3 unrelated questions

[jadavis01]

Sorry to post 3 wildly unrelated questions but...

1) I recently purchased a nice mushroom rock from a private party. He had the same size tank (29 gallons), same lighting (2 x 55W PC's, 1 blue, 1 6700k), and roughly the same placement in the tank. In his tank they were very bright green and kind of "bushy" (not like many smooth looking corallamorphs). I my tank they are brownish green and "bushy". They appear healthy and open up nicely all day. Any ideas on the coloration difference?

My tank specs are:

pH 8.0 - 8.1 (I can't seem to get it higher, even with buffers)
calcium 480
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
temp 79.5 - 80.1
DKh 9.8
phosphates .8 - 1.0 (I can't seem to controll this high level, even with Poly Filters)

2) I just got a blue linkia starfish (Linckia laevigata) and he now has a small white lession on one leg. I have heard these guys are prone to infection. Should I be concerned about this and can it be treated in a reef tank?

3) I just purchased a Yellow finger Gorgonian
(Diodogorgia nodulifera) on a wim without much research (I know I'm bad). In order to get in in good water flow area it is under a very direct light area too. Is it photosynthetic? From the yellow color I suspect not but it does have white polyps. The LFS only had some young kids working the day I bought it and they didn't even know what photosynthetic was (no offense intended). Also, it didn't come on a piece of rock. I tried to epoxy it to a small piece but the lousy underwater 2 part epoxy I have doesn't stick to the rock or the coral so I gave up and just have it wedged in some rocks and some Caulerpa. How important is a rock base for these? I did break off a very small piece (2" long) on accident and stuck it in a hole in a rock. That little piece is tarting to open much better than the much larger parent plant and I wonder if it needs the rock base. The base on the parent is really kinda just in the air.

Thank you!

[Alice]

Hi there;

The coloration difference may just be due to the shroom still acclimating to your tank, difference in the age of the lighting between his tank and yours, or just about anything. No two systems, even set up at the same time in the same way will ever be the same. There are just too many biological variables.

The linkia could very well have an infection; they have low tolerance for shipping and acclimating stress. I've not handled many starfish problems so I'll pass that one on. Anyone?

As for the gorgonian, those are non-photosynthetic. The are pretty indifferent to light unless it's really strong; that may burn them. Attach both pieces to rocks with some super glue...that's what I use. They don't seem to do well unattached. You'll need to feed these guys with some phytoplankton. Generally, unless you've got a refugium, our tanks are too clean to sustain them.

HTH,

~Alice


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Reefkeeping is my life; I can't afford a hobby too!

[This message has been edited by Alice (edited 01-01-2001).]

[jadavis01]

Thanks for the reply!
Will superglue work on wet surfaces?
I do use DT's phytoplankton at recommended doses.

[Alice]

You're welcome! That's great on the phyto. Yes superglue will stick to wet surfaces; it's best to blot excess water away from the rock and the base of the coral with a towel though. I use a product called "Zap" which is a glue accelerator, dries even a large glop of glue lickety-split. Putting the coral back into the water will harden the glue up faster too.

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Reefkeeping is my life; I can't afford a hobby too!

[inlandreef]

If you haven't discovered already, these gorgonians are very successful at propogation. Maybe break off a few 2"-3" pieces and you could get some Power Compacts or something brighter than your no output flourescents.
-Just an Idea-

[jadavis01]

Thanks for the replies!
I am using power compacts (see above).