Help! Anemones balled up

PhishFriends · Mar 17, 2023

I have two Anemones going on a year now. It was one and split when I moved it to this new tank a year ago. Bigger one is 4" when open smaller one 3". I messed with my light cycle 2 weeks ago, and both pulled in after a day or two. I'm guessing I burned them, but my cycle is now in acclimate mode and even when it's running normal I brought the point intensity from 80% down to 50% and lengthened the day by only 30min. I did increase intensity and tried to run a big bell shaped curve but I'm guessing burned them.
I think everything was getting to much light.. attached is also my current light regiment.
I'm afraid maybe theres contaminants in my tank.. I did use essential vites once soon after it happened.. how long can that stay balled up. They just started peeking out, but then pull back in. Everything else looks happy..

Alk - 9.5 (pH - 8.1)
Mg - 1650
Ca - 530
NO3 - 10ppm
PO4 - .03ppm (Hanna ppm checker)

fishguy242 · Mar 18, 2023

hi, mag and cal seem high...

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

fishguy242 said:
hi, mag and cal seem high...

Ya. They've been high for about a year now. I am just now mixing a new batch of salt that isn't reef crystals trying to bring it down.
Since it's been like that for so long I kind of ruled that out.
I'm going to do a 30% wc today. Lights on acclimate, hoping they peek out and like what they see!

fishguy242 · Mar 18, 2023

Are you dosing ? keep alk up where it's at ,let cal and mag fall by consumption,
JMO ,water changes are going to keep adding cal & mag, would monitor and hold back on changes .
nitrate and po4 could go up a lil too, Hannah has, +/ - .04 error window.

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

fishguy242 said:
Are you dosing ? keep alk up where it's at ,let cal and mag fall by consumption,
JMO ,water changes are going to keep adding cal & mag, would monitor and hold back on changes .
nitrate and po4 could go up a lil too, Hannah has, +/ - .04 error window.

I'm not dosing. But I was going to use instant oceans salt that they don't add mag cal and hope that brings it down.
It doesn't seem like anything really uses mag and cal in my tank. Maybe everything grows very slow.. not sure why though.
As a side note, I'm a year in and don't have a speck of Coraline on my rock glass or plastic bits. It will grow on a plug it was already on, but that's it. Makes me feel like I'm missing something. Me changing my lights was trying to grow Coraline, and get into a better range for my corals.

fishguy242 · Mar 18, 2023

Instant Ocean , believe mixes at 420 cal , might want to test new mixes .
coralline is being hampered by cal high, mag high, need to hit sweet spot on all 3 alk ,cal mag,
go slow ,steady and stable is key
lights ??
@Lost in the Sauce am I missing something here ?

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

fishguy242 said:
Instant Ocean , believe mixes at 420 cal , might want to test new mixes .
coralline is being hampered by cal high, mag high, need to hit sweet spot on all 3 alk ,cal mag,
go slow ,steady and stable is key
lights ??
@Lost in the Sauce am I missing something here ?

Light is a radion xr-15. Right now I have blues and whites up, and running at 50% point intensity. UV is at 50%.
I'm going to test my new batch of water right now and see what it's mixing in at.
I always thought of my anemones my canary in in the coal mine because they react to something that's isn't right immediately.. now they've been balled up for 2 weeks and I'm sweating a bit. Everything else is going on like it's normal..
I said I don't dose, I do dose Sodium nitrate and keep it at 10.

fishguy242 · Mar 18, 2023

PhishFriends said:
Light is a radion xr-15. Right now I have blues and whites up, and running at 50% point intensity. UV is at 50%.
I'm going to test my new batch of water right now and see what it's mixing in at.
I always thought of my anemones my canary in in the coal mine because they react to something that's isn't right immediately.. now they've been balled up for 2 weeks and I'm sweating a bit. Everything else is going on like it's normal..
I said I don't dose, I do dose Sodium nitrate and keep it at 10.

@F i s h y ,lights ?? any input on high params ??

F i s h y · Mar 18, 2023

Everything seems to be at a reasonable level. I use reef crystals and have high calcium and magnesium as well. Nems are finicky. I wouldn't worry about the time frame especially if they are still attached. They may just need more time.

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

fishguy242 said:
Instant Ocean , believe mixes at 420 cal , might want to test new mixes .

I just tested the new water. Salinity 35ppt (which is what my lfs told me to keep it at, but I could start to bring it down to 33ppt), and the mix tested at 500ppm cal, 1600ppm mg. Seems high. Salifert test kits, and about 3 months ago I did an ICP test that correlated with my test kits.
What do you think about the salinity?
Also thanks for responding, it's usually really quiet on here when Im posting. And I have no friends who keep tanks.

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

F i s h y said:
Everything seems to be at a reasonable level. I use reef crystals and have high calcium and magnesium as well. Nems are finicky. I wouldn't worry about the time frame especially if they are still attached. They may just need more time.

That's what I've been telling myself for 2 weeks but am finally starting to worry. They seem tightly attached just puckered up real tight.
Do you get good coral growth with high mag and cal levels? My sps seem to barely grow, and my green bird nests polyps have never been full like when I bought it. I'm thinking lights were too bright, but haven't been sure about my chemistry.

fishguy242 · Mar 18, 2023

You do now...

I like 1.024 sal,
still think back off on changes, let cal & mag fall ,by maintaining alk 9.5

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

fishguy242 said:
You do now... I like 1.024 sal,
still think back off on changes, let cal & mag fall ,by maintaining alk 9.5

Alright I'm gonna try this. My alk was at 9.8 this morning.. I test at lights on, lfs said that kind of a standard?
What do you use to maintain alk. I haven't had to yet.

fishguy242 · Mar 18, 2023

baking soda mixed in cup of rodi . how many gallons total in your system ?

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

fishguy242 said:
baking soda mixed in cup of rodi . how many gallons total in your system ?

I have a redsea reefer xl200. I think it's suppose to be 52g total.

exnisstech · Mar 18, 2023

PhishFriends said:
But I was going to use instant oceans salt that they don't add mag cal and hope that brings it down

I run a 50/50 mix of IO and RC. My alk runs mid 8s but I manually dose 5ml of bionic alk daily to a 40g system and 30ml to a 220g system which also drips kalk so the IO should bring it down but you may want to keep an eye on it.

fishguy242 · Mar 18, 2023

level teaspoon of Baking soda in 16 oz rodi mix well ,should raise alk by 1 dkh
monitor as you go.

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

fishguy242 said:
level teaspoon of Baking soda in 16 oz rodi mix well ,should raise alk by 1 dkh
monitor as you go.

Very helpful! Honestly, couldnt be simpler.
One more while I've got you here. I feed frozen and often pellets (trying to keep my phosphates up). My phosphates will still often get down to .01ppm (Hanna) and I'm wondering if I should dose, and then cut out the pellets, which I don't think anyone but my inverts really care for.

fishguy242 · Mar 18, 2023

IME ,keep feeding , not fan of bottled fixes.like it a lil dirty.
tank will thrive at 30 nitrates, .1 to .1.5 po4 JME...

PhishFriends · Mar 18, 2023

fishguy242 said:
IME ,keep feeding , not fan of bottled fixes.like it a lil dirty.
tank will thrive at 30 nitrates, .1 to .1.5 po4 JME...

Ok dang. I had a small tank ten years ago, and I'm stuck in that old mentality.
I don't have a skimmer, feed twice a day (as much as they'll eat) and still my numbers don't really budge. I have a ton of rock in the display and the sump, and that might be the reason.. not sure honestly.
Thanks again for all the advice.