Diatoms, Phosguard and photo period; plus Euphyllia env. loss f'       2/23/16
Hello all and thank you for the kind service you do for us in the hobby.
<Hope to be helpful!>
I have had my 60 gallon reef tank since September 2011. For many years I ran a Marineland reef capable led light. I loved it. Eventually some leds began shorting out and I replaced it with a Kessil 350 led.
<Excellent product.>
After 8 months the Kessil stopped working.
<Uh oh! Any idea why or what specifically went wrong? I'd have looked into getting this fixed, it should be under warranty and in any case, failure like this is both uncommon and unacceptable with a light of that build and price.>
I went without a light for a month or two and lost my hammer coral.
<And probably a lot of other organisms great and small, certainly. What else was in there? And did it get window/external light? Did you feed the tank?>
I then bought another Marineland reef capable 48" led fixture and put it on my tank. Here is my issue now; I got a horrible diatom outbreak right away. I tried decreasing the photo period from 8 hours to 6 hours and then to 4 but nothing helped. My sand and my rocks were covered with horrible powdery brown growth. I tested my r/o water with a tds meter and discovered I needed new filters. I ordered these and began using purchased r/o water that tests ok in the meantime. I rinsed my rocks in old tank water and did a 15% water change and kept the light off for a week and started running Phosguard Saturday. My tank looks amazing again. Can I put my light back on? Will I get another outbreak? Was it my water? I'm so confused and unsure what made the positive difference, the lack of light or the Phosguard. I appreciate any insight.
Thank you for your time,
Sarah
<Well this is certainly a combination of factors but can be boiled down to "nutrients" from die-off, possibly your source water as well, lack of water changes, disrupted biological filtration. All these will cause all sorts of nuisances to crop up. Your best weapon here is simply more frequent/larger water changes. Say 20% a week. This will get things back on track, especially alongside the Phosguard and good ro/di water. If it were me I would set the light up normally; diatoms/slime algae and their ilk love low-flow, "dirty" water and usually, low lighting. There's no mystery or trick here, just keep up your water quality with water changes, keep the tank as stable as possible, under stock it for a while and don't feed any more than you need to. Then go from there. As you have seen, coral is known to be "fragile" but it often surprisingly tough! Anything that survived
this disaster is likely to do great again if you stick to the above concepts. -Earl>
Re: Diatoms, Phosguard and photo period
I also want to add I run a reef octopus hang on the back skimmer that produces maybe half a cup of dark skim a day.
<Excellent! Invaluable tool and it seems like you have it tuned in well.>
Re: Diatoms, Phosguard and photo period     2/28/16
> Thank you for your quick and insightful reply. I emailed Kessil last week
> and they gave me some troubleshooting which has done nothing. I need to
> follow up as I think she needs my receipt. It was very pricey and I'm still
> in shock it broke. My tank is next to a bank of 3 north facing windows so
> my fish still had a photo period and the blue mushrooms have doubled in
> number.
<Ah north light windows, beloved by painters! Cooler light (towards the blue end of the spectrum), may have had an effect on your tank perhaps. Better than warm yellow light, certainly.>
> Not worth losing my hammer though. I continued to feed my 4 fish
> yes. At your advice I resumed using my marineland light 2 days ago at the
> preset timer, I think it's 8 hours on. I will do a 20% water change as you
> advised this weekend. My sandbed is clear, no diatoms. Thank you for your
> support and kindness. It's a lonely feeling to flounder and struggle in
> this hobby and nice to have knowledgeable people to turn to mitigate this
> feeling.
