is my tank a good home?

[91lxstang]

Lately ive been thinking of things i could do to make my tank better but i cant come up with anything. It seems like i have all the angles covered but im always wanting to add new interesting things to my tank for my octo.

Heres my set-up:

55 gal tank
80 pounds of Arag-Alive Caribbean Reef sand (3 in thick)
120 pounds of fiji live rock
8 plastic saltwater plants ranging in height
4 glow in the dark neon spikey rubber balls
4'' section of clear tube
4'' section of grey tube
3 spacious caves
CoraLife 260 watt compact flourescent light (1 actinic and 1 reef day)
glass tops
rena xp2 filter
coralife uv sterilyzer
various floating toys
fluval 150 watt heater
seaclone 100 skimmer
aqualight moonlight

is there anything that looks bad or anythign i should add?

 

[Jean]

You don't really need a UV steralizer, in fact some suggest you shouldn't have them for inverts. If you're planning on breeding then the UV is a definite no no as it can really damage larvae.

The actinic may be a bit bright, octopus prefer dim light.

The only other things I can think of (right of the top of my head) is water quality test kits and lots and lots and lots of duct tape!!!!!!!! Oh yeah and lego (as a toy!)

J

 

[91lxstang]

oh yea ive been tryin to find a lego sumwhere around my house! i actually completely forgot i had the ov sterilyzer hooked up until i cleaed out the bottom of my stand and saw it spliced into my filter return tube. I dont plan on breeding anytime soon either. Thanks for your input! I think im gonna take out the actinic bulb today

 

[DWhatley]

UV issues

Jean,

I don't currently run one on the octo tank but was planning to add a UV to minimize potential problems with skin infections and bacteria.
I am confused about the UV and larvae statement. Are you referring to water born non-octo eggs that would go through the sump? I understand that some people suggest not using a UV in a reef tank because it potentially kills food and more good bacteria than bad but unless you are referring to spawn that might pass by the light and be returned to the tank to develop, I don't understand the potential danger. Is there an after effect of exposing the water that I have missed?

 

[cthulhu77]

I stopped using uv on reef tanks a few years back, but still run them on the fish tanks.

Why pull the actinic? It is dimmer than the daylight bulb, at least mine are.

91, is there a chance you could post up a pic of your tank ? That would really help too, but it sounds like a nice setup.

Greg

 

[Jean]

Hi D

For some reason UV can cause mutation in larvae whether or not the eggs/larvae go through. There was a crayfish & paua (rock lobster and abalone) farm here some years ago that used UV sterilisation and they had terrible mutations (carapace/shell deformation, veligers with twisted feet and/or no cilia, early moult death syndrome in the lobsters) we suggested it might have something to do with the fact that they had no filters over the water access to the UV so the larvae were getting blasted, they added banjo filters keeping the larvae out, added new stock and the problems persisted. They removed the UV altogether and the problem vanished, all other factors remained the same.......now it could have been a coincidence................but..................?

Greg, I suggested pulling the actinic, our octopus HATE them we had one that used to target them with a blast of water, which would've been OK except that it was an old system and the water tended to destroy the bulb and blow the breakers for that side of the aquarium. We've since upgraded so that can't happen, but we leave the actinic off in the octopus tank!

J

 

[Cairnos]

Greg, I suggested pulling the actinic, our octopus HATE them we had one that used to target them with a blast of water, which would've been OK except that it was an old system and the water tended to destroy the bulb and blow the breakers for that side of the aquarium. We've since upgraded so that can't happen, but we leave the actinic off in the octopus tank!

J

Wondering what sort of light frequencies an actinic would produce as opposed to other light types?

 

[Jean]

absolutely no idea, just know our octis don't like it!

J

 

[DWhatley]

Jean,
What do rock lobster and abalone larve eat? I wonder if the live food was damaged in some way as to not provide proper nutrition to the developing larve. Very interesting and good food for thought. Thanks!

 

[Jean]

Jean,
What do rock lobster and abalone larve eat? I wonder if the live food was damaged in some way as to not provide proper nutrition to the developing larve. Very interesting and good food for thought. Thanks!

I actually have to clarify something the rock lobster were not larvae but newly settled juveniles, larvae are almost impossible to keep (although I believe some Tassie scientists at TAFI have done it!) So they didn't go through the UV. The food for the lobster was mashed green lip mussel and I can't remember what they were feeding the abalone (phytoplankton of some sort I imagine), but the thing is after all the UV was removed the animals were fed on the same food (even the same batches of the same food in some cases) and they were fine, the only thing that changed was the removal of the UV steriliser!

J