first corals

[the2ndtinman]

I went to the LFS today and taqlked with the guy about wanting to start doing some corals. he turned me on to what if I remember right finger leathers. They were pretty small frags but were still perky in the store. They said they were about the hardiest coral there was or atleast what they had.

My question is I put them in the tank about 3 hours ago and they are still bent over and have not perked up at all. Is this normal? I have an anemome cant remember what kind but it has been doing good for about a monmth now.

Thanks in advance

 

[BL1]

did you acclimate it to your water and lights? too much light too soon could be bad for it. Also, what kind of lighting are you running, finger leather have a fairly high light requirement.
But, it has only been 3 hours, if it hasn't perked up a little after a day, then I might start worrying.

 

[the2ndtinman]

yes I acclaimated them for probably 2 hours or so. I still am not exactly sure what kinda lights I have. There is roughly 250 watts on the 80 gallon.

 

[BL1]

Where do you have it placed in your tank right now? If it's low, you could try moving it higher up on your rock work. Also, have you tested your water? I'm sure it should be good since the anems ok but, you never know.

 

[Bifferwine]

As hardy as leathers are, they seem to be some of the corals that take the longest to open up once they are moved. My leathers have routinely taken several weeks to extend their polyps after I've brought them home. As long as the coral doesn't look like it's rotting, turning gray, or getting holes in it, it should be fine.

 

[the2ndtinman]

I put them pretty high in the tank. The LFS said lighting didnt really matter I take that as a false statement?

Water is pretty good

PH8.5
Alk190
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 25(which I have been trying to lower with no success, kinda gave up on it)

 

[the2ndtinman]

I was concerned a while ago that the precious owners had used copper or somthing because the same time I put the anemome in I put 3 turbo snails in. The next morning tall three snails were daed and the anenome didnt look so hot. But like I said it looks good now and almost has doubled in size in the last month. I have a few crabs and they are all fine too

 

[BL1]

I wouldn't give up on your nitrates, they can be very bad for anemones. As far as the lighting, what they told you may not be false but, Live Aquaria suggests high lighting for finger leathers. You should still probably test for copper, at least give yourself some peace of mind

 

[yote]

When it comes to new tanks,your pretty much guaranteed to have some nitrates.It takes time for a system to mature enough to really process all the biological stuff.

Just give your new leathers some time to adjust.And in the mean time,how about posting a pic of em? :D

 

[the2ndtinman]

I took some pics a little while ago on my phone when I was home a little while ago, don't feel like posting them from my phone I will post them from home here in a bit

 

[SeaBee]

Leathers are funny. They can close up for days and you think they are dead, then they open up again. Mine take a few days to open. Just wait a bit. I would keep it low and see what happens, they dont need much light at all. I have a baby growing in a cave. Try feeding some rotifers or reef roids, it should open.

 

[the2ndtinman]

well they dont look good at all this morning. They are upright now but they seem to have lost al of there "tree" parts. Gonna try and figure out now how to post pics

 

[daugherty]

you can make a photobucket account and upload to there and than just copy the img code and paste it here

 

[the2ndtinman]

cant do it by uploading them here?

 

[daugherty]

you can but i find photobucket easier because you can upload bigger files. most of my pics are to big to upload to the site

 

[BL1]

You can do it here but, you'll probably have to resize the picture in order to get it to upload

 

[the2ndtinman]

sorry for crappy pics done on a cell phone

these were both last night

 

[the2ndtinman]

these are from this morning

 

[the2ndtinman]

here is the anemome I was talking about

 

[Ulta]

Well they are definitely looking better than the first pic! xD

I put them pretty high in the tank. The LFS said lighting didnt really matter I take that as a false statement?

If the store has them under MHs then they should be able to adapt to any lighting with time. Its going from lower lighting(T-5 Florescents) to Higher lighting (like Metal Halides) that can be tougher. Think of looking into the sun after being in a dark room xD