> Have a wonderful day,
> Sarah
<Thank you for the kind words, glad to be of use. No need to feel alone in the fish n' coral keeping hobby though! I cannot overstress how great it is to join a local aquarium club (they are just about everywhere). Also try social groups online. There is a Ladies' Frag Swap Facebook group my better half frequents that might interest you, as a suggestion. Remember, slow down, enjoy, don't let up trying to get that Kessil replaced/repaired, and maybe sell some of those blue 'shrooms or trade them...get some new hammer frags :)>

Branching hammer coral not looking normal after splitting        2/3/16 Hello, I have a problem here I can't figure out that maybe you can help me with my hammer split about a month or two ago, and is now looking like all the fleshy bits under the polyps and center is missing and the skeleton is exposed? <I see some of this in you pix> Why would this happen? <What re your water quality? Oh, see some issue below> I thought at first it was a peppermint shrimp I had in the tank so I removed him, but the hammer does not seems to be getting better? What do you recommend? <All life needs some N, P, K... You state you have zero NO3; do you have measurable HPO4? Need some of both. What are you feeding this Euphylliid? Do you dose iodide-ate? Have you read on WWM re the family's needs?> Water perimeters are: calcium 440 kH 179 ph 8.3 nitrate 0 nitrite 0 ammonia 0 tank size 30gal and my critters are 2 ocellaris clowns, 2 blue green Chromis, 1 Firefish, 1 purple Gorgonia, 2 small colonies of Zoa, <These may be poisoning the other corals. See WWM re Zoanthid allelopathy> 1 organ pipe, the hammer, green torch coral and my clean up buddies. Any advise would be really appreciated. Thank you. <The reading for now. Bob Fenner>

Re: Branching hammer coral not looking normal after splitting        2/3/16 Hello and thank you for your reply I do have measurable phosphates the last time check which was yesterday the read at 0.25 <Ah, good> and I feed them reef snow and I haven't dosed anything. <Mmm; no to using "snows"; as these have almost no food value. PLEASE read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/caryfdgfaqs.htm and the linked files above. B> Re: Branching hammer coral not looking normal after splitting        2/3/16 Alrighty I will continue reading on and learning as much as possible. Hopefully my little buddy pulls through. One more question, if I increase the amount of brine that I'm feeding the fishes will that be good for him to eat up or should I spot feed him brine or mysis? Maybe he's starving and I had no idea I just feel awful :-( <... read>

Post RTN, Euphylliid myst. loss 3/25/12
Dear WWM,
Thank you for the help you have given me for my reef tank. I have been keeping a log of everything that happens, water changes and how much is changed, when things are added to qt tank and then to main, how often and what things are eating, etc.
<Ah, thorough>
My water chemistry seems to stay the same.
Ammonia-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate-.5, Phosphate-.05, Calcium-450,
<Mg?>
pH-8.3. I had really nice growth, almost doubling in size, of my Euphyllia glabrescens.
Then I took a trip out of town. I was gone for three days. I had a family member look after the tank. When I returned the Salinity was about 1.029.
I usually keep it at 1.026. I added water over the course of the day and things seemed to be doing alright. One day later my Euphyllia glabrescens was not expanded and looked almost flat. Within the next 16 hours it was completely gone.
<Whoa!>
It was so abrupt and quick (hence 'rapid'). I was just wondering if the salinity change was the factor that killed it.
<Could have triggered...>
I had it for several months and hadn't done anything different. I was planning on adding Euphyllia ancora but I don't want to be a coral killer. I was dosing with Kent Zooplex frequently like every other day. I also fed mashed fish to the tank's corals weekly.
<Mmm, there are better foods... see WWM re>
I also don't think it was allelopathy because I have had this mix (All LPS, all but one Euphyllia the other Duncan polyp) together for some time and I had just done a water change. Any ideas? Have a nice week.
