting overall but the brightness in relativity to the depth in which the light reaches?

The anemone came free with the rock because it wasn’t doing well in the tank it was in at the lfs according to my wife. So I wasn’t expecting it to live after hearing that they were having a hard time keeping it alive and they know a lot more than I do. I did feed it a piece of krill yesterday which was pretty cool to watch. And that pic of the anemone is when I just turned the lights on normally the things I large and flowing great.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

So when I bought the tank ( acrylic ) for those who may be worried about it breaking glass, it came with a 24” marine land T8 daylight bulb. Thank you for the explanation on what par is and if I understand the explanation correctly it’s not necessarily the brightness of the lighting overall but the brightness in relativity to the depth in which the light reaches?

The anemone came free with the rock because it wasn’t doing well in the tank it was in at the lfs according to my wife. So I wasn’t expecting it to live after hearing that they were having a hard time keeping it alive and they know a lot more than I do. I did feed it a piece of krill yesterday which was pretty cool to watch. And that pic of the anemone is when I just turned the lights on normally the things I large and flowing great.[/QUOTE

Long story short, if you want to keep corals you will want to upgrade your lighting. But yea, PAR is the intensity of the lighting. The further down in the water you go the less light there is going to be. That's why in most coral tanks you'll see a certain species of corals at the top (SPS, Acros, etc...) of the tank, because they need high lighting. LPS (Your hammer is an LPS, it is a type of euphyllia coral. A torch coral, one of my favorite is another common type of euphyllia). And softies (mushrooms and such near the bottom/in shade).

Also along with PAR, just having intensive lighting isn't enough. It matters what KIND of lighting it is. That is why some lights are classified as freshwater and others are marine/saltwater. Corals need a lot of the blue spectrum among others to grow. So your T8 daylight bulb will not be powerful enough or the right spectrum for success.

I don't have any experience with anything but my Kessil lights. But without upgrading your lights mushrooms are about all you could sustain. I've heard zoas (which are really colorful soft corals), can survive in almost any kind of lighting. However, I'm guessing that statement still assumes you have some kind of maring/coral light over your tank. But if you're interested in trying some corals you could give it a shot!

Here is an example of a zoa from my tank....

And here is a Bubble Tip Anemone with another version of a zoa at the bottom of the pic.

And here is my hammer

And my entire current setup...

 

[Super Fly]

uh, hopefully the anemone was not glued to rock...

 

[Captain_Glass]

Wow the tank is beautiful thank you for the help. Like I said in my op I wasn’t really trying to have a real reef tank with coral and fish because I’ve wanted a peacock for a while and after researching them and there relatively low maintenance compared to reef tanks it just seemed to be a good fit for someone’s first tank. It was suggested to me that I get a blue actinic or a 50/50 with some blue in it I’m just not sure which and my main concern is the cause of shell rot on my mantis.

 

[Captain_Glass]

uh, hopefully the anemone was not glued to rock...

No the only things glued were the corals the anemone came on the rock, so unless the guys at the lfs glued it which I can’t say for certain they did or didn’t but can only assume they probably wouldn’t do it. But I don’t like making assumptions.

 

[phixman]

The corals look browned out , usually caused by too many nutrients. It could also be the type of lighting you have that makes corals look that way. To be honest, anemones should only be in mature tanks , that means after 1+ years , I suggest 2. How old is the tank?

 

[Andrew Schubert]

I do t know anything about a mantis. But I don't think any light actinic or 50/50 will be enough to sustain corals with your current light fixture. It was a 24" T8 actinic light I tested the PAR on hoping to use as a QT for corals and it was only 50 PAR at the highest. At the bottom of the 12 inch tank it was only 20 PAR. Nothing will really thrive at that. How deep is your tank? Let's say it's 16 inch deep. Now I'm guessing PAR would only be about 10 with your current fixture no matter if you keep your daylight or GRT a 50/50 bulb.

 

[Captain_Glass]

The corals look browned out , usually caused by too many nutrients. It could also be the type of lighting you have that makes corals look that way. To be honest, anemones should only be in mature tanks , that means after 1+ years , I suggest 2. How old is the tank?

