kenya trees and my other corals

[S2kdriver]

well guys i do have another question. i have read that the kenya trees are like pests and they multply easily. and i got a green mushroom and the guy at the LFS said it was about to split. and it was a good pic for me. not what i dont understand is i have had my kenya tree for about 4 months and i had it in 2 spots. i moved it to the sand after my crabs kept knocking it out of my live rock. and it hasent grown or multplied, i would really like to get some frags. so i thought why hasent my mushroom split yet. so what could be wrong with my tank. and i know people said zoos grow easily and my cluster hasent grown once since i got it. so any ideas? o and also my other little frags in my live rock are turning white on top. thanks agian for the help guys!!!

how do frags form, and how do i palce them or something. just a bit confused. thanks!!!

 

[S2kdriver]

heres a pic of the kenya tree

 

[S2kdriver]

looking closely at the mushroom its not spread out liek you see many other mushrooms. its big and swollen almost during the day but at night it shrivvles up and gets smaller. but now its big and swollen and instead of laying flat on the rock a bit is flat but the other part looks like twisted ribbon on top of a xmas present. so is it about to split?

sorry bout all the questions! thanks agian!!

 

[yote]

I dont know about the mushroom.It could be trying to split,but its hard to say without seeing a pic.
As for the Kenyas.1 person out of 1000 wont have any problems with them trying to take over.There is supposed to one type thats not as bad about spreading.So that could be the case with yours.

 

[S2kdriver]

yea. i just read a thread about a guys saying his limbs broke off and he sold the frags for 5 dollars a piece and bought more coral that way. i thought that would have been a pretty sweet deal. is ther a way to frag the tree??

 

[yote]

Sure you can frag it.Just take a razor blade and cut a branch off.Then rubberband the branch to a piece of rubble and give a few day to attach and WALA,you've got a kenya weed oops I mean tree frag:D

 

[mng777777]

When you say that your other corals are turning white on top what are they? SPS turn white as they grow, but your tank is way too new for SPS. Otherwise, white could be a sign of die-off. What kind of light do you have? What are your parameters?

 

[winyfrog]

yep we need more detail. Water parameters? lighting what you have and light cycle?
How old is the tank, 2months?

Every bodies tanks are different, coral growth will vary with this. Kenya's tend to like a bit dirtier water (meaning nitrates)

You also might not be noticing growth or changes because you look at your tank everyday. Take a picture and in a week or two compare.

 

[dcantucson]

+1 winyfrog

 

[S2kdriver]

pH: 8.2
Amonia test: 0 ppm
Nitrite test: 0 ppm
Nitrate Test: 5.0
Calcium: 380 mg/l ppm
Carbonate hardning: 11 degrees
phospate: ok

i have a 50/50 coral life light. there all the soft corals and they said the corals woudl be good for the tank.

heres a pic. kinda hard to see. but there there. you can see my zooanthid and look to the right. and theres a few more behind that one.

 

[S2kdriver]

o and the tanks about 10 months old. (i put the experience part when i really started getting into it) thanks guys!!

 

[mng777777]

Calcium is a bit low, everything else looks good. Calcium shouldn't be a problem with softies, but it does suggest that you aren't keeping up with your water changes. How frequently and how much water are you changing?

 

[yote]

Of course he could be useing a brand of salt thats low in calcium too.:D

 

[mng777777]

Of course he could be useing a brand of salt thats low in calcium too.:D

excellent point. I just assumed that he was getting water from the LFS but I guess even that doesn't guarantee anything.

 

[AlwaysImproving]

I just pour a gallon of milk in my tank every other week to get my calcium levels up.

 

[mng777777]

Excellent, that way they get their vitamin D too :) make sure you use organic if you have crabs. The last thing you want is crabs drinking RBST

 

[S2kdriver]

i have a crazy water filtration system so i make my own salt. its the kind that has the clownfish on the front. but i will get my calcium up. everytime i top it off with water i put kalk +2 calcium, magnesium, and strontium in it. so it will help raise it. and i change water every 2 weeks. take out 4-5 gallons. then replace. so what else could it be???

 

[daugherty]

what do you use for filtration. as for making your own salt do you mean mix your own out of a bucket or acutally make the salt? i am guessing mix it. if all you have is softies you dont need to dose kalk

 

[winyfrog]

I just pour a gallon of milk in my tank every other week to get my calcium levels up.

Of course you are joking. :mrgreen: I only mention this because I have seen people actual do this.

 

[mng777777]

i have a crazy water filtration system so i make my own salt. its the kind that has the clownfish on the front. but i will get my calcium up. everytime i top it off with water i put kalk +2 calcium, magnesium, and strontium in it. so it will help raise it. and i change water every 2 weeks. take out 4-5 gallons. then replace. so what else could it be???

I would quit the dosing unless you are testing regularly for those things you are dosing. Your salt mix should give you all of the trace elements you need without dosing and with just softies there isn't anything using it that quickly that you should have to supplement. If your salt mix doesn't give you what you need, switch brands. I use Red Sea Coral Pro.