<Thanks; can't tell from what is presented... I would have you read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/envdisphysiof.htm
and the linked files above. Do you use iodide-ate? I would. Bob Fenner>
Bryce

Re: 05/02/10 Euphyllia hlth. mostly -- 02/14/10 <Hello Ryan> Let me know if this photo helps. <Mmmm, looks dead to dying to me> Nitrate>50 PPM <This is 5 - 10 times too high. The major concern here> Nitrite>.1PPM <This should be zero. Have you double tested this result?> Phosphates 0 <Some is required> Salinity 1.21 <1.021? This is too low. Should be 1.025 - 1.026> Temp 74.5 F <Would raise this as well to 78-80> Canister filter with GFO <A probable source of nitrates if not cleaned twice a week, and the GFO is not something I would be running here> Phosban <As well?> Carbon V\R <I'm not sure what this is... maybe it is too early in the morning for me....> Ryan <Yes, Ryan, this does help a lot. As noted above your problems are water quality and chemistry. Do be aware, that this is a calcifying organism and requires that calcium, alkalinity and magnesium are correct as well as the others noted above. Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/watrqualmar.htm. Simon>

Frogspawn branches breaking  - 6/3/08 I have had a frogspawn that has been doing quite well and growing substantially over the past two years. In the last month or so I have had two sizable branches with multiple mouths break off. <This will happen from time to time.> Do the branches simply deteriorate over time as their calcium is dissolved in the water, <Yes> or is this the effect of having a low dKH/alkalinity for an extended period of time? <Also yes'¦would speed decay up> For the last two years or so (I think) I was running (unintentionally and unknowingly) a dKH=4-5 and calcium 350-450. (adjusting manually with turbo calcium pellets only) I have now raised the dKH to 7-8 in the past week with SeaChem Reef Builder, but I had another sizable branch break off this morning. Could this be the work of my gigantic long-spine urchin? <Not the work of the urchin, no'¦though he poses other dangers to your corals worth reading about in the fine articles to be had by searching this site. Euphylliid corals have fairly open, brittle skeletons that shatter easily. Over time they do break down, but this process is accelerated by low alkalinity which causes expedited dissolution of Scleractinian product. The bad news is raising your alkalinity won't strengthen old skeleton, but it will prevent further decay and help the coral to build sturdy new skeletal material. Current Water parameters: Nitrates=0 Phosphates=0 DKH=7 Calcium=410 <You'll want to shoot for a slightly lower Ca to accommodate a higher alkalinity. Continue to raise that, and everything looks great. No worries.> Thanks! <Welcome!> Aaron Chandler <Benjamin>

LPS Lighting (One More Time!) - 05/18/06 Dear Eric R. <<Hello Diane>> It's been a long time since I've written in and the first time to you. <<Welcome back>> I have been trying to follow Bob's advice; read, read, read some more, then make up your own darn mind.  (To paraphrase). <<Indeed>> Well, I got the first part down.  However, just when I thought I had this lighting figured out I went to a different LFS and POOF! here we go again. <<Ha!...nature of the beast/hobby...opinions abound!>> If you would be so kind to go over what I have and help me straighten this out. <<Would be glad to provide my input>> We have a 125 gal. acrylic tank 72" X 18" X 20"  with a 6" DSB.  Lights hang 11 to 12" above the water line and can be raised or lowered as needed. <<Ok>> The lights are two 36" Power Compacts, the left-one is SunPaq 10,000K/460-Actinic and the right-one is SunPaq  Dual-Daylight 6,700/10,000K.  The halides are 3 X 175 watts.  Left is 6500K, middle is 20,000K and right is 14,000K. <<Mmm, why the variation across the length of the tank?  Are you attempting to create differing "zones/niches"?>> The yellow of the daylight halide is tempered by the blue of the actinic and the blue of the 14K Halide is tempered by the yellow of the daylight PCs (the 20K is because I have read so many raves and Anthony's book BOCP says for LPS you can go bluer.) <<Ok>> Well yesterday we went to a different LFS and they had the MOST beautiful corals!  We purchased several and during the selection and bagging process I questioned the manager as to his procedures for maintenance and lighting. He told me that 15K are THE best and that my 6500K should only be used for high light SPS. <<Too "general" a statement...I disagree>> Now Drs. Foster and Smith will let me return bulbs for replacement but am I that far off with my lights? <<I don't know, what are you keeping/trying to accomplish with this lighting?