I’m hoping it’s just due to lighting which I’m looking to upgrade anyways, and the tank is only about a month old but the anemone came free with the live rock so it’s not like I spent any money on anything other than the rock itself.

I do t know anything about a mantis. But I don't think any light actinic or 50/50 will be enough to sustain corals with your current light fixture. It was a 24" T8 actinic light I tested the PAR on hoping to use as a QT for corals and it was only 50 PAR at the highest. At the bottom of the 12 inch tank it was only 20 PAR. Nothing will really thrive at that. How deep is your tank? Let's say it's 16 inch deep. Now I'm guessing PAR would only be about 10 with your current fixture no matter if you keep your daylight or GRT a 50/50 bulb.

My tank is 18” tall but for the mantis I have a 4-5” sand bed which has definitely been useful for it digging it burrows. I guess I’m in a bit of a pickle because I would like everything to thrive but my main focus is the mantis and the lighting seems to be a big concern. I will do my best to figure this all out and appreciate everyone’s suggestions and help !

 

[SPR1968]

Welcome to R2R and thanks for joining us!

Have you tested your water parameters as these are probably more important than the lights initially? Salinity, Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium,Nitrate, phosphate?

Anemones need excellent water and are generally for established tanks due to their requirements.

 

[Captain_Glass]

Thank you for the warm welcome in enjoying my time on the forum so far, lots of info which my wife makes fun of me for nerding out on but I like learning. And the people have been nice and interactive so far which is a sign of a healthy forum with good members.

To answer your question though, Yes Ive taken my water in to my lfs multiple times and they tested everything and said I was right on point.

Basically every time I’ve gone in to buy something I need I take the water in just to make sure and they are very nice about my frequency.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

Nothing nerdy about it[emoji3]. I've only been in it for 5 months and am currently reading a 500 page book about the history of corals[emoji16]. I'd recommend watching all the BRSTV 52 weeks of reefing. I've prob watches those 2x over at least. Great info there and gives you an idea of all the options, and opinions in the hobby.

 

[Dragonreef202]

you may want to wait some time until you have your tank running for a while and have stronger lights to keep any corals. Especially for a anemone. Just take your time when it comes to the saltwater.

 

[Captain_Glass]

you may want to wait some time until you have your tank running for a while and have stronger lights to keep any corals. Especially for a anemone. Just take your time when it comes to the saltwater.

Yea I wasn’t planning on buying any coral at all for this tank as it was supposed to be a species tank tailored to the mantis and knew that the low light requirements wouldn’t be very good for many species of coral. But my wife wanted to make the tank look “ more pretty “ lol

 

[Captain_Glass]

So I got a new light fixture today and it has 2 t5 blue actinic lights 24 watt 40 and 2 t5 daylights here are some pics. I’m just hoping it’s not to much light for the mantis but the corals are green as hell under the blue lighting that’s for sure. Even the anemone looks nice and happy under the new lighting I’ve seen more greens and pinks out of it than before. Still just mostly concerned about the mantis and the shell rot and figuring out the lighting schedule I should set.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Im not positive but that greenish soft coral on the left looks like a carnation coral. They are NPS soft corals and require very low light. People usually hang them upside down under a rock to keep them out of the light and they require alot of feeding as they are non photosynthetic. And that anemone looks really bleached out due to insufficient lighting.

 

[Captain_Glass]

Im not positive but that greenish soft coral on the left looks like a carnation coral. They are NPS soft corals and require very low light. People usually hang them upside down under a rock to keep them out of the light and they require alot of feeding as they are non photosynthetic.

Thank you I was hoping for id’s on everything outside of the damsels and the peacock because I know what I bought but didn’t know what was bought by my wife
If that is the case I think that coral would look ****** hanging upside down for sure. All part of the process

 

[Captain_Glass]

After looking on some of the forums and pictures online does anyone think it could be a green leather finger coral ?

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Let's get some more eyes on it and hopefully somebody can give you a positive ID.
#reefsquad