Help! Something's Up With My Poor Anemone!!

[fishguy242]

imo about 6-peak hours in a 12 hr cycle

 

[Kzang]

Hey thanks for the reply man.

I currently have an AI Prime HD. Here's the current setup I have for it.

I chose this setup because this guy from my LFS told me that this would be pretty good for a mixed reef. I've been to this place quite a few times in the past and feel pretty comfortable with them. However, I'm open to the idea of using another setup if this one doesn't seem suffice.

how deep is the water, how high is the light, and what preset are you using? Is the anemone looks to be on the bottom. You'd be surprised that the par even high up isn't that high. I ran into this problem with my hydra 32. I had the light about 10-12 inch above the water, and 6 inches below the water line, my par was only 200 at the top of my rock. I was using over 100% blues/violet/etc, 50% whites

 

[weamdog]

Ah, jeez. Hearing that does not make me a happy camper!

Alright, I'll do my best to remove the clown then. Thing is, I don't have an extra tank for it.. Do I have to get a mini one for the time being?

As for the lighting, what do you recommend would be the best?

I'd search for an acclamation box for the clown (ebay has some cheap ones). Setting up another tank for a clown is a lot of work. Besides, you can put the nem in it if it releases from the rock. Just make sure there is flow going through. That way you can give it some more light gradually by raising the box. I have a high end nem in one of those boxes right now, he's happy and the clowns aren't harassing him.

 

[1Meshy]

Alright, I'll

Yes, definitely. I think all of your corals will do better with more than 3 hrs. of peak lighting.

Alright, I'll bring up the peak to 8 hours and see how the nem reacts.

 

[1Meshy]

how deep is the water, how high is the light, and what preset are you using? Is the anemone looks to be on the bottom. You'd be surprised that the par even high up isn't that high. I ran into this problem with my hydra 32. I had the light about 10-12 inch above the water, and 6 inches below the water line, my par was only 200 at the top of my rock. I was using over 100% blues/violet/etc, 50% whites

Well I have a biocube 29, so the depth is about 16in, and the light sits around 9in above the water.

And what do you mean by what preset I'm using?

 

[1Meshy]

I'd search for an acclamation box for the clown (ebay has some cheap ones). Setting up another tank for a clown is a lot of work. Besides, you can put the nem in it if it releases from the rock. Just make sure there is flow going through. That way you can give it some more light gradually by raising the box. I have a high end nem in one of those boxes right now, he's happy and the clowns aren't harassing him.

Why didn't I think of an acclimation box? Lol.

Okay, I'll get one and put the nem in it. Should I put the box near the bottom of the tank and gradually bring it up then?

 

[weamdog]

If it were me, I'd keep it fairly low until it attaches, then move it up about halfway theough the first day. Then move it up near the top before the lights come on the next day. If it moves around alot in the box try moving it back down some. Mine loves the box and doesn't move, even when I open the top to give it direct light. If it gets better, keep it in there for a month or so and feed a couple times a week to fatten it up. The bigger it is, the better it will handle the love. If it eats while in the box I think that would be a good sign you're out of the woods.

 

[1Meshy]

If it were me, I'd keep it fairly low until it attaches, then move it up about halfway theough the first day. Then move it up near the top before the lights come on the next day. If it moves around alot in the box try moving it back down some. Mine loves the box and doesn't move, even when I open the top to give it direct light. If it gets better, keep it in there for a month or so and feed a couple times a week to fatten it up. The bigger it is, the better it will handle the love. If it eats while in the box I think that would be a good sign you're out of the woods.

Sounds like a plan!

What do you think of these two boxes I found? Do they seem like they'd be good?

Amazon product

Amazon product

 

[weamdog]

Pics didn't come through. I'm using a reefing art 8x6x4 (I think). They are fragile and a pain in the butt, but gets the job done at one of the lowest price points. I'll eventually upgrade to an octoaquatics box, appears to be the best quality out there, but costs a pretty penny.

Just make sure there are plenty of cut-outs for water flow.

 

[Phil D.]

If you remember, most corals come from the tropics where the photoperiod is 12 hrs. I run mine 12 hours with a 11/2 hour ramp up and down and whites (5%) for 6 hours. Get fantastic growth and my nems (had one from daughter's tank which then split into 3) are bubbled and happy.

 

[Taylor t]

Calcium is way too low. Get it up to 400 or more, give yourself some buffer room for when it drops without you knowing it. Calcium should never go below 380. Mine look like crap if calcium goes below 360. 400-420 seems to be the sweet spot mine like. My anemone seem to like 9-10KH best. Mag looks fine.

I run my main lights 12 hours a day with 1.5 hour ramp up and down which puts my lights at around 15 hours on per day. I have additional spots I run 10 hours a day. I agree, more light needed.

 

[Taylor t]

Something to consider... anemone are USUALLY shallow water creatures... white light.... just had to say... but the blues will bring out the good color...

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Im not sure why your nem isn't doing well but I'm doubtful it's your lighting. If you only had your lights on for 3hrs a day that would be bad but with your ramp up and down time I think the nem is getting plenty of light...

 

[xxkenny90xx]

What are you using to test temp and salinity? Can you check with something else? Do you have many anemones or lps or sps corals? How are they doing?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

#orionN seems to be the anemone expert here

 

[1Meshy]

Calcium is way too low. Get it up to 400 or more, give yourself some buffer room for when it drops without you knowing it. Calcium should never go below 380. Mine look like crap if calcium goes below 360. 400-420 seems to be the sweet spot mine like. My anemone seem to like 9-10KH best. Mag looks fine.

I run my main lights 12 hours a day with 1.5 hour ramp up and down which puts my lights at around 15 hours on per day. I have additional spots I run 10 hours a day. I agree, more light needed.

I had a feeling it was pretty low, but no one had said anything about it, so I figured it was alright. I was using B-Ionic for a while but stopped a bit ago. I'll start that up again to get my levels evened out.

 

[1Meshy]

What are you using to test temp and salinity? Can you check with something else? Do you have many anemones or lps or sps corals? How are they doing?

I'm using a regular thermometer from Petco (a white one with a magnet that goes on the outside of the tank), and I use a refractometer to measure the salinity. I could probably check the temp with another thermometer I have in a different tank, but I don't really have anything else to measure the salinity (other than an old hydrometer).

I only have the one anemone in the tank, and two LPS corals (a hammer and frogspawn). The hammer is growing nicely (especially after switching to the AI Prime light and adding CoralAmino), but the frogspawn has been problematic since I bought it (it doesn't really want to open all the way for some reason. I've tried many things for it, and it's still kinda eh).

 

[1Meshy]

#orionN seems to be the anemone expert here

If he's an expert, then I'd greatly appreciate his advice!

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I wouldn't worry about things like calcium and Alk with anemones, only corals with hard skeletons need those elements monitored. Also I wouldn't trust a thermometer that goes on the outside of your glass. Definitely get a better one!

 

[1Meshy]

I wouldn't worry about things like calcium and Alk with anemones, only corals with hard skeletons need those elements monitored. Also I wouldn't trust a thermometer that goes on the outside of your glass. Definitely get a better one!

Lol that's not what I meant. I meant that it's a thermometer that goes inside the tank, but it stays on the glass because of a magnet that's outside the glass.