>> There can't be that much difference between 14K and 15K! <<Or even 20K...agreed>> However, I am not sure about the 6500K and the 20K. <<A marked difference in spectral output...but the 6500K still contains enough "blue light" for most all corals>> We have: (all bought yesterday),1 6" green Bubble (Plerogyra sinuosa), 1 6" Favites (?) shared corallite walls. <<Favites, yes...a shared wall between the calyces>> They are both under the 65K with the Favites on the sand and the Bubble three inches higher, on a rock. <<It may be fine, but keep an eye on the Bubble coral.  Plerogyra are not high light requiring corals, if the "bubbles" looks to be turning brown or stop expanding, do move it lower/to a more subdued lighting location>> One 4" green Long Tentacle Plate/Disc (Fungia scutaria) on the sand under the 20K with the most gorgeous green Fox (Nemenzophyllia turbida) also under the 20K but under a ledge.  To the right of them are 2 separate pieces of Branching Hammer (Euphyllia parancora) consisting of 8 and 9 heads respectively (after adaptation, thought of moving apart under different lights to experiment?). <<Sure>> They are also placed just three inches above the sand bed, however the highest two heads are 6" below the water line and they are centered between the 20K and the 14K.  Now, under the 14K is my baby, an Open Brain coral (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi) whom I've had 2 years now.  She is not the vivid color when I purchased her (bright green and deep maroon) but I would swear in the last few days her red is coming back! <<Maybe had "too much" light before hand.  It's not a hard and fast rule by any means, but many LPS with "red" pigments require/demand lower light levels than those with "green" pigments>> The new bulbs are either more to her liking or else the color was always there and I just couldn't see it under the old 5500Ks.   <<A bit of both>> After all that I guess my questions are, is the 6500K that bad? <<Nope...especially considering the wattage/distance you have the bulbs above the tank.  That's not to say I think it's the best bulb for your particular selection of livestock.  Speaking for me...for an LPS dominant tank I would go with a higher Kelvin rating...10000K is a good "all around" spectrum...but in this instance I would be tempted to go with a quality 14000K or 20000K bulb for each fixture.  Much depends on your own sense of aesthetics and what your trying replicate in your system>> (I have a 10K that I can replace it with but it is WHITE!)  Am not interested in SPS (never say never). << <grin> >> Is the 20K a good bulb for LPS? <<With enough intensity, yes.  If you go with 20000K I recommend you move the lights to within 6-8 inches of the water's surface>> The blue look is nice and the corals are beautiful under them but I want what is best for the animals (short of leaving them in the oceans of course). <<...of course>> These are the only corals I want with the possible addition of a nice Hammer (E. ancora) and maybe, sometime down the road a ways, I would love to have an Elegance (Catalaphyllia jardinei). <<Do please read up/research the Catalaphyllia well (you can begin here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/elegance.htm).  This is not an easy coral to keep, and is best tried in a specie specific system designed to/for its care>> Thank you so much for your time and patience.  All of you are appreciated and I hope one day you will all know how much! <<Thank you for the kind words...we're happy to assist>> Wishing you the best of life, Diane. <<And to you in kind, Eric Russell>> P.S. the LFS is ATM in Las Vegas, Nevada the one on the corner of Patrick and Sandhill in the Southeast part of the valley.  Beautiful corals and good prices. <<Hmm, will have to make a point to stop in next time I'm in Vegas.  EricR>>
