Backlit Anemone - Is it Safe?

[SolusCado]

Hi everyone. I've had my corkscrew tentacle anemone for a few weeks now, and it has only in the last few days finally attached itself in my sand bed. It's slowly regaining color (it was fairly bleached during shipping), but I just tonight noticed that the light I run in the sump at night (to keep photosynthesis/CO2/PH stable at night) actually bleeds through into the anemone, as it has cleared the sand and attached to the glass.

It looks super cool, but does anyone know whether it's safe for the anemone? I don't want to give it too much light, but this light is going into its foot after all... Did anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Solga]

I have no clue, but it sure looks neat !

 

[14 foot reef]

very cool !!! Has to be the most innovative way to light your reef inhabitants, Bravo !!!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone. I've had my corkscrew tentacle anemone for a few weeks now, and it has only in the last few days finally attached itself in my sand bed. It's slowly regaining color (it was fairly bleached during shipping), but I just tonight noticed that the light I run in the sump at night (to keep photosynthesis/CO2/PH stable at night) actually bleeds through into the anemone, as it has cleared the sand and attached to the glass.

It looks super cool, but does anyone know whether it's safe for the anemone? I don't want to give it too much light, but this light is going into its foot after all... Did anyone have any experience with this?

View attachment 2965953

Should be fine as they need light in general for production of zooxanthellae which is their color and energy source.
I had a tank with bare-bottom that lit the bottom of tank and had NO effect on livestock including rock anemone

 

[OrionN]

Probably not. My office tank got a stuck light timer sometime ago and all my coral bleached. I think they really need a dark period. I would cover the glass with a cardboard tape to the bottoms. This way the anemone does not get expose to light 24-7.

BTW, the only way I was able to catch it was that I was on call and have to be in my office in the middle of the night and the MH was on. I was racking Mr brain out, đi not know why my fish looks bad and my coral bleached.

 

[Jason Scalise]

That’s cool.
In fact, given how it looks, I would be inclined to try to feed it a LED strip and some Li batteries and see if he will ingest them. If so, you have a million dollar product on your hands!

“Glow-mone”

 

[bee144]

They typically say you need 12 hours on and 12 off.

do some testing of your own. Put some duct tape over the bottom of the tank and see how the anemone responds to no light from the sump at night.

If it remains healthy, I would stick to that

 

[SolusCado]

That’s cool.
In fact, given how it looks, I would be inclined to try to feed it a LED strip and some Li batteries and see if he will ingest them. If so, you have a million dollar product on your hands!

“Glow-mone”

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hi everyone. I've had my corkscrew tentacle anemone for a few weeks now, and it has only in the last few days finally attached itself in my sand bed. It's slowly regaining color (it was fairly bleached during shipping), but I just tonight noticed that the light I run in the sump at night (to keep photosynthesis/CO2/PH stable at night) actually bleeds through into the anemone, as it has cleared the sand and attached to the glass.

It looks super cool, but does anyone know whether it's safe for the anemone? I don't want to give it too much light, but this light is going into its foot after all... Did anyone have any experience with this?

View attachment 2965953

If it has been regaining color with the backlighting, then I'd assume it's fine. There are a couple of different factors though, such as the PAR/PUR of the light, and the tolerance of the species to constant light conditions (some species can handle constant light or constant dark, others really need a mix of both light and dark - I would assume the mix would be ideal health-wise for the anemone, but I don't know for sure, and I don't know how photosensitive nems are).

 

[SolusCado]

They typically say you need 12 hours on and 12 off.

do some testing of your own. Put some duct tape over the bottom of the tank and see how the anemone responds to no light from the sump at night.

If it remains healthy, I would stick to that

Yeah, I think I'll give it a few more days like this just to see whether it reacts poorly. I imagine if it's too much light it will just detach and move again. Not ideal, but at least then I'd know.

 

[14 foot reef]

Probably not. My office tank got a stuck light timer sometime ago and all my coral bleached. I think they really need a dark period. I would cover the glass with a cardboard tape to the bottoms. This way the anemone does not get expose to light 24-7.

BTW, the only way I was able to catch it was that I was on call and have to be in my office in the middle of the night and the MH was on. I was racking Mr brain out, đi not know why my fish looks bad and my coral bleached.

top light metal halide is a completely different scenario .....Think PAR

 

[OrionN]

No. They did fine with this light during the day. But they need period of night to function. These are animals not plants. Fish get sick too.

 

[jabberwock]

If it is not happy, it will move.

 

[quentin17110]

Hi everyone. I've had my corkscrew tentacle anemone for a few weeks now, and it has only in the last few days finally attached itself in my sand bed. It's slowly regaining color (it was fairly bleached during shipping), but I just tonight noticed that the light I run in the sump at night (to keep photosynthesis/CO2/PH stable at night) actually bleeds through into the anemone, as it has cleared the sand and attached to the glass.

It looks super cool, but does anyone know whether it's safe for the anemone? I don't want to give it too much light, but this light is going into its foot after all... Did anyone have any experience with this?

View attachment 2965953

Very nice anemone

 

[Seancj]

I would do as suggested and block the light from underneath.
Your LTA looks like a little campfire! Very pretty photo.