BTA Won’t open

[BSTurbo6321]

I’ve had this RBTA for about three weeks and it has not opened up at all and occasionally will eat mysis shrimp and reef roids when target fed not sure what to do first picture is the day I added it to the aquarium and the second is today

Tank is about 3-1/2 months old

 

[Saltyreef]

Was it that bleached when you got it?

I would stop feeding it, let it settle in longer and pray it regains some color.

Typically new tanks with too much daily variance in parameters and biome should not be used to house anemones.

 

[BSTurbo6321]

Was it that bleached when you got it?

I would stop feeding it, let it settle in longer and pray it regains some color.

Typically new tanks with too much daily variance in parameters and biome should not be used to house anemones.

It was fairly pale when I got it and it just continuously keeps enlarging a couple of its tips and then going back down to being deflated. It’s still moving around okay and is keeping a foot hold of the places it moves to

 

[Jekyl]

3 months is much too young of a tank for an anemone. What are your parameters? What lighting?

Welcome to R2R!

You are not alone in what you're going through. The most popular post on this forum for anemone is the one you started.

Generally anemone require a mature tank. For new reefers this means closer to a year old. Try to keep nitrate and phosphate in check, but also never letting them get to zero. For lighting some of the better reef lights are fine. Most tanks that come with a light are going to need an upgrade.

 

[Jekyl]

Other thing I forgot to mention is the water itself. Tap water will never work out good for invertebrates. Self made or store bought RoDi mixed to 35ppt.

 

[BSTurbo6321]

3 months is much too young of a tank for an anemone. What are your parameters? What lighting?

Welcome to R2R!

You are not alone in what you're going through. The most popular post on this forum for anemone is the one you started.

Generally anemone require a mature tank. For new reefers this means closer to a year old. Try to keep nitrate and phosphate in check, but also never letting them get to zero. For lighting some of the better reef lights are fine. Most tanks that come with a light are going to need an upgrade.

Yeah I assumed I was being impatient with nems.
my lighting is a kessil a80 tuna blue

parameters
Alk- 15dkh
Phos- 1ppm
Nitrate- 5ppm
Ammonia-0
Calcium-480

 

[BSTurbo6321]

Other thing I forgot to mention is the water itself. Tap water will never work out good for invertebrates. Self made or store bought RoDi mixed to 35ppt.

I’ve been using tap with tap safe and my inverts seem to be doing great I’ve had nassarius snails spawn, hermits and red star are both seem to be doing great

 

[Jekyl]

Yeah I assumed I was being impatient with nems.
my lighting is a kessil a80 tuna blue

parameters
Alk- 15dkh
Phos- 1ppm
Nitrate- 5ppm
Ammonia-0
Calcium-480

Don't be discouraged. I lost 2 myself the same way. Tried again at 9 months and they did better. After a year they thrived.

 

[Jekyl]

I’ve been using tap with tap safe and my inverts seem to be doing great I’ve had nassarius snails spawn, hermits and red star are both seem to be doing great

This needs to stop as soon as possible. There's no telling what's in the water. Along with copper sticks to rocks and substrate and builds over time. Copper is lethal to inverts.

 

[BSTurbo6321]

Don't be discouraged. I lost 2 myself the same way. Tried again at 9 months and they did better. After a year they thrived.

Appreciate the help I bought this one very small at like the size of a half dollar for a cheap price mostly to feel if the tank was ready for a anemone

 

[Saltyreef]

Yeah I assumed I was being impatient with nems.
my lighting is a kessil a80 tuna blue

parameters
Alk- 15dkh
Phos- 1ppm
Nitrate- 5ppm
Ammonia-0
Calcium-480

I’ve been using tap with tap safe and my inverts seem to be doing great I’ve had nassarius snails spawn, hermits and red star are both seem to be doing great

Light looks good for a max 30g square tank

15dkh is really high and ive had issues with nems at the opposite ends of the alk scale.

You are doing great by removing the chlorine but using tap might be the reason for the extremely high alkalinity as theres a whole host of other things in there.

 

[BSTurbo6321]

This needs to stop as soon as possible. There's no telling what's in the water. Along with copper sticks to rocks and substrate and builds over time. Copper is lethal to inverts.

Alrighty will store bought distilled water be sufficient. Will in the future build RODI system.

 

[BSTurbo6321]

Light looks good for a max 30g square tank

15dkh is really high and ive had issues with nems at the opposite ends of the alk scale.

You are doing great by removing the chlorine but using tap might be the reason for the extremely high alkalinity as theres a whole host of other things in there.

Will a 10-20% water change lower alk

 

[Saltyreef]

Alrighty will store bought distilled water be sufficient. Will in the future build RODI system.

Yes but you can get away with glacier RO machines at the store much cheaper.

Distilled if you want to be 100% sure you have pure water.

 

[Saltyreef]

Will a 10-20% water change lower alk

Not with tap water.

What salt mix and salinity tester are you using?

 

[Jekyl]

Alrighty will store bought distilled water be sufficient. Will in the future build RODI system.

Rodi systems are very easily installed. Up front costs are the only draw back. I use the BRS 5 stage and love it. Distilled water is better, water purchased from your LFS would be even better than that.

 

[BSTurbo6321]

Not with tap water.

What salt mix and salinity tester are you using?

Alrighty will pick some up tomorrow for water change and I’ve been using instant ocean but recently bought Red Sea coral pro to transition slowly into. And refractometer

 

[BSTurbo6321]

Rodi systems are very easily installed. Up front costs are the only draw back. I use the BRS 5 stage and love it. Distilled water is better, water purchased from your LFS would be even better than that.

I wish I had a lfs that I trust near me the closest is 45 miles

 

[Jekyl]

Just to clarify distilled water still isn't RODI quality. There will still be something other than water in there.

When managing these systems it's best to know EXACTLY what goes in the tank.

 

[Saltyreef]

Alrighty will pick some up tomorrow for water change and I’ve been using instant ocean but recently bought Red Sea coral pro to transition slowly into. And refractometer

i would go back to regular instant ocean.

The coral pro is for high consumption, large tank small water changes.