LPS Lighting (One More Time!) II - 05/20/06 Polyp Bailout in Branching Hammer Dear Eric, Thank you so much for answering so quickly. You guys (yes, and gals) are great! <<You're welcome...and thank you>> But it seems quick as you were problems arise quicker! <<Uh oh>> The Branching Hammer has just been dissolving continuously since adding them to the tank.  I have been reading for two days now and since 2 a.m. this morning,  But other than photo shock (?) which I didn't think happened that quickly, I am at a loss.  I have also siphoned off two more gooey brown heads of the Hammer. <<Mmm, photo shock "can" have a rapid effect, especially if the coral was already stressed...but from the "gooey brown" description, I'm inclined to suspect a bacterial/protozoa infection.  Though admittedly pure speculation, but have you read through our coral disease FAQs?>> I separated the two pieces, leaving the best (?) of the two in its original location and moving the other to the far left end where I have removed the 6500K halide (to be replaced by another 14K Thank You <<welcome>>).  I also dipped this piece in an iodine mix of one quart aquarium water and ten drops Lugol's for ten minutes.  It only has two heads, out of nine, that look even halfway viable so I figured we had nothing to lose.  The other piece has two heads that look great and two that look iffy. <<I would dip "both" pieces in the iodine solution:   http://www.wetwebmedia.com/iodfaqs.htm >> We bought these corals on the 17th of May and this is the first day the Green Bubble has inflated but it is no longer the fluorescent green it was in the store, but rather a much paler green. <<Hmmm, would have thought the bubble coral to inflate before now...possibly telling (something in your water parameters?).  The color is "possibly" a function of the lighting...maybe the LFS had more "actinic" over the coral in the store>> The Long Tentacled Plate is starting to show himself and the Fox looks to be doing O.K.  Only the E. parancora crashed (but I know it's still real early in the game).  At the LFS the corals were in maybe six inches of water approximately 18 inches under 175 watt 14 and 20K (3).  The salinity was 1.025 but I forgot to ask about pH.  Anyhow I drip acclimated them over four plus hours and swore I would not move them around for at least 2 weeks if at all.  But I'll probably move the Bubble lower when the new bulb gets here. <<Okay>> Right now it is about 16 inches to the left of 20K, 5 inches below the water surface and 15 inches under the 10K/actinic P.C.  My water parameters are temp. 80 ; salinity 1.025; my pH was 8.3 at 6:30 last night and 8.0 at 7 this morning. <<Is fine>> I had added 1 tsp. Seachem Reef builder directly to the tank in an effort to get my alk. up from 2.5.  Added it last night and this morning my alk is 3.  Amm. is 0, nitrites are 0, but my nitrates are 10. <<Mmm...possibly a result of the decomposing Euphylliid...or an indication something else is amiss>> I have a 6 inch DSB and never had a problem with nitrate.  I use a Turboflotor-Multi HOB skimmer and (temporarily) an Aquaclear 110 with 2 new bags Chemi-pure and one Polyfilter. <<Both good stuff>> My iodine kit showed no iodine even after a couple of small water changes (approx. 20%) over 2 days so I added 4 drops Lugol's, still nothing on the test so I added 3 more drops, still nothing this morning. <<Hmmm...>> I use I.O. salt and the new water tests at .05 iodine, (perhaps the chemical filtration). <<Ah...yes>> Water movement is with 3 Aquaclear 70s <<...?  Aquaclear 70 power filters?  How often do you clean these...should be done "at least" weekly>> and 1 Seio 820. <<Some additional "vigorous" water movement would likely do this tank some good as well>> I don't know what else to do except maybe another small water change today to get the nitrates back to zero. <<I recommend a 30-40 percent water change>> I did not think my set-up was that different from the LFS where all the corals looked fantastic!  Do you have any suggestions. <<Mmm, yes...dip both Euphylliids again (remove any diseased/dieing heads first), perform a 40% water change, and keep monitoring water quality/performing water changes as needed>> The sad thing is I truly love the Euphylliid family and could easily picture a tank of just them. <<Would be beautiful I'm sure.  Don't give up...get over this hurdle, learn from the experience, and pursue your dream tank>> One more thing.  Do they dye corals? <<Some...mainly "soft" coral species...a terrible practice>> The Bubble was a very vivid neon green and the Fox is bright, almost fluorescent green. (But the Hammer is/was a more normal brown and green). <<Is rather unlikely these were/are dyed corals...have not heard of this being attempted with stony/LPS corals.  Regards, Eric Russell>> <Unfortunately... I have. RMF>

