Anemone help

[Holygral]

My Green BTA, I have had for 3 years, it is approximately 8-10 inches across. He is under 2x250, about 14 inches from the light. I also have 2 small RBTA about 2 years and they also have never moved. I think it is a matter of the anemone being happy enough to stay put rather than the wattage of your lighting system. I personally would not have a anemone under anything but MH. But it is a combination of lighting, flow, heat, and other tank inhabitants. Your tank should also be set up for 12-18 months before you get one. By that time you will have also figured out all the things that you did wrong and all the money you spent doing it wrong , In that time frame you also will have most likely upgraded a lot of you equipment including your lighting.

 

[badger126]

Wow lots of discussion since I've checked last! Thanks everyone for helping. The tank is relatively new -3 or 4 weeks- i never saw a cycle and was told by a lot of people that having nitrates at 40 was no big deal. So I thought it was safe to add things. The anemone has since passed. I feel really bad, but I guess it's just the process that all you experienced guys are talking about. You have to make mistakes sometimes to learn in this hobby. I think it died from a combination of nitrates/bad lighting and stress from the move.

I now have an RO unit and I'm about to put everything into the 75 gallon setup that I've been working on. All I have left to do is build the stand and fill it up! Funny thing is the hammer coral and the star polyps that I got at the same time as the anemone are all doing fine. Hope they all do well moving into another tank. Thanks again for all the help, next time I'll get you guys' help before I invest in another anemone lol.

 

[ciao]

Hammer coral and star polyps are pretty hardy. An anemone is way more delicate than either of those two. If anybody kills a hammer or frogspawn, they need to be attentive to their tank IMO.

As for the nitrates, I'm surprised they said that it wouldn't be an issue. I was always under the impression that Nitrates stress out anemones?

 

[badger126]

Haha the lady at petco said their nitrates get up over 100 on weekends. They have anemones in their tanks, so I figured it must be ok. Everyone keeps telling me 40 nitrates is fine. They failed to mention that it is only fine for some things. How much growth can I expect out of that hammer coral under ideal conditions?

 

[user 2204]

I had a RBTA for a few years and kept it very well under 130W of PC lighting in a 20H tank. And I also currently have mini/maxi carpet anemones in a 6 gallon tank under PC lighting and doing well.

I think the main cause for anyone to have issues with any anemone is not knowning what the particular needs are of the anemone and also buying one before the system is mature enough to properly care for an anemone.

With that said, I feel that any system under 1 year of age need not apply for an anemone that is unless you have been keeping corals, anemones and the such for a long enough time to have the knowledge to keep it in a less than mature tank. Also helps if you plan on putting any anemone into a immature system to always have a back up plan.

And nitrates at 40ppm? Wowza aim for 0 (IMO) and fyi (no offense) but don't buy from Petco. They shouldn't be selling corals (again IMO).

Cheers,
Alex

 

[user 2204]

Forgot to mention the RBTA (Rose Bubble Tip) that I kept was situated up high in the tank. Also when it was not feed for a week while I was on vacation it decide to move and never really got situated again. It ended up getting shreaded by a pump in my system.

That was just over 5 years ago. Haven't had another nem since until this week.

 

[badger126]

Oh haha I didn't actually buy one from petco. I agree on their stock not being good. My parents thought it would be cool to bring one back for me from a LFS in a big city a couple hours away.