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How to set my lights for octopus tank?

sensei

Cuttlefish
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Jan 27, 2018
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El Salvador
I just started an octopus 70g dt.
Octopus is in tank now and has been eating frozen shrimp.
I have 2 radion ecotech XR15Pro Gen 3 installed over that tank.
these radions have setting for UV, royal blue, blue, cool white, green and hyper red
how should I set up the lights for octopus pleasure and to be able to enjoy seing him at night??


Thanks a lot for your answers
 
There is no known particular light setting that is beneficial for an octopus (ambient light would be fine) but for night viewing, red light will give the best viewing and provide enough darkness to convince the octo that it is night time. If the animal is nocturnal, I would suggest leaving the red light on all night. The seem to perceive it to some degree and will wait for total darkness to come out if that is part of the regular lighting scheme.
 
Thanks for your answer DWhatley.

today we feed the octopus in the morning.
he ate frozen shrimp, after eating he came out and started wondering all around tank. It was at 8:50 am in the morining. I am not sure if it was a coincidense but he came out at the same time that a little of sun light came inside the tank.

Tank is in the Terraze so indirect daylight goes in the tank and just a little direct sunlight goes in tank.

please look at photo
octopus.jpg


I was surpriced to see the octopus this active in the morning and more with direct sun light.
Also given the conditions of the tank, that is located at terrace and recieved indirect daylight several hours, should I just run the radions after sun light hours?? and maybe just a few hours?

can you also please comment in the behavior of the octopus? is this normal that he is active in daylight?

can you please let me know about the aquascaping?
how much rock should I put in the dt? the pvc is temporary since I have to get more live rock to do some caves
I have seen he is very messy, a lot of pop, so if I put to much rock it would make it more difficult to suck detrietus.
are you in pro of running filter socks in octopus tank?

Also I do not have any powerhead in dt because it may hurt him. I just have the flow generated bythe return pump of around 600gallon per hour and tank is 70 g so that gives a turnover of around 8.5 times per hour. is this fine?

Thanks a lot for your help
 
During the first month, octopus behavior can be very different to what is seen after they are fully acclimated. However, in this case, II am very worried about the water quality causing the extra activity. I suggest adding many more in the way of places to hide. Octopuses need to be able to be completely hidden and have a dark space (or three) that is their own. MUCH more fully cured live rock is highly recommended to help handle the waste as there is not enough substrate to maintain the amount of bacteria needed to handle his/her waste. I am concerned that this is an uncycled tank and you will have lethal levels of ammonia and nitrite in short order. Please test your water twice a day and have 5 gallons or more ready made saltwater available to do a water change if you see any trace of ammonia.
 
Thanks for your answer,

the tank has a over sized skimmer rated for 3 times the volumen of water, filter socks to remove detrietus and 2 nylon bag with 1500grams of fluval ceramic bio rings that were seeded in my cycled 600g reef system for a couple months. There should be enough bacteria in the ceramic media to consider it a cycled tank.

I will add more live rock, but how much more should I add in the display?
I want to be able to clean the detrietus and if I cover all the bottom of tank with rock detrietus will be traped in there. maybe just having 2 monticles of rocks providen places to hide would be fine?

can you also coment on the flow inside the tank please.

thanks a lot
 
Sorry, I meant to suggest adding more flow. This will help with the detritus and we have noticed octopuses often hanging out near the highest flows in the tank. In one of my own observations of KaySoh, the animal used the flow to aid in shedding its sucker pads. It may also be that older animals find skin relief or breathing ease. To avoid arm meeting impellers, I use Koralias inside a zippered mesh filter bag (like this - link for reference, not recommendation. Do not use a draw string type as it will be almost impossible to open and reuse). Other power heads have been successfully used but the intake must be restricted to keep arms from investigating.

I am glad to know that you have an additional source of bacteria sources over what is in the display. A skimmer and filters are great but they don't remove the ammonia or nitrite, only bacteria and water changes solve this part of the habitat requirements. Since you have some experience with the environment, think of an octopus like a really large predatory fish as far as waste production.
 
Now you are pushing my memory! In one of my 60+ I currently have one but have two smaller units in the othe (and would suggest two). The newer models have different ratings but I am guessing either the 750 or 1050 units (leaning toward the 1050) would be equivalent. Keep in mind that I recommend encasing them in a filter media bag so that the flow will be reduced considerably by the netting. I place these units to the back of the tank and point them into the live rock to help dislodge debris and keep the water well circulated. However, sometimes the octos have other ideas about how they should be pointed.
 
Thanks DWhatley,
in the video were the octopus is using the coralia to shred the suckers, the koralia does not seem to have the filter media bag on. do you have any photo or other video were I can see the pumps with the media bags on to see how you place them??

Thanks
 
do you have any photo or other video were I can see the pumps with the media bags on to see how you place them??
Not really. The Koralia is behind the live rock at the far end of this tank. I moved the rock out a bit to take this picture but it does not help display the set up very well
DSCN4682.JPG
 
Thanks DWhatley,

I thought you somehow tighten the nylon bag to the koralia, but in the nylon looks all loose, that mean you just place the pump in the bag and then you attach the pump with the magnet to the glass???

there is no need to put something to tighten the bag like it is a guard for the pump?

you have never had problems with octupus inpecting pump with ths bag as shown in picture?

2.- my 70g tank has 3 acrilic covers for the whole tank. acrilic is thick so each cover is somewhat heavy ( around 2 pounds), but I just lift them up and there is no clip or safe to avoid lifting them up. what do you think?
is it necesary to secure them somehow to block lifting them up??

thanks again
 
I do zip up the bag as tightly as it will go. I don't have the magnets attached to this one so the whole thing is encased but you can use the zipper to close the bag in front of the positioning post to leave the magnetic base free.

I would definitely weight down the corners if you do not secure them in some other way. I have used acrylic hasp locks with success (be sure there is no metal on any locking mechanism your may use) . The hasp locks can serve as hinges as well as locks if you set them up to work that way.
 
DWhatly,
I am not understanding how to use the acrylic hasp locks on the acrilic tops that I have in dt.
you use two per lid?
can you post a picture please??

2.- how much and how ofter should I feed the octopus??
I ask becuase he would eat every day if I offer him but I have read the some feed everyother day? is there a problem to feed him every day?

Thanks
 
The hasps are in two pieces. One is a long flat piece of acrylic with a slotted hole and hinge. The other is a square with a half circle set at 90 degrees. The hinged part is fastened to either the tank or the lid and the square to the opposite so that the slit slides over the half circle. There is a hole in the half circle to allow for a pin to lock the two pieces together.
DSCN4692.JPG
DSCN4694.JPG
DSCN4697.JPG
 
As you may have seen already, quantity and frequency of feeding varies with species of octopus, octopus activity levels and octopus age. My preference was to offer a small amount of food daily. If the food was rejected then I would offer again the next day. If this became routine, then I offered food every other day. Anecdotally, coldwater species may take better to more food less often.
 

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