Frog spawn total polyp bail out 6/5/03 Bob, I have a frogspawn (grape I believe) that went through total polyp bail-out. <yikes! quite stressed to do so> I have recovered the polyp heads and am trying to get them to attach and re-calcify. They detached about a month ago. <indeed slow about it> The polyp heads are doing great, have good color and are extending nicely. I have the smaller of the two inside of an old open clam shell and covered with a piece of fruit net to keep it in place. The other is moving itself around the tank. Is there anything that I can do to speed up the re-attachment process? Thanks, John <definitely... feeding small/tiny calcium rich foods... shell-on crustaceans usually do the trick (Mysids and Pacifica plankton are good to start with). Feeding weekly or more often is key here. Best regards, Anthony>
RE: frog spawn total polyp bail out 6/5/03 Anthony, Thank you for your quick response. In addition to, I am using two part b-ionic. Will this slow the calcification process? <should help if dosed properly> My CA is running 480-500. <yikes! Careful mate. Sounds like some SPS-keeper talked you into this precariously high level (dangerous for most aquarists). There is a clear and present danger of a chemical "snowstorm" if you try to raise alk high too. We have articles and FAQs here on WetWebMedia about the topic at length... do browse more starting here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm > I am however switching this tank slowly over to seawater obtained from our local supply at the Scripps institute of oceanography (San Diego). <a bad decision in my opinion. Never use natural seawater... not even from Scripps <G>. Seriously... I have been to the institute... yes, driven down and seen the spigots from which to draw their filtered seawater. This after the president and other members of the San Diego Marine Aquarium Society wiped their tanks out for using it! Keep in mind... that they treat that grossly filtered water heavily after (!) the point at which you can draw grossly filtered seawater. The population along the California coast makes that water truly unsuitable IMO. Please do read more on out site (use Google. search too for a keyword search) and also chat with the SDMAS folks (great people/club) regarding> I started this AFTER the polyp bail-out. I change between 1-2 gals. a day on a 55 Gal. Stress, quite possible. The frogspawn was located in the close vicinity of pulsing xenia. <little aggression from the Xenia> Could have also been that I use to add the top of water (DI) to the HOB CPR skimmer located near the frogspawn. <yikes if this is unaerated or unbuffered... even then the fresh influx is rough indeed> Could a change in temporary SG stress it? <indeed... quite unnatural for this subtidal species> Next my tomato clowns were being very active this spring and would constantly brush the frogspawn and keep it from fully expanding. <adding insult to injury <G>> Last but not least, my I have the address to your web site? Thanks again, John <yes, my friend... there is so much to learn here: www.wetwebmedia.com Kind regards, Anthony>

Pearl bubble health question Finally, not a lighting question from me! :) <I'm not betting on it until I finish reading the whole message <G>> I recently installed a large pearl bubble coral into my 75 gallon reef tank. I went through what I thought was a good acclimation process, and I expected him to take a while to acclimate to the tank. He seems somewhat OK (it's only been 3 or 4 days, so as well as can be expected after the move),  <agreed> but last night I thought he was dying - he started emitting streams of a gooey-looking substance through slits in his body. <two things it could be... simply excrement (usually dark in color), or Zooxanthellae packets (symbiotic algae) from stress... often luminary shock (lights too bright). Acclimation to bright lights takes weeks.. a drawn out process with shade screens atop the coral, etc. Do you recall the synopsis for doing that from my lighting article, bud? NO worries anyway... it still may be excrement. Was there a recent large feeding? Bubble corals need to be fed finely minced meaty foods 4-5 times weekly minimum. Daily would be better> I was about to remove him from the tank entirely, into quarantine, but I noticed that he didn't actually look like he was on his last legs, but the emissions disturbed me. They went on for about an hour, not continuously but every once in a while. This morning, he looks like he always has. I'm keeping a close eye on him, but would like to get your input. <excellent... as per above> My lighting is a pair of 250W MH (as if you guys haven't heard enough about *that* recently) and 4 55W actinic PCs. I'm acclimating him by lowering the MHs to 3 hours a day and working back up to 9 hours over a 10 day period, but I'm wondering if he's just having a bad reaction to the change in light (although he'd been under lower-intensity MHs prior to entry in the tank). <this is a bad habit and an inappropriate acclimation technique. Even if it is the only coral in the tank. And when there are other corals... this means every established coral in the tank will be deprived of light every time a new coral is added? Yikes. Do read my acclimation technique using screens at the bottom of this article (excerpted from my coral book): http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm >  Thanks... Arthur <best regards, Anthony>
Re: Pearl bubble health question "And when there are other corals... this means every established coral in the tank will be deprived of light every time a new coral is added?" Yikes! You know, I wondered about this recently. I have read about other methods, but always stopped after reading about placing it low and moving it up - he's large, so that wouldn't work. The screen idea never occurred to me, but it's an elegant and simple solution. <awesome, my friend! It does seem to work well for most folks> The reason I thought it would work out to place him and lower the MH duration was because I'm simultaneously replacing the MH bulbs, going from 10KK to 20KK  (I got the 20KK Radiums - *love* the effect). Even though the 10KK bulbs I'm replacing are only 3 months old, I was concerned about the new bulbs' being too strong, and having asked a million light-oriented questions recently, I didn't want to ask another and thought I had a good solution (bad assumption).  <not necessarily a bad assumption... just a bit risky without concurrent use of a PAR or Luxmeter. And in the future when a bulb change was not a convenient segue, it would quite possibly compromise the other corals> I'm about 4 days into lowered levels, and have worked back up to 5 hours (out of 9, up from the lowered starting point of 3) - should I simply put the hours back to 9 and place the screens, or continue the path because of the new bulbs, or do something else entirely? <having reduce the photoperiod, I'd be content to see you carry on as planned. Slow acclimation of all to increasing photoperiod. Do be sure to feed well... food can compensate for lower/inadequate light with corals> Dang it, I knew *somehow* this would get back to a question from me about lights...:) Arthur <Ha! no worries at all... never hesitate to ask or wonder. Keep learning, sharing and growing. Kindly, Anthony>

Euphyllia Ancora Hi Craig !!!!!!!!! Thanks for the advice on timers, you're like my piscatorial guardian angel! <Hi Mimie!> I recently purchase an Anchor coral for <cheap>(like the budgie!) and it is a beautiful addition to my tank. I love the metallic green that seem to stand out in the actinic light. Prior to buying it, I did some research on your site and am a little quizzical on the aspects of water movement and lighting because of the conflicting notes on the articles and the FAQ section. I've got mine wedged between some LR about 4 inches from the surface, close to the powerhead. (I have a 2X55W PC unit but only turn on the 10000K actinic lamps. The other is a 7100K lamp. Photoperiod is 12 hrs.) Also offered some Mysis shrimp soaked in Zoecon but it did not consume it. Of course all filtration and powerheads were turned off. <I purchased a bleached Hammer because it was a deal too:>) They like full spectrum lighting (50/50 actinic and white) so turn on all of your lights, perhaps over a few days, and try to match the lighting intensity from the store at first. It will likely be alright where it is, light wise. The Tentacles should gently wave in the current, nothing too vigorous. This family of corals have hard skeletons which can bruise or cut the soft tissue in too-strong current. It would likely not open or stay open. I don't target feed my hammer, which has grown considerably and recuperated nicely from it's former condition, but I feed my fish a large variety of natural foods which indirectly feeds the hammer.> Also got a juv. Zebrasoma Velifera who just loved the shrimp but hasn't sampled the Gracilaria algae in my tank...although my Mexican Turbos seem to munching on it throughout the day. <Note: I will be moving the tang to a 135G FO system I am getting for Xmas *smile*> Please advise. Just me, MER <Wow, my advice?  Have fun!  Enjoy your hammer coral, with the proper light, a moderate current and fed fish it should do just fine. Some people target feed their LPS corals, there is more on this at WetWeb, in Anthony's book, Bob's book or the new Invert book coming out soon.  Remember, LPS corals need adequate calcium and alk levels as well. Bye for now, Craig>